He goes quiet again. Not in a weird way, just like he’s processing it. His grip on my hand doesn’t loosen. If anything, it tightens just a bit.
“Good,” he says finally.
We walk a little more, still quiet, trees rustling gently overhead like they’re trying not to interrupt. Griffin swings our joined hands slightly.
Then he glances at me. “Do your parents know? That you like guys?”
I pause, kicking a small rock down the trail. “Yeah. Kind of.”
He waits for me to speak more and doesn’t push.
I sigh. “My mom knows. Or, well, she found out in High School. But she’s got this amazing talent for pretending it’s not real. Like if we don’t talk about it, maybe it’ll go away.”
Griffin frowns a little but doesn’t say anything.
“I told Grant,” I add, softer. “Hughie’s dad. My mom’s ex-husband. I told him before the divorce, back when things still felt... I don’t know. Stable.”
Griffin squeezes my hand to let me know he is listening.
“He was cool about it,” I continue. “He didn’t even flinch when I blurted it out. Just nodded and said, ‘Okay.’ Treated it like I told him I liked peanut butter or some shit.”
Griffin hums, thoughtful. “That’s because there’s nothing wrong with it.”
I look at him. Really look. “Would your parents think so?”
His mouth pulls tight, just a little. “They wouldn’t care.”
I raise an eyebrow. “No?”
He shrugs. “I don’t talk to them.”
That stops me.
“At all?” I ask.
Griffin shakes his head. “Nah. They were never really parents, not in the way that matters. I left for college and that was it. No big fight, no dramatic scene. Just... silence. Like we were never anything to each other.”
The way he says it makes my chest squeeze anyway. I have my own issues with my mom but I couldn’t imagine just never speaking to her again.
I squeeze his hand.
He looks over at me, eyes a little softer now. “Didn’t miss the relationship when it ended. ’Cause it never felt like there was one.”
I nod, not knowing what to say that wouldn’t sound cheap. But he doesn’t seem to need me to fix it. Just being here…walking next to him, hearing him say it out loud feels like enough.
We finally hit the top of the trail, and I stop dead.
“Holy shit,” I breathe.
The trees open up into this wide, rocky ledge that drops off into the most ridiculous view I’ve ever seen. The valley stretches out below us like something from a movie….gold and green and endless. You can see the river winding through the middle, glinting in the sunlight, little rooftops scattered like toy houses in the distance. The air up here is clean and cool, and everything just feels bigger.
Griffin grins beside me. “Told you it’d be worth it.”
He walks forward and drops down onto a flat boulder with his legs stretched out in front of him, hands behind him to lean back. Then he pats the ground next to him.
“Come on,” he says.
I hesitate for half a second before I move to sit beside him. It feels... intimate. Being here in this silent space, just enjoyingeach others company, feels like more than hooking up or kissing or any of the physical shit that I have been craving.
