Hell, he was already twenty minutes late because of the damned traffic. Who knew if he’d be willing to put up with all that during his internship. God, I—
“Hey.”
The familiar voice stalled my spiraling thoughts, obliterating the tension in my shoulders in an instant. Tristan had driven in from his last interview in Austin, and he looked tired but gorgeous. I met him halfway and hugged him tight, laughing when he let out an adorable squeak.
Smacking my shoulder, he stepped back, looking around. “This is a classy establishment,” he hissed playfully.
“Sorry,” I said, not sorry in the slightest. “I can’t fucking stand all this time away from you. I hope that’s not too much for me to say.”
He rolled his eyes and then stretched up for a kiss. “Are you kidding? I’ve been a mess.”
I pulled back, suddenly worried. “But you passed your finals, right? I didn’t… Like, this thing between us didn’t mess up your grades, right?”
Chuckling, he gave me a sweet peck on the cheek. “No, nothing like that. I got my final grades for the semester today, and drumroll, please…”
I complied with a smile, rapidly tapping my thighs with my fingertips.
“Straight As. I will, in fact, be walking across the stage tomorrow.”
“Congratulations.” I brought him in for another hug, this one a little more appropriate for the venue. “I’m guessing you got straight As throughout your entire college career?”
“Eh… I got a B in Advanced Calculus. Math is not my subject.”
“Me either, and it’s good to know you’re human.”
He laughed, then leaned his forehead into my chest, letting his shoulders drop. “I can’t believe it’s over. This last semester really took it out of me.”
He hummed happily as I rubbed his arms.
“Look,” I started, hoping what I wanted to say wouldn’t sound presumptuous. “Maybe it’s weird for me to say this, but I’m really proud of you. You are so goddamned smart. You work harder than anyone I know—and I know Ozzie.”
His tired laugh made my heart speed up, and he stepped back with a twinkle in his eye. “It’s way sexier when you say it than when my mom does.”
I laughed, pulling him in for a temple kiss as my name was called. We linked arms, following the hostess across the old wooden floor to our table. It was a small two-seater against the wall of windows that looked out over the narrow San Marcos River.
We sat across from each other, and my breath caught in my chest when he slid both hands across the table at the same time I did. Sitting there like a pair of lovestruck goobers, we held hands as we stared into each other’s eyes, ignoring the beautiful sunset and pretty much everything else.
Tristan finally broke the spell, letting out a low, “Wow.”
“Wow?” I asked.
“Yeah. Wow. Everything is sort of happening all at once, and I can’t tell if this thing between us is the best or worst timing ever, but I’ve never felt like this.”
I let out a wry laugh. “Honestly? Thank God. Even with everything going down at the bar, I could barely focus. When Major was helping me with the plumbing fiasco, he said he’d never seen me so twitterpated.”
“Oh, really?” he asked, entirely unconcerned.
“Hell, Ozzie threatened to take Edith to my head.”
He wrinkled his nose. “We can’t have that, can we?”
Someone cleared their throat to the side of us, and we looked up, finding our server for the evening.
Small towns in Texas are kind of funny about queer stuff, and we definitely should have been more careful. There were plenty of super-conservative folks who disapproved of our “sinful lifestyle”—and a few of those were willing to get mean about it. But San Marcos was also a college town, so I wasn’t surprised by the waiter’s grin as his eyes darted between us.
“What can I get for you gentlemen tonight?”
We ordered, the food came, and we ate, but never once in the entire evening did our eyes leave each other. Tristan had planned to go home early, because tomorrow would be a big day with the commencement festivities and then family dinner afterward. Once we’d paid, though, we lingered, neither of us wanting to be the first to leave.
