The week went by quickly with the team winning our hockey game on Thursday night. Luckily for us, we had the weekend off and although I loved the game, I was happy to have a weekend to not have to worry about hockey or school.

Josh and I still hadn't spoken much, but I was able to get the car from him for the weekend, so that I was able to pick up Fox from his house on Saturday afternoon, him insisting the two of us hang out. I wasn't complaining. I was just glad to be able to be around someone who didn't annoy me the whole time.

"I think I understand why you don't usually drive," Fox commented, holding onto the handle above his seat.

I didn't think I was a bad driver, but apparently Fox had other ideas about my driving.

"What do you mean?"

"There's a pot hole right there," he warned instead of answering me, pointing toward an area in the road.

Before I had the chance to dodge the pot hole, I hit it straight on, causing the car to shake. I let a timid, embarrassed smile creep on my face as I glanced at Fox briefly who wore a slightly irritated but also frightened expression.

"Keep your eyes on the road," he commanded, causing me to turn my gaze away from him. "I guess it's true that gays really can't drive," he mumbled.

"Does that mean you can't drive either?" I asked him with a teasing smile as I pulled into the parking lot of our destination.

He gave me a deadpanned look before morphing it into a sarcastic smile and exaggeratedly nodding his head.

"Funny," he bitterly replied, opening the car door and getting out.

I chuckled, following him out of the car and into the restaurant. It was just a casual place, nothing special. Fox decided he wanted to eat here today and invited me to go with him. At first I didn't realize he meant just the two of us, but when he clarified that it would be just me and him, I was pleasantly surprised.

We sat down at a table near the back of the restaurant and began to look through the menus. The food was fairly cheap and the options were typical of what you would expect at a diner. The waiter came to us quickly and took our orders before leaving Fox and I alone.

"Wanna go to my place after this?" Fox asked, sipping his water through his straw.

"Sure," I nonchalantly replied, hiding my excitement. I couldn't let it show that I was overly excited to be spending time with Fox. That would surely scare him off.

When the food came out, Fox immediately dove right into his big juicy burger and practically moaned at the taste of it.

"Don't tell anyone how I've been eating," he warned with his mouth full.

I chuckled, taking a bite of my own sandwich. "You keep eating like this and I'll be faster than you on the ice."

Fox scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Please, you skate like you have lead in your shoes."

I sent him an offended look, my mouth agape. "That's rude and not true at all."

"Whatever you say."

I shook my head at him, about to argue with him further, but my words were caught in my throat when I caught sight of someone I thought I'd never have to see again. My mother's husband, Dave, along with some other men from church. They were probably grabbing lunch together after having volunteered to clean the church today. People from the church all rotated Saturdays that they would volunteer.

"Shit," I cursed, tilting my head down so I could shield my face.

"What?" Fox asked through a muffled voice.

"Nothing, nothing," I muttered, continuing to look down at my plate.

Fox turned to look behind him to see what had grabbed my attention and I cursed at him, hitting his hand that was resting on the table.

"Don't look, idiot!" I forcefully whispered.

"Don't look at the guy that's walking over here?" Fox asked in an amused tone, causing my head to shoot up to see that Dave was in fact walking over to us. And he didn't look happy.

"Elijah," Dave said as if my name was cursed. To him, it probably was. "Your mother has been trying to contact you and she is not happy that you haven't been responding."

Dave stood in front of us with his arms crossed over his chest, looking as if he was chastising me as if he had any business doing so. My mouth was dry and I made no move to respond to him. I wouldn't have been able to even if I tried.

"Elijah..." Dave trailed in a warning tone, looking angrier by the second. "I won't have you disrespect me or your mother."

Still, I said nothing. I just blankly stared at him.

"You're the one being disrespectful," Fox spoke up in an offensive tone, his expression challenging and defiant.

"Excuse me, young man?" Dave retorted, shifting his gaze to Fox.

