When Oscar finished his homework later that night, the first thing he did was take out his phone and text Noah.

Oscar: hey

He laid his phone on the desk in front of him and impatiently waited for a response.

Ding.

Noah: hey, what's up?

Oscar: just finishing some chem homework, hbu

Noah: just playing video games

Oscar: cool

There was no response for a few minutes and Oscar began to worry, but his phone dinged again.

Noah: do you maybe wanna come over and play with me? this game is kinda boring by myself

Oscar was taken back. Where they that good of friends yet? To hang out at Noah's house in the middle of the night?

Oscar: it's kinda late

Noah: yeah ur right, its fine if you dont wanna come

With only moderately shaky hands, Oscar typed.

Oscar: no, it's fine. of course I want to come. see you in a bit :)

Noah: alright, see you

Noah: and could you maybe come through the window? I'm not really supposed to have people over this late

Oscar sighed, but let out a light chuckle.

Oscar: yeah, sure

Noah then texted Oscar his address.

Oscar climbed off his bed and slipped on his shoes. He went downstairs and grabbed his jacket from where it hung by the front door. He then walked outside, not even bothering to ask his parents. "They won't mind if I'm gone for a couple hours," he justified to himself.

Oscar got into his car and put the key into the ignition. He paused and put his hands on the wheel. He realized he was shaking. Oscar was excited to see Noah outside of school, but also nervous. They had never hung out alone before.

Still he made the drive across town, and made sure to park down the street from Noah's house just in case his parents looked outside.

He had known that he was supposed to go in through Noah's bedroom window, but what he didn't know was that Noah's room was on the second floor.

"Ah fuck," he whispered as he looked up at the window and saw the faint glow of a lamp coming from it.

He noticed a small tree beside the window. Wonderful.

Oscar shimmed up the tree the best he could, almost killing himself in the process. He reached his arm up and barely reached the windowsill. He tapped on the glass frantically and waited for Noah to answer.

Noah finally slid the window open and chuckled. "Hey," he said.

"Yeah, hey" Oscar said, trying to catch his breath. Noah stuck out his hand and Oscar grabbed it to pull himself through the window. Noah's hand was soft, but firm, Oscar noted.

He hoisted himself into Noah's bedroom and once inside, said "Hey," again. Noah laughed.

"What's so funny?" Oscar asked.

"You have leaves in your hair" Noah said, before reaching to the top of Oscar's head and plucking out a leaf from his curly locks, and chuckling.

Oscar regained his composure and breathed "So, uh, nice room."

He quickly scanned the room. It was fairly plain. The walls were gray and the bedding was blue. There was a desk with a computer on it against the far wall, and a large NBA Basketball sticker on the wall above the bed. Across from that was a TV, that Oscar could see was displaying the loading screen for Call of Duty: WWII.

"Thanks," said Noah.

Oscar saw a PS4 controller laid out on the bed. "You ready to play?" he asked.

"Yeah," Noah said, "Just let me grab another controller. He began rummaging through his desk until he found another one. Noah sat down on his bed and picked up the spare controller. Oscar stood still. Noah eyes wandered to Oscar's.

"You ever played?" He asked.

"Uh, not really," Oscar stammered.

"That's fine. Sit. I'll teach you," Noah said, and patted a spot on the bed beside him. Oscar awkwardly slid onto the bed beside Noah and clutched the controller.

Noah reached over to show him what to do. "Okay, so you just press this button to shoot, I'll help you with the other stuff. Got it?"

"Yeah, I think so," Oscar said.

They played the game for what seemed like ages. Oscar eventually getting the hang of the various controls, the boys were cheering each other on, and swearing simultaneously when one of them died.

Noah got tired and leaned back against the upholstered headboard of his bed. His leg stretched out and grazed Oscar's.

Oscar felt weird again. He could almost feel his heart rate increasing, but then he looked over at Noah. His deep breathing and calm eyes made Oscar's nerves settle.