Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Among Vann’s “arty friends”, as Mars so nicely put it, I spot several I regularly worked with, including Lily. The second Lily spots me, she rushes up to me to gush about her latest photoshoot idea. I have to assume at some point since that one awful night when SJ and Lily insinuated I got myself a sugar daddy, Vann had words with them, because the next time I saw them, they were far more respectful. By then, I’d practically forgotten what upset me in the first place. And how can I hold a grudge anyway? From the two of them alone, I’ve gotten at least a dozen other regular clients all around the campus, and even some local artist alums. I raised my modeling fee per their advice and am looking forward to a busy fall schedule full of gigs.
And if all continues to go well with my GED, maybe by spring I can consider myself a student among them, too.
Fingers crossed.
For the first time in my life, things are truly looking up. I never thought happiness like this could be possible. That I could live and breathe among such a crowd of people and feel like I truly belong. That I wouldn’t be living the rest of my days searching over my shoulder for suspicious sounds and dangerous things.
Of course, a part of that “runaway Seany” will always stay inside me. But I’ve learned to live with him better and share the space of my heart like amicable roommates as best as I can. Some days are a struggle. Most days aren’t.
I haven’t seen Ice again.
I guess Drake’s empty threat worked.
I wonder if Ice ever made it to Houston.
“What’re you doing just standing there?” Vann shouts out playfully at me. “Come up to the table and help me kick my boyfriend’s ass.”
I grin, take hold of the spare air hockey paddle, and get to work on the assignment. Toby, who gets notably cocky when he’s in the heat of a competitive game, prepares to take us on, all his friendliness gone as he narrows his eyes and readies the puck.
And an hour later when the whole gang of us flood the Desert Moon Diner, Vann and I are celebrated as the first people to take down Toby at the arcade. Granted, it’s not the first time. And we were paired up two against one. But somehow, everyone still considers it a victory as we crowd one table in the middle of the diner (instead of spreading out to two tables like reasonable people) and devour tacos, tortilla chips, and way too much salsa.
Somewhere in the noise of laughter and conversation, I find myself remembering a night I sat by the Gulf with Cooper at my side. I had just told him I made my decision. We sat in silence for what felt like hours, holding each other as the waves crashed and the wind tossed our hair.
I told him: “I want to be your boyfriend.”
I felt his body tense up. “What?”
Maybe the wind or the water was too loud. “I want to be your boyfriend,” I repeated. “I don’t want to be the kid you took off the street. I don’t want to be the question mark who runs around your bar. I need to be something real in this place … something I already feel in my heart. I know you feel it in yours.”
“Sean …”
“You said you loved me.”
He went silent right then. I remember how my heart hammered in my chest. I had so many emotions raging inside me that night.
“I heard you,” I told him. “I heard you say it. And I … I wanted to say it back. But … I was scared. I’m not scared anymore.” I lifted my head off his shoulder and looked at him. “If I stay here in Dreamwood, then I’m staying here as your boyfriend. That’s my condition, Cooper. My only condition.”
He thought it through for a moment. “And what if we don’t last?”
I didn’t blame him for the question. It was an honest question. A realistic and mature point of view.
I didn’t realize how much I would come to appreciate the honest way he approached such questions. It helped me gain trust in him. It helped me see he was never motivated by selfish reasons when it came to what he did for me. He always had my best interest. He considered every angle. He was analytical and compassionate.
And so it was with due respect that I answered just as honestly. “Then at least we tried. And I’d still be grateful to you for keeping your door open just as you promised.”
He weighed that for a moment. Then he gazed upon me with affection. “You’re beautiful, Sean. You know that?”
“Is that a yes?”
Then he kissed me. I closed my eyes and melted into it, feeling like every bit of pain I had been holding inside my heavy chest was worth it just to experience the fire we’d kindled between each other over the summer. Cooper was my boyfriend. I was his boyfriend. We’d start confidently calling ourselves a couple.