A Cliché Love

3

The two of them continued to talk about the interaction while Tom ate his funnel cake. After, they decided not to waste their free tickets and went on some rides. Tom caught himself looking around for Eric, coming out unsuccessfully. The sun was almost completely set when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He was in the middle of a conversation with Tori when it went off, so he left it in his pocket, trying not to be rude. He was itching to grab it, wanting to see if it was Eric or not. He continued to talk to Tori until his phone went off again.

"Hey, let's meet at the ferris wheel in 10? That way we don't miss the fireworks! -E"

"I thought you weren't going to ignore my texts :-( -E

Tom showed Tori the text messages, making her squeal in excitement.

"Okay, I have to pee anyways so while you go make some moves on your man, I'm going to run to the bathroom! You better hurry because he sent that 8 minutes ago Tom! You have to get better at this!" He agreed before splitting off from her, not wanting to keep Eric waiting. He got there right as the clock hit the 10 minute mark from when Eric texted him, making him fist bump into the air slightly, considering it was rare when Tom was on time to something.

"I was starting to think you were going to ignore me forever." A voice spoke from behind him, but he knew it was Eric. The two shly greeted each other again, it had only been a few hours since they had last seen each other but it felt like forever. Eric looked around before grabbing Tom's hand and pulling him towards the ferris wheel. "Come on! We have to hurry!"

"Hurry? Why?" Tom's question was left unanswered as he was pulled into a small cart on the ferris wheel. The attendant buckled them in, telling them to enjoy their ride. The wheel slowly went around once as it took time to fill with people, but once it was finally full, it started moving like it should. "This is beautiful. You can see so much of the city from here!" Tom hadn't seen any of Los Angeles like this before, only photos of the city. He leaned forward to get a better look, which rocked the cart they were in. Tom grasped Eric's hand out of fear of falling before leaning into him with heavy breathes. "Okay definitely not doing that again."

"Five. Four. Three." Eric started to count, making Tom anxious.

"Eric what are-" Tom got an answer before he could finish his sentence as fireworks erupted into the sky in front of them. The fireworks were on the other side of the carnival, making it safe for the boys to be in the sky with them. The wheel stopped turning, as all the other rides stopped motion as well. Eric had perfectly timed it so that they would be sitting up top for the show, that's why he was so adamant about them not being late. They sat in silence as they watched the fireworks burst through the air, their hands still connected from Tom's incident. Tom was leaning slightly into the other boy, smiles on both of their faces as they watched the sky glisten with color.

"Tom," Eric spoke up with a shaky voice. "I know we literally just met, and this is crazy cliche but it would seem just right for me to kiss you right now. I don't even know if you're into guys, I mean I don't know anything about-" Eric's rambling was cut off by Tom's lips pressed against his. This was Tom's first kiss with a guy, and he was happy it was with Eric. The two beamed at each other as they finished watching the fireworks, snuggled up against one another. The ferris wheel continued its final motions as it began unloading after the fireworks ended. Eric and Tom were some of the last two off since they were stuck up top for so long. Eric's hand was still in Tom's as he helped him back onto solid land, feeling happy to be standing again. Eric wasn't really a fan of heights but he knew how romantic it would be to bring Tom to the ferris wheel.

"Tom! There you are!!!"

"Eric! Finally dude, I've been waiting down here forever." Both boys heard their names being called, snapping them back to reality. As they turned towards the voices who had called their names, they saw Tori and Brandon, or, at least that's who Tom guesses was coming his way. When Tori looked over to see who Tom's hand was intertwined with she came to a screeching halt. Brandon did the same thing when he saw Tori standing close to her, calling out to her friend who was snuggled up with his best friend.

"Eric Beckerman? Tom are you kidding me? All the men in the world and you had to go have some romantic moment with Eric Beckerman?" Tori was fuming, Tom had never seen her this mad before. The maddest he had ever seen her was when she got kicked out of art class for something she was wrongly accused of, but this anger was incomparable to anything he had seen before.

"Hello, Tori Vasquez, nice to see you too." Eric glared back before looking over at his best friend. Brandon's eyes were focused on their entwined hands, making Eric pull his back. Tom looked between the three people he was standing with.

"Well, okay then? Can I ask you all a question? How do you know each other and why do I get the feeling if I wasn't here you would be murdering each other?"