"You heard me," Fox replied, his eyebrows raised in a confrontational manner. "Coming over here and interrupting our lunch is rude, old man."

I looked at Fox in shock with a hint of dread. Dave wasn't a particularly easy going guy and I was worried this would cause a scene.

"That is not how you talk to your elders," Dave scolded, glaring down at Fox who just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fuck off," Fox spat, shaking his head and picking up his burger to take a bite.

Dave's eyes bugged out of his head at Fox's vulgar language, but before he could blow up, one of his church friends came up behind him. He was my old best friend, Micah's, father. He came up behind Dave and placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Let's just go, Dave, the food is ready," he urged him. Dave listened and wordlessly walked away from our table.

Micah's father looked at me with an unreadable expression before saying, "I'll continue praying for you, Elijah."

The words sent a jolt in my chest because I knew what they meant. He would continue praying that I would somehow end up straight because in his eyes, I was a walking sin.

Fox loudly scoffed and glared at the man. "You can fuck off too." And with that, Micah's father walked away.

Fox and I didn't discuss the incident for the rest of the afternoon.

***

"I'm never letting you drive me anywhere ever again," Fox told me after we pulled up to his house.

"I hit one curb," I argued, following him up the walkway to his home.

"I would prefer if you hit none."

All I could do was roll my eyes as I waited for him to unlock the door. I notice this morning when I picked him up that Fox's house was bigger than I expected it to be. It wasn't a mansion, but it was big enough for a big family. My suspicions about him having a big family were proven to be true when I saw a large family portrait in the living room.

"Are those all your siblings?" I asked him, pointing to the portrait. Fox looked to where I was pointing and nodded.

"Yeah," he blandly replied.

My mouth was gaped, still surprised at my recent revelation. There were six siblings in the photo all together, four boys and two girls. Fox looked to be somewhere in the middle of the age range between the siblings.

"Do any of them go to our school?" I asked as I sat down with Fox on the couch as he turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels.

He shook his head. "No, my three older siblings are in college and the two younger ones are in middle school."

I nodded, still intrigued by these Ridley siblings that Fox had never mentioned before.

"Do they all live here?" I asked, looking at all the other pictures around the room.

Fox glared at me. "What is this? Twenty fucking questions?"

"I'm just curious, apparently you're mysterious," I defended myself, giving him a teasing look.

Fox let out an exasperated sigh, running his hand through his dark hair.

"And apparently you're annoying," he retorted in a quiet tone.

I shot him an amused smile and lightly nudged his arm before turning to the TV that he continued to change the channel on. After finally settling on a movie, the two of us watched the television in silence for a while until the front door opened and a beautiful woman, that appeared to be Fox's mother, walked in with a young girl by her side. I recognized the two of them from the portrait in the room. Fox didn't even look away from the TV to greet them.

"Fox? Who's this?" the woman asked kindly, setting down her shopping bags on one of the chairs.

"I'm Elijah," I introduced myself with a smile.

"Oh, you must be the new boy on the hockey team!" the woman replied. "I'm Fox's mother, Vanessa and this is my daughter, Fawn."

Fawn waved at me in a greeting but didn't say anything as she walked across the room to sit on the other side of her brother. I finished exchanging pleasantries with Vanessa as she sat down on a chair facing the TV.

"So, what are you two up to today?" Vanessa asked, directing the question more toward her son.

Fox shrugged. "Probably gonna hang out with the guys later. I don't know."

"Wren's supposed to be stopping by later," Vanessa told him as if she was warning him.

He scoffed. "Then I'll make sure I'm not here."

Vanessa sent her son an annoyed look, but didn't say anything, probably because I was here.

"Are all of you guys named after animals?" I asked to lighten the mood when the thought came to my head. Fox begrudgingly nodded while his other nodded enthusiastically. I smiled at her and said, "That's so cool."

Fox let out a humorless laugh. "No, it's not."

"Oh, shut up Fox," Vanessa responded, rolling her eyes. "Don't disrespect my creativity."

