Page 54 of Beyond the Hedge Maze

It was too hot to wear anything other than a t-shirt and shorts—even for Oliver—the sun finally shining after several days of rain. His hand was beginning to sweat, clutched around the wooden handles of the picnic basket he had packed earlier. The blanket on his other arm was quickly collecting the heat of the day. He tried to reposition it to cover up the exposed parts of his arms as he anxiously stood at the bottom of the stairs in front of the house. He was liable to get a sunburn as he waited.

Finally, after an eternity, a black town car pulled up to the house, Jesse clamoring out of it before it had fully come to a stop. Oliver quickly went over the script he had prepared in his head. The one where he had thoughtfully mapped out exactly how he wanted to ask Jesse to have a date with him.

“Hi!” Jesse exclaimed as he reached for Oliver, taking the picnic basket from his hands and kissing his cheek. “Picnic? Sounds amazing.”

Oliver was left speechless. He quickly looked over Jesse’s shoulder to see his father standing there, watching them curiously. “I, um, I thought, date? With me? A date?” Oliver lowered his voice. “I should have met you at the maze, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking…Your father…”

Jesse grabbed Oliver’s hand and turned over his shoulder to speak to Luis as they walked away. “I’m going on a date with Oliver. Bye!”

“Are you trying to piss him off?” Oliver tried to pull his hand out of Jesse’s, but Jesse held it tighter.

Suddenly, a new fear crept into his mind. That Jesse was spending time with him as some sort of rebellion.

“No? Not today, at least. Well, not this very second. Maybe I’ll try later.”

Oliver’s mind was racing. “He knows about you? About us?”

Oliver hadn’t made the choice to come out. It had been made for him by the other boys at school. His secrets had been exposed, laid out on the lawn at Eton for everyone to see and commentate on. Eventually, those secrets found their way back home to Chapman House and to his grandfather. He was lucky. So much luckier than most, that he had love without strings, but what Jesse was doing was careless.

“I don’t know what he knows and doesn’t know. My mom knew about me,” Jesse explained. “That I like boys and girls, and just people in general. I guess I figured he already knows, and doesn’t care. Or doesn’t care enough to care.” Oliver could hear the sadness in his voice, and painfully, he understood.

As if on autopilot, Oliver realized they were heading towards the maze. “I actually was wondering if you’d like to sit by the lake instead?” Oliver offered.

Jesse’s face lit up. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

The walk to the lake was slow and quiet. Both content to be near each other without much conversation. They picked a spot near the bank under the shade of a willow tree that partially stretched over the water. Nearby there was a weather-worn wooden dock with a small boat tethered to it.

Jesse set down the picnic basket and took the blanket from Oliver’s hands, spreading it out on the lush grass. The ground was soft from all of the previous rain that week, but was steadily drying in the summer afternoon heat.

Oliver rolled his eyes at him. “This is my date, I should be setting up all the stuff.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sit down, will you?”

Oliver huffed, but sat on the blanket. Jesse joined him and kicked off his trainers while Oliver had to carefully unlace his hightops to remove them.

Once they were settled, Oliver dug into the picnic basket, pulling out two coronation chicken sandwiches wrapped in paper, some crisps, a small plastic container of strawberries, and two bottles of water. Two other bottles clinked at the bottom of the basket, but he left them there for now.

He motioned for Jesse to take something. “Well, go on.”

Jesse smiled at him, and Oliver’s heart skipped.

They made small talk as they ate, wiping their hands on their shorts between bites. Jesse inched closer and closer until their crisscrossed legs were overlapping at the thighs. Oliver could feel a layer of sweat forming between them, but didn’t care. If anything, they weren’t touching enough.

Oliver had a strawberry halfway to his mouth when Jesse snatched it from his fingers and popped it into his own.

“Hey!” Oliver laughed. “You thief!”

Jesse quickly silenced Oliver with a kiss, and Oliver could taste the strawberry on his lips. Oliver’s face flushed, and there was no denying that it was from Jesse and not the heat of the day. He leaned in again, needing to capture more of the flavor.

When the kiss broke, Jesse leaned back on his hands and tipped his face towards the sun. His eyes were closed, face relaxed, lips tilted upwards. Oliver knew he’d remember how he looked in this moment for the rest of his life.

Going back to the picnic basket, Oliver pulled out two bottles of Strongbow and popped off the caps with the bottle opener he had packed. The cider had already started to warm, so he figured they should drink it now.

Jesse opened his eyes at the sound of the quick release of carbonation. He took the bottle when Oliver offered, taking a small drink. “This would definitely piss him off.”

“Your dad?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah. Is it not illegal here?”