NO Love Club (Boy × Boy) ✔

56) BRO, PAL, BUDDY, LAD, AMIGO.

Cole Walker's POV 

Wilder, X and Noah were waiting for us by the entrance of an ice cream shop. X's face brightened the moment he saw me, and I knew mine did the same. Noah barely acknowledged us in any way, he just lifted his gaze from his phone and gave his head a slight nod. Wilder, then, well, was so excited that he started jumping up and down.

"Finally!" He shouted so loud people turned to stare at him. I wish I could say his excitement was because of Declan, but likely it had more to do with his craving for ice cream. For a second or two, I felt bad for Declan, but then I spotted the goofy grin on his lips. Wilder scooped him under his arm and said to him: "I need ice cream right now, bro."

"Bro? I thought you.." Declan muttered to himself, but then just gave Wilder his game-on look. "Are you sure you can afford it, pal?"

"Well, fuck you, buddy." Wilder cursed and laughed as he flicked Declan's nose with his forefinger. I wonder when exactly they had gotten so close that Declan could joke about Wilder's poor family, without getting punched instead of flicked in the face.

"Maybe I should pay yours too, amigo." Declan teased, poking at Wilder's side. X and I changed looks, and I knew my jaw was hanging just as open as his was. Noah shrugged and slipped his phone back into his pocket. 

"Don't you fucking dare, you rich brat." Wilder warned Declan, pulling him into a deadlock with his arm around Declan's middle. "Oh, wait, sorry, champ."

"Are they fighting, or..?" X whispered into my ear, his eyes darting from Declan to Wilder and back. As I watched Wilder ruffling Declan's hair rather forcefully, I made to step forward. But then Wilder let go of him and they both grinned.

"Let's just get ice cream." Noah surprised us by opening his mouth. Apparently enough to even shut Wilder and Declan up, and make them follow him to the ice cream shop like two well-trained sheep. 

We soon found out that Noah didn't play around when it came to ice cream. It was the first thing I had ever seen him to be truly enthusiastic about. He spent ten minutes just choosing the flavors, then half as long to pick the toppings. In his monstrous creation were a scoop of mint chocolate chip, cookies & cream and salted caramel ice creams, topped with hot fudge, pecans, gummy bears and Oreos. When he saw X taking just a scoop of plain vanilla ice cream, he shook his head in utter disbelief. 

We found a free booth from a secluded corner of the ice cream shop. I watched Noah stuffing a heaping spoonful of ice cream in his mouth even before sitting down. He smiled with his eyes closed, even humming a tiny approval for his mouthful. Wilder stared at him with a huge, toothy grin, like he had been waiting for this moment more than actually craving for ice cream. 

I had a scoop of dark chocolate ice cream with milk chocolate topping and white chocolate chips, because it was one of those can't-get-enough-of-chocolate days. I could practically hear all the chocolate and vanilla comments Declan was holding back, but didn't dare to say out loud in fear of pissing me off. Fortunately, even he knew to keep his mouth shut at times.

"Here, you have to have some of mine." I told X, gathering a perfect ratio of ice cream, topping and chocolate chips in my spoon and shoving it in front of his face.

"No, I don't want anything weird.." X objected, pursing his lips into a firm line and leaning away from me and my spoon. I could almost swear he paled as well, or at least his dark skin turned a shade grayer.

"Chocolate ice cream is too weird for you?" Declan sneered, stuffing a spoonful of colorful ice cream into his mouth. The flavor was called Unicorn, but I doubt it actually tasted like a sparkling horse.