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Charlie walked past the branches that Nick was holding aside and his breath stuttered in wonder.
The clearing they found themselves in looked magical.
Thick moss covered the ground, swallowing the sounds of their footsteps. Soft sunlight broke through the dense canopy of leafy branches, the crown shyness of the trees drew intricate patterns against the clearest blue of the sky.
Nick stopped Charlie with a soft touch to his lower back.
“This is where I come when I need to reset my brain, where I can finally hear myself think again,” Nick explained why he took his best friend all the way out into the wilderness. “It’s also where I feel like I can just be myself.”
Nick took a deep breath, Charlie wondered what he was psyching himself up for.
“You’re my best friend, Char, you know that. But also, I really like you… romantically. I like you so much and I’d love to kiss you, if you’d like that too.”
Before Charlie’s brain could quite realise what Nick had said, and that actually, all his gay dreams had just come true, apples started falling down all around them.
Nick swiftly pulled Charlie aside, away from the danger. Charlie could swear that for one second, Nick’s head looked like a golden apple in the middle of all the red ones tumbling to the ground.
“Nick! I like you so much too,” Charlie whispered to Nick, once they’d recovered from the shock.
Hearts now beating wildly for quite another reason, their lips inched closer and closer until they softly met into a timid first kiss.
The magic of sharing air in this most intimate way quickly erased any lingering shyness and their kisses soon grew more heated, lips sliding and tongues gliding together, until they came up for air with a gasp.
“Oh,” Nick exclaimed, his fingers caressing over Charlie’s curls. “There’s a lady bird in your hair!”
“I think that’s a good omen, Nick!” Charlie said, leaning in for another kiss.