I woke up the next morning with someone's hand tangled in my hair. I lifted my head slightly to look to my side, the hand pulling on my hair. Fox was still asleep next to me, on his stomach with his mouth open facing me. I gripped his wrist to remove his hand from my hair and that caused him to stir awake. He jumped back slightly when he saw me.

"I forgot you were here," he rasped in a sleepy tone. I tried not to swoon at the sound of his morning voice. "What time is it?"

I checked my phone to see that it was just past ten in the morning. I tilted my screen toward him so he could see and once he did, he stood up from the bed and stretched his arms above his head, letting out a long yawn.

"Want to get some breakfast?" Fox asked, turning to face me and nodding his head toward the bedroom door.

I got up from the bed and followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen. Fox opened up the cabinet above the stove and showed me the various boxes of cereal they had. We decided on a cereal just as someone made their way into the kitchen, grabbing our attention.

The guy that walked into the kitchen shared similar features of Fox, making it obvious the two of them were brothers. By the looks of it, they were close in age, though the guy I didn't know seemed a little older.

"I didn't know you came home last night," the guy commented, looking toward his brother with a blank expression. Fox didn't even look at him as he continued to fix our cereal with a clenched jaw.

I looked between the brothers and noticed a palpable tension.

"Oh, excuse me," the guy said to me, holding out his hand for me to shake. "I should introduce myself since I know Mr. Happy over there won't do it. I'm Wren."

I shook his hand with a slight smile. "Elijah."

When I looked back over to Fox, I saw that his jaw was still clenched and he looked as if he was trying his hardest to keep his eyes away from his brother and me.

Wren stared at his brother with an impatient look as if he was waiting to be acknowledged by his brother. I had a feeling he was going to be waiting all day for that. Just as the awkward tension between the two became almost too much to bare, the youngest boy I recognized from the family portrait scurried into the room and started tugging on Wren's arm.

"Let's go," the boy whined.

"Hang on a minute, Colt," Wren lightly hushed him.

At the sound of the younger boy's voice, Fox finally looked over to where Wren stood to see the younger boy and his jaw relaxed as his gaze softened. Colt gave me a confused look before turning to face Fox.

"Wren said he's gonna take me to the park to play basketball. Are you going to come Fox?" Colt asked his brother in a hopeful tone.

"Not today, bud," Fox denied softly, "Some other time, promise."

Colt looked slightly disappointed, but didn't say anything else.

Wren shook his head at Fox and left the kitchen table with a, "Nice to meet you," sent my way. He was out of the room before I could respond.

Colt eyed me up and down before scurrying over to Fox and stealing his bowl of cereal.

"Hey!" Fox protested.

Colt rolled his eyes. "That's what you get for not coming with us." He took a big spoonful of cereal into his mouth before leaving the room.

"What's up with you and Wren?" I asked him once we were alone.

Fox shrugged, handing me a bowl. "Nothing."

My expression showed him I wasn't convinced, but I didn't push him any further. He made it obvious by the way he looked at me that he was done talking about the situation.

"Ryan's having a party tonight," Fox informed me after a few moments of silence, making himself a new bowl of cereal.

"Okay?"

Fox rolled his eyes. "We're going."

"I don't know if I want to do that," I apprehensively answered.

"I'm usually all for bailing on Ryan's get togethers, but I want free booze," he replied with a coy expression, glancing over to me with a smirk.

I let out an exaggerated sigh. "I don't even drink."

"Perfect, you can be my DD," Fox said with a playful smile before letting his expression drop to an apprehensive one. "On second thought... we can just stay at Ryan's."

I gave him an annoyed look. "I'm not a bad driver," I asserted.

"I beg to differ," Fox retorted, pointing an accusatory finger at me. "I'm surprised you didn't pop your tire when you hit that curb."

"I didn't hit it that hard," I argued, crossing my arms over my chest.

Fox sent an unconvinced look my way. "Okay..." he said, pressing his lips together in a tight smile.

