1 Chapter 1: Arriving

Stepping out of the car Xander was met with the intense heat of the early summer day, and sweat immediately began to bead up on the brunette's face.

His parents were dropping him and three of his closest friends; Lana, Justine and Diana, off at their large lakefront cabin, which was out on the more empty and secluded area of the wooded area of Lake Travis.

"You kids be safe out here and Xander, if you get too overwhelmed or if you need anything, just call us and let us know!" Xander's mom Danielle said as the three kids unloaded their supplies.

"Yeah, we don't want any of you kids getting into trouble out here by yourselves," Xander's father Lance said in a stern, but well meaning tone.

"We're going to be fine guys, but I'll call or text you every so often every day, okay?" Xander spoke as he hugged his parents.

"Okay son, we love you, but we need to get home and finish packing for the tournament," Lance said as he and Danielle got into their white Ford Expedition.

"Well guys grab some supplies and let's start unpacking" Xander said, pulling the wagon of food supplies up the ramp to the cabin.

"Everyone else will be arriving in a few hours." Xander said as he gave the keys to Lana so that she could unlock the door. 

The four best friends had been planning this little friend get-away for some time now, and Xander was extremely determined to not let anything ruin it.

Xander, Lana, Justine, and Diana all got to work on separate things: Xander started cleaning and tidying up the bedrooms that they would all be using, Lana began unloading their food into the cabinets, pantry, and fridge, Justine went outside to turn on all of the cabins breakers and to make sure that the water was on, and Diana went outside to round up some fire wood.

After a few hours of cleaning, doing laundry, and a little bit of goofing off, the group had finished getting the cabin ready, and they were very proud of how smoothly it went. But soon enough the group of four soon turned into a group of five, and then a group of eleven.

"Okay everyone we are gonna be here for two, maybe three weeks so get comfortable." Xander said, motioning to the bedrooms upstairs.

Everyone began to take their bags and other belongings upstairs, but before they could make it up the stairs, there was a loud knock at the front door.

"That's weird, it's just supposed to be us," Xander said as he walked back over to the cabins front door.

When Xander pulled the door open, he was fully expecting to see Alec, one of his only close male friends, and the only other person that he had invited over for the little get together. But when he opened the door, he had to fight the urge to slam it shut on the faces of the five additional boys that were standing there: Devon, Ryan, Sebastian, and Noah. All of them, were exes of his three best friends.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Xander was trying very hard to keep his voice down.

"What do you mean dude? You invited us, now are you gonna let us in? It's hot as the Devil's balls out here!" Devon, one of Lana's exes said.

Xander pushed the four guys backwards as he stepped onto the porch, pulling the door shut behind him.

"Okay, you all know damn well that I of all people, despise you. I didn't invite you anywhere. Why would I invite you here when Lana, Justine, and Diana are all with me?" As Xander spoke, his pitch started to get a little bit higher due to the intense anger that he was feeling.

"Dude, I have the text right here," Ryan said handing his phone over to Xander as the other three boys pushed their way inside of the cabin.

It was a group text that had all four boys' phone numbers in it, and there was a text sent from Xander's number:

'Hey guys, I know that you might find this a bit strange, but the girls and I are having a little get together for us friends this summer and I would love it if you guys could come and maybe try to patch things up with the girls. You know, they've all been pretty upset after the breakups, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to make things all better, try to make them happy again?'

The replies struck him as well:

Sebastian had said that he was "so ready to make it up to Lana," and that he was "so thankful for the opportunity."

Devon said that he "personally can not wait to see Justine again," and that he "really hopes that she can forgive him."

Noah just replied with a bunch of thumbs up emojis.

And Ryan didn't reply at all.

Xander looked up at Ryan, who was already looking up at the taller male, his eyes and expression softened.

"Ryan, why did you come here? The breakup between you and Justine was mutual, you don't have anything to be sorry about," Xander spoke softly.

"Xan, I know that you didn't send that text. I'm not stupid, but I came here because I miss you, I miss us. Even if we did hide everything," Ryan said, reaching for Xander's hand.

"I miss us too, so much more than you know, but-," Xander was cut off by Lana, who opened the door and spoke, and before she could notice, Ryan pulled his hand away from Xander's.

"Hey Z, what are these guys doing here, and why are they begging us for forgiveness?" Lana asked in very high and mighty tone.

"I don't really know." Xander replied as the mysterious text had completely left his mind. He had other things on his mind now.

"Whatever... Xander what are we gonna have for dinner?" Lana asked.

"We are having hamburgers" He replied in a singsong voice.

"Cool" Lana said

"Speaking of dinner. Lana, Justine, Diana, will you come help me with it" Xander asked as he went inside, beginning to make his way to the kitchen with Ryan following at a distance.

Lana, Justine, Diana and Xander all started preparing dinner: Lana was seasoning the meat and shaping the hamburger patties, Justine was making macaroni and potato salad, and Diana started setting the table outside while Xander got the grill fired up.

Once the hamburger patties were ready, Xander started grilling, and the girls called everyone else down to the large picnic table on the porch, as Xander finished up grilling.

