What Happens on the Fourth

FRIDAY THE FOURTH

"Be honest with me, Brooks," Max sat himself down next to me at the fire later that night. I had walked straight from Max's camper to the fire and ate dinner, Alex joining shortly after to not arouse suspicion after our heated shower session. He had kept his distance but shot me a subtle wink from across the fire, sitting next to Matt and Sam. Luckily, no one had suspected anything. Kate had asked if Alex was still cleaning up when I appeared, and I only nodded and made the comment that he had proved he could be a gentleman and had let me use the shower first.

Max leaned closer to me, whispering so only I could hear him. "Did you fuck him in my shower?" I raised my beer bottle to my lips, giving him a quick side-eye, but no verbal answer. "My God. You two are no better than wild animals."

"Keep your voice down," I mumbled. He only shook his head with a chuckle.

"You're lucky I wasn't planning on showering again before leaving."

"Would you really care?"

He contemplated for a moment before shrugging and saying, "no, probably not." I rolled my eyes.

My attention was snagged away from Max briefly when I spotted Daniel pull Kate to her feet. He entwined their fingers and began leading her to the lake's sandy shore. I could've sworn I saw his hand shaking nervously and he glanced at me as they walked away, throwing me a tight-lipped smile. Something in my stomach flipped in excitement for them, but I only shot him an encouraging thumbs up.

Max noted where my attention had gone. "What is that about?"

"I think he's about to propose," I quietly answered. Max's eyebrows shot up.

"Wait, really?" I nodded. "Should we go watch?"

"No-" I answered before he could finish the question. Despite actually wanting to witness the most exciting moment of my best friend's life, I knew Daniel had planned this out specifically and he wanted to be alone. "Let them have this moment for themselves. Besides, the fireworks are about to start, I think." I pointed to Matt, who had abandoned his conversation with Sam and Alex across the fire to set up the explosives on the other side of the site.

"Oh, shit- I'm supposed to be helping him," Max mumbled before pushing himself up and briskly walking away. I couldn't help but laugh as I watched him jog off towards Matt.

"Hey," my attention snapped to Alex, who had suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Hey," I smiled.

"Do you want to-" he cleared his throat. "I have a-" he nervously scratched at his ear before pointing at something behind me. I turned, noticing that he had been motioning to the swinging bench seat that sat near the pavilion- barley illuminated being so far from the fire. Blankets and a few pillows had been thrown on it, and a small table in front housed a plate of hot dogs and what looked like strawberries.

I heard Alex sigh and turned back to him. "I thought the view of the fireworks would be best back there- if you wanted to join." The corner of my mouth tipped up at his attempted casual request.

"Sure," I said, and he gave me a nonchalant, male smirk before offering me a hand. He pulled me out of my seat when I took it, but quickly dropped my hand after and led me to the swing. At the back of the group, no one turned to look at us- no one even noticed us tucked away in the dark of the night.

Alex pulled the blanket over our laps after we sat and leaned forward to grab the plate of what was indeed strawberries. He handed me that as well as a wine cooler that he must have pulled from Amanda's fridge.

"I was going for the romance of wine, cheese, and berries... but this was the best I could do," he lightly joked, and I couldn't help but smile.

"This is perfect," I took a sip of the pink drink. "Thank you," my eyes locked with his and something sparkled in the dim light from the distant fire. He cleared his throat and pulled his gaze from mine, grabbing his beer bottle and tipping it towards me. I clicked my glass with his in cheers and we both took another gulp.

A loud boom drew our attention to the night sky and an explosion of blue and red lit up both of our faces. Splashes of colors broke through the darkness in timed blasts and I watched in awe at the money that Max had no doubt blown on them. I almost couldn't help but think it was worth it as I gaped at the beautiful display.

I flinched when Alex's fingers lightly grazed my thigh beneath the blanket. He rested them just above my knee and I looked at his face to see him still gazing up at the sky. Upon feeling my gaze on him, however, he glanced over to me, his eyes locking with mine. To my surprise, they didn't drop to my lips or body like they usually did- and I could have sworn a faint blush began flooding his cheeks.

He didn't lean in as we just wordlessly stared at each other. The fireworks detonating the sky lit his face up in flashes of pink and green and blue- reminding me of some sort of intricate painting... and I couldn't look away.

The corner of his lip tipped up in a gentle smile, pushing that infuriating dimple into his cheek, and suddenly I didn't care who knew about us. I didn't care who saw- I wanted to kiss him.

Right here, right now, under the fireworks that illuminated him like a work of art, I wanted

to kiss him- so I did.

I angled my face up, placing a light hand on his cheek to pull his face to mine, and kissed him. It wasn't hungry and frantic and needy- his tongue didn't immediately push against my teeth and his hand against my ass. Instead, he buried his free hand in the hair at the nape of my neck as his lips moved gently against mine and his thumb stroked calming circles on my knee.

It lasted only a secondor two, but in that second, I felt things change, at least for me, and when hepulled away, his hazel eyes again meeting mine- I knew I was screwed