He presses his lips to mine, laying his hand on my face. His tongue pushes right into my mouth and I groan a little at the contact.
We haven’t even been separated for as long as we usually are, and still it felt like way longer this time.
“You’re here,” he says like he can’t believe it. “I mean, of course I knew you’d be here. I’m awesome and you probably missed my funny jokes.” His voice is clogged with tears as he speaks.
“That, and I missedyouto death, Luan.” I think the more often we see each other and then have to part again, the harder it gets. I know I will spend the next two nights all cuddled up to him, and then I leave and all we’re left with are phone calls and texts for the next couple of months.
Luan wraps his arms and legs around my body, clinging to me like some kind of monkey. “Did you read the TMZ article about you?”
There’s a new article about me? “No.”
“They said fans have been seeing you with a different woman each night for weeks. I know it’s not true, but wow, reading that really kicked me right in the balls.”
Oh. We still haven’t made our relationship official yet, not publicly at least. My team knows, PR knows, and my management knows just in case the news gets out before Luan and I can do it ourselves. They’d release a flat and genuinely blunt statement about our relationship. I hate this because none of my teammates have to do it, but it’s better than the alternative.
I don’t want to receive another million packages filled with shit and god knows what else. I believe it’ll still come that way whenever I do, but maybe having PR and my management handle the news is better than throwing an Instagram post out there, boringly confirming that Luan and I are, in fact, a couple.
We haven’t said anything yet because we both enjoy the quiet and we know once we confirm it publicly, it will be anything but peace and quiet.
“Is that why you’ve been hiding in your room for a week?” I ask, stroking a hand up and down his bare back.
“No, I just missed you.” I can feel Luan’s tears wet my shirt, but I couldn’t care less right now. “I can’t do anything all fucking day but think about you. And then I read all those articles about you, making the whole missing-you thing worse. Now add the bad articles basically saying you’re cheating on me when I know damn well you’d never do that, it doesn’t exactly put me in a better mood.”
“Oh, Luan…” I hold him tighter, hoping it’ll make him feel a little better. It won’t, and if it does, it’ll only last for the next two days.
Though, while I’m holding him, I look over his shoulder and right out of the window. My eyes immediately land on the mansion in the distance. The same mansion I grew up in. My parents should be at home because it’s a Monday and my dad doesn’t work on Mondays. I haven’t talked to either of them in so long, I don’t even remember their voices.
“Do you want to meet my mom?” I ask without even thinking about what I’m suggesting. I know I told Luan I’d introduce him, but I always thought I’d have a whole plan for when I did. Guess my plan is to wing it after all.
“Today?”
“Yeah, we can go over there right now if you want.” I need to see my mom anyway, even if it’s going to be the last time. On my dad’s birthday four years ago, I didn’t get to say goodbye. I didn’t think it’d be the last time I ever talked to her.
Sun keeps telling me Mom misses me, which I don’t doubt because Mom always did. She never cared about who I loved but with a father like mine as her husband, she doesn’t have many choices in her life. I hate that so much more than my father not wanting to accept I am not straight.
“My sister should be home, too.” Sun graduated from College last summer. Maybe she’d live in NYC now if she hadn’t transferred from St. Trewery to a Uni in Malibu in her Junior year because she had no one left in New York, let alone New City. Sure, she had me and Emory, her best friend, but without either of us actually close by, it was harder on her than any of us had anticipated.
Her sorority househatedmy sister.
“And your brother?” Luan asks, mumbling a little against my chest.
“I don’t know.” Moon probably moved out by now. He’s three years older than me, making him twenty-eight going on twenty-nine this year. If he still lived at home, I’d be worried. “Maybe he’s visiting.”
“Okay. But only if you’ll show me your bedroom, too.” Luan forces himself out of my arms, sniffling a little before he stands. He takes a deep breath and then walks over to his closet. “Should I dress up all nicely? Like… do I need a suit or—”
“I’m sure any pants and a shirt will be fine,” I chuckle. “Anything but your naked ass.” I lean against the headboard, bringing my hands behind my head as I let my eyes linger on my boyfriend’s ass for a while longer.
Luan looks back at me over his shoulder, winking when he notices where my eyes lie. “If your dad doesn’t kill me, you can have me all the ways you like when we’re back.”
Well… now I’m praying my parents aren’t at home so we can get back here a little faster.
???
“Are we not using the front door?” Luan asks while I clearly lead him in from the backyard. But we’re also not using the backdoor. We’re using the climbing-through-Sun’s-bedroom-window “door”.
Sure, I could use my key and get us inside the normal way, but I want to see my mom, and if I come across my dad right by the door, that won’t happen.
I texted Sun to ask if she was at home and she said yes, so going with her bedroom window is the best we can do. Or, of course, we could use my fifteen-year-old-me way. The one that had me climb up the side of the house to get on my balcony. It’s a whole lot more dangerous though, and I’d rather not visit my boyfriend in the hospital.