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I smile. “I know, Billy. I appreciate that more than I can say.”
“And I’m still a call away. Me. Tanner. Trey and Cody. Lance and Chad down the road from you. The Kings, too. You’ll never be alone. You’ll never be without friends or someone to call. Don’t you even hesitate for a second, even if it’s 2 AM and you’re out of options and—” Billy reconsiders with a glance at Marcus and Josh playing their video game. “Actually, okay, maybe if it’s 2 AM, text first before calling,” he amends with a wince.
I laugh, then pull him in for a hug. “Thanks, Billy.”
I’ve always had friends.
But until today, I hadn’t known just how true and perfect my friends really are.
Hoyt and I head out soon after that, leaving Jimmy and Bobby to hang for a bit with the family. We walk in quiet contemplation, holding hands and strolling leisurely down the cobblestone path leading out of the grove.
“I feel a strange peace inside me,” says Hoyt.
I glance at him. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Like for the first time in my whole life, I genuinely feel like everything’s gonna turn out just the way it’s meant to.”
A smile touches my lips. “I know exactly what you mean.”
“I had a really great time with you tonight, Harrison.”
“Me too.”
“I feel like …” He lets out a little chuckle. “I feel like we could have a hundred nights just like this one. You and I. We could … We could really work out in the end, y’know?”
His bubbly optimism is infectious … but it doesn’t wipe away the lone seed of doubt still floating around inside of me.
“What is it?” he asks when I don’t respond.
“Nothing,” I insist, not wanting to ruin the moment.
“No, no. Tell me.” He stops and takes both of my hands. “You can say anything, Harrison. Bare your soul to me. Share your fears. That’s part of this whole boyfriend thing, right?”
I lean against the fence that lines the cobblestone path, then pull him to me with a tug of his hands. He falls against me, and our lips come together. Whenever we are kissing, I feel like nothing can possibly go wrong in the world.
I wish I could preserve this happy, safe feeling when we kiss and experience it every second of every day.
Hoyt pulls away—the kiss ended, the safe feeling gone. “Come on, Harrison. Tell me.”
I gaze into his eyes. “What happens when the summer’s over? Will you leave for Austin to be with your friends? Maybe Julio has a point about meeting professors, retesting, reapplying … You may still get into UT for the spring semester if you try hard enough, y’know. Not to mention Austin’s community colleges.”
Hoyt nods slowly, understanding. “You don’t wanna lose me.”
“But I don’t want to hold you back, either.”
He puts a kiss on my lips, bringing me back to that safe place. Then, with his mouth close to mine, he says, “For now, we’ve got each other. Who knows what the rest of this summer will bring. Is it okay if I don’t know yet what I’ll do come the fall?”
I run a hand through his soft hair, remembering our moments in the barn, just us without the world, secluded, safe, and alone.
I think I’m going to have to trust the fates with this one.
“Of course,” I say. “It’s okay not to know right now. Whatever you decide … you have my full support.”
“I know I do.”
I glance at my truck, which awaits us on the distant driveway, then lift an eyebrow at him. “Need a ride?”
He smirks. “Your place or mine?”
I pull him against me tightly and kiss him. Mmm … that sweet, safe feeling. I hold him so tightly, I may never let him go again.
Epilogue
Hoyt
The end of summer has come.
It’s the beginning of September. My very first day of college is here. My first class is in two hours. Today, the next chapter of my life at last begins. But before it can start, I am forced to face my greatest predicament so far. It’s a choice—an impossible choice.
“Just pick the polo already,” says Harrison from the bed.
“Don’t rush this decision!” I bite my lip with frustration as I stand at the foot of his bed in just my underwear, holding a shirt on a hanger in either hand, outstretched. A red t-shirt. A heather gray polo shirt. One is casual college boy. The other: preppy college boy. The shirt is loose-fitting. The polo is form-fitting.
“Hoyt, you’re overthinking it.”
“Why can’t I make any simple decisions today?” I fling both shirts at the bed, fed up.
Harrison, meanwhile, is lounging on the bed like some bored demigod with no clothes on at all, one arm propping him up, the other behind his head, showing off his sexy pits, biceps bulged. My boyfriend is a literal buffet of muscle, sex, and sweat, the sight of him tempting me to taste every last thing he’s got to offer.
