On Wednesday afternoon the next week, the fire alarm went off at Cooper’s Creek High School. One of the ovens in the home economics classroom caught fire (an over-filled cheese souffle was rumored to be at fault) and there was a school-wide evacuation. Dallas loved it when they had fire drills, because it broke up the monotony of the school-day and offered him a chance to be outside. This Wednesday’s evacuation was even better, because it meant that he was able to sit with Nate in the stadium bleachers.

The minute they were outside, Dallas caught sight of his friend and waved to him. Nate grinned and motioned up to the top of the bleachers. Dallas pushed his way through the crowd of confused students milling over the football field. They met at the top of the stadium bleachers and claimed a spot away from a group of seniors who were taking the moment to secretly smoke a cigarette.

“It’s not every day I get to see you twice,” Dallas said happily. 

“I know,” Nate agreed, grinning. “Thank goodness for burnt cheese souffles! Do you think Rosalie would make a cheese souffle for us tomorrow if I asked?”

“Rosalie will make anything if you ask her,” Dallas replied.

They chatted about the various foods – each more complicated and extravagant – that they could ask of Rosalie. They were laughing about steak tartar and foie gras when a shadow loomed over them. The pair looked up to find Roy Kearns standing over them with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Nathaniel, don’t you want to come down and join the rest of us on the football field?” Roy asked, pointing to a group of the New Life Church crowd that were lounging on the grass.

“Oh, no thank you Roy,” Nate said with a polite smile. “I’d much prefer to sit in the bleachers.”

“That’s OK, we can come up here then,” Roy said. “We don’t get to see much of you outside of church these days.”

Dallas’ guts squelched angrily and he glared at Roy. How dare this fucking pretty-boy interrupt his precious moment of extra time with Nate? 

Nate also tensed, but his face didn’t lose that mask of a polite smile.

“I’ve been busy tutoring Dallas,” he answered. “In fact, we were just going over the capital cities of Europe for his geography class. Isn’t that right, Dallas?”

“Yup,” Dallas replied, barely able to contain the growl. “ ‘Cause I’m real stupid and I keep thinking that the capital of Hungary is Turkey.”

Roy laughed weakly and edged away from Dallas.

“Right,” he said. “Well, if you decide you need some better company, Nathaniel, you’re always welcome to join us. The Reverend told my mom he’s worried that you’re not socializing with the right crowd and he asked if I could keep an eye out for you…as a friend.”

Dallas notice Nate’s fist clench, but his polite mask didn’t fall.

“I appreciate your concern Roy,” he replied, “but as you can see I’m socializing just fine. I hope you and the others are able to enjoy the good weather before we have to go back to class.”

With this said, Nate turned his attention back to Dallas. Roy hovered for a moment, but after another glare from Dallas he left them and returned to the group on the field. 

Even after Roy was gone, neither Dallas or Nate said anything. Dallas was trying to cool his anger and jealousy, while Nate seemed to be struggling with some demon of his own. His face was tight and his clenched fist was shaking on the bench between them. Cautiously, Dallas reached out and placed his hand over Nate’s trembling one. Nate eyes flicked up to meet his gaze and Dallas smiled softly.

“Are you alright?” he asked in a quiet voice.

Nate sighed and closed his eyes before he grinned back.

“Yes, I’m fine,” he said. “It just…bothers me the way other people talk about you.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I wasn’t exactly nice to Pretty-Boy Kearns either,” Dallas replied with a chuckle.

Nate snorted. “Yeah, you could’ve used a little more charm. But the thing you said about Turkey and Hungary was funny. Do you know what the capital of Hungary actually is?”

“Budapest,” Dallas answered immediately, to Nate’s astonishment. “But the capital of Turkey is trickier – everyone wants to say Istanbul because it’s the largest city, but Ankara is actually the capital city. You can look it up on your phone.”

When Nate continued to stare at him, Dallas shrugged sheepishly.

“It’s one of the things I used to do with Madeline,” he explained. “She would read travel books and quiz me about capital cities. Those are some of my favorite memories with her, actually. She’d tell me about the places she wanted to go and point them out on a map.”

Nate started to laugh.

“Just when you think you know a guy, he goes and tells you the capital of Turkey!” he chuckled.

“Sorry if I ruined your opinion of me,” Dallas said, trying not to blush.

Nate stopped laughing and moved his hand so that he could place it over top of Dallas’.

“Please Dallas, I’m not laughing at you,” he said. “I’d never laugh at you…well, maybe if you did something really funny. But I was laughing now because I think it’s nice that I keep learning things about you – life is never boring when you’re around. Please don’t be mad!”

“I could never be mad at you, Nate,” Dallas answered truthfully, and because he couldn’t help the temptation, he rubbed his thumb against Nate’s. “You make the world a brighter place.”

Nate’s face flushed a deep red and Dallas worried he’d gone too far, but then Nate rubbed his thumb against Dallas’ in return.

“Thank you,” he whispered, his words barely louder than a breath.

Dallas’ heart thumped erratically. Was it possible that maybe Nate felt the same way? Did these touches do the same thing to Nate as they did to Dallas? 

But then there was the squawk of a megaphone and the principal’s voice announced that the building had been cleared by the fire department and everyone could return to class. The two boys sprang apart and stood up with the rest of the school.

“I’ll…I’ll see you tomorrow at lunch,” Nate stammered.

“Yeah,” Dallas grunted. “See you.”

Nate wandered off to join the rest of his honors calculus class, while Dallas took his time rejoining his own statistics class. He glanced over for one more look at Nate, but he spotted Roy Kearns instead. The popular jock was staring at Nate and the expression on Roy’s face was almost…calculating.

A feeling of dread washed over Dallas. What could’ve given him that expression? What had Roy seen? What did it mean for Nate?

“Don’t panic,” Dallas chided himself. “If he’s plotting some way to keep us apart, it won’t work because there’s no fucking way I’m giving up Nate!”

But the thought bothered Dallas all the rest of the day and into the evening, until he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

* * * * * * *