Honeycrisp

“I thought you said this would be fun,” Aiden mumbled as he walked between the endless rows of apple trees. Jordy tailed behind him slowly. His gaze was fixed on the branches above, searching in vain for any glimmer of a shining red apple, but at Aiden’s remark, he looked down and smirked.

“I never said that. Tristan did,” he said. “Why? Aren’t you having fun?”

Aiden glanced over his shoulder at the other boy. “Sure. We’ve been walking through this stinking orchard for two hours, and have only seen, like, three apples -- and one was molding on the ground. What’s not to like?”

Jordy laughed, and Aiden felt his face heat up. He’d known Jordy for more than half of his life, so the smooth, buttery laugh was familiar to him, but today, he couldn’t help but melt at the sound of it. Maybe it was because they were out on their first official date after three months of playing the waiting game, or maybe it was because the golden, 5 PM-sunlight made his caramel skin glow and his curly brown hair shine, or maybe it was simply because Jordy’s laugh was attractive. Whatever the reason, Aiden was blushing, and he knew Jordy saw it. He looked forward sharply and coughed.

“Are you sure Tristan told you the right place?” he asked. “Didn’t he say there were a shit ton of apples?”

“I think those were his exact words, yeah,” said Jordy. “Maybe he and his girlfriend picked them all.” Aiden frowned, to which Jordy sighed. “If you’re really bored, I can just take you home.”

Aiden shook his head. While trudging through aisles of empty apple trees wasn’t his idea of the perfect date, it definitely beat being at home, at least for the next few weeks. News traveled quickly in their little neighborhood, so it was only natural that Aiden’s parents heard about his and Jordy’s “extended friendship”, as Aiden’s mother had so eloquently put it. And, as expected, they hadn’t reacted very positively. Nothing had gotten too out of hand, but the air in the Moore household was tense -- certainly not something Aiden wanted to sit in for more than a few hours. 

“I think I’ll stay,” he said. “Let’s sit, though.”

“But what if there are more apples?” Jordy asked, feigning concern.

“There aren’t,” said Aiden, and he sat down against a particularly large apple tree. Jordy sat next to him and rested his head on Aiden’s shoulder. Aiden put his arm around his shoulders as Jordy sighed softly and began fiddling with a twig.

“How’d you do on Balmy’s test?” Jordy said.

Aiden groaned. “I think that’s the worst I’ve done on a test since seventh grade history class.”

Jordy smiled. “I remember that. You were so upset you cried.”

“Shut up. I didn’t cry,” said Aiden, embarrassed. “How’d you do?”

“I may have gotten a 92%,” Jordy said smugly. 

“No shit?” 

“Yes shit,” he said, grinning up at Aiden, who returned the smile and squeezed Jordy’s shoulder.

“Well, I’m glad the studying worked for one of us.” 

There was a short pause, and Aiden knew that Jordy was racking his brain for light conversation starters. They’d spent the past two hours talking about random, easy things, which was almost always a sign that something had been going on with Jordy at home. But -- whether it was out of respect for Jordy’s privacy or the sense that whatever was happening with Jordy would result in a very heavy conversation -- Aiden didn’t pry. He figured that Jordy would open up if he wanted to, and if he didn’t, well, maybe it was for the better.

“Are there retakes?” Jordy said finally, and Aiden was released from the deeper parts of his mind and welcomed back to the warm, friendly, familiar parts.

“Yeah,” he replied, thinking back to physics class the day before. “Molly did pretty bad, too. I think we’re gonna take it again together.”

“Molly, huh?” Jordy said softly. He was tracing the twig’s branches with his finger.

Aiden raised his eyebrows skeptically. “I’m gay, Jordy. You don’t have to worry about me spending time with girls.”

Jordy laughed, and Aiden melted again, forgetting all about Jordy’s clear attempt to push the conversation away from anything related to his own life.

“Don’t I? You might not be interested in them, but that won’t stop them from being interested in you.”

“That shouldn’t matter if we’re together.”

“You’re right, it shouldn’t. But it does.”

Aiden smiled, watching Jordy steadily bend the twig until finally, it snapped.

“I wonder where he went,” said Jordy, now firmly holding two smaller twigs, one in each hand.

Aiden’s smile disappeared, and he was plunged back into deep, scary thoughts. Jordy was no doubt asking about his father, who’d left town four years before. Aiden knew this. He recognized that Jordy was trying to talk about an important and traumatic event with him, that Jordy was trying to open up, become vulnerable -- Aiden saw all of this, looked it up and down, and then turned a blind eye to it by saying one word: “Who?”

He could almost hear the door to Jordy’s mind slamming shut. 

“Jack Dawson, from our PE freshman year,” said Jordy brightly, tossing the pieces of twig away. “He fell off the face of the earth last spring.”

