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“How do you do that?” he asks.
“Do what?”
“Become wiser than me. Say something simple, and make me feel like you’re Aristotle’s phantom, waxing prosaically over life’s most vexing quandaries. I … I do truly wonder sometimes which of us is the most mature.” He smiles handsomely, setting my heart afire. “But I do still think we need to repaint.”
I flinch at his sudden shift in topic. “Repaint?” I shake my head. “Nope. The color of my apartment is perfect, and—”
“Also, I do think you should trust my taste in décor,” he goes on, “because I have killer style, and my house in Mississippi was a work of art …”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen the pictures,” I tease him with half a playful roll of my eyes. “But why put all that effort into fixing up my place? Once I’m done with my Bachelor’s, I thought I’m helping move us into a place closer to my campus, where we’ll—?”
“Oh, don’t for a second think you’re using a cent of your hard-earned cash on that. Where else will my stupid money go? It’s just money. I’ll fix up your apartment for now, and down the line when we move closer to campus, I’ll pay for—”
I narrow my eyes warningly. “Richie …”
He shuts himself up with a grin. “Yes,” he then decides lightly. “You’re quite right. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Your lovely, handsome landlord Dante has far too much on his plate with one of his favorite tenants moving out today. No need to add your departure in there so soon.”
“Are you sure about that captain’s hat?” I ask suddenly, squinting. “You’re ready to let go of it?”
“I’ll tell you what I’m ready for.” He inclines his head toward me. “A bite at that greasy burger joint around the corner from your place.”
I swipe my phone off the counter, then reach out my hand to him. “Sounds perfect to me.”
Hand-in-hand, the pair of us stroll out of the dressing room, down the hall, through the curtain, and out of Aubergines for the last time. Well, I’m not so sure if it’s the last-last time. Perhaps I’ll visit it someday and say hi to all my old coworkers, assuming Mack and the other guys are still here. I’m almost certain I’ll find Lex here on any given night, hugging the stage to keep Mack company—or else to fend off all the thirsty boys from his man.
I find it to be an odd yet fitting final thought to have on my way out of Aubergines, that a man like Lex who despised me for so long found love in his heart for me instead, after all this time. I wonder how many things in this world are just a fragile, emotional seesaw between love and hate, and how just the smallest push, just the right timing, just the perfect circumstance might tilt it the other way. And suddenly, you’re embracing an old enemy, and before long, that old enemy becomes an old friend, and the only thing left lingering in your heart is the stinging, ringing, confusing beauty that is love.
And isn’t that all that counts in the end?
CONNOR
I stare at my empty wardrobe. No more shirts to pack. No more pants or jackets. No more shoes.
I pull open a drawer, just in case, and I find the creaky, wooden thing empty. It was empty the last ten times I opened it. You know … just to check.
Just in case.
I had planned the whole day to move out. I find it funny that it took me twenty-two minutes to put everything I own in a suitcase, ready to go.
Even the old fraternity shirt Brett insisted I take with me, since I borrowed it one night when I had no clean clothes to sleep in. Even my purple bootie shorts from Aubergines, which Larry let me keep. He was so shockingly calm when I put in my two weeks’ notice, wishing me well.
But those two weeks passed. And now my life is about to change. Dramatically. It won’t be long before I’m an employee at Wales Weekly. A real, on-the-payroll, totally official employee. A writer. A journalist. A thousand things I only dreamed I’d become someday, sitting in an old suburban house in Kansas, staring at rainbows out my window.
This room is so fucking empty now.
Is this really how it ends?
Shouldn’t I be happy?
Why is my heart so fucking heavy right now?
“You all ready to go?” comes Alan’s voice from the opened French doors behind me.
I turn. The sight of him shreds all of my heavy, stubborn emotions. I come up to him and hold him tightly against my body, squeezing my man with all of my strength, saying nothing.
“Uh … What’re you doing?” he asks, his voice muffled slightly by my shoulder.
