I still can’t wrap my head around why I said yes to it. Sleeping naked with anyone was a total first for me, and sharing that experience with another guy? That felt even weirder. But we were in a hotel room, just the two of us, and we’ve been best friends for ages, so it didn’t seem like such a big deal when Jake decided to go all in and sleep naked that night.

We got ready for bed, climbed under the covers, and I flipped on the TV for a bit. We chatted about everything that had happened during the day—just the usual back-and-forth that felt so easy between us. Before I knew it, I was drifting off, only in my underwear. It’s funny how things change; I never used to sleep like that. But as we grew closer, it just became this natural thing. Honestly, there wasn’t much we hadn’t seen at this point. It felt like a whole new chapter, and I wasn’t sure where it might lead.