Sun Kissed ✓

five

"GOD, that is good," Austin groaned, swallowing a bite of the burger that Tanner had insisted on buying him, no matter how much he protested and argued.

Tanner's blue, blue eyes were glinting with a gentle amusement and he fell back against the booth, swallowing the fry he'd finished, and threw his arms out by his sides. "I told you, right?" He said. "I can't believe you've never eaten here before."

Taking another bite and closing his eyes in brief glee, he placed his burger back down on the plate. "I don't know why I haven't," he said. "This place is awesome, but you have to let me pay you for this food."

In a flash, his smile twisted into a stern frown and he shook his head. "No way," he said. "I told you I was buying and I bought."

Austin shrugged. "I feel bad."

"Fine," Tanner said, "then you can pay next time."

Austin froze for a fleeting moment and glimpsed with distant interest at the boy sitting across the table. "Next time?" He echoed, feeling a little stupid.

"Yeah," he said, shrugging like he was deliberately trying to play it off. "I thought we were having a pretty good time."

"Really?" Austin asked, immediately embarrassed by the surprise swimming in his voice and how painfully sardonic it sounded. His tone was so unintentionally bitter that it almost sounded like he was actively trying to offend the particularly friendly coworker who was facing him.

He didn't even get that burst of assurance when he realised that he'd managed to catch Tanner off guard, proved to him by the surprise and discomfort in the widening blue eyes, the raised brows and the slightly parted lips. The back of Austin's neck pricked uncomfortably with heat and he felt himself flushing, the tips of his ears burning and a lump filling his throat.

A horrible moment passed. A heavy, lingering silence hung between them with tension so thick that you could slice a knife through it and Austin felt more awkward by the second, a state that was only worsened by his certainty that Tanner definitely felt the same.

The longer he thought about opening his mouth to explain himself, the more time he lost to grab at the opportunity. At a certain point, it was too late to seize the chance and offering some kind of unprepared, stammering combination of an explanation and an apology was only going to make things worse. With that considered, he slunk into his shame, tried to swallow the lump in his throat and prayed to God that Tanner would say something. Anything.

Then his prayers were answered. Tanner's lips split into a grin and it was the most beautiful thing that Austin had ever seen in his life. Relief loosened his chest and pooled in his stomach; he shrugged the tension out of his shoulders and swallowed the lump in his throat.

He whistled and laughed, light and melodic. "Guess I'll have to work a little harder to meet your standards," Tanner said, still chuckling to himself, calming only to take a sip of his water.

"I- I didn't mean that. . . I didn't," he interrupted himself with a frustrated huff and frowned as he tried to collect himself. "I didn't mean it like that, you know? I wasn't being. . . Mean or whatever."

"I know what you meant," he assured. "I didn't at first-- you caught me a little off guard."

Austin offered a sheepish laugh. "Sorry."

He shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. "It's alright," he said, pausing for a moment before he asked, "You were just asking for reassurance, right?"

Nodding, he said,"I am still having a good time," and nervously added, "um, if you still are."

Tanner flashed a smile when their eyes locked. "I'm having a great time," he said, tilting his head to the side. "So, if you do wanna maybe do this again sometime--"

"I-I'd love to," he said, rubbing his neck and praising whoever was listening that the course of conversation had been redirected onto the right road.

So easily, so swiftly, so freely, Tanner's lips fell into that characteristically charming smile. "Then let's do it."

"Okay," he agreed, smiling at the flourish in his chest.

Abruptly, Tanner's expression shifted into something terribly serious and he narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows and leaned forward on the table, dropping his voice as he watched Austin. "Really?" He asked, his voice flooded with sportive doubt.

Austin, watched him with wide, apprehensive eyes, flushed and grinned sheepishly, ever grateful for the feeling of relief that filled up the hole in his stomach. "Shut up."

He fell back against the booth again with a triumphant laugh. "What are you doing after our next shift?"

"No plans," he shrugged.

Tanner nodded contemplatively. "Then let's go for a walk," he said. "We can go to the beach. It'll be nice in the evening."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah, I love the beach."

Actually, for someone who lived so close to it, Austin was very indifferent to the beach, but he knew how much time Tanner spent there. Sometimes he spotted him playing volleyball with some of the more popular kids at their school or splashing around with pretty girls in the ocean or surfing with his friends. It wasn't really his scene and he wondered how much Tanner knew this, but if he meant that they could spend more time together, then who was he to refuse?

"So I can take your word for it?" Tanner asked him.

"Totally," Austin said, "but maybe we should talk about this on the way back to work."

"Oh, right," Tanner said. "We should probably get going."

"Thanks again for lunch," Austin said, glancing at Tanner as they slid out of the booth and exited the diner with a wave and calls of thanks to the waitress who served them.

"Hey, no problem," he said, slinging a sturdy arm around Austin's shoulders as they sauntered back to work. "I'm looking forward to the beach now."

"Me, too," Austin admitted, smiling at the ground when he felt Tanner's eyes on him.

"And who knows? If you decide you're having a good time," he teased, "then maybe after that I should take you on a real date."

That beautiful rush of confidence washed over him again and fizzled inside his stomach. "Maybe you should."

NOTE

Thanks so much for reading, I hope you're enjoying the story so far! I hope the pacing is okay as this is my first time sticking to a project in a dreadfully long time, despite it only being a short one. The story is now around a 1/3 of the way finished and most of the chapters have been written already, can't wait to publish them!

Anyway, thank you again for reading and I hope you continue this journey with me :') remember to vote and comment to let me know what you think!

NEXT UPDATE

Sunday. 08. August. 2021.