Home for the Summer (BOYXBOY)

Mountains Between Us: Part 4

Trigger warning for this chapter! Please scroll down to the author's note at the bottom for more details.

The stupidest thing I could've done was come to Vermont and fall back in love with Nicolas Young.

At first, it was worry, like a stone rippling my stomach. The world stuttered the moment I realized he was in trouble. I saw him in that hospital room, his sad smile and pained whispers, and I worried like I never had before. But, over the week I lingered around him, that worry began to be slowly eaten by love, and I hated myself for letting it happen.

I spent every minute beside him. Walks through the iced pavement, tears over mealtimes, words passed in glances. Every breath was used with Nico in mind. On the first day he returned home from the hospital, I gave him space, but by the second, he called me and told me to "stop avoiding him all over again". His words.

"You don't have an excuse anymore," Nico said. "I'm sick. You'd be cruel to stay away."

He seemed proud of himself when I showed up at his doorstep an hour later with a handful of book recommendations and a pitiful smile.

We didn't touch each other for a long time. Something about it felt dangerous, even though I'd laid beside him in the hospital. I'd catch myself looking at Nico and imagining so clearly what it would feel like to touch his skin, his hair, his lips, but I shook out of it in time to stop in my tracks. I was falling back in love. Maybe I never fell out. That didn't mean Nico had to be dragged into that mess, too.

But, after a day, we grew out of whatever rules we had respectively placed and found ourselves holding hands or arms or resting against shoulders. It felt like a habit that had faded, something always in the back of your mind and waiting to be dusted off again. I touched Nicolas like I swam.

"So, I think we can talk about the elephant in the room now," Nico said the moment I entered his house that Friday. His hair was still ruffled from sleep and I desperately wanted to fix it for him, but I just smiled instead.

"Good morning to you, too."

"Yeah, yeah. Good morning," he let out before standing from his chair at the dining table.

It had been only six days since he got home from the hospital, and Nico was doing really well. He still cried during meals sometimes and even without tears, it took him over an hour to finish eating. When things got really difficult, he'd refuse to even pick up his fork and had to have these high-calorie drinks instead, but that hadn't happened for a few days now. Even his smile seemed brighter.

"What's the 'elephant in the room', then?" I asked, because it really could be a number of options.

"I want to follow you back to Cali."

I paused in the doorway, light flooding behind me. "You... What?"

"I don't want to finish off the year here. Not anymore."

"I don't understand."

His eyebrows ruffled like he was expecting me to say something else, but Nico spoke still. "I can't play hockey, I already have to stay home from school for the next few weeks... There's nothing for me here."

"What about your mom? And Jackie?"

"My mom can come, too."

"Nico-"

"And Jackie will want what's best for me. I haven't been happy since I've been to Cali, and I'm not going to be happy until I'm back." After neither of us spoke, he let out a breath. "You were supposed to be thrilled."

"I... I am. But, I'm trying to be practical. It's our senior year. Why not just... Get through the next semester before moving to California?"

Nico sunk a little as he shook his head. "You don't get it." He left the dining room and started down the hallway toward his bedroom.