|| BRAD ||

At that moment, I felt many rushing emotions: I was confused and jealous to see both of them sat down together in this place specifically, my ex and my current love interest. My hands involuntarily fumbled until I noticed Ethan was with them as well, sending a small wave of relief. I heaved a sigh and relaxed. "Umm, are you okay bro?" Liam's voice brought me back.

"Yeah," I muttered and walked towards the three. Standing in front of their table, I spoke, "may I sit with you," I asked them, or more like demanded.

Noah gives me a small smile, "Oh, sur-"

"Between you and Anna," I cut him off, though it sounded unintentionally rude. Noah was a little bit taken back and looks at Annabel, wondering what to say. She glances at me with a sad expression and reluctantly nods then gets up from her seat, giving me access to get in. Taking my spot, I wrapped my arm around Noah's shoulder. "Wow, dude, way to be subtle with your possessiveness," Liam looked at me disapprovingly.

"Shut up," I said, pulling Noah closer to me. I scooted over a bit to give Annabel some space who awkwardly took her spot. Ethan just kept silent the whole time, not exactly what to do. Liam heaved a sigh and looked at Noah, "you guys ready to order?" He said, his notepad prepared at the moment.

Noah nods, picking up the menu from the table and points at the dish that he wants, Ethan then tells his choice, and so does Annabel. "How 'bout you dude?" Liam turned to me.

"The same thing, you know me," I said. Liam takes note of our requests and excuses himself.

"So, what brings you here?" Noah said, grabbing my attention. I turned to look down on him, his big eyes staring at me. I smiled softly, "actually I was planning to look for you and ask if you would like to go out with me and eat. I couldn't find you, so I figured I would just head here by myself. What are the odds?" I chuckled.

"You must really like this place huh?" Noah said with a gentle smile.

I nodded in agreement. This used to be my go-to place with my friends, but it also left a few memories of when Anna and I were together. I looked at her from the corner of my eye. I caught her sneaking glances at me, then she tried to divert away when I see her looking. "You okay?" I asked her.

"I'm fine," she grinned, though I recognized the tone she used. I feel like she wasn't exactly truthful and that there was something bothering her. I didn't want to keep pushing so I just nodded and smiled softly back, but I was still curious as to why she'd been acting weirdly these past days. I drifted my attention somewhere else, "Can't wait to watch you sing by the way," I smirked, looking down at Noah.

"So you're really gonna go?" He said somewhat sounding hopeful.

"Of course I will," I said, ruffling his hair, "you came to my football game, so I'll watch your choir concert," my voice went husky. Noah looked at me with wide eyes. My mind went blank when I was just dreamily staring at him until I have just now realized that I involuntarily neared myself really close to him, our faces about an inch apart. I slowly pulled away to give him space, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing," I stuttered.

"I-it's okay," Noah murmured quietly. His entire face heated as he broke our eye contact, his own slowly drifted slightly downwards presumably at my lips. I kept silent, wondering what he would do next but also wishing he would willingly press his own lips on mine himself; that is until some idiot with bad timing ruined the moment.

"Hey guys, brought you some water," Liam interrupted as he placed a glass of water in front of each of us. Ethan snickered, trying to contain his laughter by placing his hand in-front of his mouth. Noah quickly parted himself away from me, turning away to hide his face. I gave a huge glare at Liam who didn't seem to know what was going on, "what?" He said unknowingly.

-

After receiving our food we talked and enjoyed our meal. Coincidentally, Noah got the same sandwich as last time, Annabel has her favorite pasta, Ethan just got himself some fries and was just listening to us, and I was eating a triple patty stacked burger. I noticed that throughout our talk, Noah was a lot more open and social. He talked about more things about himself and he was curious to know stuff about me too.

-

We finished up our food and it was time to pay up. Ethan and Annabel were pulling out their own money out of there pockets. I was about to do so as well when the boy sat next to me spoke, "Hey Brad," I heard Noah say, "I uhh, let me pay for you."

"Oh, what? Nah you don't have to," I looked at him with a grin. Ethan rolled his eyes and shrugged as he paid for his part.

"No seriously, let me umm... pay, please," he looked at me with his precious expression, almost making me pity for not accepting his offer. I gulped as I felt myself not wanting to argue. His eyes were just too charming and innocent. "O-okay then..." I mumbled, giving in.

After our bill, Anna said she wanted to use the bathroom first, so us guys said goodbye to Liam and headed outside for some cool fresh air. The brisk dusk brushed upon us giving a good atmosphere. "Hey umm, Ethan? Could you give us some privacy, I wanna talk to Brad alone," Noah said, talking to Ethan. He raises an eyebrow but followed his request and made his way to Noah's car. Noah held my hand and started pulling me away from Ethan's perimeter and any other person in sight. I looked at him curiously, not knowing where this was going. After finally stopping in the more flowery garden section with roses and other plants of the back of this place, Noah lets go and slowly turns to look at me with a nervous expression. He takes a huge breath and tries to maintain his gaze at me straight in the eyes but couldn't. His eyes were glancing everywhere else but me, "Noah?" I said worriedly, "anything up?"

"B-brad..." he said, stuttered, he was fiddling with his fingers. I frowned, why is he acting anxious? I patiently waited for him to say what he needed. The entire area was quiet and only the rustling of the bristling trees could be heard. He takes another controlled breath, trying to calm himself down, "Brad," he starts again. The soft wind was blowing as the bright red floral danced in the background. "Remember your question of 'if I wanted to be your boyfriend?'" He said. I nodded, my body went stiff as I was waiting for what he was about to do next.

And what he did shocked me.

He stood closer on his toes, placed his hand on my cheek to slightly pulled himself closer to me, closed his eyes, and gave me a kiss. My eyes widened in surprise as I felt his warm lips on mine. My legs wobbled as I wanted to melt, my heart was beating fast. He let his hand fall behind my back as I felt him beginning to pull apart, but I didn't want it to end just yet. I quickly wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him back again, kissing him harder this time. His actions were soft, but mine was more passionate and rough. He was shorter than me so I had to bend my knees a little to lower myself. I hesitantly pulled backed and looked at him, releasing a little groan. His eyes glimmered and his face was the reddest I've ever seen. I slowly took off my arms and let him stand but kept at least a hand held at one of his to let him balance. "Sorry, I'm a terrible kisser," he said embarrassed, as he buried his face on my chest. I chuckled, then laughed. He turns his head to me while maintaining his tight hug. "Was that your first kiss?" I smirked at him. He nods timidly, laying his head on me. This is amazing, no, not just amazing, It's been so long that I've ever been this happy! Knowing that I'm the one who gave Noah his first kiss made me want to explode! I tenderly brushed a few strands of hair away from his forehead to look at him better.

"So does this mean you're my boyfriend now?" I smiled gently, looking at his small form, hugging him dearly.

"Yes."