Remember how Brenden was super nervous in many different ways so far?
Well, he was feeling an entirely different kind of nerves right now. The pounding in his heart accelerated slightly as he was suspended above a tank of water, in which he would most likely fall into momentarily. The question was, who would be the one to do it? He didn't particularly know anyone yet, so fortunately, in Brenden's case it wouldn't be out of spite.
A person he hadn't met yet stepped forward to attempt to hit the target first. The principal could only manage a wry grin when the boy mouthed 'I'm sorry' to him. Well... It wasn't out of spite, right? At least he had that going for him. With wide eyes, Brenden observed the first ball soar through the air, his heartrate spiking up again. Nope, nope. It missed, just barely. Did he feel relieved, or disappointed? Who knew?
The second ball struck through, and Brenden barely managed to register that fact, before falling through the air for a short second, and crashing into the water with a mighty splash. Fortunately, he had the sense to hold his breath in that split second before falling into the water, but the cool temperature caused him to exhale sharply, bubbles bursting from his mouth. Spluttering and coughing, Brenden stood up in the water, swiping the water away from his eyes.
And there was Hayden, already at the edge with the towl pressed against his chest, slightly smirking as Brenden was plunged under the water. Leaning against the rim, he gave a larger smile and held an outstretched hand for Brenden to latch onto.
"You okay there?" he asked, getting the towel ready as he pulled the other to the edge and readied himself for the man's weight, "Careful, it's a bit slippery."
With another cough, Brenden grabbed Hayden's hand—apparently too disoriented to freak out for anything. Good for you dude!—which he used to aid him in climbing out of the tank. "Uh... Yeah, thanks."
So far so good. Hayden breathed deeply as he escorted Brenden toward the table. Gathering a few, he unfolded one and simply stared at Brenden, as if asking the other man what he should do. Blinking for a few moments, he coughed and moved forward, enveloping the other's head to dry his hair, roughly the other's head before stopping abruptly.
"I'm sure you can do this yourself," he paused, blushing slightly as he hesitated "Sorry."
Cursing to himself, he looked off to the side, trying to get a glimpse of Acacia as he mumbled to himself, "You're so weird, Hayden."
Now that the water was out of his eyes, Brenden caught sight of Hayden standing rather close, before the towel obstructed his view for a second. In that one second, Hayden had already moved away, mumbling an apology. It was that million dollar question again: Did he feel relieved or disappointed?
Accepting the towel, he rubbed the one still on his head to dry off his hair—he really hated that drippy feeling—and used it as an excuse to hide his face, which was probably blushing at this point.
At this point, Acacia was running towards them, until she saw Hayden approach Brenden. She hesitated a bit then, unsure whether to intervene or not. She hovered several feet away, with a questioning look directed at her brother asking, 'do you want me to ruin the moment?'
No, no, no. If he wanted this, he'd have to acknowledge the fact that acting the way he did was stupid and that he at least harbored some kind of feeling toward the man next to him. Turning around, as if answering Acacia's question, he grabbed a hold of Brenden's hand and abruptly stopped him, taking control of the towel as he walked around the other.
"That... looked fun, right?" he asked, furiously drying off Brenden as he threw the towel around his shoulder, "I don't think we really got to know each other; you didn't say much during our meeting last week. Well, I didn't either..." Hayden did his best to dry the other without looking as awkward as before and without getting too... what was the word? Intimate? Yeah, sure.
Walking back in front, he ran the towel through Brenden's hair one more time before setting it on the table. With his hand outstretched, he swallowed every bit of anxiety he held onto and spoke, "Hayden Hanse Hawthorne, it's nice to meet you."
Too many things were happening today, and now, his vice principal was drying him off. This was weird. Not bad, just really weird. His last vice principal was a 50 year old lady who looked like she ate too many lemons in her youth. This was... Nice? Yeah, it was.
"Well, coming to a school where everyone is super rich, somehow I couldn't think of anything to say!" Brenden replied, feeling his witty tongue come back to life again. He grasped Hayden's hand in his, while running his free one through his hair. "Brenden James Aldrin. Likewise."
