Chanyeol stepped inside the crowded bus, blocking outside noise with his headphones as he listened to his playlist. He couldn´t care less about this whole trip that they had planned on the last day of school before the summer vacation would start, but his friends had persuaded him to join them. Jongin said inner circle only, but Chanyeol swore that there were at least 20 people on the bus, most of them he´d never seen on campus before. All of them were boys, considering that he went to a boy only school. He had been glad when his mother had told him that he was going to a prestigious, males only high school. He didn´t fancy the other gender as much but swung for the other team. To say it in short, Chanyeol was pretty sure that he was gay.

 “Chanyeol hyung, over here.” Jongin waved from where he was sitting, calling the giant over. Chanyeol passed the loud bustling people who tried to find a place to sit before he reached the male. Jongin moved to the seat near the window, patting the old cushion of the other chair. Chanyeol preferred sitting next to the window, so he could avoid as much conversation with the person on the seat next to him and stare outside at the bypassing landscape. However, he couldn´t just ask Jongin to get up and switch places with him, so he thanked the male and sat down.

“You excited for the trip?” Chanyeol noticed that Sehun, a friend that he made this year, who started talking to him. Chanyeol looked passed him, seeing an annoyed looking brunette sitting next to him before he focused his attention back on Sehun.

“More or less.” He answered, taking a single earphone out to listen. He wouldn´t consider the three his best friends, but after his last roommate who attended his school had left, he had to search for other friends. Chanyeol was a very closed and introverted person who got quite loud when he was with people he knew and felt comfortable with. His roommate was his only real friend that he had here, but they still kept in touch but after he had left. Chanyeol noticed that he didn´t like being alone. However, it wasn´t the easiest task to get to know new people.

“What you´re planning on doing?” Jongin asked from behind him. The whole group had planned on going to a campsite where there were different activities to do while staying. Everyone would split up in to groups and at the end of the day they would rejoin to eat pizza somewhere, so this trip wouldn´t be totally boresome.

“I´m going kayaking.” He was planning to kayak on his own while enjoying the nature. He couldn´t bother with annoying strangers who could potentially ruin his peace and quiet. He wasn´t on the mood on getting to know people today.

 “Me too. You want to share a boat? It´ll be more fun instead of two separate ones.”  Jongin announced hopefully, a bright smile plastered on his face.

Well either way, Chanyeol knew that Jongin wouldn´t stop talking once he started, so he agreed, preferring the first option than the second. Nonetheless, he was pretty sure that he was going to jump into the water because of the heat. This summer had been sticky and hot to the point that going outside wasn´t enjoyable anymore. (But when was going outside enjoyable at all?) Jongin had to jump with him or go under with their tiny boat and hopefully not drown. His choice.

Although Jongin was an attractive guy (have you seen those abs?) and a funny and caring one too, Chanyeol only had friendly feelings for him. If anything, he might want to get to know the sun kissed male even more than to start anything too complicated with him.

“Me and Baekhyun hyung are going to hike up in the mountains with a few other people.” Sehun answered for them. Chanyeol peeked over the others shoulder and glanced at the seemingly small male who was too preoccupied swiping down on his phone than to join their conversation. His brown hair covering his eyes as he looked down whilst his knee was propped up against the seat in front of him.

Chanyeol had met Baekhyun several times over the course of the year. Most times together with Jongin or Sehun but rarely alone. Often times Baekhyun would walk away before they could ever be alone in a room. It didn´t take a genius to figure out that the male wasn´t very fond of him.

 However, Chanyeol wasn´t sure if his hatred was real or if he was only imagining things. He didn´t understand how Baekhyun could potentially hate him because they rarely talked to each other. If anything, he was supposed to be mad at the male because once Baekhyun had gone as far as to stab him with him with a fork. (A long story but Chanyeol will never forget what he did)

Chanyeol only really noticed the male´s existence after he had dyed his hair red several months ago. His roots grew out and the color faded in with his natural dark brown hair. After that, he met Jongin and got to know the red hair the next day in the canteen while they ate. Baekhyun had been friendlier to him then. His hatred towards Chanyeol popped out of nowhere and the male really doesn’t know how to fix it. For now, he tries to not provoke Baekhyun while the latter will keep staring daggers at him.

“In this heat? I´d die after the first five minutes” Jongin exclaimed, moving from behind Chanyeol to talk to Sehun, who glanced at Baekhyun before shrugging his shoulders. The bus started and Chanyeol turned back to face seat in front of him. Chanyeol quickly pushed the single earphone back into his ear, as to tell Jongin that he didn´t want to talk during the ride. Jongin understood and took out his own phone from his pocket before playing music for himself.

