After the school day was over Chen Xia took Yang Qiu's arm and pulled him outside to the benches behind the school. There, Chen Xia let go of his arm. He turned around to look at Yang Qiu, staring wordlessly at Yang Qiu's face.
Chen Xia slowly leaned forward towards Yang Qiu, carefully studying all the details of the 'new' Yang Qiu standing before him.
"Uh, Ch-Chen Xia…" Yang Qiu stammered, face flushing red.
Chen Xia blinked once, then quickly retreated a step backward, quickly lowering his eyes. He didn't realize how close he had gotten to Yang Qiu's face. Embarrassed, he shifted his gaze and scratched his head.
"Sorry about that…" Chen Xia was a bit flustered. "You… you've changed… a lot."
Yang Qiu watched as Chen Xia restlessly tried to find somewhere natural to place his hands.
"N-not in a bad way, of course," Chen Xia suddenly added, looking up at Yang Qiu.
Yang Qiu smiled reservedly, not quite knowing how to respond.
"You have too…" Yang Qiu said, feeling his ears turn redfrom awkwardness.
"Your hair… you grew it out," Chen Xia observed.
"Yeah, and you've gotten taller. A lot taller," Yang Qiu responded, still taking in the evolved appearance of his childhood friend.
Both blushed at each other's comments and were unable to look each other in the eyes.
After a moment, Chen Xia spoke up again.
"… Can you pinch me? I still don't feel like this is real…" Chen Xia's voice trailed away.
Yang Qiu looked up, amused at Chen Xia's request. He slowly reached out and carefully took Chen Xia's hand with his own.
Chen Xia flinched at the sudden movement and turned his gaze towards their touching hands. His hands are so soft… and his fingers are pretty. Chen Xia blushed.
Wait. What the hell am I thinking? Chen Xia squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the strange thoughts in his mind. How can a single year make so much of a difference… Gege is like a new person now.
Yang Qiu lifted his other hand and lightly pinched Chen Xia's forearm. His arm is muscular…
"Ow!"
Yang Qiu pulled his hands away.
"Pfft." Yang Qiu couldn't help but laugh at Chen Xia's response, lowering his head to smother is laughter.
After sensing no further movement from Chen Xia, Yang Qiu carefully lifted his gaze towards Chen Xia, and saw him looking at the spot that Yang Qiu had pinched him.
Then all of a sudden, Chen Xia stepped forward and wrapped Yang Qiu in a tight hug.
"Ah-" Yang Qiu was caught off guard. He felt a blush creeping up his neck and spreading across his face. Heslowly lifted his arms to embrace Chen Xia back.
Chen Xia buried his face into Yang Qiu's shoulder.
"I've really missed you a lot… I'm so glad you're back."
Chen Xia and Yang Qiu sat side by side on the bench. Yang Qiu had his hands in his lap while Chen Xia leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Neither of them were looking at anything in particular, and neither spoke for a while.
A soft breeze blew by as the silence grew longer, and Chen Xia suddenly felt an urge to speak.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back? I thought you wouldn't be back in time for senior year… I was about to give up. Do you know how much I missed you, how much I hoped you would come back? You're back for good, right? You won't leave again?"Once he started, Chen Xia couldn't stop the flow of grievances he had stored in his heart from coming out all at once.
Yang Qiu turned to look at Chen Xia. He reached out and took Chen Xia's hands into his own.
"Well, I wanted to give you a surprise! If… If I had known how terrible you would feel, I would never have hidden this from you in the first place. Though I guess I should have known how much I missed you myself. Keeping this secret was so hard…" Yang Qiu lowered his gaze.
"The past year has been… well never mind. I'm just so glad that you are here." Chen Xia felt overwhelmed with the mix of strong emotions boiling within him. But mostly, he was overjoyed.Overjoyed at the fact that Yang Qiu was back, overjoyed that their friendship was still intact.
Yang Qiu wrapped Chen Xia back into a hug.
"I'm really glad I'm back too…" Yang Qiu held Chen Xia tighter. "I won't leave ever again."
As the two approached the bike rack Yang Qiu slowed his steps.
"I took the bus here, so I should probably go to the bus stop now…" Yang Qiu said with a hint of disappointment as Chen Xia mounted his bike.
"Huh? Oh…" Chen Xia replied with similar dejectedness.
Yang Qiu hesitated for a moment, not quite willing to leave. Just as he was about to walk away, Chen Xia spoke up again.
"Um… How about you ride on the back of my bike? We can go see my parents too!" Chen Xia was brightened by this idea.
"Are you sure?" Yang Qiu was caught off guard, buthearing Chen Xia's offer, he couldn't help feeling a bit excited.
"Well, of course!" Chen Xia grinned and held out his hand to Yang Qiu.
Yang Qiu took Chen Xia's hand and carefully settledonto the back of Chen Xia's bike.
"Y-you can hold on to my waist, so you don't fall off," Chen Xia said as his ears turned red.
"Oh, o-okay," Yang Qiu replied, suddenly feeling very conscious of his hands.