"These kids will tell you otherwise," Hayden gripped his hand tightly, "but, money doesn't make a person. I don't know how many times I've told myself that—that doesn't matter, though, you'll find a lot of students here are very material. It's the ones who aren't that are really worth paying attenton to."
Coughing, he let go of the man's hand, his eyes traveling a little too low for him to be comfortable in such close contact for too long. Turning around he jogged back to the front to accost Acacia about Brenden's shirt, returning a few seconds later to shove it into his chest.
"I know I and the rest of the student body would love it if you walked around shirtless for the rest of the day," holy shit, did he just say that? "But, I think it'd benefit your image more if you didn't have most of the underage girls fawning over your... your, uh, muscles."
Any witty response that Brenden could've conjured up evaporated at that last remark. Stay cool Aldrin, just roll with it. You can do it. "Well... I guess it's nice to know that I'm still attractive to teenagers." He replied with a cheeky grin as he pulled on his shirt.
Meanwhile, Acacia was furiously biting her lip to prevent herself from laughing out loud. Seriously, these two should be in a sitcom or a soap opera. However, that wasn't important right now; she had bigger things to do. She stared at her brother, before mouthing 'You're next, lover boy', and pointed towards the dunk tank. And it was a shame that Hayden reminded Brenden about the existance of a shirt, even Acacia could appreciate Brenden's upper body.
Grinning from ear to ear, Saul immediately and accidentally pushed Acacia to the side, giving a thumbs up to Hayden. The man had indirectly saved his ass. In front of him, Saul had Flynn looking rather nervously around, silently begging Acacia to stop the drama teacher. Spinning him around, Saul quickly unbuttoned Flynn's shirt and hefted him onto the platform, his feet dangling in the water below.
"You just wait a second, lass," he pointed at Acacia and then stuck a thumb in Flynn's direction, who looked absolutely mortified, "I'm dunking his ass first.You'll get your chance."
A quiet whimper could be heard from behind him, Hayden having started staring at his sister. His future complaints were all but muffled when Saul's own yelling could be heard from the other side of the dunk tank.
"Where are the damn balls?" he growled, turning his attention to Max. Grabbing the last one out of his hand, he positioned himself far enough behind the makeshift line, pointed at Flynn with a sinister smile, and threw as hard as he could. In a matter of seconds, Saul was already running back behind the dunk tank, cackling at the now soaked Flynn shivering helplessly in the tiny can of a pool. The guy looked like a very, very upset cat, giant green eyes looking hopelessly into the crowd of people.
"There ya' go, honey," he shoved the balls into Acacia's hands before grabbing a towel, pulling Flynn out and roughly drying him directly behind Brenden and Hayden, "You wanna beer now?" Flynn couldn't get a word out as the towel engulfed every bit of him, Saul having somehow yanked his jeans off, ran to his car with his keys, and retrieved a pair of swimtrunks for the poor guy to run around in. He'd also somehow managed to slide it on the shivering Flynn and shed his last piece of soaked garments in a split second and without exposing any part of him. The talents of a Broadway actor: can get out of a three piece, tight tuxedo and replace it with an equally tight and flashy costume in a matter of seconds and without showing skin too. Flynn looked a little more disheveled and surprised at the feat than usual, and was blushing furiously as Saul continued to dry him off.
Hayden coughed, starting to inch backward as he cautiously looked at his sister. "I... uh, better go put some more stuff on the grill. I bet we already ran out of all those damn hot dogs and burgers and stuff," he quietly whimpered, attempting to make his escape.
To Acacia's credit, she had tried to save Mr. Zimmerman. The keyword here being: TRIED. She quickly jumped in front of the drama teacher, trying to come up with words. "Uh... Mr. Kirschenzweig, I believe some of the other students wanted a chance to be in the dunk tank first, and erm... Mr. Zimmerman doesn't look like he needs to cool down... Yet..." She trailed off as she realized that it was too late. With a wince, she gave an apologetic grimace toward Mr. Zimmerman.
