The drive was filled with chatter. Reggie rambled, but the longer Nick was around him, the easier it was for Nick to just talk with Reggie. As himself instead of the confident popular guy he pretended to be. To say Nick was having a good time might have been an understatement. Nick barely looked out the windows as they drove, completely enthralled by the unabashed brightness on Reggie’s face when he was talking about something he loved. Flynn had texted him that she was home, but going out with Carrie since she didn’t need to get Nick, and Alex let Reggie know he made it home. Nick finally felt the car slow down, and Reggie grinned at him, hopping out of the car. Before Nick could fully unbuckle his seatbelt, Reggie was around the car, opening his door in a ridiculous half bow, “Right this way, your highness.” Nick laughed, nudging Reggie’s shoulder as he climbed out of the car.
“You’re lucky you’re cute, you nerd.” Nick froze for a second, but Reggie was still laughing.
“It’s part of my charm.” Reggie did the double finger guns at Nick and Nick couldn’t help but laugh. He really was falling in love with an idiot.
“So, where are we?” Nick asked as he looked around. They were surrounded by trees that hadn’t lost their fall leaves yet, despite the fact that it was rapidly becoming winter. “Bring me out here to kill me?”
Reggie grinned, throwing an arm around Nick’s shoulders as he gestured to the trees, “This is my favorite place in the world. We’re about an hour outside the city.”
“We drove for over an hour?” Nick asked incredulously. He was born and raised here, but he had no idea a place as beautiful and peaceful as this existed. Reggie just shook his head with a grin. He pulled his arm off Nick’s shoulders, and Nick instantly missed the feeling. But before he could dwell on it, Reggie was grabbing his hand and pulling him down a path.
“You’re gonna lose your mind when you see this.” Nick didn’t fight the pull on his hand, or the pull on his lips, though he knew he must’ve looked like a grinning idiot, he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Reggie pulled him along, intertwining their fingers like it was second nature as he talked about why this place meant so much to him. Nick learned more about Reggie. He knew Reggie’s parents had money, not that he ever cared about that, but apparently they owned this land. Reggie said he liked to come here when his parents weren’t paying attention to him, and from the way he led Nick around, Nick would hazard a guess that it was a lot. Apparently Alex lived with him, after some kind of fight with his parents. After a few minutes, Reggie turned toward a cave, but he stopped. Turning to look at Nick, “Do you trust me?”
Nick didn’t even think about it. “With more than my life.” Reggie gave him a funny looking grin before pulling him in. As they moved to the center of the cave, Reggie nudged Nick to look up, and when he did the breath caught in his throat. Even through the clouds, the sun was filtering through holes in the ceiling, and it looked like a replication of a star filled night sky. “Whoa.” He breathed out. He looked over at Reggie, who quickly directed his attention to the ceiling to hide the fact that he was staring at him.
“Turn him into stars and form a constellation in his image. His face will make the heavens so beautiful that the world will fall in love with the night and forget about the garish sun.” Reggie muttered softly as he stared at the mock night sky.
“Do you just quote Romeo and Juliet?” Nick asked as he watched the boy in front of him. Reggie looked away, suddenly shy for the first time around Nick in days. “It was a beautiful passage.” Nick squeezed Reggie’s hand, neither of them had let go yet.
”I saw that you liked Shakespeare, so I reread the classics.” The words were spoken softly, but they echoed around the damp rock into Nick’s ears. Nick’s eyes found Reggie’s, and even though the cave was dark, Nick could still see the blush covering the paler boy’s face. “I, uh, I really like you, Nick. I’m sorry if that’s weird.”
”I really like you, too, Reg.” Nick leaned over, placing a soft kiss on Reggie’s cheek. As he pulled away though, Reggie turned his head and placed a quick, chaste kiss to Nick’s lips, and the blonde boy’s heart stopped for a second. Reggie pulled away just as quickly as he had leaned in, but Nick wasn’t ready to lose that contact. He placed his free hand on the back of Reggie’s neck, “Is this okay?” Reggie nodded, glancing down at Nick’s lips. Nick leaned in slowly, wanting to give Reggie a chance to back out, but instead Reggie leaned forward again. Nick gasped slightly at the contact, Reggie’s lips soft and warm in the cool air, and Reggie nipped at his lower lip. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they pulled away. Reggie leaned his forehead against Nick’s shoulder.
”So, now might be a weird time to ask,” Reggie whispered, “But why did you give me your jacket the other day?”
Nick laughed, deep in his chest, “Because I thought you would look really good in it and I wanted to show people that I liked you.” Nick gave him an honest answer. Since he first saw Reggie in the school hallway, he wondered how he would look wrapped up in Nick’s clothes. “Why did you give me yours?” Nick gestured at the leather jacket still wrapped snugly around his torso.
Reggie half shrugged, not moving his head from Nick’s shoulder he pressed a gentle kiss to the side of Nick’s neck, sending a shudder through the blonde boy. “I wanted to make you look like mine.”