Courageous

EPILOGUE

You know that feeling when you are ready to do something but once you are seconds from actually doing it, you just stop and then, backed out.

That's exactly how Carter felt once Max stood in front of him looking at him with a certain glint in his eyes. He wasn't saying anything and neither was the other male, they just stood there one of them smiling, the other looking pretty stupid with his mouth hanging open and the cotton candy he held in his hand almost falling twice.

Carter felt like his whole vocabulary just flew out of his mind and jumped in the water to swim away from that embarrassing moment of just standing there in front of his crush without saying anything and went to find another human to use it. He wouldn't blame it, he felt like doing so too.

He didn't know what he was previously thinking.

He wasn't brave enough to ask Max out, that boy was way out of his league. He had probably been at a party and had probably been seconds away from taking a girl to his dorm with him (or a boy – he hoped for this option more even though he wanted to be the one taken to Max's room rather than a stranger).

Perhaps Carter should just leave. He had embarrassed himself enough and he knew he wouldn't be able to ask his crush out even if he stood in front of him. His insecurities started laughing in his head, once again they had won. He felt defeated as he lowered his hand down, the candy in his hold almost falling down. He didn't know what to do.

Should he run or just walk away? What if the bus would be late and Max caught up with him and asked for an explanation or something? He couldn't bear the thought of having to explain what this whole thing had been about.

He cursed himself for not knowing how to drive. Life would have been a lot easier if he had just listened to Nicholas and his mama when they had told him that having a driver's license and a car was a lifesaver. Instead, he trusted his mom who was afraid of everything moving on wheels and wouldn't even take the bus to work. She would walk instead.

His heart picked up his speed, his breathing becoming quicker than usual.

However, he relaxed when one soft voice spoke up.

"So, are we going to just stand here and not say anything or do you wanna tell why you brought me here at almost nine o'clock at night on a Thursday?" Max's voice broke him out of his thoughts. He felt his cheeks burn and he knew there was a pink hew on them.

He didn't know how to reply. He felt like if he opened his mouth, stupid things would escape it instead of words. But due to the questioning look, the male in front of him was giving him, he knew he would have to speak up soon.

"I bought you some cotton candy,"

Seriously? He screamed at himself in his mind, out of all the things I could say I just tell him about that stupid candy? How stupid am I?

His cheeks felt like they were burning as the blonde-haired male laughed and took the candy from his hands. He took a piece of it and chewed it before giving some to him. He accepted the gesture even though all he wanted to do was just jump in the water so that all of that would be over.

"Let me get this straight," Max spoke again, "You brought me here just to offer me some candy?"

Before he could even stop himself, he answered, "No, there was something else I wanted to ask you actually,"

WHAT THE ACTUAL f**k?!

"Oh okay, what is it?" He chewed as he spoke which made carter almost scream at him not to eat and speak at the same time. He held himself back though before he could embarrass himself even more.

"I – I just wanted – I wanted to know – Would you like to – Um, I mean".

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?

What was he even doing? His cheeks burned as Max let out another loud laugh which made some people turn to look at them. His cheeks flared again. He had forgotten they weren't alone. But he couldn't pay much attention to them. If he wanted to ask him out, he needed to do it quickly.

However, before he could speak, the green-eyed male stopped him, "The answer is yes, Carter,"

Huh? "Um, what?"

Max grinned, "You were trying to ask me out on a date, right? Well, the answer is yes, I would love to go out with you,"

Carter stuttered, "How – When – What? – How did you know?"

"The blushing, the stuttering and plus, I could tell by the way Noah always left us alone while we were hanging out. I was just waiting for you to ask,"

"You were waiting? Why the hell didn't you ask me instead?"

"Because I wanted to see how badly you wanted to date me. And now, I know,"

Carter rolled his eyes as he scoffed, "Now, you know what? I didn't even say anything,"

"You didn't have to," And before he could say anything more, Max threw the candy away, closed the space between them, grasped his cheeks and then, he kissed him. Carter felt as if fireworks were blowing up in his stomach and the tingles spread to his arms, his fingers feeling numb as he placed them on his shoulders. The kiss didn't last long but Carter felt like his whole world had changed when they pulled apart.

"I normally don't kiss on the first date but damn, I really wanted to do that for so long," Max mumbled his forehead touching Carter's as he tried to regain his breathing and his ability to talk.

Maybe Noah had been right. If he hadn't tried, he wouldn't have known that Max liked him back. He wouldn't have that amazing kiss that sent his mind to overdrive. He wouldn't have asked the boy he liked to be his boyfriend three weeks later after they reunited after spring break.

As he pulled him into another brain-damaging kiss, he thought that sometimes we have to find a little bit of courage to get what we want.

And Carter was glad he did.