It was, however, amusing to see the aloof Flynn Zimmerman fall into the dunk tank though, not that she'd ever admit it. Especially to the dunked teacher.
Despite the hilarious distraction that had occured, she didn't miss Hayden trying to escape his fate. She scampered over until she was in front of him, looking up at him with her adorable puppy dog eyes. After years of being the youngest in her large family, she perfected this technique in order to get her way on occasion. It had been effective when she used them on Max to convince him to use more money for her ideas.
"Come on Hayden. Pleeeeeaaaaaaase?"
God dammit, Acacia. Hayden glared down at his youngest sister; this was a contest in which they had effictively made a weekly thing. She would want something, he would deny it, and she'd turn around, her hair flipping in that perfect way of hers, cusp her hands slightly over a thigh, bend her shoulder slightly, let her hair fall to one side, and expose those giant baby blues of hers. Oh, and he forgot the slight pout she'd give with her lower lip.
It worked when he was a lot younger and when she was more adorable. The maids would scold him for giving her more ice cream than she needed and she'd wine about it later 'cause of a tummy ache. He always would remind her how it was her fault for pulling that damnable trick on him. But, as the years grew longer, and she grew older, it began to have less of an effect, mainly because he did his damn hardest to combat it, despite her getting much, much better at it.
This time was no different, but he couldn't help but notice that she was possibly gaining a foothold. If she noticed that she had the upper hand in the three individuals standing behind him, then she'd definitely force him into the dunk tank, prepared or not. Flynn would have objected to this, if he even had a choice in the matter, but the man never seemed to speak up on his behalf, unless the situation was dire. Abstaining from voting meant saying yes, in Acacia's eyes.
But, he was adamant about this, hands crossed over his chest as he continued the stare down. "It's. Not. Happening."
Acacia continued the wide eyed stare, willing forth tears from her eyes, and adding that little quiver to her bottom lip. Still, it was slightly frustrating that this didn't work as much as it used to. After blinking her blue eyes a few times, she abandoned the puppy dog look for a pout, her lower lip jutting out further than before. No matter, she still had a few more tricks up her sleeve. If she couldn't convince him on her own, she knew for a fact that there was a certain teacher or two that would most definitely help her.
But for now, she would forge on ahead. She tugged on Hayden's arm a few times until he leaned down to her height, this being the signal she wanted to whisper something to him. She had started using this when she was three, and learned what whispering was, and she continued using it, due to Hayden's height.
"So, I heard that Mr. Aldrin thinks that people who are spontaneous and daring are attractive... And if you don't do this, I'm totally going to flirt with all of the guys here."
Acacia could be a manipulative little devil at times. Even though she didn't realize that some of the guys at the picnic liked her, she would totally flirt with them if Hayden didn't give in.
"And you realize that if you do this," Hayden arched a brow as he spoke, "You're indirectly responsible for the murder of all the male students, thus making this a boarding school strictly for women? Right? And then you'd further my cause to have you abstain from anything in regards to sexuality, right? You don't know who you're messing with, Acacia." He grinned, knowing perfectly well that she did, in fact, know.
She rolled her eyes dramatically. "You're going to kill all the guys because I flirted with them. Kind of backwards, don't you think?" Fine. New tactic.
"Ms. Kendrick!!" Acacia shouted out to the history teacher. "I need your help over here!"
Alli was in the middle of munching a chip, but as soon as Acacia called for her, she ran over. "What's up Acacia?"
"Don't you think that Hayden should volunteer for the dunk tank?" Acacia questioned Alli, giving a sideways glance at her brother.
To this, Alli threw her head back in laughter. "Of course! Brenden and Flynn had their turn, it only makes sense for Hayden to have his. It would be horrible for him to be left out!"
See? Ms. Kendrick was a cool teacher, unlike her stubborn jerk of a brother. Now that she had one person on her side, Acacia turned to Brenden. "What about you Mr. Aldrin? Do you think that Hayden should get dunked?"
