Page 83 of Say It Again
Aaron stepped out from behind Butchie, a six-pack of beer tucked beneath his arm, wearing the widest, most adorable smile. “That was a blast. A blast. He’s hysterical. They both are and thank you.” He kissed Daniel. “Thank you for bringing me here. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
Garlic bread, a platter of pasta, a bowl of bagged salad mix, and two different kinds of iced tea weighed down the dining room table.
His mom filled their plates with enough food to get them a little high. They ate and laughed with their whole bodies while Butchie told stories of his days as a bass player in a rock band and his former life as a hand on a Montana cattle ranch. He talked about his and Barbie’s dreams of visiting the Catskills and why model trains were a good investment of one’s time—building something from nothing healed the soul.
His mom asked them questions about where they went out in the city, and “Ooh, what kinda food they got down there?” How were people dressing now during the fancy nightlife scene, and would they be too embarrassed to take her and Butchie to a drag show as she “Sure would love to see one in real life. All those glitzy wigs and fairy-tale gowns.”
When the question arose, “What do you do for work, Aaron?” Aaron flashed Daniel a smirk and responded, “Interior design.”
They’d discussed this one in the car ride here. It’d probably be best to keep that little secret to themselves, and speaking interior design aloud was the first step to imagining it.
“He’s a natural,” Daniel said, gazing into Aaron’s eyes, squeezing his hand beneath the table. “He’s going to open his own firm someday, and it’s going to be wildly successful. You just wait and see.”
Aaron tugged his hand to his lips for a kiss.
AARON LEANED forward in the car and waved back at Daniel’s mom and stepdad where they stood holding one another on the porch. He’d never seen a relationship modeled so well. It was almost baffling. “Butchie and Barbie, huh?”
“I know,” Daniel said. “How ridiculous is that?”
“Ridiculous. And adorable. They could not get more adorable if they tried, and they don’t have to try. How do we end up like that?”
“Deliriously happy? I don’t know. Until you, my plan was to blow a lot of frogs and see how things went.”
“Kiss.” He grazed Daniel’s cheek with the back of his hand. “Kiss a lot of frogs.”
“Yeah.” Daniel nuzzled into his hand. “I did that too.”
The song in the background as they drove down the interstate, slow and dreamy with these faint, sultry lyrics, was the perfect mood for a perfect night, and it was heartwarming to watch Daniel flirt with sleep from where he’d curled himself in the seat like he was just so comfortable. For someone as high-strung as he was, he could sleep wherever. On the couch. Inside Aaron’s arms. On top of him. It’d been invigorating being his bed—the person on whom he’d sleep—even with the occasional drool puddle. It all felt so… real.
Aaron waved a hand in front of Daniel’s face. Out. He’d mentioned needing to stay at his house tonight, something about different dance shoes, but screw it. They’d figure it out later. He smiled as he whizzed past Daniel’s exit. Oops. Sorry, sweetheart. Wasn’t paying attention. Looks like you’re coming home with me.
Daniel didn’t need to go home. He had everything he needed at Aaron’s apartment. He had a toothbrush and a couple of shirts. What he didn’t have, they could just buy. Or maybe they could designate a drawer for him. Hell, they could designate an entire dresser. That’d be cool. If Daniel had a dresser, maybe Aaron’s bedroom would start to smell like orange creamsicle. Eventually, maybe his living room would start to smell like it. His whole apartment? God, his whole apartment. That could be a real possibility. Very real. So real.
“MOVE IN WITH ME!”
Daniel jolted awake as Aaron’s eyes widened. What the hell was that? Someone answer the question—What the hell was that? That had come spewing out of his mouth just now. Forcefully.
Daniel’s voice was thick with sleep as he asked, “What?”
“Nothing. Shhhhh, go back to sleep, sweetheart. You’re dreaming.”
“No, I’m not. You just yelled at me to move in with you.”
“I did not yell.” He held up a palm. “It was a statement.”
“An aggressive statement—”
“OKAY, BUT WHAT IF YOU DID?” He’d meant to say it calmer that time, but he seemed to have one volume for whatever he was saying. Which, what was he even saying?
Daniel’s expression was layered with confusion, alarm (likely from all the aggressive statement-making,) and then something else. Maybe excitement?
“I just….” Aaron trailed off as he pushed a hand through his hair, struggling to string together a decent argument. He was not very good at this. “I like you around, kid. I want you around me as much as possible because you make me smile and you make me happy and having you at my place means I can take care of you, and it means you’ll be around. You’ll be there when I wake up, and you’ll be there when I fall asleep, and I know it’s soon, but I can’t think of anything better. I can’t think of anything better than you being around all the time. Move in with me.”
Daniel’s lips parted, but he said nothing.
“And honestly, I don’t even mind that you can’t clean. Like, you physically cannot do it—as evidenced by the state of your apartment—but I swear, I don’t care. If you moved in, we could just hire someone to help us clean, because you do have a skill of creating messes. Especially for being so tiny. It’s almost like how I would imagine an angry toddler leaves a room. You’re so cute, but you’re an angry toddler tornado—”
“Okay, if I let you keep talking, you’re going to ruin what would otherwise be a touching moment.” Daniel unhooked his seat belt and crawled across the console to smudge kisses all over Aaron’s face while the car dinged in protest.