Page 122 of This is Me

I could still feel Leroy shaking slightly in my arms as he spoke. But I understood that now, as I was also shaking. Leroy’s question had taken me by complete surprise, and I had to do my best not to look around to see if anyone had heard.

“I’m sorry. What?” I asked quietly. Maybe I had heard him wrong. Or maybe one of us was having a stroke.

“I would like to kiss you if that’s okay?” Leroy’s arms tightened around me.

As I felt myself, somehow, be pulled closer to Leroy, collapsing into the warmth of his arms, I had never felt safer. Everything that had happened seemed like nothing. All the worry in my mind dissipated, and the only thing that mattered was this moment. Was Leroy. Was us.

“Only if you want to. If you’re ready,” I murmured back, and I felt Leroy take another deep breath before tilting his head.

Closing my eyes, I followed Leroy’s lead, tilting my head and slowly leaning forward, waiting for my lips to meet his.

BANG!

My eyes snapped open, and both Leroy and I jumped back from each other and looked up to the sky, as the students around us cheered and clapped, watching the colourful lights shower over us. Another loud bang rang around us as more colours erupted into the sky.

“Well, now no one is looking at us,” I whispered, letting myself be pulled into Leroy once again.

“I wouldn’t care if they were,” Leroy said after a momentary pause, waiting for another firework to go off. “I never should have cared.”

“What made you change so quickly?”

“You. I realised the only times I have ever been comfortable to be myself and be true to who I was when I’m with you. The time I spent away from you, trying to prove I wasn’t…”

Leroy paused again as more fireworks exploded in the sky, throwing more colours in the air to dance above our heads. Most of the other students around us continued to watch the sky in awe. Others were spending the moment with their boyfriends and girlfriends, enjoying it together. And I was right where I never thought I was going to be. Where I never thought I needed to be. But every second felt right.

“Every time I looked at you, I knew I was doing the wrong thing. Because whenever I looked at you, I felt calm. And last night I was still fighting that. Because I was still holding on to the little acceptance I may have gotten from my father. But that’s gone. I don’t need it. The only thing I need… is you.”

My heart fluttered at his words, and it was only now that I felt he wasn’t shaking anymore. That I wasn’t shaking. The sounds around us seemed to slowly be drowned out, along with the other students. Everything seemed to wash away, being replaced by the bright colours of the fireworks, still flashing above us. In my mind, it was just Leroy and me, and at this moment, that’s all I wanted.

Feeling my head gently touch Leroy’s, I smirked. “So, are you going to ask again?”

For a moment, Leroy stayed silent, seemingly wondering what I meant, but he soon let out a small chuckle. “Peter Stone, can I kiss you?”

“And that’s the last time you need to ask,” I muttered, a smile still on my face.

Slowly, I tilted my head again and closed my eyes, leaning into Leroy, my lips trembling, but in a matter of seconds, they met with Leroy’s and the trembling stopped.

At that moment, everything was perfect. The only thing that mattered was us. It felt like nothing could break us apart, and I hoped that it never did.