Yang Qiu gingerly wrapped his arms around Chen Xia's waist, locking his fingers together to hold himself in place. Xiaxia smells nice… I've missed this smell. Yang Qiu blushed.
Chen Xia began pedaling.
The wind blew the comforting scents of the outdoors, as well as a faint smell that came from Chen Xia, across Yang Qiu's face. He slowly began to relax.
Yang Qiu closed his eyes and let the wind blow through his hair. If only time could stop right now…
Entering the town, Chen Xia began braking, slowing down steadily until he stopped in front of the convenience store.
"Hmm? Aren't we going home?" Yang Qiu asked, confused.
"Well…" Chen Xia got off the bike and helped Yang Qiu off as well. "I wanted to get some ice cream." Chen Xia looked meaningfully towards Yang Qiu.
Yang Qiu understood. The memories from their first day of school floated across Yang Qiu's consciousness, and he couldn't hold back a smile. He followed Chen Xia inside.
"Hi there Chen Xia!" The cashier greeted cheerfully. "Oh? And who's this?"
Yang Qiu turned to the voice and felt an immediate sense of familiarity.
"Hello, Mr. Guo!" Yang Qiu greeted him cheerfully. "I'm Yang Qiu, I don't know if you remember me or not…"
Mr. Guo's face quickly melted into recognition.
"Yang Qiu? My, I haven't seen you in ages! Of course I remember you! In fact, I even remember the time when you two were still little kids and came with Mrs. Chen to get ice cream after school. You boys really have grown up so much!" Mr. Guo was extremely happy to see the two boys back in his store together.
"Haha, actually we were here to get some ice cream again since today was our first day of senior year, plus we are welcoming Yang Qiu back," Chen Xia said.
"Well, isn't that wonderful! Please, go help yourself!" Mr. Guo smiled happily and gestured towards the freezer.
The two boys walked past the familiar shelves to the freezer at the back of the store.
Chen Xia pulled open the sliding door, reached down, and picked something out. Yet again it was the same melon popsicle.
"This one okay?" Chen Xia looked at Yang Qiu.
"Of course."
Walking back out into the street, Chen Xia opened up the wrapping. He split the ice cream but it was uneven.
"Um… I can take the smaller one," Chen Xia said and handed the larger portion to Yang Qiu.
Yang Qiu frowned.
"Here, you can just bite off the uneven chunk." Yang Qiu held out the ice cream towards Chen Xia.
Chen Xia looked at him and hesitated. I'm feeling some déjà vu… He blushed as he bent down and carefully bit off the side of the ice cream. Though this feels different for some reason…
Feeling embarrassed for some reason, Chen Xia turned towards his bike.
"We can just walk home. It's not that far, and we can eat our ice cream as we walk. I'll just push the bike along," Chen Xia said with his back facing Yang Qiu, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"Alright," Yang Qiu murmured as he looked at Chen Xia's back. He's built a lot of muscle…
Chen Xia began pushing his bike towards home and Yang Qiu rushed to follow.
After parking his bike in the alleyway next to the restaurant, Chen Xia returned to the front door, pushed it open, and went inside.
Only after taking a few steps did Chen Xia look back and realize Yang Qiu did not follow him inside. He returned to the door.
"What are you doing? Come in!" Chen Xia gestured inwards.
"Are you sure… I don't want to intrude-"
"Oh, stop with that. You really haven't changed at all, have you." Chen Xia grinned and pulled Yang Qiu in.
Chen Xia dragged Yang Qiu to the dining room.
"MOM! DAD!" Chen Xia shouted.
"What's up, son?" Mr. Chen's muffled voice responded from the kitchen.
"Come here!" Chen Xia exclaimed with excitement.
After a few seconds, Mr. and Mrs. Chen arrived at the dining room entrance.
"Oh? Who's this! Did you make a new friend, Xiaxia?" Mr. Chen was ready to be proud of his son for this new achievement.
"Uh, good afternoon Mr. Chen, Mrs. Chen," Yang Qiu said nervously, though he couldn't hide his happiness from seeing Chen Xia's parents again. "I… I'm back," he said with a smile.
"What do you mean… OH! Yang Qiu? Is it really you?" Mr. Chen was shocked and overjoyed at the same time.
Mr. Chen rushed towards Yang Qiu and pulled him into a tight hug, squeezing him tightly.
"Welcome back! We've missed you so, so much, as you probably know, haha!" Mr. Chen could not contain his happiness.
"Dad, you're gonna squeeze him to death," Chen Xia said as he laughed.
After Mr. Chen had his fill of hugging Yang Qiu, the three of them turned towards Mrs. Chen.
"This is amazing, right?" Chen Xia asked.
"Yes, it really is," Mrs. Chen said calmly, though her smile was wide.
Noticing Mrs. Chen's lack of enthusiasm, Chen Xia frowned.
"Is something wrong?"
After hearing Chen Xia's words Mrs. Chen's smile dropped for a second before shifting into a more uncomfortable expression.
"Of course I'm happy he's back, it's just…"