Brenden raised an eyebrow, not expecting to be brought into this little battle. He weighed his options for a moment. Did he want to see Hayden dunked? Yes. Did he want to see him shirtless? He didn't allow himself to answer that, but the answer was pretty obvious. With a grin, Brenden nodded his consent. "If the principal got dunked, than the vice principal is obligated to."
Two people on her side! Go Acacia! She was unsure to how the other two teachers would reply, but she would ask them anyway. "Mr. Kirschenzweig, Mr. Zimmerman, your thoughts?"
"Actually, I think it's technically up to hi—" Saul shoved the rest of his own beer down Flynn's throat in an attempt to shut him up. It worked, to say the least, though he had the other man bent over, coughing his guts out.
Saul patted Flynn on the back roughly, bringing his hand up to give Acacia a thumbs up. "No need to be a stickler, Hayden. Hell, Flynn even agreed to it."
"But, wait, you... you forced him."
"That aside, we both think you should be a good mate and get yer ass up there. Right, doctor?" Saul pulled Flynn up, his face flushed bright red, "Right... doctor?"
Nodding furiously, the younger gentleman attempted to retreat back to his picnic table, but was stopped by a rough tug at his waist, forced to sit back down beside Saul. He was visibly griefed and was possibly mentally throwing insults and curses at his makeshift kidnapper.
"I'm not doing this, Acacia, you can't force me," Hayden ignored the troubling instance behind him, returning his stalwart gaze back to his sister, arms still clenched over his chest.
Cue the wounded puppy look now. It was a variation of Acacia's puppy dog eyes, but it had a hurt expression now. The pout was more pronounced, tears were welling in her eyes again as she met his gaze unwaveringly. "Please? Please? I'll... I'll make you ice cream. Or do your laundry. Or uh... I'll do anything, okay?!"
Besides, it wasn't forcing him technically, if Acacia managed to change Hayden's mind. She doubted that she could physically force him into the dunk tank, anyway.
"Anything?" Hayden asked, arching a brow and smirking.
"Define anything..." That look scared Acacia. A lot.
"Okay, two things," he said, beaming at her as he held up two fingers, " One, you aren't allowed to date anyone until the school year is over and if I catch you, then you have to do something else of my choosing, as a form of punishment. Two, uh."
Hayden leaned closer, whispering now, "You find a way to get me a date with the principal. I don't care how; it is totally up to you."
Standing at full height, he outstretched his hand, "Deal, Acacia?"
Acacia bit her lip uncertainly. "Um... It's not like anyone will ask me out, but make the first one open for negotiation."
With a deep sigh, he placed a hand on her head, ruffling up her hair, "We'll see about that, Ms. Hawthorne. You find me a boy that I might like and I might reconsider." Feeling as if she played that out very well, especially the teacher part—he'd throw a glare at Saul later and possibly prohibit him from drinking any further. That should teach him to side with his little sister.
Groaning, Hayden eyed Brenden slightly, trying his best to smile as he positioned himself near the table. Sitting down, he slipped off his Converse and ankle socks and looked around. He'd forgotten to grab his sunscreen; he was going to look like a beet by the end of the day. Sighing, he turned his attention toward Saul, who had somehow retrieved another beer and kept Flynn in place, his arm wrapped tightly around the other man's shoulder. He might know where a bottle could be.
"Right behind ya, kiddo," Saul growled, catching his inquisitive stare and jutting out a thumb behind him. Hayden's gaze dropped, spotting the bottle where Saul had pointed.
"Well, who knows if it'll help or not," Hayden said, grinning at Brenden widely as he stripped off his tank top, folded it neatly, and placed it back on the table. Saul gave him one of those looks, but he brushed it aside. Squirting the sunscreen onto his palms he did his best to cover every inch of his torso, shoulders, arms, and stomach, and only stopped to look behind him. Spreading what little he had left onto his cheeks and nose, he looked over at Brenden.
