It Takes Two | ✓

Chapter 17

Gabe was laying on his bed, playing a game of Tetris on his phone, when Trist entered the room, shut the door behind himself, and leant back against it. Gabe heard the sound of his Tetris game coming to an end as they made eye contact.

What was going on? Trist was just staring at him, frowning. Was he angry about something?

Gabe was just about to ask what was wrong when Trist finally spoke. "We should go on a date."

Gabe tried to hold in a snicker, failed, and then he was curled up on the bed, full on laughing.

"Well, okay then," Trist said as he pushed away from the door and turned to leave.

"No, no, Trist, I'm sorry!" Gabe said. "You just sounded so serious."

Trist still looked on the precipice of storming off. "I was serious, but whatever."

"I know, I just. I thought something was wrong. I thought you were angry. I was just relieved, that's all. Of course I want to go on a date with you."

Trist still looked like he wasn't quite sure he believed that, but he leant back against the door. "Hmm. Okay."

"Did you have any particular plans, or...?"

"I'm going to take you hiking."

"Oh! Cool, that sounds fun. Uh, I don't have any hiking boots, though. Just like... a cheap pair of trainers. Will that be okay?"

"Oh, you didn't think I actually knew anything about hiking, did you?" Trist shrugged and offered him a tiny hint of a smile. "I figured we'd just go to one of those trails where people take their little kids. Nothing too extreme. I really just wanted to do something away from other people, and I don't know. Being out in nature together seems to work well for us."

"I agree. When are we going?"

"Right now. Put your shoes on."

Gabe just stared at him. He couldn't tell if he was serious. "Really?"

"You don't want to?"

"No, I— of course." Gabe sat up properly and started looking around for his shoes. "I just wasn't expecting to go straight from planning to go on a date to actually going on a date."

Trist found Gabe's shoes and handed them to him. "I kind of end up getting inside my own head and overthinking things sometimes. Not giving myself any time to do that helps. I thought up this whole date idea ten minutes ago when I was in the shower."

"I'm sorry I laughed at you. Really."

"It's okay. I did kind of just walk in here and glare at you. Probably not how you're supposed to go about asking someone out."

"I mean, probably not, but nobody's ever asked me out before so what do I know?"

"I like to set expectations real low so that when I fail to meet them, it's not by too much." Trist opened up the closet and found an empty backpack. "I am going to go get us some water and snacks, though. There's some sunscreen in the bathroom. You should slather that on thick so that your ginger ass doesn't fry."

"Hey! My hair is nowhere close to ginger. It's auburn."

"You've got fair, freckly skin. You're going to spend five minutes outside, get skin cancer, and die."

"Oh, no, that part I agree with and I'm going to slather that sunblock on thick and bring the bottle with us in case I need a top up. But my hair is auburn."

"I'm glad we clarified that important point. Meet me in the living room when you're ready."

Gabe went to the bathroom and carefully covered every inch of his exposed skin in sunscreen, messed with his hair a bit, and then headed out into the living room to join Trist.