Star-Crossed ✔️

14

- 14 -

I was out of shape.

That much was clear as I struggled to keep up with Noah's quick movements. I worked out a lot during the break between tours, but once we hit the road I didn't take care of myself at all.

When Noah told me he wanted to go hiking an hour and a half out from Charlotte, where my first show in North Carolina was, I almost said no. I couldn't think of a worse way to spend my time off. Wasn't it enough to face it one of my biggest fears at Six Flags last week?

"Russo," I huffed, "I need a second."

He turned around and grinned at me. There was a few beads of sweat gliding down his forehead, but he didn't seem fazed. "Can't handle a little exercise, Thorne?" Noah laughed, striding back towards me as I fell onto the ground with a thud.

"Not this kind," I breathed, digging my water bottle out of the side pocket of my backpack. "What do you say we head back early and grab some greasy food?"

"Not a chance. I want to get to the top and take pictures," he said, grabbing his own water bottle. I blew air past my lips and sighed. "Come on, you big baby. You wanna know why I love this so much?"

I glanced at him. He looked pleased as punch, his eyes darting around the greenery surrounding us. We were hardly a quarter of the way up and there wasn't much to see yet. Thick brush on either side of us, small trees and bushes with a small paved trail between. Sure, the view would be worth it in the end, but it was hot and there were bugs and I was sweaty.

"What?" I grumbled.

He gestured around us. "This is the first thing we've done where we haven't been recognized. I mean, hell, we haven't seen a single person since entering the state park!"

That was true. It was nice to walk around freely without someone stopping us for pictures.

"You're right. Sorry," I said, pushing myself back up to full height. "Let's do this shit."

Noah seemed pleased with getting his way, a small smile on his lips. He joined me and we went back to walking. I cleared my head while we hiked. I'll give it to Noah, this was the perfect way to lay down all my shit and try to figure out what to do about my feelings for Noah.

I was positive it was a fleeting attraction. All of the memories and endeavors from the past were probably rising to the top and I was feeling nostalgic. It was probably just a messy mix of my newfound sexuality, plus Noah's uncanny glow up in the past ten or so years, and a little bit of resurfaced fondness for the man. It was all of those things and more, I feared, and I wasn't sure what to do with it.

The honest thing to do would be to just talk to him about it. Maybe find out if he feels the same way. I was sure he didn't, but a guy could hope.

The dishonest thing to do would be to be to either push all of these feelings away and pretend they never existed, or to just YOLO it and make a move blindly. Neither of these sounded particularly effective, but it would likely be what would end up happening. Then I'd probably ruin things between us since that was my specialty.

But what would come of it? I tell Noah how I've been feeling, we fuck, then live happily ever after? It wasn't realistic.

By the time we made it to the top of the trail before we double back down the mountain, we had both long abandoned our shirts. I could feel the sweat dripping down my back, soaking the waistband of my joggers. Noah looked like the heat didn't even bother him. Maybe it didn't, since we both smothered ourselves in sunscreen this time. As it turned out, baking under hundreds of spotlights wasn't ideal when your skin was blistered ahead of time from the sun.