Jared nudged Gideon’s knee and gave him his warmest smile. “Thanks for getting me a beer.”
“Not a problem. I had to get up anyway.” Gideon glanced at him from the corner of his eye as he poked the fire with a stick. The light from the fire danced off Jared’s biceps, throwing shadows in the most mesmerizing way.
“Gideon?”
“Hm?”
“When are you are gonna kiss me?”
Gideon dropped the stick. “Pardon?”
“I’ve been waiting…hoping you would,” Jared admitted, his voice barely audible over the crackle of the fire, Scott singing folk songs off-key across the circle, and people laughing.
Gideon hesitated. All his closest friends from school were here and he wasn’t out to all of them. Heck, he thought Jared was straight up until a minute ago. His heart was throbbing at the idea of kissing Jared; there weren’t many gay boys in his school and hardly any as cute. Maybe it was the cheap beer coursing through his underage veins, or the warm summer night full of the sounds like the trees rustling in the wind and the crickets orchestrating in the underbrush, but Gideon felt like the world could be his.

He leaned to the side, propping his wrist on Jared’s bare thigh. Their eyes met for one moment to convey silent consent, then Gideon tilted his head to kiss his boy, meeting him halfway. Jared’s lips were soft and plump and Gideon melted into him. They broke for air, then Jared put a hand on the back of Gideon’s head to make sure he got another round. Their lips pressed together in sweet little kisses at first, before quickly intensifying into crushing pressure against the other as their hunger and hormones bloomed. Jared wanted Gideon, Gideon wanted to devour Jared, and both were increasingly frustrated as making out only intensified their desire to touch and explore.

It was then that both boys realized the guitar music had stopped, as had most of the laughter. Instead, there was murmuring. The boys broke their kiss, Jared pulling away first, his face tomato red. He took a huge swig of beer, and nearly spilled it because his lips were so kiss-swollen that he couldn’t really feel them.
Gideon wiped a bit of drool off his own mouth and coughed, running his fingers through his hair.  “Um,” he began, desperately wanting to continue making out with Jared and distracted by the idea of seeing him shirtless.
Corinne spoke first. “Gideon made the first move. You owe me $20, Laura.”
“Nuh uh, Jared totally moved first. It was nearly at the same time. No deal.”
“What? Were you even paying attention?”
“Girls! Girls. They moved at the same time. I’m sitting directly across from them,” Scott interrupted, tightening a string. “The bet’s a draw.”
“Arg no!” Corinne whined. “I was invested in this!”

“Um,” Gideon began again, a bit louder this time. “What are you talking about?”
Laura gave him a devilish smile. “We were betting on who was going to make the first move.”
Gideon sputtered, flabbergasted, “What? You knew Jared had a crush on me?”
“Well duh,” Corinne said, rolling her eyes. “Have you paid any attention at all to the way he looks at you?”
“I don’t look at him differently!” Jared insisted.
“Oh you do too. It’s sooo adorable. He’s been pining after you this whole semester, Gideon, drawing your initials in his notebook. Since he’s the new kid, we absolutely had to invite him to our end-of-school bonfire since we’d knew you’d be here. Laura and I figured something would happen once we got a little drunk. It was the perfect plan.” Corinne and Laura giggled like proper teenage girls.
Jared ducked his head. “I can’t believe it was that obvious. I tried to be so casual, I never thought anyone would notice…god I’m so embarrassed.”
The girls made “aww” sounds.
“Well, we’re just happy it happened,” Laura piped up, “Nothing like a new romance to start the summer off.”

Gideon squeaked. “We haven’t even talked about going steady!”
Jared bumped his knee again. “I’d like to talk about it.”
More squealing came from across the fire circle. Scott pretended to be fascinated by the stoners passed out on a nearby boulder.
It was Gideon’s turn to blush. “You want to be my boyfriend Jared?”
Jared reached for Gideon’s hand. “I’ve never dated a guy before, but I feel like I’d really like to try that with you.”
Gideon squeezed his hand back and moved in for another wonderful kiss. Halfway, he paused and put a finger up to signal for the girls’ attention: “Oh, and to clarify from earlier, Jared made the first move.”
Laura whooped. “That $20 is all mine!”
“Oh, you traitor!” Corinne yelled at Gideon, huffing as she dug out her wallet.

Neither boy was paying attention by the time the cash exchanged hands though; Gideon and Jared were busy kissing and falling deep into first love.

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Text is fictional. Boys are gay Youtube sensation MarkE Miller and Ethan Hethcote. Yeah, this was supposed to be July 17th’s post…I didn’t get home until 3 am. Sorry guys!