Page 110 of The Build-a-Boyfriend Project

“Les, I swear to God—”

“Eli and Peter sittin’ in a tree.” Les makes a point of quite literally skating circles around the two of them while they sing. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

Eli almost goes for Les again before he hears a surprising sound. When he looks up, he sees Peter laughing. It’s such a soft, honest sound that it catches Eli off guard for a moment.

Les ignores their brother, skating off to the other side of the rink in record time.

“I’m sorry about them,” Eli tells Peter. “Les has never been one to care about my love life, so this is surprising.” Despite Rue and John’s love for Keith, he always felt their family dinners were more of an obligation than anything. There’s no denying that Eli’s family can be a bit . . . overbearing at times, but they’re still his family, and it always bothered him that Keith never seemed to appreciate them.

There’s something heartwarming about seeing that Peter actually likes his family.

“I like them, they seem feisty.”

“That’s one way of describing them.”

“I was jealous of my friends who had siblings. I always wanted one.”

“I’ll sell you Les; I’ll even let you low-ball. A hundred dollars and they’re all yours.”

Peter laughs again, drawing Eli in so that they can both keep their balance. And for the second time that night, Eli’s pulled in close to Peter’s chest. They skate like that for a while, holding their hands together, listening to the scratching of the blades along the ice. Eli looks at Peter, and he can’t help the overwhelming urge he feels to reach up and kiss him.

So he does. Standing on the tiptoes of his skates to reach Peter.

It’s a short, sweet thing. But just enough to torture Eli, to leave him wanting more. When they separate, Peter’s smiling; Eli adores the slight overlap of his two front teeth.

“What was that for?”

“For . . . practice,” Eli says, like of course that’s what it was for.

“Right, yeah. Practice.”

“PDA’s an important part of the experience, Peter. You’ll need to get used to kissing in front of other people.”

“Then . . .” Peter starts to say, like he almost doesn’t want to dare. “Maybe I need more practice?”

Eli smiles at him, his hand tracing Peter’s cheek. “Maybe you do.”

He lets Peter’s hand find his chin, tilting Eli’s face upward yet again to capture his lips.

* * *

Eli and Peter only make it around the rink twice. Which, given the size of it, shouldn’t have taken them as long as it did, but Eli kept falling.

By the time they’re outside the rink, unlacing their skates, they’re both cold enough for hot chocolate.

“I’ll get it,” Peter says. “No reason both of us have to wait.”

“Are you sure?” Eli asks.

“Yeah, of course.” Peter surprises him with a soft kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

Eli watches as Peter takes both of their pairs of skates to the counter to return them, watching that energetic stride, the way Peter’s shoulders seem almost light, taking in how Peter seems more confident.

He doesn’t even notice his mother at first.

“I like him,” she says without any preamble, draping herself over the wall Eli sits against.

“Who?” Eli teases, kicking his feet back and forth.