Adam Grey is a second-year university student, part-time employee at his local garage, severely sleep-deprived and sick of his neighbour's shit.
After three months of constantly listening to his neighbour blare dubstep at 2am, Adam enlists the help...
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Adam sat on the bench a little ways from the fountain. His knee jerked up and down as a sea of students passed by him on the sidewalk, each one of them absorbed in their conversations and completely oblivious to his anguish.
He fiddled with his phone in his hands, never tearing his gaze away from the centre of the quad. Cole's last class had ended five minutes ago so he should be making an appearance any second now.
Adam checked his phone again. He hadn't said much in his text thread with Cole because he wanted this conversation to be in person. He owed Cole that much at least.
Speak of the devil.
The crowd thinned out and Cole came into view, striding across the quad with an air of natural confidence Adam had never seen in anyone else. He carried no books despite the fact that he'd just come from class.
Adam watched as he approached, and he wasn't the only one. Other students glanced over as Cole passed by in their peripherals, many of their gazes filled with curiosity or something akin to admiration. Adam had almost forgotten how naturally Cole commanded presence on his own.
Adam watched as Cole removed his sunglasses and folded them one-handed into his chest pocket. He wore his usual black-on-black ensemble today: denim coat with fur lining, a hoodie underneath, jeans, boots and his signature set of rings in mixed assortments across both hands.
The sight was enough to have Adam stumbling over his next words as soon as Cole reached the bench. "I-I want to take you out!"
The other boy raised a dark eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
Adam stood, ignoring the height difference as he felt small enough already. "The other night, you took me out, right? I-I want to do the same for you."
Cole smirked. "Like a date?"
Adam blushed. "Y-yeah. That."
Cole pulled his phone from his pocket. "Your text was unsuitably vague in that case."
"I'm sorry." Adam looked down. "I realise now how that sounded. I didn't mean anything ominous by it."
Cole waved him off. "It's fine. At least I know now that nobody died."
"Yeah, no, nobody died or anything. It's fine. Cool..." Adam trailed off, the blush on his cheeks deepening.
Cole cocked his head as he gazed at the other boy. "So, what did you have in mind?"
Adam's head snapped up. "Huh?"
"For our date."
"Oh, uh," the tips of Adam's ears flushed red. "I don't know?"
That startled a laugh out of Cole. He asked, not unkindly, "You want to take me on a date but have no idea what to do for said date?"
"Um, yes?"
Cole laughed again. "Okay."
Adam had to salvage this. "Uh, well, what do you like to do?"
The raven-haired boy shrugged, hands fanning out in his pockets. "I'm not picky."
Well, that didn't help Adam's predicament.
The thing was, Adam didn't do this often. Never, actually. He didn't talk to boys. He didn't kiss boys. And he certainly never asked pretty boys out on a date. But that's what he was doing now, and he was blowing it.
Piper had helped him prepare for this earlier. She'd insisted they role-play, an idea Adam shut down the second she lowered her voice by an octave and affected a brooding look. She'd offered places he could take Cole - dinner at a restaurant, bowling, the movies - but nothing had felt right to Adam, and it wasn't because he couldn't picture Cole doing any of those cliche date ideas, but because it didn't feel like him.
It didn't feel like...them.
And when had that happened, Adam wondered. Them. Collective. He and Cole. Together.
Piper had told him that he was putting too much pressure on himself but Adam disagreed. This was maybe the first thing that mattered in a long time and Adam needed it to be perfect.
But then Piper - beautiful, amazing, all-knowing Piper - had said the one thing that had Adam's heart faltering in his chest.
"He doesn't need roses and candlelit dinners," Piper said, watching as Adam paced back and forth across her kitchen floor two nights ago. "As long as it's you and him, things will be as perfect as you can imagine."
And didn't that have Adam at a loss.
"I think," Adam started, Cole across from him and watching as Adam found his words, "I want it to be a surprise."
Cole lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Alright, man. If that's what you want."
"Uh, Sunday?"
"Sunday's perfect."
"Cool, really cool." Adam muttered. "So, um, I'll text you then?"
"I look forward to it."
Adam nodded then, turning to leave. He made it three steps when Cole called his name. "And Adam?"
He turned.
Cole, still standing beside the bench, smirked in all his edgy James Dean glory. "Don't be a stranger, okay?"
