Page 123 of This is Me

This Is Us

My hand tingled as Leroy’s thumb grazed over the top of it, running over my knuckles—his other fingers wrapping gently around mine. It wasn’t something I was used to, considering it had only been an hour since we fucking kissed.

It had only been an hour since everything else melted away as we stood together under the light of fireworks, and I had gotten what I had wanted for a very long time.

Leroy.

“So, are you guys, like, a thing now?” Andy asked, leaning across the table and in front of Blaire to look at us better.

It hadn’t been long after Leroy and I had shared our kiss, that we’d made our way through the crowd of students to find the others. It proved to be very difficult at first as we had to avoid all the teachers, due to Leroy not being allowed there. Then we realised that this was it. We wouldn’t have to come back to high school. Screw the teachers.

After we had found everyone—Andy, Blaire, Cooper—we all headed out to my car. Thankfully, Carly couldn’t come with us as there was no room, and we were soon at The Coffee House with Leroy and I telling the others what had happened.

“Dude, personal space,” Blaire grunted, pushing Andy back into the corner of the booth, against the window. “Why do I have to sit in the middle? Why do you two get one side of the table all to yourselves?”

Blaire looked over at Leroy and me, and we shrugged.

“Well, you’re the smallest, that’s why you’re in the middle,” Leroy said a-matter-of-factly.

“And we’re…” I started but trailed off, looking at Leroy, who turned to me and smiled.

“Dating?” Cooper asked, resting his hands on the table in front of him, next to Blaire’s.

“We haven’t really talked about it,” I said, and Leroy nodded at my words. “We’ve just kissed.”

“Was there tongue?” Andy asked, and Blaire slapped his arm.

“Andy! Inappropriate!”

I could feel my face heat up at Andy’s words, and I could see Leroy start to blush.

“What? If they used tongue or not is a great way to see if they’re ready to date!”

“Really? Have you tongued Carly?” Blaire asked, and everyone turned to look at her.

“You do realise how horrible what you just said was, right?” I asked, and Cooper and Leroy chuckled.

“I know. I heard it straight away.”

“For your information, I have tongued her,” Andy said before quickly adding, “like, as in kissing. Not in, like—”

“I think you should both stop talking,” Leroy said, and they both hummed in agreement, falling silent.

I was glad that the subject had been dropped, and I had a feeling Leroy was, too, because while, yes, there may have been tongue, they did not need to know that.

“So… does the bag mean what I think it does?” Andy asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

“Yeah,” Leroy said softly, and I felt his hand tighten on mine.

“Not a problem. Mum and dad enjoy having you. He’s a very clean person,” Andy added, looking toward Cooper.

“I mean, I didn’t ask, but thank you for that information,” Cooper said, raising his eyebrows.

“You’re new to the overall group, so, I thought I would fill you in on personality traits.”

Andy wasn’t wrong. This had been the first time that Cooper had been with all of my friends, and it was nice having everyone together. It would have been nice if Trent could have joined us, too, but he’d scored a date with another guy in his year who had just come out.

I had definitely inspired some people.