Holding out the bottle of sunscreen, he smiled innocently and asked in an equally innocent tone, "Mind getting my back for me? I don't feel like forcing Acacia to peel the skin off the one place I can't reach, just yet. Or do I? No, I don't; could you please?" He tilted his head for the added effect, giant blue eyes staring directly at Principal Aldrin. This would be a wonderful time to have slightly longer hair, but it staid in place atop his head, though that innocent smile of his beamed right at Brenden.
"Seriously," Saul mumbled, looking at Flynn, "Either he acts like a fucking lunatic school girl around that guy, or some two-bit whore trying to get fucked into the next dimension. If he had done that to me—are you paying attention?"
Flynn groaned, nodding as he turned his head away from the crowd of students who was probably gawking at the display some few feet away from them. Or, maybe they were gawking at Flynn socializing, if anyone could even call it that.
"Then what was I saying, you bastard?"
"Hayden doesn't know how to properly convey his feelings, so he obliviously squanders any sense of cognition in hopes of possibly getting it right the first time. It's like gambling to him; he pulls the lever and hopes for the best. So far, he's acted like someone didn't know where up was, much less what socializing meant. Now, he's clearly attempting to gauge Mr. Aldrin's immediate attraction to him, which is at an all time high, judging from the situation currently happening in his pants. It's common knowledge that, when the object of your affection starts displaying mutual interest and possible need for consummation, that one becomes inadvertantly aroused. And if one is male, then their state of arousal becomes blatantly obvious. Observe."
"You could have just repeated what I said verbatim, you know?"
"I did."
"No, you did and then you added onto it a bunch of psychological and biological shit that I really could care less about—wait, are you saying Brenden has an erection?"
"Well, men make it quite obvious."
"How can you even from this far away?"
"He's pushing both his hands into his crotch to hide it. Looks innocent, until you notice the look on his face and the obvious strain in musculuture in his arms, as well as the fact that that's not a normal way to sit unless you're wearing a skirt."
"Oh... do I make it obvious?"
"I haven't seen you aroused in public before, but you're a guy, so probably."
"Are you implying that you have in private?"
"N-not... not at all, no. How did you get that from one sentence? I don't even..."
"Would you like to?"
"I've had one night stands before, Saul, I'd rather not experience getting up at two in the morning just to leave before you wake up. You realize that if you sleep with me, you're going to seek more than just a physical attachment; you're getting your fill of physical attachment already. The next logical step would be emotional and mental attachment."
"Is a simple no too much to ask for?"
"In this circumstance, yes."
"What? How?"
"You were asking whether or not you wanted to have sex with me. Initiate coitus. But your eyes gave it away. Your simple witty quip had underlying tones and intentions of courtship."
"I'm pretty sure I just meant that we should have sex. I was just kidding, anyway, shit."
"I think you're just in denial."
"In denial?"
"I rejected your advances, so you're playing it off as a simple joke, when in reality, you really did want to romp, and then some."
"..."
"Plus, I don't have sex on the first date. And I've been told I'm very high-maintenance."
"You just said you've had a one-night stand before."
"But, we both know you aren't just looking for a... what's the moniker? Fuck buddy?"
"I swear, I'm going to kill you."
"I doubt that."
Acacia could only groan in response as she fixed her hair. Glaring at her older brother, she muttered under her breath, "I'm getting a prom date, whether you like it or not. And you were never this strict over any of our other sisters... Why me?"
Crossing her arms with a pout, she stared at Hayden, making sure that he wasn't going to run away. But after observing his interaction with Brenden, her eyes widened and she fidgeted uncomfortably. And to make it worse, she just had to overhear Saul and Flynn's conversation.
"I need to go drown myself now..."
With that, she staggered over to the dunk tank to presumably jump in and never resurface again. Seeing her older brother and teacher act like that towards her school principal and hearing her two other teachers talk about sex, that was just weird. W-E-I-R-D. She grimaced as she seriously considered jumping into the tank. It made her super uncomfortable--was this the reason why Hayden was so protective?
