I don't know why he couldn't wait until the weather was at least a little warmer, because right now it is freezing. Like summer was a week ago and now it feels like winter. Anyways, I meet him at the park where he begged me to come. And to be honest it's definitely not what I expected. It was a group of people from school hanging out at an old park at like ten at night. If you asked me what they were doing I would probably say satan worship. Holy shit they're gonna sacrifice me to the devil.

"Who the hell invited you?" I hear a voice call from from the group. It was a voice I knew well. The one belonging to one of the bitchiest person I knew. Lexi Cross. Sitting on her right was my cousin Junior, and one her left was Oliver. If you ask me there's no doubt she's getting with both of them at the same time. Oliver was the stereotypical school prick; rich, captain of the freshman football team, and homophobic. My cousin was more or less the same. He was insanely smart, part of most (if not all) of the clubs at school, and the schools track star.

The words were not coming out of my mouth. I stand there awkwardly trying to form a sentence. "I did" Devon speaks up from behind Junior. I look over to see him, now standing and smiling. "Um...yeah...he asked me to come" I say timidly, the words struggling to roll off of my tongue. "Oh.." Oliver say. Devon signals for me to come over so I take a seat next to him on the hard surface. We talk by ourselves for a bit before we get board and sneak away from the group. We go over to the swing set. "I used to love these things whenever my mom would bring me" Devon said as he sat on one. "Yeah, me too" I respond, taking the seat next to him.

I hear whispers coming from the group but I ignore them. The most prominent word that sticks out though was "gay". Judging by Devon's face, he could hear them. "So um...why'd you want me to come? I thought you and Junior were friends." I ask trying to get the attention off of them. "Me and Junior are friends. I don't really like the others. And I can't just want to hang out with you?" He answers nudging me swing with his. My cheeks flash red "Well I never said that".

We talk for the next hour about dumb funny stuff. I share about my art and he talks about his podcast. Then we end up talking about Trisha Paytas. Dumb funny stuff. The others had already gone home by this point which left us alone. The two of us move to the grass as we stare up into the stars. I look over to my hand to see that our pinkies are almost touching. The butterflies in my stomach won't calm as his hand gets closer to me.

What really made my night was Devon telling me about constellations in the sky. He would point one out then tell me the story behind it and what it's a depiction of. He says he learned a bunch of them one year when he was at some summer camp. "My favorite is that one" he says pointing to the Big Dipper. "Why?" I ask. "Cause no matter where you are in the world it's always there" he says. "Never though of it that way"

His hand brushes against mine. As I feel his hand on mine I feels as if I was drifting in the air before melting into the ground. We sit in silence for awhile. "I'm kinda tired" Devon says followed by a yawn. "Same" I turn my head to his direction. "Think we should head home" he stands up from the grass where he laid, leave a spot shaped like him. "Yeah"

I pick my bike up from the grass where u left it. "Thanks for coming" he says "I don't know what I would have done if you didn't".

"Um...thanks for inviting me" my words shaky "see you tomorrow" I turn around and am about to start peddling away. "Hey!" He yells. I turn around. "Do you want to come over tomorrow?" He asks. A smile creeps up onto my face. "Ye-Yeah" I say.

———

After leaving the park I look at the clock in my phone. Fuck. It was 11:32. If my dad caught me coming me coming in he would be pissed. I had to think about how I would get back in. Thank god I had plenty of time to think as I ride home.

Once I get to my street I hope of my bike and walk the rest of the way home. The gate to the backyard where I keep it was unlocked. I quickly open the gate and roll my bike in carefully. To limit any noise, I slowly close the gate before closing the lock attached to it. I then creep up to the front door. I don't want to test the door so I lift up the welcome mat to get the spare key. I slowly unlock the door and open it, return the key to under the mat, then take my shoes off. Closing the door was the most scary part. There was a breeze outside and if I wasn't careful the door would slam.

I hold my breath as I close the door at a snails speed. Once I lock it I exhale. Then tip toe up the stairs into my room. I climbed straight into bed and front off into sleep, dreaming of what happened tonight with Devon.

😝😝😘😘💗💗💗🫶🫶🫶🫶