“Alrighty then,” the blonde-haired waitress said. “I’ll be back with your orders as soon as they're up.”

The girl smiled at us, turning her eyes to me for an extra second. I grinned back, feeling quite friendly this morning. She looked away as soon as my eyes met hers, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. Then she was off.

I nearly laughed at the encounter. As she sauntered away very quickly, I looked after her for a moment. The sweater she wore caught my eye while she had been writing down what we’d wanted. It was a dark grey, and oversized. It looked really comfortable and I was kind of jealous. It reminded me of how badly I just wanted to climb under the covers and stay in bed with my boyfriend for the next decade.

“You know I can’t compete with that. So please don’t make me have to start trying.”

I turned my head to Ely, who was sitting on my right in the booth. He had a bit of a scowl on his lips. I decided to lean over and kiss it away. It had been a long last few days and I wanted to enjoy breakfast with him. I did not want him to be upset with me. One of my best friends being mad at me was enough. I didn’t need the other to join in.

Ely smiled against my lips and when I pulled away, I saw that the smile reached his eyes as well. Good, I thought, everything’s fine.

“As if you’d even have to worry,” I told him, linking our hands together in his lap.

“Okay, judging by your very public display of affection right there, I’m going to have to believe you,” Ely said. “That’s not to say that I don’t have to worry about her. She might try to steal you anyway.”

This time I did laugh. “Oh come on. She’s only like sixteen. It’s harmless.”

“Tell that to her,” he muttered, nodding his head past me. I glanced across the room to my left and just caught the blonde averting her gaze from me. Her face was a light shade of pink once again in a matter of seconds. “I think she missed our kiss. Now she’ll never know you’re taken.”

I shook my head, amused. “You’re cute when you’re jealous. But seriously, babes. She’s harmless. I don’t even know her name.”

“Veronica,” he said immediately.

I waved him off with my hand. “Like I really care. The only person’s name I’m interested is yours.”

“Nice save,” Ely said, fighting off a proud smile.

“Besides,” I said, “What could possibly have her interested in me for? I look pretty gay, don’t I? You’d think she’d have noticed that.”

Ely’s eyes widened as he gaped at me. “You have to be joking.” When he caught sight of my blank stare, he shook his head. “Casp, you’re amazing. Without even knowing a single thing about you, people are drawn to you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh stop.”

Ely went on as if I hadn’t said anything. “You’re really hot, and that hair you’ve got is definitely a lady killer.”

I chuckled. “That was how I wrangled your sister, I guess.”

Ely smiled. “See? And then once you open your mouth--”

“Watch it, perv,” I scolded playfully.

“I meant,” Ely said, smacking me on the shoulder, “That once you start to talk, anyone within a ten mile radius is ready to fall for you.”

“Okay now you have to be joking. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. All I do is talk.”

“I know. I’m about ready to faint right now.”

“Quit being a jerk,” I said. “My voice is not special in any way. Go to South Africa and you’ll hear it everywhere.”

Ely shook his head. “Nothing will compare to how you speak, though. Your voice is so deep and almost gravelly. The accent only enhances it. It’s one of the things I love the most about you.”

I blushed fiercely. “Ely, come on. You’re embarrassing me.”

Ely grinned and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Good.”

I tilted my head and landed my lips against his, innocently. We moved our lips in sync with each other’s in a closed-mouth kiss for what must have only been ten seconds before we heard a tiny gasp. Confused, I pulled away from my boyfriend to see that our food was here.

“I-I’m so sorry,” the girl named Veronica said. Her eyes were cast down at the food and her face was bright red. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

I smiled up at her, trying to make her feel better. “It’s fine, dear.” I took the last plate from her and gave her a tiny wink just to see her smile again. “Thanks.”

She mumbled a quick reply about enjoying our food before rushing off. I chuckled as I watched her go.

“You really shouldn’t encourage her. Getting her hopes up that a very hot, older, gay guy is into her,” Ely scolded, shaking his head. “That’s not very nice.”

I rolled my eyes. “Did you see her? She looked awful. At least I made her smile--”

“Almost.”

“--before she left. And you’re only jealous. Although, I suppose you have good reason. I mean, I am a complete catch, total package and all that.”

Ely glared at me before cutting into his pile of pancakes and taking a bite. “Whatever, I never should have boosted your ego like that.”

I smirked before putting syrup on my Belgian waffle. This breakfast was a nice escape from the last couple days. Plus the food was almost as wonderful as my company.

“You still didn’t have to wink,” Ely muttered a few minutes later.

I groaned. “Okay, we’re done with that,” I said. I grabbed his chin and pulled his face towards mine for a kiss. The taste of butter and maple syrup was strong. I licked his lip as I pulled away. “Yum.”

Ely laughed. “Alright, alright. I’ll let it go this time. But only because you’re such a good kisser.”

“Thank you, thank you. I’ll take my bow later when I have more room to do so.”

“You know,” Ely said a minute later. “Going out for a full breakfast at a restaurant is such a weird event on a Thursday morning.”

I laughed. “Why’s that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just don’t normally get up early enough to do this before school.”

I looked at my watch. He did have somewhat of a point. It wasn’t even quite seven o’clock yet. Ely had to be at school at eight; I’d promised I’d drive him and then pick him up afterwards at three.

