Summer arrived with the scent of jasmine and the hiss of sprinklers.
Dewey spent most mornings sprawled in the shade of their backyard, sketchbook open beside a half-empty glass of lemon water. He let the sun brush against his arms, imagining it was the way Eliot's touch might feel - not grabbing, not burning, just there.
He hadn't seen Luca since that kiss, though they exchanged quiet glances at school before the term ended. Dewey wondered if things like that could disappear into the folds of memory, or if they stayed - humming beneath the skin like leftover warmth.
One afternoon, Eliot returned. Not for work, but for lunch. Dewey's father grilled something, the radio played old songs, and Dewey, in a rare act of bravery, sat across from Eliot at the patio table. The air tasted of char and lemonade.
"You draw?" Eliot asked, noticing the sketchbook open to a loose portrait of Luca's shoulder - abstract, sun-dappled.
Dewey nodded, brushing crumbs off the page.
Eliot leaned in slightly. "It's got feeling. Like the lines are listening."
Dewey didn't speak. His chest felt full - like a drawer crammed with things he hadn't dared to sort through.
Later, while his father napped with a newspaper over his face, Eliot wandered near Dewey, whose sketchbook now lay closed on the porch steps.
"Funny thing about summer," Eliot said. "It makes everything feel like a maybe."
"A maybe?" Dewey asked.
Eliot smiled, his gaze drifting to the rows of wilting daisies. "Yeah. Like... maybe something's beginning. Or maybe it's all ending. Hard to tell sometimes."
Dewey wanted to ask what Eliot's maybes were. But instead, he looked down at his shoes - white canvas, one lace untied.
Eliot crouched gently, tied the lace without a word. Just a simple knot. Quick. Careful.
Dewey's heart thudded.
It was just a shoelace. But it felt like a touch stitched with unspoken things - care, kindness, maybe even a distant echo of want.
And when Eliot rose, patting Dewey's knee before walking away, the boy sat very still, like something was blooming in him he wasn't sure how to name.