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Beckham looked at me, a curious expression in those green-and-gold eyes. “Is that really the dream, though? I feel like… I don’t know. Like I’m still missing something.”
Ah, a crack in his defenses.
“Well, if you want the full American dream, then you’ve got to have your white picket fence with your two identical, but also boy and girl, twins. With your smiley wife cooking pancakes while you wash your dick off from the woman you were sleeping with the night before, all while Wheel of Fortune constantly plays in the background. That’s the American dream.”
Beckham’s curious expression shifted, smile lines drawing around the corners of his eyes as he broke into laughter.
“Talk to a few Londoners and it’s the same dream over there, too. Minus the Wheel of Fortune part.”
We started to walk again, leaving the metallic dolphin behind and moving toward a big crowd of people. Everyone seemed to be focused on whatever art installation they were crowding around. Heads were craned downward, and people were snapping with all sorts of cameras. I tried peeking over a few heads and shoulders but couldn’t make out what they were looking at.
“Let’s just keep going,” I said, seeing the exit to the main street just ahead. I glanced at my watch. Reservations for dinner were still an hour away, so we were good on time.
“Bollocks. You want to see, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but there’s so many— Wait, what are you doing?”
Beckham crouched in front of me. This was taking a sudden (and very sexy) turn.
“Hop on my shoulders.”
“Oh no. No, that’s okay. I don’t need to see it that—oh, okay. You’re—all right—oh!”
I didn’t have to jump on Beckham’s shoulders. He turned on his heels and backed up. I didn’t have more time to protest. My legs were on Beckham’s shoulders, and I was rising up like Queen Nefertiti herself.
And then I could see past the shoulders and the heads. Giggles rose up through me like I was a kid again. I grabbed onto Beckham’s head for balance and spotted what everyone was gawking at.
“It’s a rainbow pool,” I reported down to Beckham. I noticed a few people were throwing curious glances at us. I did sometimes enjoy being the center of attention, not gonna lie, and right now, with Beckham’s head between my legs, I didn’t really mind the looks.
Except something about it was starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure if this was the kind of spotlight I liked.
“Let’s get closer,” he said. “Hold on up there.”
“Oh no, no, that’s—and you’re moving. Okay, yup. Excuse us! Sorry!” I was on the verge of cracking up, but I didn’t want to in case I ended up falling off Beckham’s shoulders. The crowd parted for the two grown babies. Instead of taking pictures of the rainbow pool, some people were now snapping shots of us. They were mostly smiling and laughing, so I didn’t think we were pissing off too many people.
“Oh wow,” Beckham said from between my legs as we got close enough for him to see the rainbow pool.
It appeared as if someone had picked up a small pond and implanted it right into the Miami street. There were tall reeds and a few lily pads floating around, but the real magic of it were the beautiful colors that swirled around the water, all of them somehow separate and bold and bright. It felt as if a rainbow was directly above us and being reflected by the water’s surface.
It was beautiful and looked like a surreal painting.
I was also getting sore from sitting on Beckham’s shoulders.
“Okay, you can put me down now,” I told my handsome stead.
He was bending his knees to let me off when a lady with big hair and a bigger voice yelled out loud, “Oh my goodness! I need a picture of you two. That’s so artsy-fartsy, hold on, hold on.” That’s when I felt even more eyes on us. People were definitely looking at us. For a split second, I wondered if they were looking at us because of our obvious age difference. Did they think we were even together? Were people being judgmental? Not only was there an age gap, but we were two guys, and although Miami was a friendly city toward her LGTBQ residents, it didn’t mean there weren’t a few who would do us harm.
I knew that firsthand.
A flush swam to my cheeks, warming everything from my chest to my head. I could feel my breathing start to become more and more shallow, like oxygen was somehow getting harder to find.
But the woman with the big hair seemed happy, like she loved what she saw. And the others were smiling, too. No one looked angry or upset.
Part of me was angry I even cared. But I did, and I wasn’t going to change that right now. Instead, I focused on pushing away my anxiety.
