Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95019 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95019 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“You think your parents will be suspicious that we haven’t unpacked a damn thing by the time they’re back?”
“Maybe a little.” Although, that doesn’t keep him from kissing me again.
And again.
And again.
Soon we’ve got our tongues down each other’s throats, making up for lost time, before a sound catches my attention. Instinctively I pull back, and my gaze shoots to the door, where Philip and Tegan stand wide-eyed, frozen in place.
“Uh…” I say, feeling awkward as fuck. “Too late to say this isn’t what it looks like?”
My joke’s a knife through the tension as Philip and Tegan lose it. Tegan cups her face as she howls with laughter while Philip leans on the doorframe, looking like he’s about to cry.
“I thought you were going to the restaurant,” Marty says in an accusatory tone.
“I wanted to stop by the store,” Tegan says, “and I figured I would check to make sure you didn’t need anything.”
Philip grabs the doorknob and starts to close the door, Tegan retreating with him. “Do continue. Don’t mind us.”
Marty winces. “Mom…Dad…”
“No, please. Keep going,” Tegan insists, giggling as they shut the door.
“Mom and Dad, get back in here!” Marty snaps.
“You might want to put a pillow on your lap first,” I warn him, feeling his girth against my hip.
“Oh, wait. I need a minute!”
*
After recovering from the awkward moment, we head downstairs and chat with his parents at the kitchen table.
“So, are you two boyfriends?” Philip asks.
“We’re seeing each other,” Marty says. “We haven’t really put a label on it.”
“Yet,” I find myself chiming in, which catches his attention as much as mine. We haven’t had any chats about being boyfriends, but…I really like him and he likes me. Fuck, we changed our summer schedules so we could spend more time together. It’s not exactly complicated.
“But I’m attracted to guys and girls apparently,” Marty says. “So I’m bi.”
“Thank you for sharing that with us,” Tegan says.
“Yeah, but I’ll be honest,” Philip adds, “I kind of prefer the way it happened to you coming out. It’s gonna make for a much better story.”
Marty grins, and I can tell he’s happy with how they’ve taken the news. From everything he told me about them, I expected this would be their reaction, but it’s nice seeing he can rely on his parents.
They talk a little more with him, offer hugs, and then head out to grab our dinner, leaving us on our own in the kitchen.
“What was that all about?” Marty asks, and at my confused expression, he adds, “When Dad asked if we were boyfriends.”
Hearing him say the word activates something in me, this swirling sensation in my belly, like the excitement before playing a big game, but so much better.
“Do you want to be boyfriends?” he asks.
As excited as the idea makes me, I must admit, “I don’t really even know what that means.”
“I think it means we’re more than fuck buddies…”
“We’re definitely more than that.” I know that’s not what he was suggesting, but the thought that anyone would think that’s all we are pisses me the fuck off.
“And more than just seeing each other…” he adds.
“Yeah, there’s been a lot of seeing each other already.”
Marty bites his bottom lip.
“Jesus, you make even that look sexy,” I observe.
“What?”
“How am I supposed to think about this when you’re biting your lip like that?”
He flinches. “I didn’t even realize I was doing it.”
“That’s what makes it so fucking sexy.”
He stops biting it. “Sorry. I was thinking that I’ve never had a boyfriend.”
“Neither have I. Or a girlfriend, aside from high school for, like, a minute.”
“What does that even mean—boyfriends?”
“At least that it’s a long-term thing, or that we want it to be.”
“I’m planning to come back here once we finish helping with the Activate Kindness builds,” Marty says. “And you’re planning to move to Peachtree Springs to work at the shop.”
“That’s a thirty-minute drive max, and you’re going to grad school at Peach State, so that’s not really an issue.” That this would even be considered an obstacle grates on my nerves.
“I know it’s not this big thing,” Marty insists. “But I’m trying to be practical and make sure we’re thinking this through.”
“Because you don’t want to be my boyfriend?” Christ, I sound as annoyed as I did when Gisele was about to kiss him. The way he’s talking about this is stressing me, nerves twisting up, my jaw tense.
“Whoa, where is this coming from?” Marty asks. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be freaking out over shit.”
I shake my head. “You’re not wrong, and I know you have no reason to not want to be my boyfriend, right? Or do you, and you want to break it to me easy? Or has this all just been fun for you? Fuck, is this what’s always running through your head? This is awful!”