a little collection

40

Very very very loosely based on End of the F***ing World

Noah's weird. He never talked much, and he always went along with what I did. Rarely ever questioned it. Until now, as we lay on the beach as clouds create a haze over the glowing moon.

"Why did I choose to go along with you all these months?" He asks, not tearing his eyes away from the sky.

"You never stopped yourself. You just went along with it. I always figured you'd leave once you were bored or sick of me."

"May, there was never a single moment where I was ready to stop myself and leave you. A few short months ago, I was just a shut in who didn't have any friends and ditched classes. But once you came in, that was the starting point."

"To what?"

"To something greater than what I had laid out for me. Grow up, take over my dads shop, and then just die. But you showed me that that wasn't my only option. We've explored, we've watched each other at our worst and best moments. I just didn't expect you to like me for who I was then."

"I liked you then because you weren't like everyone else. You never spewed bullshit and were just....there. But when you spoke about things in class during discussions, it was something else. You always had a unique opinion and you just stuck out."

"What about now?"

"Now that you've come out of your shell, it's like a different person came out. The biggest thing I've learned about you is that you have a smile. You have animation. It's like you're a box at Christmas that seems strange but it's filled with the best gifts ever. But you've also become the boy I've come to love now." I freeze, and he props himself onto one elbow, creating a divot in the sand.

"What was that?" He asks, raising his eyebrows.

"What?" I try to play it off. But he's smart.

"That last bit? When you said-"

"Noah, I love you." I burst, and if I could take a photo of the smile that blooms over the boy's face, I would.