Here's Chapter 2! (And it's even longer than Chapter 1!) I hope everyone enjoys it!

As always, nothing but the plot and any original characters belong to me!

2.

Kyle swung the door of his apartment open and allowed his cousin to precede him in. "Whew, it's cold out there! Too cold for us warm bloods!"

Sawyer lobbed his duffel onto the couch and turned back toward the door. "No kidding!"

Kyle shut the door and dropped his keys into a dish on the top of a bookshelf to his right. He shrugged out of his coat and draped it over the back of a well-worn leather armchair. "So, are you hungry? I could really go for a pizza. Il Mondo's delivers. You game?"

"Yeah, that sounds great." Sawyer shrugged out of his own coat and shot his cousin a self-conscious smile. "But…uh…would it be okay if I took a shower first? I've really been looking forward to a real hot shower."

"Yeah, of course! Have at it!" He took Sawyer's coat and placed it with his own. He then pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and began scrolling through his contacts. "I'll just order the pizza. It should be here by the time you're done." He looked up. "Mushroom okay?"

"Yeah, perfect." Sawyer turned, snagged his duffel bag, and headed in the direction of the hallway that led to the bathroom and bedrooms. He paused just before he reached it, however, and swiveled back towards his cousin. "Um, Kyle?"

Kyle looked up from his cell again. "Yeah, buddy?"

"Could we get some of those hot wings they make, too? They're awesome."

The older cousin grinned. "Definitely!"

Sawyer returned the grin. "Great! Thanks." He then resumed his original course and disappeared down the hallway.

Kyle chuckled, then walked into the kitchen as he put his phone to his ear. "I love that kid."

Thirty minutes later the apartment was filled with the wonderful aroma of a combination of Italian food and buffalo sauce. A wet-haired Sawyer walked into the living room sporting a pair of gray sweatpants and a royal blue hoodie with WHOI emblazoned across the chest in large white block letters and a line of smaller white text beneath it.

Kyle looked up from the couch. "He lives! Here I thought I was going to have to send in the Coast Guard."

"Haha….very funny, Kyle."

"Did you leave any hot water for the rest of the building there, pal?" Kyle said as he pulled out a slice of pizza and put it on a plate for his cousin. He nudged the plate across the coffee table as Sawyer collapsed into a recliner.

"It wasn't that long." He picked up the plate and took a generous bite of the pizza. He chewed and swallowed, then smiled sheepishly. "It was just really nice."

Kyle laughed and set a can of soda in front of the teen currently devouring his dinner. "I'll bet."

He leaned back and helped himself to his own slice of pizza. "I'm just teasing you, cuz. After all those weeks sharing tight spaces on a sailboat, it probably felt like heaven to have a big shower all to yourself for as long as you liked."

Sawyer polished off his slice, then reached for another. "You have no idea."

As the young man reclined back again, Kyle noticed the letters on the front of his sweatshirt. "Whoi?"

Sawyer looked over at him in confusion, his second piece of pizza suspended halfway between his plate and his mouth. "Huh?"

Kyle pointed at his cousin's chest. "Your shirt."

Sawyer looked down. "Oh! WHOI. It stands for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. It was one of the places I studied before setting sail for New Zealand."

"Oh right, you told me about that." Kyle took a sip of his soda. "You studied at some other places there, too, right?"

Sawyer nodded and put his pizza back on his plate and set it on the end of the coffee table so that he could grab his own soda. He cracked it open, took a sip, then continued. "There are a lot of marine research places in Woods Hole. There's the Marine Biological Laboratory, the Woods Hole Research Center, the United States Geological Survey, the National Marine Fisheries Service…and WHOI, obviously. They say 'Woods Hole is to Scientists what Paris is to Artists.'."

Kyle piled some wings on his plate and opened a little styrofoam container of blue cheese dressing. "Wow. Sounds like it."

Sawyer returned his soda to the table and picked up his plate. "It was pretty cool. WHOI was my favorite, though, I think." His eyes lit up as he remembered something he had wanted to tell his cousin back in the Fall, but had never gotten the chance to. He set his plate back down and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "I got to see Alvin!"