"Your creativity should be channeled into your hobbies, not naming your children," Fox retorted.

"One of my hobbies is naming my children, that's why I had so many!" Vanessa joked, eliciting a laugh from me and matching looks of disgust from her son and daughter.

"We don't need to hear about that," Fawn spoke up, causing Fox to nod in agreement and hold his fist out for his sister to bump. She snickered and bumped his fist lightly while Vanessa shook her head and tisked at her children.

Eventually, Fox and I were left alone again in the living room as Vanessa went in the kitchen and Fawn went outside to play with one of the neighbors.

"Hey, Fox," I called out, grabbing his attention away from the TV.

He looked at me with an attentive gaze that almost made me forget what I was going to say. His dark eyes were wide with wonder and his mouth was slightly parted. That was enough for my breath to hitch in my throat.

I awkwardly cleared my throat. "Thanks for earlier at the diner."

He shrugged. "It was just lunch."

I let out a breathy laugh, shaking my head. "I meant with standing up for me. I don't know why, but I just froze."

"Oh, that," Fox replied, scratching the back of his neck and averting his gaze from me. "What was that about anyway? That guy was a douche."

Memories of my mother and my step dad were tainted with painful emotions that I didn't want to get into, especially not with Fox. I didn't want him to see me get emotional like I knew I would. Our friendship wasn't at the level where I felt like I could get into my feelings with him.

"It was just my step dad," I admitted. "He is a douche. So thanks."

Fox shook his head, meeting my gaze once again. "You don't have to thank me for that."

All I could do was smile down at my lap, hiding the changing color of my cheeks.

***

Dad and Mindy decided Sunday night was going to be their date night, leaving Josh and I with Ava. The three of us sat down on the couch, Ava between Josh and I, watching a scary movie that our sister had picked out.

"This is fu— messed up," Josh commented, gesturing toward the TV. "Should you even be watching this?"

Ava glared at him. "I've seen it before."

"When?"

"At Kenzie's Halloween party last year."

"Don't her parents supervise you guys?" Josh asked in astonishment, a bewildered look on his face.

Ava scoffed, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyebrows. "Shut up, Josh."

I couldn't help but chuckle at our sister's dismissal of Josh's overbearing attitude. It seemed like we both got tired of the way he treated us like we were babies.

Josh and I both jolted when a sudden jump scare appeared on the screen. Ava was unfazed, muttering something under her breath about the two of us being chickens. My hand was over my chest, feeling my speedy heartbeat. Josh and I exchanged freaked out looks before turning back to the movie.

As soon as the movie ended, Josh sent Ava up to bed, telling her that we had already let her stay up later than our parents wanted us to. She begrudgingly and reluctantly got off the couch and headed up the stairs, but not before sending each of us an annoyed glare. I shook my head at her and chuckled.

Josh groaned and leaned his head back on the couch. "She's going to be so much harder to deal with as a teenager."

"You're just mad she's already cooler than you," I told him with a sardonic expression. I stood up from the couch, ready to head to bed, but Josh stopped me and made me sit back down before I could leave.

"Listen, Dan talked to me the other day," Josh started with a serious expression. "He told me you two talked."

I nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"He still wants me to watch out for you," Josh admitted, "but basically told me to back off a bit."

"That's all I want," I replied.

Josh nodded, looking down at his lap for a moment before looking back to me.

"He wants us to be closer or something I guess," Josh awkwardly mumbled.

There was no doubt in my mind that Dad wanted Josh and I to suddenly be best friends. However, I couldn't see that happening.

"So, I'm going to make an effort," Josh told me in a stronger voice. "Will you?"

Dread filled me at his words. Prior to this, I was fine just being casual with Josh and being slightly acquainted with him, but that wasn't going to be an option anymore.

"Sure," I blandly responded. I didn't know what constituted as effort, so I was going to have to wait and see what Josh's effort was.

**