There Is No I In Love

Tucker had a good birthday; a great birthday actually. His dad got him an automatic starter for his car which was something that Tucker really wanted, and also needed. The weather was only going to get colder as October turned into November and so on. Tucker never mentioned that he wanted it for his birthday, so it was a nice surprise for him to know that his dad was thinking of him.

His step-mother got him a 50 dollar gift card to use at the mall, even though he hated the mall and he would probably end up giving it to Nate. Nate practically lived at the mall so he would get way more use out of it than Tucker ever would. Although, Francine did redeem herself when she gave Tucker a homemade card from herself and Kacee. The card said nice things about him and it had Kacee’s little hand print on the back of it as a trademark.

Out of all the gifts he received, Tucker’s favorite was from Nate. Nate always went all out for Tucker’s birthday and spent a lot of money on him; it was just the way Nate was. But since it was Tucker’s 18th birthday, he decided to make it extra special.

Nate took Tucker to New York for the whole day. They didn’t live far from New York, but they didn’t get to go too often, especially in the fall. They went a lot during the summer when they had time off from school. Tucker had no idea that Nate was going to take him to the city, but he was more than ecstatic to find out that was their destination. Tucker didn’t just love the city, he felt like he belonged there.

They had a great time walking around, getting lost, eating pizza, and going sightseeing. It felt so amazing for Tucker to be away from home for a while. It almost gave him an optimistic look on his life; like maybe one day he could move to New York and finally be happy. He didn’t have much of a plan, but he knew for sure that he didn’t want to live there if Nate wouldn’t come with him.

~

Nate smiled and bit his lip as he texted Chase back. He got the courage to text him first and they’ve been texting like crazy ever since. It was new to Nate, but it was a good new. He was excited.

Chase’s texts were always funny, and sometimes he would text Nate a random fact; like a Snapple lid, just to start up a conversation. It made Nate feel special to know that Chase was putting some thought and time into his responses.

What are you doing right this second?

Um…nothing at the moment. Why do you ask?

Nate tapped his fingers on his pant leg as he waited for Chase’s answer.

Me either. I’m bored. We should do something!

The brunette was confused; he didn’t know if Chase meant together or not. He didn’t want to feel dumb, so he tried to work around his confusion.

Like what?

Are you hungry? We could grab something. Or get ice cream. Your choice. If you even want to hang out I mean I won’t force you. But it’s my treat. Not like I’m bribing you. Well I guess I am. I’ll admit it. So what do you say? :P

No one ever flirted with Nate before- or at least not like this. Girls told Nate he was ‘adorable’ or that they loved his hair. Most of his friends at school were girls. Chase treated him differently.

With an offer like that, how could I refuse? =] Ice cream sounds good. Where do you want me to meet you?”

Awesome! I knew my bribery would work. Is Cold Stone okay?

Yeah, I love Cold Stone. I’ll leave in 5 minutes. See you soon.

Nate contemplated what was going on for a minute. It was sort of like a date. His very first date. He didn’t want to think too much into it, because it wasn’t anything major. All he wanted was to have fun and not scare Chase away.

The teen brushed his teeth and made sure he was more than presentable before he left. He wanted to make a good second impression; because he didn’t exactly remember the first.

He arrived at Cold Stone first, probably because he tended to get ‘pedal-happy’ when he was excited about something. He took the extra time to calm his nerves. It wasn’t a big deal, but he kept psyching himself out. It was just because everything was so new to him.

When he saw a blue Jeep pull into a parking spot, he had a feeling it was Chase- he looked like he would drive a Jeep. Low and behold Chase came out of the Jeep and walked inside the Creamery.

Nate waited a second before doing the same so it didn’t look like he literally stalked Chase and then followed him in.

Chase saw Nate walk in and he smiled. He had a nice smile. His teeth weren’t perfect, but they were nice, and it made Nate less self conscious. He was always worried about how he looked, but once he noticed how everyone kind of looked the same, he felt a lot better.
“Hey, Nate,” he said as he motioned for him to get on the semi-long line with him. “So what are you gonna get?”

Nate smirked. “I’m so predictable, I get the same thing every time I come here. Vanilla ice cream with peanut butter, hot fudge, caramel, and graham cracker crumb topping.”

Chase nodded. “Nice, it’s original at least. I either get cake batter in a waffle cone or a strawberry cheesecake swirl thing. But I think today I‘m feeling chocolate ice cream with caramel and Oreos mixed in there.”

“That sounds pretty good. Maybe one day I’ll break my pattern and get that. But for now, I’ll stick to being boring.”

“You’re not boring for liking what you like,” he said, and smiled again.

Nate was starting to see more of Chase’s personality, and he was trying to figure him out. That was one of Nate’s flaws that he ‘inherited’ from Tucker. Tucker always had to analyze everything, he couldn’t let anything just be. Nate unfortunately soaked that up over the years.

Chase let Nate order first, and then he ordered his. They walked towards the register and Chase paid with his debit card.

“Thanks. I’ll pay next time.”

Nate blushed. He didn’t mean to say that.

“Oh so there will be a next time. Great, I was hoping so,” he said and took a spoon full of ice cream. “So good.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t- mean to…but I did. And it just came out so-”

“Hey stop, it’s fine. I’m glad you said that. It means that you don’t think I’m a jerk. And that’s a good thing. So anyways, do you want to sit down, or do you want to eat standing up, up to you?” Chase joked.

Nate turned red again as he found a chair to sit on. He felt like he was bombing this mini-date.

They talked for a while about random things. Nate found out that Chase was in a band, and he sang and played a little guitar. He thought that was so cool; he never thought he’d ever land a date with a cute musician. He’d probably screw it up, so he wasn’t going to think too much into it.

“Nate would you be grossed out if I tried yours?”

The older teen shook his head, hoping that he wasn’t blushing like an idiot again.

“No, not at all. Here,” he said and handed over his cone. “Um. Can I try yours too?”

Chase smiled and handed his cone to Nate without saying anything.

Nate didn’t want to admit it, but Chase’s ice cream was better than his. He was definitely going to get it next time.

After they exchanged their cones Chase noticed a little chocolate on Nate’s upper lip.

“Nate you got a little something…” he started, and pointed at his own lip.

Nate picked up a napkin and wiped at the wrong spot. “No it’s over more, it’s- let me.”

Chase leaned over the table and wiped the chocolate off of Nate’s lip with the napkin. He wasn’t that close to Nate, but to Nate it felt like he was on top of him. He wasn’t uncomfortable, but he didn’t know what to do.

The younger teen sat down and offered another smile, causing Nate to quietly let out the breath he was holding in.

Nate felt his pocket vibrate, but he wasn’t going to answer it just yet. He knew it was Tucker wondering if he wanted to hang out. He couldn’t wait to tell Tucker about the embarrassing time he just had. He hoped Tucker would make him feel better about it; he usually did.