After finishing our breakfast, Fox led me back toward his room, saying he wanted to take a shower. Before we could get to the stairs, a loud voice called out his name. We both turned around to look to see a man that appeared to be Fox's father.

"What?" Fox answered, sounding annoyed.

His dad sent him a faux offended look, placing his hand on his chest.

"Excuse me for wanting to see my son after being away for a few days!" his dad shot back, opening his arms for a hug.

Fox rolled his eyes and dragged his feet over to his father who pulled him into a tight hug. I smiled at the exchange, wondering how Fox turned out the way he was when his parents seemed so nice and affectionate.

After his father released him, his dad introduced himself to me as Leo and we exchanged pleasantries.

"Are you boys going to be staying here tonight?" Leo asked us. "I can order you some dinner later."

"Nah, we're going to Ryan's," Fox answered.

"Thank you, though," I said with a polite smile.

After a brief interaction with Leo, Fox led me up to his room and started getting clothes together for after his shower.

"Can you bring me home after so I can change?" I asked, sitting down on his bed.

Fox didn't look up from his dresser. "You can just wear something of mine."

I raised my eyebrows and set my gaze on his back, watching his muscles move as he dug through his drawer. Maybe it was because we had history, but I felt as if wearing his clothes wasn't as innocent as it seemed.

Fox turned and looked at me. "I'm sure you'll fit. It might just be a little big."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what I was thinking about."

He scoffed. "What were you thinking about then?"

I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head as he turned back to his dresser.

"You don't think it's weird for me to wear your clothes?" I incredulously questioned.

"Why would I?"

Fine, if he was going to act like nothing had ever happened between us, then I would too. He was the one making jokes about it before.

"No reason," I answered with a shrug, creating an impassive expression on my face.

Fox tore his shirt off and threw it in the hamper near his closet before pulling something from his dresser and tossing it at me.

"This'll fit," he told me, pointing toward the plain black shirt beside me. "You can look through my bottom drawer for jeans."

His bare chest made it hard for me to look at his face, though both looked good.

Fox let me know he was going to get in the shower, leaving me alone in his room. I lied back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with my hands resting on my stomach.

My mind drifted to later tonight and filled me with dread as I thought about it. I was never much of a partier, and I knew it would only be worse since I had no friends.

My dreadful thoughts were interrupted by my phone that started vibrating on the nightstand beside me. It was probably Josh or my Dad. They were the only ones who ever called me.

My eyes widened in surprise when I lifted my head to look at my phone and saw a familiar number on the screen. It was a number I knew by heart, but couldn't bare to save it in my new phone. My mom.

I gave into my curiosity and before I could stop myself, I was sliding my thumb across the screen and answering the phone.

"Hello?" My voice was breathy, shaky, and timid. It matched my apprehension and dread, along with the pit in my stomach.

"Elijah," Mom answered. She sounded as if she didn't expect me to answer, her voice slightly shocked.

"What do you need, Mom?" I asked her after taking a deep breath, trying to swallow my unease and even out my voice.

"Elijah, I want you to come home," she said, sounding serious.

I slowly shook my head before answering, "Mom, I can't."

"Please, honey," she pleaded. "I want to fix this."

"Fix what? Fix our relationship? Or you want to fix me?" I snapped, letting my nerves turn into anger.

She ignored my tone. "I think we can fix this. How about you come over for lunch? I can make you something."

"Ma, I can't," I told her, resting my head back on the wall behind me.

"Tomorrow?" she asked, sounding hopeful yet forceful. She was always used to getting her way.

I sighed and rubbed my temple. "Maybe," I relented.

"Let me know. I hope to see you, Elijah." And with that, she hung up.

I let out another sigh and took the phone away from my ear, staring at the blank screen for a few moments before throwing it down on the bed in frustration. I hated that the woman who threw me out of her home without a second thought still had a place in my heart. She didn't deserve to be there, but she was in the spot that was reserved for mothers and I never stopped loving her, even when it seemed like she stopped loving me.

