25. Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

Oliver

O ne Month Later

Walking through the farmers market, I beeline for the honey table, looking to see if there's anything new this time. Our summer started right after graduation and Ronan and I have been taking advantage of the time outside of school. Each Saturday for the past few weeks we've made our way down to the farmers market.

While I wasn't a big fan before, I've started to fall in love with them. Plus, I love seeing how animated Ronan gets when we're walking around. I pay for a bottle of honey, thanking the lady in the process. I take my time, passing booth after booth, swiveling my head left and right, looking for Ronan.

My body stills when I finally catch him. Of course, he's at the bath bomb booth. I don't know any person who loves to take baths as much as him. But I'm definitely not complaining when I'm the one who gets to get him all soapy and then rinse him off. I move out of the way, admiring Ronan as he talks to Juliet. He's wearing blue jeans with a black tee and combat boots. Our styles are completely opposite, but I wouldn't have it any other way. He lifts the bomb into the air, admiring it while I stare at his muscular arm flexing. Swallowing hard, I adjust myself slightly, getting turned on just watching him.

Sensing my stare, Ronan turns his head, locking his eyes on mine. He smiles big and wide, gesturing for me to come over. I stride over to him, placing my chin on his shoulder, looking over at the bath bomb in his hand.

"This one glitters," he says, rolling one around. In his other hand, he's holding a green one and lifts it up. "Supposedly, this one glows. I don't know how that works, but Juliet swears by it."

"I do," she chimes in. "It would be a great one to have at your disposal." She winks and my face heats.

"Get them both," I rasp, my hand finding his hip. I grip him, imagining his naked body in a bathtub with a glow-in-the-dark bath bomb.

Ronan purchases both and we say goodbye to Juliet.

"We are definitely going to use these tonight," Ronan says as we walk hand in hand past the booths.

"Fuck, we're going to need it for our sore-ass muscles."

"Your sore muscles. You don't have to help, you know."

"Yes, I do. You're moving into a new place, so of course I'm going to be there to help you."

Ronan is moving in with Asher and Noah, and as much as I would have loved for him to move in with me, we aren't there yet. We've only been together for a couple of months, and while I know we're going to be together forever, that's a step we're not ready to take yet.

But I want to make sure he gets settled in, so I volunteered to help them move their stuff from the house they're currently in to the new apartment they found. The apartment that's right down the road from me.

After going through each vendor, we get into the car and head toward Ronan's house. Nate's pickup truck is parked outside and some of the guys are already putting boxes into the back. We hop out of the car and head up the walkway, ready to help out.

"Fucking finally," West groans when he sees us. He walks up to me and passes me the box that's in his hand. Taking it, I laugh, heading toward the truck and piling it with the others.

In the past month, I've gotten to know all of Ronan's roommates and they're really great guys. The love between them is unlike anything I've seen between friends. They've really found a family within each other.

Nate walks out of the door holding one side of a bed frame while Carter is holding the other. "Oh, look who finally decided to join us," Nate says as they walk past us. They all seem to be sweat slicked and panting, which means they've been doing this for a while.

"You guys said we were starting at noon and it's barely twenty minutes after," I tell him. I'm so thankful Nate offered to let us use his truck. When I first told Nate about me and Ronan, I was worried about his reaction, but he was fine with it. He's been such a great friend and when I introduced him to everyone else, they all hit it off spectacularly, which makes all of us getting together easier.

We spend the next few hours making trip after trip until eventually the house is completely empty. After the final trip, we all stay at their new apartment taking a break.

"How does everyone feel about pizza and wings?" Noah asks. I look over at him, seeing him sitting on Asher's lap. I know he's had a tough time recently, so I love seeing how well he's doing. And I know Ronan has been brighter since he's come back.

"Hell yes," West screams, jumping up and grabbing his phone off the counter. "I'll order. What does everyone want?"

All our voices pile on top of one another, each of us shouting the different things we want. I don't know if West can hear us all or if he's just ordering whatever he wants, but he just nods his head as his fingers fly across the screen.

"Hey, anyone want to play some games?" Noah asks, sliding off Asher's lap and making his way to the box labeled 'games.'

"I'm down," Nate says, making his way over to the box.

"Uh oh. Good luck. Noah is really good at games," Carter tells us as though we haven't heard the stories already.

"That's good, 'cause I'm really good, too." Nate quips and we all start laughing.

One of the best things Ronan and I did was get our friends together. They hit it off immediately and I'm forever grateful. Nate has been such an amazing friend to me this past year, and I love that he gets along with Ronan's friends.

Sitting on the couch, I watch as Noah, Nate, and West sit on the floor playing the game. They're lost in their own little world, talking shit to each other about who's going to kick whose ass. I watch in awe at their smack talk, snickering when they start getting louder.

Ronan sits down next to me on the couch, a glint in his eyes as he watches them.

"Oh god. We've introduced them and created monsters," he jokes, putting his hand on my knee.

"What're everyone's plans for summer?" I ask them.

"West and I are planning to head home for the weekend in a couple weeks, but other than that, nothing really." Carter tells us, reaching forward and ruffling West's hair.

"Nate got us some tickets to the baseball game next week if you all want to come?" I say, knowing Nate was the one who brought it up earlier, letting me know he wanted to invite everyone.

"Hell yeah, man. That sounds like a blast. How did you get so many tickets, though?" West inquires, his fingers never leaving the controller.

"My uh-brother plays for the team, so he's able to give me tickets. Usually it's whenever I want, but they're doing some type of theme night, so he was able to get me more than usual," Nate tells us all, his eyes barely leaving the screen. I glance at their game and see that he and Noah are neck and neck, both of their hands pressing hard onto the controller, the want of winning in both their eyes.

"Damn man, that's pretty cool. Let's do it." Carter stands up, grabbing West's phone off the couch. "Food's here. Let's eat everyone."

I help Carter gather the food from the delivery man, then we set it all out on top of their boxes since most everything is still all boxed up. We stuff our faces with pizza and wings, laughing and joking the entire time. I take a sip of my water, turning my head to look at Ronan. Seeing a streak of sauce on the side of his mouth, I chuckle, using my finger to wipe it off and lick my finger. Ronan's pupils dilate and I laugh.

Leaning forward, I give him a soft kiss, my cheeks burning when he whispers, ‘ you taste so fucking delicious ' as he pulls away. Resting my forehead on his, I breathe him in for a second before remembering where we are. Looking around at all the men before me, the men who really aren't paying us much attention, I'm grateful for where I'm at in life. Moving across the country all by myself and starting over from scratch was hard. But ending up here, with all these amazing people surrounding me, was worth it. I've grown so much, from not knowing who I was to becoming who I was meant to be. And I'm damn proud of who I've become.