And Jesus, if Hayden was making Acacia feel uncomfortable, imagine how Brenden must've felt. The VP was really throwing Brenden off, after acting like awkward strangers, well, this new move just got a lot more... Intimate and flirtatious. To be completely honest though, Brenden actually preferred this more. And not just because it was super attractive, because he was more familiar with how to react to it. It was much easier to deal with than the awkward silences that had occured in the past.
Well, easier to deal with, give or take. Not trusting his voice at the moment, Brenden simply offered a slight nod in response. How was he supposed to, being asked in that fashion? That look should be illegal.
Even if it was obvious that Brenden was slightly thrown off of his game, he made his best attempt to not show it. Casually raising an eyebrow and leaning even closer, he replied, "Well, we wouldn't want you or your sister to go through that process, would we?"
Before anything else could be said or done however, Alli Kendrick was whacking them all on the head gently with a wooden spoon--a clean, unused one, that would probably go unused for the remainder of the picnic. She placed her hands on her hips afterwards, looking at her four colleagues with a critical eye.
"Boys, boys, boys! Now that we've all established that you all want to get into each other's pants, please remember where we are: At a school picnic, filled with our students. Get a room after the picnic is over, none of us want to see this."
"Dammit, Alli," Hayden growled, "You try and get sunscreen on your back and tell me how easy that shit is. Just let him finish, dammit." That little butt face, ruining this for him. He dipped forward, brows furrowed and eyes glaring at an empty spot in front of him, all while he carefully rubbed the bruise forming on his head. It was hard to get Hayden to pout, but there he was, acting like a child with his lower lip jutting out, arms now interlocked over his chest after soothing the minor wound. His face was all scrunched up, nose wrinkled and lips twitching into a deep frown.
"God, dammit, Alli," Saul chimed in next, rubbing his head, "I was just joking with the man. Plus, the guy's his own damn chastity belt, for God's sake." Alli's little ordeal with the spoon only served to tighten Saul's grip on Flynn, making it near impossible for the guy to even put his button-up back on, lest he want to engulf Saul's entire arm in the process. Flynn simply complied to Alli's wishes and Saul's roughness, feeling the need to groan and complain about this picnic not ending fast enough.
Feeling as if Alli wouldn't let him have his way, Hayden got up, shed his cargo shorts to reveal a pair of grey boxer briefs—he didn't expect to get wet, so he hadn't packed a pair of trunks to wear. He'd find something to compensate, probably in the pool building nearby. Climbing up, still pouting like a child, he positioned himself on top of the board that kept him from the water below, his feet wading in the cool liquid as he gave a cold, hard stare at nothing in particular and simply awaited his fate.
"Getting sunscreen on my back is easy." Alli shrugged nonchalantly with a smirk. "I'm actually flexible."
Alli rolled her eyes at her older colleagues, all of them acting rather childish at the moment. "Saul, are you ever going to let Flynn go so you can get dunked?" If Flynn got dunked, then it seemed very likely that all of the teachers would get their turn, considering that Flynn seemed to be the one to avoid it at all costs. Yet even the Ethics and Philosophy teacher couldn't escape the dunk tank.
"I'm sure this bugger would love to drown me in there," Saul grinned, shaking Flynn slightly.
"You have no idea."
Did Brenden feel disappointed when Alli intervened, or relieved? And how many times has he asked himself that question so far? Three? Feeling like he'd been released from a lot of pressure, Brenden let out a quiet breath. Still, he had to silently thank Alli in his head, Hayden's pouty face was pretty cute, and something told him that he wouldn't have many chances to see that expression.
Hayden was kind enough to be waiting with a towel when Brenden had his turn, so he would return the favor. Grabbing a couple of clean towels, he walked over to the dunk tank, waiting for the vice principal to fall into the water. "Cheer up Hayden, it's not that bad."
Meanwhile, Acacia was a little bundle of energy, excited at the fact that she was able to convince her brother to participate. It was probably a once in a lifetime chance; she had to savor the moment. After all, she was giving up a year of dating for this...
