Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
This is totally fucking up my proposal to Trav.
“I just need to get out of here,” I mutter.
“Someone is going to come onto this boat. Steven will need to get something or—”
“I know someone will find us at some point, but I have to get up there when they start introducing the sponsors.”
He studies my expression, like he’s thinking hard about something, before nodding. “Is there any particular reason that you’re in such a hurry? Maybe something to do with that little getup Hayden was hiding upstairs?”
The jig is up.
“I guess Hayden wasn’t as smooth about that as he thought he was.”
“He was pretty smooth. I just wasn’t entirely distracted by Derek and Jackson. I probably wouldn’t have even thought anything of it if he hadn’t been trying to hide it for you.”
I don’t see a reason to keep it from Frankie. He was going to find out anyway, and hell, now that we’re stuck, the plans are totally shot anyway.
“I don’t know how much you know about how we met.…”
“Only what gets circulated in the rumor mill. And by rumor mill, I mean, Derek.” We chuckle together before he adds, “Something about pretending to be boyfriends.”
I blush at how stupid Travis and I were back then.
“Yeah, that’s the one. I was trying to make Peter jealous, and he was trying to impress this potential investor for his massage clinic. While we were doing that, we agreed to hold this fundraiser. This sort of, like, stripping thing we did at Flirt.”
“The Boxers or Briefs Strip-Off! Yeah, I remember it. You and Travis were on fire that night. I think a few guys jizzed on themselves while you were onstage.”
“Well, thanks,” I say. “I wasn’t looking for the compliment. I was just going to say that Trav and I worked hard to put that together, and we found out that we enjoyed planning these fundraisers. I’m in IT, and Travis has his practice, so we don’t have many things that we get to be creative about in our day-to-day jobs, but with this, we can just go crazy and come up with elaborate ideas like hosting a fundraiser in a cove at the lake. I enjoy pulling together decorations, making signs. And Travis is kind of amazing at talking to different vendors and sponsors, getting people to back the projects. It’s that businessman in him.”
“You guys make a good team,” Frankie notes.
“We really do, and this part of our lives is special to us. We enjoy that we can help out and have fun doing it…and doing it together. And this particular idea was really big…like so big that we weren’t even sure we’d be able to pull it off, and that we even did was kind of a miracle. So I thought, if ever there was a good time to pop the question, it would be now.”
Frankie’s eyes light up as he tilts his head and smiles a big charming smile. “That’s really sweet.”
“Doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
I reach into my pocket and retrieve a piece of folded-up paper.
“What’s that?"
“It’s this stupid thing I’ve been planning to say. Until today, I was so proud of it. It has everything that a romantic proposal should say. Even starts with a fucking poem.”
“A poem?” Frankie asks, cringing.
“I know, it’s dumb, but I worked really hard on it. It’s all the right words. It’s about how we met and came together, how we’ve grown…how I’ve grown since I’ve known him. All the things I love about him. I drafted it probably two dozen times to get anything that even seemed close to expressing how I feel about him.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“It’s just never enough. They’re just words. They can’t convey how much I care about him. How amazing I think he is. How compassionate and caring he is. Everything’s so fucking corny!” I toss the paper onto the floor.
“Hey, what did that piece of paper ever do to you?”
I chuckle.
“Come on,” he says. “It’s not about the words. It’s about what you feel behind them. So how do you feel?”
“He means everything to me. I want to spend my life with him because I can’t imagine waking up without him next to me."
“There you go. How can anything else matter? Just be honest, and Travis will be perfectly happy knowing that you care and want to be with him.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t jump the gun on this. There’s always the possibility that he’ll say no.”
“Why would he say no?”
“We haven’t been together that long, and isn’t that the fear in every relationship? That you’re all in and the other person is just…biding time?”
“How did you feel with that d-bag that hurt you and Evan?”
I hate to say it, but if I’m being honest…“Biding time. Some days I don’t know what I was doing with him. I guess I just figured that was the best I could do.” As I speak the words, it brings up my own fear. “And some days, I have to admit that I know Travis can do better.”