Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 65346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Well, at least what I assumed reality to be at the time.
It took out all the wind from my sails, and I had given up on any hope we would work. Once he moved to New York, I had figured it was dead and done. And, although I’d occasionally find myself drifting back into the colorful dreamscape, I never imagined that we’d be in this position, lying naked with each other underneath another velvet midnight, with plenty more seemingly lined up.
“Benji,” Rex said, in that tone that told me something big was coming around the corner. I sat up, perched on his chest, looking down into his sparkling blue eyes. They reflected some of the moonlight, casting a magical glow. “I love you.”
The words swirled in the air like a spell, almost knocking me out.
I blinked, speechless.
Rex kept going, barreling forward. “I do. I’m in love with you, Benji. You’ve taught me so much, not only about loving myself, but also about life, about taking a situation and turning it around, into something better, brighter. You always make me laugh, and you’re always running through my dreams. For six years, you never stopped visiting me in my dreams. I never imagined my dreams coming true, but they have. And I don’t ever want to lose you again.” He kissed me, shocking my heart back into beating. “I love you, Benjamin Gold. Like nothing else in this world.”
Not sure when, but at some point, I started to cry. I wiped at my tears, grateful for them. “These are happy tears,” I said, hoping to ease Rex’s worried expression.
“Rex, I fell in love with you from the moment we met. I can’t even explain it. But I was sure of it. Just like I’m sure of it, now. And you helped me reach the point where I can even feel love again. When you first got here, I wasn’t feeling anything at all. Everything was painted in shades of gray. I really did think I was supposed to live the rest of my life like that. Then I got sparks of color breaking through, all because of you. I started to remember how electrifying life actually felt, and I realized I wasn’t meant to live in the gray. I got the help I needed, and I can cry happy tears again. I love you, Rex. So freaking much.”
We kissed again, and I felt as if wings had sprouted from my shoulders. I shut my eyes and envisioned us drifting through the milky-white expanse of stars and moons and planets, swirling around comets and twirling underneath asteroids, holding hands as we flew through the rocky rings of Saturn, our souls joined as one while we explored the endless reaches of the universe.
That’s how it felt kissing Rex, professing my love to him underneath that velvet midnight. We had come such a long way from the lost and confused souls we met as. Maybe it all happened exactly as it was supposed to, then. Maybe no other path would have lead to this exact moment, a moment I would never forget, not for the rest of my life or for whatever came after.
“I love you,” I said again, against his lips, the words tasting as sweet as the elixir of life on my tongue.
“Forever,” Rex replied, a response that would indeed last us forever.
Epilogue
Two Years Later
My dad worked a crop circle into the beige carpet of the hotel room. His eyes were glued to the paper in his hands, his two aides sitting on the round table next to the window, scrolling through their phones for any last-minute updates. I sat on the couch with Benji, going over my speech one last time. I felt nervous, but unlike my dad, I found that I could contain it a little better.
Although my constantly bouncing leg would probably argue the opposite.
“One more time?” Benji asked, flipping the page over so we could start from the beginning.
I shook my head. “No, I think I’ve got it.”
“I’m sure you do.”
I leaned in for a reassuring kiss. I never got tired of Benji’s kisses. We could be on a sinking submarine, heading down to the ocean floor, and just one kiss from Benji would float us right back up to the surface. He was my everything, and I felt like the luckiest guy in the world whenever his lips were on mine.
Today was no different.
Well, maybe it was a little different.
“Dad, how ya feeling?” I looked to my father, who wore a sharp suit, his pants pressed and his light blue shirt ironed to within a thread of its life.
“I’m feeling all right. These things always give me the heebie-jeebies.”
“I think you might be the only one who still says heebie-jeebies.”
“Sorry, sorry. What’s the trending phrase, then? Jeebie-heebies?”
Benji and I both laughed. “Yeah, sure, go with that.”