"Hayden, any last words?" She called up with a huge grin on her face.
"I hate you all."
"In that case, I'm going to go ahead and assume that I don't need to do anything about the second half of our deal," Acacia giggled deviously as she tossed her ball up and down.
Gleefully, Acacia took careful aim at the target, and let the ball fly. Bulls-eye!
No air of surprise, no look of utter shock, Hayden just sank into the water, arms still crossed and that pout still strong on his face. It wasn't much, actually, he simply stood after plummeting into the water and turned toward Brenden as he ran a hand through his soaked hair. It probably would have been better if Alli hadn't intervened. That butt face.
Leaning over the side he did his best to smile and hold out his hand, though the smile only turned into a bigger pout. "Mind helping me out?" he asked, "The water's a bit chilly."
"You're no fun..." Acacia groaned with a pout of her own. "And oh! I totally forgot!" She sprinted away, then returned momentarily with something in her hand. She pressed it into Brenden's hand as she stuck her tongue out at Hayden. Then, she turned away from the duo to do other things.
Turning to Jacob with a broad grin, she gestured towards the dunk tank. "Be my guest!"
Brenden grasped Hayden's hand firmly within his own to assist him. "See, it wasn't that bad, was it?"
He glanced at what Acacia handed him moments prior in confusion. A pair of swimming trunks? Why would Acacia give him those?
Taking his hand graciously, Hayden swung himself over the edge and landed onto the grass with a soft thud, looking down at what Brenden was holding. All he could give at that moment was a blank stare and then his gaze fell downward.
"She couldn't have given that to me beforehand?" he grumbled looking up at Brenden and noticing the towels. With a sigh he grabbed one and ran it through his hair, peering out from under it to watch Brenden closely. Pulling the towel off, he moved past the dunk tank and behind the crowd where people wouldn't stare at him being awkward again, giving Jacob a thumbs up as he walked.
Hayden turned around, scrubbing the water from his ears. This was now or never. Now... or never. Well, maybe not never, but it would be awhile before he'd felt this burst of confidence.
"Say, uh... what are you doing this weekend?"
"I don't have any plans, I was just thinking that I would try to finish unpacking." Brenden replied after a brief pause. Hey, his reply didn't make him sound like a complete idiot! Good job Brenden! You didn't mess this up.
"Oh?" Hayden mouthed, arching a brow, "This picnic won't take all day; I'm sure I can help unpack afterwards. If... if that's okay with you."
"T-that'd be great actually." Brenden, you can do it. I believe in you! Don't sound like an idiot, whatever you do. "I don't know how or why I have so much stuff, and I'm not even halfway done."
"Then it's settled," he finalized the deal with a large smile, running his hand through his hair to fix it, relieved that, even slightly wet, it would cooperate with him.
Holding his hand out, he waited for Brenden to shake on it, "You live right across from me right? I'll just let my dogs in and be right over, then. Uh.... you don't happen to have any dinner plans, though, would you? I can... I can cook, uh... never mind—I'll figure it out later."
Brenden grasped Hayden's hand and at that moment, he felt his confidence return. "Actually I don't... And since you know your way around this area, I was wondering if you could show me some good restaurants around here."
"Then it's a date... uh... it's a..." Hayden paused for a moment, eyes slightly widening, "Um. I'll... I'll see you then." No, wait, shit. He had the rest of the picnic and practically the whole day. Why'd he say that? Well, why the fuck not? Just call it what it was.
"No, it's a date," Hayden reaffirmed his confidence with a curt nod, letting go of Brenden's hand as he dried himself further and ran off to change in his car. He came back moments later in the blue swim trunks, quietly cursing at the ground. He'd forgotten how hot the blacktop was, and so he had to practically hop-run straight to his SUV and back, adorned in the swimming trunks and an extra grey t-shirt. Blisters were already forming at the base of his feet as he made his way to one of the picnic tables, silently holding his foot in agony.
So far, the day was going absolutely perfect, minus a few hiccups here and there.