"Alvin?"

Sawyer nodded. "Yeah, you know…the submersible that was used in the Titanic exploration back in the '80s."

Kyle smiled at his cousin's excitement and swallowed a bite of blue cheese drenched hot wing. "Oh yeah. That is pretty cool!"

The plate of pizza resumed its position in the lap of the teenager. He took another bite and washed it down with a gulp of soda. "It's had a lot of improvements since then, of course. It actually had a major overhaul pretty recently, so that it could go even deeper into the ocean than before. Usually Alvin is aboard a research vessel named Atlantis, but it was in Woods Hole for a sort of checkup, so we got to see it."

"That's pretty neat, Sawyer. I can see why WHOI was your favorite."

Sawyer smiled. "The other places were also pretty cool…but yeah." He reached for some wings. "Anna said it was her favorite, too."

"Oh yeah?" Kyle casually took a sip of soda. "You spent a lot of time with Anna?"

Sawyer grabbed a napkin from a pile next to the pizza box and wiped some errant blue cheese from his face. "Yeah, I guess. She sort of adopted me from the beginning. She said that the two of you were friends, so we should be friends, too." He then gave his cousin a reproachful look. "She also told me that you had asked her to look out for me."

Kyle raised his chin haughtily. "I can neither confirm nor deny that statement."

Sawyer shook his head with a small smile. "Whatever. I thought you were studying to be a doctor, not a lawyer."

Kyle just laughed and dug back into his wings.

Both cousins ate in companionable silence for a little while, content just to be in each other's company. Kyle finished first and pushed his plate away. "So…you like Anna?"

Sawyer looked up from his wings in mild confusion. We're still talking about Anna? "Of course. She's great. She's kind of like you….only a girl."

"What do you mean?"

"She's older than me, but I'm comfortable with her. We get along really well and she's easy to talk to. She looks out for me….stuff like that." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason. Just curious." Kyle began clearing off the coffee table. "You done?"

Sawyer snagged one more wing. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

The older cousin grinned and stood up, carrying the pile of stuff into the kitchen. "You're welcome."

Sawyer watched him walk away. Just curious, huh? He knew that – as a fifteen year old boy – he could be pretty oblivious most of the time, but even he could see that his cousin was trying to hide interest in a certain auburn haired beauty. Come to think of it, he had actually noticed the very same tendency with Anna whenever he mentioned Kyle. Hmmm…interesting.

He wasn't quite sure what to do about it, or even if he should do anything about it. Anna and Kyle were both adults – as weird as it was for him to think of Kyle as an adult – and adults tended to not appreciate teens interfering in their personal lives…no matter how much they may like the particular teen. Besides, he'd feel pretty awkward even if he tried. What did he know about romance?

Hazel wouldn't feel awkward…she'd just jump right in! He smiled at the thought – he was pretty sure that awkward wasn't even in his best friend's vocabulary. She was fearless, that one! He'd heard people say that homeschoolers were super shy and backward….well, they had obviously never met Hazel Haskett! He smirked. Shy is another word that probably doesn't exist in her vocabulary. It was one of the reasons he loved her.

Wait, LOVE? Where did that come from? Jolted out of his reverie, he set his plate down. Hazel is just my FRIEND. I mean, she IS my BEST friend…but so is Winter. I don't love Winter…well, I DO…but not THAT way, obviously. That would be BEYOND creepy! It's just like that with Hazel…well, not JUST like that…Hazel isn't a wild animal, obviously. And it definitely wouldn't be creepy to love her that way…but I don't. Do I? We are JUST friends…right?

Sawyer felt like he was clumsily stumbling around in his own mind. He definitely felt confused…and kind of uncomfortable…but he had absolutely no idea what to do about it. Lately, when it came to thoughts of a certain freckled blonde, he felt about as graceless as Rufus. He fell back into the chair with a sigh. Awkward is definitely a part of MY vocabulary.

TBC