“Oh, right,” Aiden replied. “I heard he moved to Florida.”

“Florida?” Jordy exclaimed, sitting up sharply. “Who the hell moves to Florida?”

“The Dawson family, apparently.”

“Weird,” he said, and leaned back onto Aiden’s chest. “I’ve only ever heard of people taking, like, week-long vacations in Florida. Who would actually want to live there?”

“You’ve never even been to Florida, Jordy.”

“Yeah I have, and you have too. We stopped there on our way to Louisiana back in July, remember?” said Jordy. “Wait, I think you were drunk. Or maybe you were asleep and Tristan was drunk…”

“Who knows.”

“Yeah.”

Another pause. Aiden wondered if maybe he should have let Jordy talk about his dad. Actually, there was no maybe about it -- he definitely should have. He opened his mouth to bring it up again, but before he could say anything Jordy punched him in the leg.

“What the hell?” Aiden cried.

“The sun is setting,” said Jordy, pointing ahead. Aiden peaked between the trees and looked directly at the blinding, orange sun that was just beginning to sink below the horizon.

“You punched me for that?” Aiden asked incredulously, but he was smiling; Jordy never stopped surprising him. 

“Shouldn’t I get you home?” Jordy said, turning to face Aiden.

“Not yet,” Aiden replied. “Let’s go a little further. Maybe we’ll finally see some apples.”

Jordy grinned and jumped up. “That’s the spirit!” 

Aiden took Jordy’s outstretched hand and they continued down the rows of trees. After walking about ten feet, Aiden gasped.

“What?” said Jordy. He followed Aiden’s gaze, then gasped, too. A perfect, shiny, bright red apple was dangling from a branch about two feet above them. Jordy moved to pick it, but -- not exactly being the tallest boy around -- he missed it by a few inches. 

“I always forget how short you are,” said Aiden teasingly. 

“Shut up and grab the apple,” said Jordy, eyes wide with excitement. 

Aiden chuckled -- why was he so excited about a damn apple? -- and, instead of picking the apple himself, he grabbed Jordy around the waist and hoisted him up. 

“Jesus -- put me down!” Jordy said.

Aiden laughed. “Shut up and grab the apple.”

He watched as Jordy yanked it off of the branch, still laughing softly. Once it was in his hand, Aiden lowered Jordy back onto the ground.

“Are you not gonna share?” Aiden asked.

Jordy scowled at him and took a bite of the apple. “No.”

Aiden grinned. “What kind is it?”

“Guess you’ll never know.”

“Come on, let me try it --” Aiden started, reaching for the apple, but Jordy whipped around and threw it. The once-perfect apple landed in the dirt about fifty feet away, and Aiden frowned in disappointment. “Did you really have to throw it?”

“Did you really have to pick me up?” Jordy shot back, but judging by the tone of his voice, Aiden had a feeling the boy wasn’t just upset about being lifted off of the ground. 

“I’m sorry,” Aiden said, and he was -- but not for picking Jordy up. They looked at each other for a while, Aiden’s imploring eyes swimming in Jordy’s equally indignant ones, but then Jordy’s expression softened back to its usual charming smile. 

“Don’t be,” he said. “We should get back now, though.”

Aiden narrowed his eyes a little, as if doing so would help him understand Jordy’s sudden change in attitude. “Just a little further.”

Jordy looked up at the darkening sky. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Once again, Aiden walked ahead, Jordy trailing even further behind him this time. The former was still searching the branches above, but he was sure Jordy had given up on the notion that there were any apples left in the trees. Sighing, Aiden returned his gaze to the dirt path ahead, where he saw a small bit of red. He grinned, and was about to quicken his pace when Jordy said, “Oh, I see.”

He turned around. “What?”

Jordy had his hands in his pockets and seemed to be studying the apple tree beside him. He glanced at Aiden and said, “Don’t bother. It’s already covered in dirt.”

“That’s what sinks are for,” Aiden replied matter-of-factly. He saw a glint of mischief pass briefly through Jordy’s eyes and expected a witty comeback, but the boy simply shrugged.

“Fine. But then I’m taking you home.”

“Sounds good.” 

Jordy watched as Aiden jogged off to retrieve the apple he’d thrown and was strangely reminded of the old golden retriever he’d had in elementary school. But then he saw the buzzcut, he saw the faded green army jacket, and the image disappeared. Jordy frowned to himself, wondering why the idea had even come to mind. He watched Aiden lunge down, but before he could pick up the apple, Jordy turned around.

Aiden, who was now grinning broadly and wiping the dust off of the apple with his shirt, turned back around, excited to prove to Jordy that the apple was still safe enough to eat -- but Jordy had already started walking back the way they came. Aiden sighed, glanced down at his feet, and ran after him to catch up.