Barista Boy (boyxboy)

FOURTEEN

"I'm not mad."

Zayden and Landon were sitting at a small table eating Panda Express in the food court. Zayden was in the middle of eating a slice of pizza and placed it down when Landon spoke.

"What?"

Landon looked up and met his boyfriend's brown gaze, "In the car. I'm not mad. It's just... difficult to get into, I guess."

Zayden nodded, "It's cool. I shouldn't have pushed. I get it, I have a lot of family shit that I don't tell people."

Landon flashed a small smile before taking a sip of his soda. Zayden smiled back and finished off his pizza, leaning back in his seat as he watched Landon set down his cup.

"What?" The boy held a hand over his mouth, suddenly self-conscious about whether or not he had something on his face.

Zayden shrugged, "Nothing. You're just adorable."

Landon blushed and rubbed his cheek, glancing around the court. "You're such a weirdo."

The taller male smirked before gathering his trash and crumbling it all. He grabbed Landon's empty food wrapper and threw it all away before picking up their bags from the ground beside the table. Landon wanted to help but Zayden only let him hold one, claiming he doesn't have to do anything.

The two began their walk through the part of the mall they had yet to explore. Zayden followed behind the excited birthday boy as he practically skipped through the large building.

Suddenly, his eyes got caught at one certain store. A jewelry store. Zayden followed Landon's gaze and raised a brow.

"You want to go in there?" Zayden asked.

Landon bit his lip as he hesitantly nodded at the older male. Zayden smiled and gestured for Landon to go in, following as the boy happily walked inside.

Landon made his way around the store. Looking at the different rings. He was never one for jewelry but after Zayden gave him his gold ring for the day, he liked the feeling.

"These are cool," Landon pressed his finger to the display case, referring to a row of gold and silver, plain rings like the one he had on. There were no designs in the ring. The one he was wearing and the ones in the display case. Which is the reason he liked them.

A young male came up to them from behind the counter, "Would you like one of these rings?"

Landon looked up, index still pressed to the glass, and slowly nodded. "H-How much are they?"

"Well, these," the man looked at the rings as he pointed them out, "are 10 karat gold. And the rest are a bit more, do you want to hear them?"

"Oh uh, n-no th-"

"That'd be great." Zayden nodded to the man with a confident smile, something that made Landon feel uneasy. Not the smile but the statement.

The smaller male turned around to face Zayden who stood right behind him, "Zay, no. It's okay. It's too much."

The older male smiled fondly at the other, "Right now, for you, I have all the money in the world. Now turn around and pick what you want."

Zayden looked up at the worker behind the counter, "What about these?" He freed one arm by setting the bags on his right arm on the ground before pointing to a row on the furthest right side.

The column on rings Zayden pointed to had small diamonds in them, the rings themselves were gold and a few silver.

The worker read out the prices, each one getting more and more expensive but none of the numbers phased Zayden. He... had a lot of money, after all. Landon seemed to flinch after every syllable but eventually, his eyes stopped on one ring.