Game, Set, Match

{24}

Nate

It's bordering midnight. There aren't a lot of people on the platform so we manage to sit alone in the train. Chase is looking out the window. The trees seem to blur into the dark night and the lights of the city seem to get closer and closer, but I'm not paying attention to what's on the other side of the window. I'm looking at him. His hand is still in mine. And I haven't been able to control myself ever since he's held it.

"Thanks." I say, breaking the comfortable silence that settled between us.

He smiles and turns to face me.

"For what?"

"For today. For this little date."

"This was hardly a date." He says and my cheeks burn with embarrassment. "Just wait till tomorrow, I'll take you on a real one." He smirks, kissing me on the cheek and turning back to the window. This time I blush for a different reason.

*

My mum grounds me for coming home later than she expected but forgets about it as soon as Chase is at my doorstep the next day. He tells her we're hanging out today and she calls me from my bedroom to ask if I'm ready. I've been ready for the past hour but of course I come down 5 minutes later, just to make it seem like I wasn't.

I smile when I see him.

"Bye Mum, we're leaving now." I say, ushering Chase out the door.

"Don't come home late again, you hear me? You've both got school tomorrow." She yells from the kitchen but I stop listening as soon as the door closes behind me.

"Calm down. I can practically see you jumping next to me." He doesn't even spare me a glance, he just continues walking down the street with a smirk on his lips.

"Sorry." I say bashfully. "I'm just excited."

"You're acting like you've never been on a date before."

"I've never been on a date with you before. Or a guy for that matter."

"Don't expect any surprises."

We continue walking down the street. I recognise the path immediately.

"We're-"

"-going to the cinema." Chase finishes. "I figured we could watch that new action movie."

"Awesome." I reply, casually walking down the street by Chase's side, wondering when he's going to hold my hand again.

When the lights turn off in the cinema. That's when he holds my hand again.

*

"That movie was amazing." I say, forgetting about the fries that are currently in my mouth.

"Yeah. Probably in my top 5 films."

"Oh yeah, for sure. The main character wasn't bad looking himself." I say, swirling my milkshake with my paper straw and I catch myself smiling as I remember his many shirtless scenes.

Chase laughs. "You are so gay." And I gasp at his accusation. "I am not gay."

"Yes you are." He says in a singsong voice. "You like me don't you?"

"Yeah but I don't like other guys."

"Well I hope so." I throw one of my discarded fries at him which he then dodges.

"I still thinks chicks are hot." I say, taking a sip of my strawberry milkshake. I'm still attracted to girls, just...not at the moment.

"Yeah me too." He says before adding "And you."

His eyes trail my body and it's as if whichever part of my body his eyes land on, it feels like it's been set on fire. He stops where the table hides the rest of me and then goes back to eating his food, like he didn't blatantly check me out. He chuckles when he sees how flustered I've become.

"Come on, let's go to your place." Chase gets up from his chair opposite mine and nods his head towards the door. I quickly pick up my milkshake and walk out the fast food restaurant with him.

When we get to my house it's 11:13. My mum and dad are in their bedroom. They usually go to bed at around 10:30 because they both get up early for work and they aren't the type of adults who only need 6 hours of sleep.

We sit on the couch in the living room instead of going up to my bedroom. We didn't want to disturb my sleeping parents.

"I have something for you." Chase says. He leaves for about a minute and then returns by my side with a rectangular box.

"Open it." He says as he places it on my lap.

"Chase you didn't need to get me anything."

"I know but I wanted to. Now open it."

I do as I'm told, peeling off the tape from the cardboard box that had clearly been reapplied, indicating that the box had probably already been opened. But I don't think much of it as I pull out what's inside.

"You got me a skateboard?" I say with shock, looking back at him.

"Yep." He says proudly.

"But you said no surprises."

"I lied. I thought that since we're going to be skateboarding more you might as well have your own board."

"How did you even get this in here? How did I not know about this?"

"I hid it when you were getting ready. You're mum knew about it."

I look between the board and Chase's smiling face and I pull him into a hug. He stiffens before wrapping his hands around me and I realise that this is the first time we have ever hugged. And weirdly, I like this more than kissing.

Just by a thin margin though.

I pull away from him just because I want to see the whole board. I barely pulled it out the box.

"I spray painted it myself." Chase says.

On the board, in yellow spray paint and big chunky writing, 'Golden Boy' is written across the top. I laugh loudly when I see it and now love the nickname I previously hated.

"You're such a dick." I say. "I love it."

Chase goes on a whole rant about the board. He talks about the wheels and the length and how he got it and how long the paint took to dry. I listen as he speaks so happily about it, about the gift he got for me.

"Turn it around." I turn the board around and see 4 words written on the back.

To Nate. Love Chase.

"Love?"