Fragments of His Being | ✓

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Cody and Quinn had taken a bus a little out of their small town to go to the free-range farm animal petting zoo run by a group of farmers. It was late in the afternoon, and the sun shone down blinding rays. Cody and Quinn were hiding from the heat and brightness under one of the four canopies that were set up. They watched the peacocks wander about, pecking the ground for grains from under the shade.

Cody giggled, "It's beautiful." The boy looked at the bird that had walked close to them to pick at the feed they'd been pouring on the ground.

Quinn smiled, happy that Cody was having fun. "Yeah," he said, looking at the chickens in distance. When Cody had said yes to going on a date with him, he had been surprised, but he had clenched on to it. The next day he had been surprised to see Cody covered in bruises, but the smaller boy had smiled at him and asked when and where they would be going for the date, ignoring the fact that a section of his face was swollen and turning a nasty pink.

Quinn let himself turn to look at Cody. The smaller boy was grinning from ear to ear as a bird scavenged the soil close to him. The sight of his happiness made Quinn's face and ears grow warm. He was happy Cody was having so much fun. Going to the petting zoo had been something he had thought of last minute. He knew Cody liked animals, and he had some loose change to buy two entry tickets. After a while of them just standing under the shade they left it to walk around. When evening drew close the two boys left the petting zoo and started heading home.

"How was it?" Quinn asked when they got down from the bus and started on their half an hour walk home.

Cody smiled. "It was great!" His voice had a cute skip to it.

"I'm happy to hear that," Quinn said, stretching out his hand, and brushing Cody's arm with his fingertips. "Can I hold your hand? No one really uses this path, so there's nothing to worry about," Quinn said, feeling his voice tremble. He was still nervous about coming on to Cody. He wasn't sure where his feelings drew a line.

Cody stared down at Quinn's darker hand for a bit, before reaching out to hold it. He gave it a squeeze that made Quinn smile. The two continued to head on their way, hand in hand.

Cody's face grew warm with every passing second. Quinn's larger hand was warm and firm, and it made his smaller hand feel safe in its grasp. Quinn didn't let go of his hand even when they got to a more crowded area, but Cody didn't ask for him to let go of it. If Quinn was fine with people seeing them, he was fine with it too.

"We should get something to eat at the convenience store, how's that?" Quinn said when he noticed that they would soon have to part ways. He didn't want that. He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Quinn.

Cody nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." Quinn smiled, and with that, the two boys turned at the fork of the road to head to the nearby convenience store.

Quinn let go of Cody's hand at the door. "I'll be out soon," he promised.

"Okay," Cody muttered, watching as Quinn grinned before disappearing through the store's door. Cody waits at the side, resting his back on the wall.

Quinn, true to his word, was out in five minutes. "Here," he said, tossing a bottle of soft drink at Cody's direction.

The boy catches it. "Thank you," he said, looking over at Quinn who just grinned at him. The two went to the stairs at the back of the store to sit down. They sipped from their bottles in silence, not saying anything to each other as they watched the sun begin to set from their seats on the concrete staircase. They soon finished their drink, but none of them got up. They didn't want to part.

"You're smiling," Quinn said, making Cody turn and look up at him. He covered his cheeks, watching the grin on Quinn's face widen.

Cody's eyes flickered away from Quinn "Yeah," he muttered feeling his face warm up.