The group of 14 friends sat down at the large coffee-stained chestnut picnic table that sat on the cabins deck, waiting for Xander to serve up the burgers, and once he set the tray down, it was a free for all, hands, condiments, and buns were practically flying through the air as all of the friends piled their plates with food.

"This is really good Xander" Ashlynn spoke as she wiped her face with a green napkin.

"Thanks. We made them from scratch. Lana, Justine, and Diana helped me with everything." Xander replied as he took a bite of salad.

"It's so peaceful out here Xander, no wonder you invited all of us to come out here," Diana said as she gazed off into the sunset.

"It really is breathtaking. Oh, and I just wanted to say thank you for inviting me," Zavria said.

"No problem! I figured that we are all close enough friends, with a few exceptions," he muttered before continuing, "that we should do something fun together before school starts up again." Xander said as he finished up the food on his plate.

"That makes sense. You're probably one of the few people in this world who genuinely wants to connect with people." Ashlynn said.

"Yeah, and besides that, I never get to do anything fun with my friends, especially not during summer. But luckily my parents took my brother to a soccer tournament in Oklahoma, and they let me stay out here because I didn't want to stay home by myself." Xander replied as he cleared the paper plates from the table.

"So, does anyone want to go swimming? I think it's the perfect time for it!" Sebastian said, jumping up from the table.

"But we just ate, won't we get a cramp or something?" Jen asked as she also got up from the table.

"No, that's an old wives-tale, we'll be fine. Besides, how else will these boys get to gawk at us in our bikinis?" Lana spoke.

"Mmhmm," Xander replied with an eye roll.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Ryan finally spoke up.

"Okay fine!" Justine gave in.

The boys cheered and everyone except Xander rushed inside to change.

In a matter of seconds the other boys were rushing out of the front door, wearing nothing but their swim shorts. The girls all filed out of the cabin shortly after the boys, who were now all splashing around in the lake.

"Aren't you coming Xander?" Diana asked when she re-emerged from the cabin.

"Yeah, I'll join you guys in a sec, I'm just gonna enjoy the sunset," Xander spoke quietly, shifting his position on the bench.

Diana crosses her arms and arched her brows in thought before sitting down next to Xander.

The two of them went on a school trip to the Caribbean where Diana suffered the loss of her young nephew. Xander was also dealing with grief as well: his grandmother's health and mind had long since deteriorated, and it had gotten so bad that she no longer remembered Xander,her favorite grandson.

On the trip, Xander and Diana had bonded and become much closer than they ever were, sharing their feelings with one another, and being each other's shoulder to cry on. So it was easy for Diana to know when something was up with Xander.

"Xander, what's wrong? I know that there's something bothering you," Diana spoke softly, reaching for Xander's hands.

"It's just that..." Xander trailed off as his gaze landed on the shirtless Ryan, who was now floating around the lake on his back.

Diana followed Xander's line of sight, landing on Ryan as well. She bit back a knowing smirk before she returned her attention back to her best friend.

"Boy troubles?" She asked suddenly.

"Yeah. It's not that he's doing anything, but I want to be with him so badly, but I don't want to..." Xander trailed off again.

"Be judged by anyone? You're afraid that we won't accept you because of your sexuality?" Diana finished Xander's sentence.

"Yeah. That's it," Xander replied quietly.

"Don't be afraid of what others think! Everyone here adores you Xander, and I know that this won't change that. But you also don't have to announce your relationships or sexuality to anyone, including us! The only thing that you have to do, is make yourself happy," Diana said, wiping away the tears that were forming in Xander's eyes.

Xander pulled Diana in for a big hug, where the two best friends squeezed each other so tightly that they couldn't breathe.

"Thank you Diana," Xander said after they let go of each other.

Diana nodded and patted Xander on the shoulder before she got up and jumped into the lake.

Xander got up from the large picnic table and went inside to change into his teal, mid-thigh length swim shorts, before he joined his friends in the water. He swam over to Ryan and grabbed his hand, holding it tightly, just below the lake's surface. Ryan looked at Xander, and Xander gave him a happy and reassuring look that made a smile appear on Ryan's face.

-Later That Night-

    Everyone gathered in the living room and we put on a movie. Xander and the girls had chosen to put on "Friday The 13th", to get everyone in 'the camping spirit'.

When the movie ended, Xander took a vote to see if the others wanted to watch "Friday The 13th Part 2", and everyone had agreed to stay up and watch it. Everyone except for Sebastian and Noah, who were too exhausted from their swimming adventure.

Once the second movie was over, the rest of the group decided to head upstairs to bed, seeing as it was already 1:27 in the morning. However, Xander stayed downstairs to clean up the leftover mess from dinner, and the popcorn that had been spilled all over the living room due to Zavria and Ashlynn getting startled by every single jumpscare.

Once Xander was done cleaning up, and everything was put away nicely, he went up to the room that he'd be sharing with Ryan, but he didn't give it a second thought because he was definitely ready for a long sleep.