Kim and Oscar sauntered down the crowded hallway of the school, forging the path to their lockers. Kim was talking, "Yeah I've been having a great time with Damon. He's really nice. I'm going to his house to meet his parents this..."

Oscar had stopped listening. As they neared the end of the hall, they noticed Noah leaning against Oscar's closed locker, seemingly waiting on something.

Oscar turned toward Kim, who was still talking, and said, "Hey, I'll catch up later."

"Oh, okay..." She said, before Oscar bolted to his locker. He approached Noah, who was looking down at his phone that rested in his hand and said, "Hey."

Noah's head jerked up and a smile appeared on his face. "Oh, hey!"

"What're you doing?" Oscar asked.

"Not much," Noah began, "I just wanted to come see you."

"Why..." Oscar began to say, but was stopped.

"I just missed you," The blond tenderly brought his lips to Oscar's.

Oscar quickly stepped back in surprise, "Dude!" he breathed out.

"Dude? What?" Noah arched his eyebrows.

Oscar's eyes scanned the busy hallway around them. No one had seemed to notice the display of affection that had just occurred. He tightened his grip on the backpack strap that rested over his shoulder.

He sighed in relief, "Oh, sorry. I don't know why I did that."

Noah's hand rested on the other boy's shoulder, "It's fine, no one cares. Dude," he said with a slight laugh. He tugged on the sleeve of the denim jacket that Oscar was still wearing, "You look hot. I was hoping you'd wear my jacket," Noah teased.

"Wow, thanks," Oscar said, sarcastically. He brought his hand to the back of his head, and ruffled his hair in embarrassment.

A silence ensued between them. Noah stared at the brunette boy, with the hint of a grin still lingering on his face.

"So I wanted to ask-" Noah began to say, but was cut off by another voice.

From beside them came a stifled laugh, "Ugh, fags."

Upon hearing this, the color immediately drained from Oscar's face, and a ball of anxiety swelled in his chest.

He turned in the direction of the voice and found himself facing a 6'2 brick wall of a boy.

"Uh..." Oscar's voice was shaky. Suddenly the intimidating look faded from the unknown boy's face and morphed into a warm smile. His gaze fell behind Oscar and onto Noah. He outstretched his hand and Noah grabbed it.

"I'm just fucking with you, man. How's it going?" he said to Noah.

"It's good, man," Noah said, chuckling. His hand touched the back of Oscar's arm. "Os, this is Terrell. We used to play ball together."

"Yeah, you were good too," Terrell said. "Bet I could dunk on your ass now, though."

"No way," Noah joked.

Terrell's attention turned to Oscar, "You're Noah's new guy?"

Oscar felt his face becoming red. Before he could answer, Noah threw his arm around Oscar's shoulder and pulled him in closer, saying, "Yup."

Terrell, still smiling, said, "Alright, that's cool. Anyway, I've got to get going."

"Alright, see you man," Noah said.

Terrell turned to walk away but then turned back around. He pointed a finger at Noah's chest and said, "You've got to come play with us sometime man. Prove you didn't get soft."

Noah beamed, "Yeah, definitely. That'd be great."

Terrell gave a final nod, and with that, he began making his way back down the corridor, becoming unrecognizable in the sea of moving bodies.

Noah still stood with his arm hooked around Oscar, turned to face him and said, "Also, I wanted to ask if you want to come over this Friday? Maybe stay the night? My parents are chill with it."

Oscar, stared blankly back at him, still reeling about his interaction with Terrell.

Noah recognized the look of panic on Oscar's face and began, "Listen, I'm sorry about Terrell. Don't take him too seriously. He's always dicking around, okay?" he said in a soft voice.

Oscar let out a nervous laugh, "Yeah...okay."

"So, Friday?" Noah pushed further.

"Oh..." Oscar thought for a moment, "Yeah, that'd be cool. I'm sure my parents will be fine with it."

And with that, they made their way down the hall arm-in-arm, falling swiftly in line, indistinguishable from their peers.