Pride

Prologue

Arran was fourteen when he had his first kiss. He knew not many people had a good experience their first time... He had heard stories from his and his brother's friends that had made him anxious for when he finally kissed a girl. The thought of a girl shoving her tongue down his throat grossed him out. Teeth clanking together, awkwardly missing the person's lips as a whole, not turning the right direction... There were a million ways it could have gone wrong. But it was perfect... And with his best friend.

Two boys sat across from one another on Arran's bed, a bottle of tequila between the two. The first had messy and untamed blonde curls and pretty green eyes. He had dimples and a crooked smile that always suggested a hidden meaning to his words. Arran always wore simple clothes and liked to stick to a typical bad boy act like his brother. Because being like Christian, although he was a pain in his ass, was the easiest way to pass as normal... Especially in a place like Aspen Hollows.

The second was much prettier in Arran's opinion. He had beautifully tanned skin and a mop of much more tamed curls. He had pretty dark eyes and a permanent, white smile lay on his lips. He always wore old t-shirts he'd find in thrift shops around town or jeans with patches he had sewn on himself. Emrys was Arran's best friend for as long as Arran could remember. The two boys grew up just down the road from one another and had started off as playmates. Now they were inseparable.

"Okay... Let's start off easy I guess. When's my birthday?" Emrys grinned.

"That's too easy. August twenty-eighth" Arran snorted. He'd never forget it... Every year Emrys and his family took Arran camping with them. "What's my dream car?"

"A nineteen-seventy Chevy Impala is your realistic one but if you had free pick you'd grab the first Corvet you saw" Emrys rolled his eyes at that. Emrys had no real interest in cars, but he had learned enough about them from Arran. Especially since Arran's dad worked on them for a living. "Let's try something a bit harder... Who's my favorite sibling?"

"Pheobe" Arran rolled his eyes. "Next time give me a hard one... Which bone was my first broken bone?"

"You broke your arm when we were eight after Christian pushed you off the shed roof" Emrys chuckled. His dark eyes nervously flicked down to the bottle. "A hard one?"

"Yes. It's not fun if neither of us drinks" Arran scoffed.

"Okay, okay... Who do I have a crush on?" Emrys quietly asked.

"Nobody" Arran rolled his eyes. "Seriously, I said a hard one"

"Drink" Emrys chuckled, teasingly shoving Arran's shoulder.

"What? Who?" Arran demanded. Emrys shrugged with a bright smirk on his lips. Arran rolled his eyes and reached for the tequila. If Emrys liked someone, he always told Arran. Hell, if Emrys as much stepped on a daisy or bought a new shirt he told Arran. So him not saying anything was just weird... Arran brought the bottle to his lips, taking a quick and burning drink before wrinkling his nose in distaste. How the hell did his dad willingly drink that crap?

"Your turn" Emrys chuckled.

"I'm proposing a new game... Instead of guessing the answers to questions we already know, we ask each other questions we don't know. If you don't want to answer, you have to drink" Arran decided. Emrys hesitated before giving in.

"Okay then. You go first" Emrys decided.

"Who do you like?" Emrys wasted no time reaching for the bottle and taking a drink. Arran couldn't help laughing as the boy's face contorted into one of disgust and he resisted the urge to cough. Emrys didn't drink at all. He had a sip of wine or beer on the occasion, but never something so strong. "This should be fun" Arran hummed making Emrys scowl.