After Dark

Thirty-four

Liam woke up to the loud ringing of his phone. He groans while burying his face deeper into the pillow. Ian's leg was in between his two.

Ian also groans, his head coming to rest against Liam's shoulder. "Answer your phone. It's loud."

Liam mumbles things incoherently while reaching over to aimlessly grab at where the noise is coming from. When he doesn't grasp the device he finally opens his eyes to see he was just a millimeter off. He scoops the phone up and brings it up to his face. It's his mom.

With a sigh, Liam sits up. Ian's arm goes to lay in his lap and his leg stays wrapped up in Liam's. Liam hits answer and holds the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"William, where are you?"

He cringes at his mother's loud voice at eight in the morning. "I texted dad yesterday. I'm with a friend."

"Well get your ass home. Your sister is coming in from school today."

Liam's eyes widen. He rubs his eyes with his hand as to try and wipe the tiredness away. "Okay. I'll head home soon."

His mother doesn't say anything else, just hangs up. He looks at his phone screen to find he's running on twenty percent. With a sigh, he tosses the device down.

"Do you have to go?" Ian mumbles tiredly, sitting up.

"Yeah." Liam nods. "My sister is home for a visit."

"Okay." Ian leans over and kisses his jaw. "I'll take you home."

Liam starts to pick up his clothes from yesterday while Ian unzips the tent. Ian grabs their phones and turns off the lantern at the ceiling of the tent. They both begin to pull their shoes on at the same time.

They step out of their tent and the campsite looks deserted. Everyone else must still be asleep. Ian grips his hand and leads the way to the car.

"I'll come back and help them clean up after dropping you off." Ian says as they climb in the car. Liam nods. His hand rests on the center console and Ian's trails down his arm to reconnect them and intertwine their fingers. Liam feels his arm buzz. "I'm going to my mom's next weekend."

Liam perks up. "Does that mean you'll be at my house?"

"Yeah, Friday and Saturday night." Ian nods. "Maybe it's a little lame but wanna go on a date Friday night?"

Liam feels a blush spread across his face. "Uh- sure. What's your idea of a date?"

"I don't know. I was thinking we could go to Tangerine's and have milkshakes? Again, sorry it might be lame."

Liam smiles. "I like it."

I like you.

He wants to say it. The words seems so easy to say, hopping around in his head. He didn't really need all this time to think about it. He knew from that night they kissed that he likes Ian. He just didn't want to ruin his friendship. Now however, he's not so scared.

"Okay, good." Ian brings their hands up and kisses the back of Liam's. He looks over to the boy in the passenger seat with a little smirk. "So I'll be knocking at your window around ten then, does that work?"

Liam smiles, he nods. "Yeah, that works."

"Okay." Ian's grinning the rest of the drive back to his house. When they get there, he pulls into the driveway and puts the car in park. He looks over, letting go of Liam's hand and giving him a hopeful smile. "I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah." Liam nods, smiling softly. He opens the door and gets out. Just as he's about to shut it, he pauses. Quickly he ducks down to look back in the car and meets eyes with Ian again. "Hey Ian?"