The bus drove off and Chanyeol closed his eyes. He concentrated, trying to not let the heat get to him. Of course, the bus didn´t have a cooling system. It was so damn hot that he felt the droplets of sweat trickle down his forehead and neck. Chanyeol was dressed in green shorts and a black tank top, but the heat still bothered him. He fixed his hair before setting his snapback back on top, as it would help him in any sort of way.

Thankfully, the ride was over quickly and Chanyeol was one of the first to get out. It was as hot outside as it was inside the vehicle. He felt laziness and disgust wash over him as the sunrays directly hit his already sweaty skin. Chanyeol wanted to retreat in his room with all of his four fans on. Unfortunately, it was still early in the afternoon and would only get worse later in the day.

Jongin stepped out of the vehicle, fanning himself with his hand as he approached Chanyeol. “Pretty hot, isn´t it?” He stated. Chanyeol didn´t answer as he viewed the area with squinted eyes because of the glaring sun. He saw the river, in which he supposed they were going to kayak not too far away from them. Tiny huts were stationed all over the place, all of them where you were probably supposed to go for the activity. He noticed one of them close to the river with numbers of boats and life vests next to it on the ground. Sehun climbed out of the bus, hands in his pockets as Baekhyun followed closely behind him. His eyes were covered by his black sunglasses and his red hair shining under the bright sun.

Some guy who Chanyeol had never seen before announced that they were going to meet up at the same place at 7 again. Chanyeol guessed that he was probably the guy who organized this whole trip. All the people split up and walked over to a hut.

“Are you coming Chanyeol?” Jongin asked. He was a few meters ahead of the male, following the remaining crowd to the river. Chanyeol rushed over to him before the two walked to the hut.

The walk was silent and Chanyeol kept his eyes on the ground. The grass was dried out and the dirt hard and dry.

“You think Baekhyun might dislike me?” Chanyeol randomly asked his friend. He told himself that he wanted to get a second opinion on his thoughts, just in case he was really only imagining things.

Jongin seemed taken back by the question and obviously confused. “Does Baekhyun hyung hate you?” he questioned, tilting his head to the side.

“Hate is a strong word. He seems… annoyed? Like every time he sees me?” Chanyeol tried to explain. Jongin was silent for a moment, like he was replaying every encounter they had in his head.

“He doesn´t joke around as much when you´re with us. He´s pretty quiet as well. Annoyed? Well I guess sometimes” Jongin voiced, confirming Chanyeols observations.

 Saying that it didn´t affect him was a lie. Considering that he had the same friends as Baekhyun did and that they saw each other daily. Why couldn´t they get along as well? He sighed as they came to a stop at the hut. An expert was already telling what and what not to do. Chanyeol had already been kayaking with his family a few times in the past, so he didn´t bother to pay too much attention.

“Do you like him?” Jongin queried.

“Him? No, no, you got that all wrong Jongin. It just seems very awkward and uncomfortable when I´m with you guys. Come to think about it, he might not have been as excited as you were when he found out that I would be tagging along.” Chanyeol explained with big hand movements, as to prove a point to his friend.

Jongin just nodded, listening to the instructor as he continued to talk about the rules. After that, everyone had picked up an orange life vest. Chanyeol had a hard time finding one that fitted him. Eventually he found a big enough one that he was able to wear over his torso. With much difficulty, Jongin and Chanyeol met up near the kayaks and found a two-seater. Chanyeol noticed that most of the people had found partners instead of taking a boat for themselves only.

The two males carried the kayak to the edge of the river before they noticed that they had forgotten the paddles. Jongin quickly ran to where all the paddles where at, leaving Chanyeol alone with the boat (which he almost dropped into the river). After Jongin returned, the two of them gently sat the kayak into the water. Chanyeol climbed in first in the front seat, while Jongin situated himself in the back. With a bit of struggle, they finally paddled into the calm stream of the water and Chanyeol noticed that they were passing most of the other boats.

“We are quite good at this.” Jongin remarked as the two paddled further down the river. “If only it were cooler.” He continued. Chanyeol knew that it still wasn´t time to completely rock the boat out of balance. He must wait a bit longer for Jongin to not suspect anything and to be completely taken back once Chanyeol dumps them inside of the water.

“Chanyeol I have to tell you something.” Jongin brought up unsurely. Chanyeol replied with a small ´yeah´ as he continued taking in all the peaceful nature around them. He hasn´t spotted any fish yet and he noticed that the river wasn´t as deep or wide. However, he had seen some ducks and birds around. There was some shade casted over them by all of the trees that grew around the river, creating a dome like structure of leaves over them.

After a while, Chanyeol noticed that Jongin didn´t continue his statement. He wanted to inquire if everything was alright before Jongin continued.

“I like you”

Thank you so much for reading

I can´t promise regular updates but I´ll try my best. 

See ya next time

♡