“Well, once you go to college, you can do this all the time. Preferably you’ll have chosen classes that don’t start until noon, though, so you won’t have to get up so early,” I teased.

“Ha, ha,” Ely said. “I’m not as lazy as you are.”

“Close enough,” I said. I paused, debating whether or not I wanted to go through with asking my next question. “So...what exactly are you thinking about for next year?”

Ely didn’t say anything right away. We were both looking down at our plates. “Like, for college?”

I nodded. “Yeah, any ideas where you might go, what you might want to do?”

“Uhm,” he said slowly. “I was kind of thinking of a few options.”

“Oh,” I said. I was surprised a little, but I wasn’t sure if it was pleasantly or not. “What are they?”

Ely cleared his throat in a slightly nervous manner. I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to love his response. “Well, the program I really want is at A--”

As if it couldn’t have come at a better time, my phone began to go off. Startled, I pulled it out of my jacket pocket. “It’s my mum,” I said. “I’ve gotta get this. I’m sorry.”

Ely assured me it was fine and went back to eating his breakfast. I didn’t miss the relieved look that had flashed across his face. Maybe he really didn’t want to tell me about his plans.

“Hello?”

“Oh, hi honey!”

“Morning, mum,” I said cheerily. It had been almost a week since that last time she’d called me to catch up. That was possibly a new record for her. “What’s up?”

“Just calling to remind you of a few things, dear.”

I sighed. “Which are...?”

“Your father and I are leaving for our trip tomorrow,” she said.

“Oh yeah! That’s right. I almost forgot about that.”

“That’s why I’m calling. And remember, we’re bring Nialler’s parents along. They’re just dying to see South Africa with us. And it had been a while since our last visit to see your nan.”

“Last Christmas, mum,” I said. “That’s not that long.”

“Caspar, don’t be sassy. It’s been almost a year, silly bean.”

I smiled. “Yeah, yeah. So are you excited.”

“Of course. I do admit that of all the things, I miss how beautiful it is there. I can’t wait to get back and show those two around,” she said happily. “But anyway, since we’ll be gone for the next fourteen days, your brother is your responsibility.”

I sighed. “Yes, mum. I know the drill: no parties, no alcohol, don’t let Gunner die, and make sure he eats a balanced diet. Did I miss anything?”

My mum laughed, clearly enjoying this. “Actually, yes. You did.”

I faked a gasp. “What could it possibly be?”

When my mum answered, she was oddly serious. “Mick, actually. He’ll be staying with you, Nialler, and Gunner.”

My jaw dropped. “Say what?”

“He’s gone and gotten himself into trouble once again,” she said. Her exasperated sigh said it all. “He’s very conveniently gotten suspended from his boarding school today.”

“Like off-campus suspension?” I asked. “Isn’t that really hard to get?”

“Yeah, but of course, Mick has managed it.”

“What on Earth did he do?” I asked. Ely gave me a curious look. I mouthed to him that everything was okay so he went back to eating.

“He got caught smoking weed yesterday afternoon with some girl. He was in a lot of trouble for that one. They had a meeting with the Harris’ and established that he’d receive campus volunteer work for the next thirty days and a week’s worth of on-campus suspension.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “What changed since then?”

“Around midnight last night, security found him in a very compromising situation with that same girl. Sex on campus is clearly a violation against campus rules,” she grumbled. “Of course the nitwit had to go and make things worse as usual. Now he’s got off-campus suspension. The headmaster compromised and said he can go back on the first of November. That happens to be the days we get back from Africa.”

“He’s so unbelievably irresponsible,” I said.

“Who?” Ely whispered, placing his hand on my knee.

I covered the mic on my phone. “Nialler’s little brother, Mick. I’ll tell you later.”

“I know,” my mum said. “On top of that, his volunteer work has been extended to the end of his semester.”

“Wow. So now we’ve got to babysit him as well, I take it?”

“Unfortunately, yes. We are definitely not canceling our trip. And he cannot be left alone. You boys were the only option. Plus, you’ve got Gunner. Maybe the four of you can do some bonding. Try and make Mick a little less....troublesome.”

I snorted. “Yeah, right.”

Nialler and I were on the outs, Gunner was Gunner, and Mick was just full of problems. The next few weeks were going to be hell. And that’s exactly what I was telling Ely five minutes later once I’d hung up with my mother and relayed the whole story to him.

“Don’t worry too much,” Ely said.

“Really?” I gave him a look. “It’s midterms, I never seem to stop working lately, and my own best friend can’t stand to look at me. It’s going to be awful.”

Ely cupped my chin and looked me in the eyes. “It’s okay. You can come over to my house anytime you want. I’m serious when I say my mom is hardly ever home. She never comes up to my room when she is, though, so it’ll be fine.”

“She’ll seriously never notice?” I asked, not quite believing it yet.

“You’ll have to speak to her sometimes. But not often. She’s fine with me having friends--or boyfriends--over whenever. And if you ever want to stay overnight and she’s home, we’ll just move your car a street over or something,” Ely said. “She’s up early every morning anyway. There’ll be no problems.”

“Anton?”

“You know he really likes you. He’ll help us out.”

I nodded and sighed. Maybe this would work. “Alright.”