Page 70 of Josh’s Play

“I mean that I wrote about that. You were one of my inspirations, after all.”

“And so is Hunter. And it’s a really beautiful article. It’s given me a lot to think about.”

Quietly, Josh said, “That’s not why I wrote it. You know I support you.”

“I know you do. And I support you too.”

“God, we’re such grown-ups. Ugh! When did that happen? I have a boyfriend …”

Okay, wow, he had never said that word before, but I didn’t interrupt him just because my heart was beating out of my chest at the phrase.

“... and an almost-published article. I’m graduating. And I’m volunteering at a fundraiser for an LGBTQIA youth center. I want to go back to …” I stopped him with a kiss.

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”

“Well, no, I don’t want to go back to that. But remember when we were little, and we had, like, no responsibility?”

I could feel my brow furrowing before Josh mimicked my move and brushed his fingertips down my face.

I explained, “You’re practically the youngest in your family. I’m the oldest, and I grew up on a farm, so no, I don’t really remember a time without responsibility.”

Josh pouted at me. “So no trip to NYC?”

“Maybe next time.” I leaned in and kissed him again.

“Speaking of being responsible, Dayden really wants us to consider uploading the pod. He said if we time it with your announcement, it might help me find a job as a writer or blogger or whatever.”

“Oh, wow. I never thought about that. Um, you know I might not …”

“Yeah, I know.” We both rapped our knuckles on the coffee table in front of us even though it was made of some kind of composite material and definitely not of natural wood.

“If you have an announcement at some point in your life, maybe we can time the podcast to coincide.”

“Yes, absolutely,” I agreed. We were quiet for a minute before I opined, “It’s weird to think about.”

“How so?”

“I mean, I get that we were making a podcast, but I guess I never thought about people actually listening to it. Other than Dayden.”

“We don’t have to.”

“No. No. I want to.” I said the next part and maybe only realized how true it was after I said it. “I want people to know who I am. Like, know me for me, or whatever.”

“And I can’t wait for people to know how clueless I was about hockey before I met you.”

We snuck another quick kiss before turning back to the TV. As a graduating senior, Josh’s semester was a little more relaxed than mine, so I took my tablet out, tuned out the TV, and started on some coursework.

“You know, you won’t have to worry about school if this meeting goes well next week.”

Josh rolled his eyes as I knocked on the table again and waited for him to do so as well before I replied by shaking my head. “Oh, I guess we never really talked about it, but I do plan to graduate college before I …” Instead of finishing that sentence I rapped on the table once.

“Oh, cool,” Josh smiled. “So you’ll be here one more year.”

“It’s really important to me that I finish my degree. I could twist my ankle at any moment.” Josh intercepted my hand that time and kissed my knuckles. I pulled away quickly when we heard the front door open and close and I tapped the table again.

I had a quick second of disappointment when another housemate walked in to find us laughing, but even just hanging out with Josh, with my boyfriend, while other people were around was nice too.

We texted constantly, and his trip to NYC was no exception. He narrated the entire drive down, commenting that Devon was acting weird.