A Scenic Connection (BoyxBoy)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I sat on the log next to the fire pit after I had finished breakfast. Everyone had remained silent as they finished. Izzie and Sam decided to go for a walk with Alex and Chloe and Brooke. Paisley, April, Zaiden and Hadley stayed behind and eventually joined me. Clouds started filling the sky until eventually the sun disappeared. 

"So, uh...is everyone enjoying themselves?' April nervously asked. She bit her lip when we all just looked at her. I sighed.

"I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to make it weird for all of you. The last thing I wanted was to be the...center of attention,"  I said. Hadley pursed her lips before replying. 

"I'm sorry Grif," she said, putting her hand on my shoulder. 

"What did you do Hadley?" Zaiden asked in surprise.

"Well for starters, I forced him to come," she replied, motioning towards me. 

"Oh. You didn't want to?" He asked, turning his attention to me, his eyebrows raised expectantly. 

"It's not that. It's just...." I stammered, searching for the right words. "I don't have the easiest time making friends with people obviously." I threw my hands up in defeat. "I mean then I feel like I start to break that cycle and then it goes and gets ruined," I explained. He nodded slowly. 

"I get that, I mean, I think we're all that way at least a little bit," he replied. 

"Really?" I asked. He smiled brightly.

"Definitely," he replied kindly. 

"You made friends with me," Paisley chimed in. "Even if I...well I-I..you may not know me super well yet but still." I smiled at her. 

"Thanks," I said quietly. "Now if only I wasn't so confused," I explained. 

"You mean about Tyce?" April asked. Everyone looked over at her. I groaned. 

"My god, was it really that obvious?" I questioned. Everyone nodded. "Well why didn't you guys ever say anything?" I demanded. They stayed silent. 

"Well, I mean I just barely met you not long ago," Paisley shrugged innocently. I focused on April and Zaiden. 

"Griffin, it's no big deal. Honestly, I think we figured you'd tell us when you wanted to. We didn't want to push it," he said, looking to April for reassurance. She nodded. 

"I mean, so you like guys, who cares? I mean so do I!" She laughed at herself, causing everyone else to chuckle. 

"Did you really think we would care?" Zaiden said, still smiling. 

"I mean, I don't know. I guess I just didn't know how you'd feel about it. I mean, everyone says they don't mind and what not, but you never really know how someone is going to handle it when someone they actually know is gay," I said, shrugging my shoulders a little. 

"I'm here to tell you Griffin, I don't mind at all. It's actually awesome," Zaiden said, clapping me on the back. Hadley giggled. 

"And I'm not mad at you Hadley, it's just..." I trailed off, looking over in the direction of my tent. "I don't need to be pushed." 

"With respect Grif, sometimes you do," she said, looking into my eyes when I turned back to face her. "We all do." I nodded. 

"Maybe, but I don't want to rush into anything. If something happens, it happens," I replied. 

"You two just need to talk, and I mean really talk. Hear him out completely. It may not be great to hear, but it's better than not knowing," Hadley said. I nodded. 

"Yeah, you're right. But let me do this myself. No help," I said, pointing at her. She giggled some more. 

"Okay, okay I'll try to keep my two cents to myself," she said, throwing her hands up in surrender. 

"Now that we've got all that cleared up," Zaiden interjected, standing up. "Who's thirsty? I'm gonna go get something from the cooler. "Anyone wanna play volleyball? I brought a net?" He asked, looking around. 

"Sure, sounds like fun," I replied. 

"Damn though, there's only five of us," April said. 

"That's okay. One of us can sit out, or we could do girls against boys?" Hadley smirked. 

"Very funny Hadley," Zaiden told her. I scoffed. 

"What? You don't think we can take them?" I said confidently.

"Ohhh look at you big shot," April said. 

"Okay, I say let's do it. C'mon Grif, let's do this. Help me set the net up!" Zaiden said, grinning widely as we made our way over to the car and opened the back hatch.

Once we got the net in place, Zaiden, ever the gentleman, gave April the ball to serve first. 

"You ready for this?" She called over to Zaiden and I. 

"As ready as we'll ever be!" I shouted back at her. She served the ball, causing it to sail in a high arc up into the air and over the net towards us, Zaiden and I scrambled to hit it back up. I spiked the ball and then he knocked it back to their side. The girl's passed it around before Hadley batted it back over the net to us. I lost my balance and stumbled slightly, and Zaiden didn't quite reach the ball in time before it slammed into the ground. 

"What now!" Hadley called. 

"One, nothing," Paisley cheered. Suddenly her expression changed slightly.

"Mind if I join?" Came a voice from over my right shoulder. I knew immediately who it was. I turned around quickly.

"Hey," I said quietly. "How're you feeling?"

"Better," Tyce replied. He looked over at Zaiden for an answer.

"Sure. It's guys versus girls," He explained. "They just scored the first point." 

"The first of many!" April teased him. Zaiden just pulled a face at her. 

"Sweet," Tyce said, standing behind me a little bit. 

"Okay, we're ready!" I called over to April who was preparing to serve the ball again. "You're not gonna get so lucky this time. She scoffed before serving the ball. It once again sailed over the net, but Tyce was right there to smack it back. He hit it hard enough that it easily cleared the net and was back over to the girls' side. Hadley dove for it, falling into the dirt as she hit the ball straight up into the air at the last second. Paisley ran up to smack it and she hit it hard, but it sailed directly into the net before falling to the ground. 

"Nice!" Zaiden said, high-fiving Tyce. We played a few more rounds, and eventually we were leading the girls 5-2. I was desperately trying to hit the ball and I did, punching it up into the sky. It was just short of going over the net, but Tyce covered for me and hit it the rest of the way over just before it landed. 

"Almost got it," he grinned, reaching his hand down to help me up. I looked at him hesitantly before grabbing his hand. He hoisted me off the ground. "You're pretty good at this."

"You're better," I said, giving him a small smile. I reached down and brushed myself off.