On A Night Like This

Chapter Fourteen

-Dylan-

He kept his eyes closed as Jayce stroked his hair, partly because it felt good and partly because he didn't want Jayce to see the tears in his eyes. He couldn't believe someone actually liked him and wanted to kiss him or touch him in any way.

After everything he'd told Jayce about his past, Jayce still accepted him. He'd always thought that if his appearance didn't scare someone away, his lack of a loving family and having no friends would.

The longer he kept his eyes closed, the more he felt like falling asleep. He was tired from the rollercoaster of emotions he'd experienced today - concern and guilt over Jayce falling into a tree well, hope when Jayce confessed he liked him too, shame and inadequacy about not having any experience kissing anyone, fear over Jayce's reaction to his pathetic past, and then absolute contentment laying here with Jayce.

But he forced himself to open his eyes. He didn't want to fall asleep and then wake up to find this was all a dream. He didn't want Jayce to disappear.

Eventually, Jayce broke the silence. He never could stay quiet for long. "I want to know more about you," he murmured. "You've kind of been a mystery since day one."

"There's not a lot to know," Dylan replied. He knew his life wasn't interesting. It was boring and lonely most of the time.

"That's not true. There are a lot of questions I want to ask you. But we can start simple. What's your favorite color?"

Dylan couldn't help but snort in laughter. He'd been expecting a question about his rough childhood or something equally as serious. Leave it to Jayce to keep the mood light.

"Yellow," he replied. "Larch trees are my favorite type of tree and all year I look forward to their needles turning yellow and gold."

"They are beautiful," Jayce agreed. "And you'd look great in yellow. A mustard yellow would go really well with your hair and beard."

"Thanks," Dylan grunted. It still felt awkward hearing anything nice about himself. "What's your favorite color?"

"Red. It's bold, unlike me."

"Attempting to backpack the North Cascades with no experience was bold."

Jayce laughed. "I guess you have a point. It's probably the only bold thing I've ever done in my life, and look how it turned out."

Dylan knew it was selfish, but deep down he was grateful that Jayce had stumbled blindly into the wilderness and gotten lost. If that hadn't happened, he wouldn't have a friend, and he probably would have gone the rest of his life without kissing anyone.

"Do you like morning or night better?" Jayce asked, changing the topic.

"Morning. It's peaceful. Most people aren't awake yet."

"I'm more of a night person. It can be peaceful in its own way. I've always liked looking at the moon and stars, and Seattle is pretty at night."

"I've only been to Seattle once," Dylan admitted.

"Really? Even though you grew up in Washington?"

Dylan was silent for a few seconds before answering. "Yeah. It's a lot of people, and I try to stay in places without many people."

"That makes sense," Jayce said, still stroking Dylan's hair. "But how did you turn out so kind and smart when you were isolated from people? Wait, maybe that's a rude question. Forget I asked."

"It's okay. You give me too much credit though. I'm not kind or smart."

"You are," Jayce insisted. "Yeah, you're a little rough around the edges and intimidating, but you've done a lot for me. Even little things you didn't have to do. And you're reading about environmental stuff in your spare time. Most people wouldn't do that."