My mind was caught between the hope my heart was giving me and the cynicism from my brain. There was a very slim chance that she had actually changed her mind about my sexuality, but I found myself believing in that chance just because it would be my ideal situation.

I felt dizzy as I thought of best and worst case scenarios of visiting my mother. The thoughts made my stomach queasy and I decided all I wanted to do was forget about it until tomorrow. So, I stood up from Fox's bed and tore open the bottom drawer of his dresser to find a pair of jeans. Once I found a pair, I pulled my pants off of my legs and changed into his, rolling the ankles due to the pants being too long.

Fox waltzed back into the room a few moments later dressed in the clothes he brought to the bathroom with him, running a towel through his wet hair.

"Why are you all pale?" he questioned me with a strange look on his face, quirking an eyebrow up.

"I'm not," I denied, trying to keep my voice even and my face impassive.

He scoffed. "Whatever, liar."

I didn't comment, shaking my head at him.

Fox and I didn't do much for the rest of the day. I was too hung up on my Mom and he was irritated with my attitude. We decided to head to Ryan's early and Fox insisted on driving.

"Here," Fox said, tossing me a sweatshirt after he shrugged a jacket on. "It's chilly out."

I didn't say anything as I pulled the hoodie over my head.

When we got to Ryan's, Fox let himself in without knocking as I followed closely behind him. The two of us made our way to the basement where the rest of the group already sat around on the couches.

"About time you two showed up!" Alex exclaimed, smiling over at us.

"Yeah, yeah," Fox replied, waving him off as he went to take a seat.

I stayed standing near the stairs.

"Come sit, Elijah," Ryan offered, waving me over.

I dragged my feet over to the couch and sat down in between Ryan and Alex.

"Ryan invited your buddy Trevor to the party tonight," Alex teased, jabbing my ribs with his elbow.

"Great," I sarcastically replied.

"Why are you wearing Fox's hockey sweatshirt?" Josh asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

I looked down at the sweatshirt and saw that the front said "Pine Valley Hockey" and the left shoulder had Fox's name on it along with his hockey number, #19.

I shrugged. "I needed something to change into."

"Didn't you go home last night?"

I shook my head. "I stayed at Fox's."

Josh and I looked over to where Fox sat with Ian and Liam, none of them paying attention to our conversation.

"Since when are you two best friends?" Jude jokingly asked, pointing between Fox and me.

I scoffed. "We're not."

"Hm?" Fox hummed, looking toward Jude.

"You and Elijah are friends now?" Jude repeated to him.

He shrugged. "I guess so."

"You guys have to help me set up the drinks for tonight," Ryan ordered, standing up from the couch. The guys around me all groaned before getting up to follow him to wherever he kept the alcohol.

I got up and followed behind Ian and Fox and when we got to the room Ryan went to, I was shocked, my mouth gaping open. The room he brought us to was filled wall to wall with liquor. There were a bunch of different wines and harder liquors in cases.

Ryan walked over to the corner of the room where there were bags that presumably contained more bottles, and he motioned for us to each take a bag to bring upstairs.

"How did you get this?" I asked as I retrieved a bag from the floor.

"My sister is 21," he said with a smirk. "I gave her the money for it."

The eight of us made our way upstairs to the kitchen and began placing bottles of alcohol on the granite counter tops. Ryan opened the cabinets on the kitchen island and pulled out solo cups, placing them on top of the surface.

"I think we should start now," Ian suggested with a smug smile, eyeing the bottles on the counter.

Ryan rolled his eyes, smacking the back of Ian's head. "Not yet, you need to wait for the party to actually start."

Strangely, I agreed with Ian. All I wanted to do was forget about my mother and whatever she wanted to do to "fix" us. Alcohol would make me forget. It would alter my thoughts so drastically that I wouldn't even have to think about anything until it was out of my system.

The alcohol on the counter seemed to get more and more tempting as the minutes passed me by.

I was ready to pour it down my throat and forget.

**