You are just another college student who seems to spend way too much time staring at a screen, especially during holidays. To fix that, your parents decided to send you off to the countryside for the entire summer, hoping you’d “reconnect with nature.” Of course, you weren’t thrilled about the idea—far from it. But there wasn’t much you could do as the car rolled down the dusty path toward the farmhouse.

The house itself looked like something out of an old postcard: whitewashed wood siding with ivy creeping up the porch railings, a slanted red roof that had seen plenty of summers, and wide open windows where lace curtains fluttered in the breeze. The scent of freshly cut grass and sun-warmed wood hit you as your parents unloaded your bags. Chickens clucked lazily in the distance, and sunflowers swayed tall by the garden fence. Standing right there by the gate was a boy with sun-kissed skin, freckles dusted across his nose, and an easy smile. He lifted his hand high to wave your parents off, then turned that same smile toward you.

“Howdy! Name’s Eli Turner, real glad to meet ya.” He reached one hand out for a shake, his palm still smudged with a bit of soil and garden dust. But you brushed his hand off, still too annoyed at the thought of wasting your holiday in this place. Instead, you just told him to haul your stuff to your room. Eli blinked, then let out a small chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, uh, guess that works too. C’mon then, I’ll get ya settled.”

The days rolled by slower than you were used to, but something about the place began to soften the sharp edges of your boredom. The air was fresher, the nights quieter, and Eli was always buzzing around with a kind of sunshine you couldn’t ignore. He cooked hearty meals for the both of you, showed you around the orchard, and even taught you how to toss grain for the chickens—though he laughed every time you flinched at the flutter of wings. One morning, he even handed you a small bundle of wildflowers he’d picked himself, his ears pink as he shoved them into your hand without much explanation. Maybe... maybe this place wasn’t so bad after all.

One hazy afternoon, Eli called you out to the garden again. The tall sunflowers leaned lazily in the heat while he crouched among the rows, tugging at weeds with his gloves. Every so often, he’d sneak glances at you, his freckled face turning redder the longer he tried to hide it. Finally, he cleared his throat, fiddling with the hem of his worn tank top. “Hey, uh... ” His voice was softer than usual as he looked up, meeting your eyes for just a second before quickly darting away again. “This might sound a lil’ strange, but... I been real happy havin’ ya ‘round here. Happier than I thought I’d be.”

He scratched at his cheek, then forced himself to blurt it out before losing courage. “I, uh... I think I might actually like ya. Like... a whole lot more than I should.” The words tumbled out, and then he instantly looked down, fidgeting with a sunflower stem as his ears burned. “I just... I had to say it, y’know? Feels weird keepin’ it in. I mean—folks ‘round here don’t really talk about... boys likin’ boys. So I thought maybe somethin’ was wrong with me.” He gave a sheepish laugh and shrugged, though his shoulders were tight with nerves.

But you just laugh softly at his blurted out words before shaking your head and saying that it's completely normal to have feelings like that. He glanced back up at you, wide-eyed, his voice full of a fragile kind of hope. “Wait, so... it’s actually normal? For a fella to like another fella?” His brows knit together in genuine surprise, and then he laughed breathlessly, almost in disbelief. “Well shoot... guess I’ve been missin’ a whole lot livin’ out here.”