Between all the fully booked planes because of the holidays, and a last-minute flight with three shitty layovers, it took me four days to get to Ner’s hometown in Greece.
Napping at airports and hotels had given me time to research my destination. I tracked down the concert Ner had organized and headed that way.
I had concocted plans and considered several outcomes of my coming over. At first, I’d hoped to surprise Ner and his students before the performance, but because of two flight delays, I wasn’t able to make it early enough.
I arrived in time to catch the end of the concert: ten kids ranging from about eight to thirteen playingJoan Jett’s I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,followed byThe Doors’ Riders on the Stormwith a pink-haired girl on keyboard and a tall teen on the guitar, waving his scorpion tail to the melody. The front row was packed with cheering families in winter coats and phones directed at the young musicians.
Besides them, the crowd was sparse but the three dozen people were still a lot considering it was a noon concert on New Years Eve. Ner was halfway hidden to the left of the stage, facing his students, mouthing the lyrics and discreetly waving a tentacle like a baton, indicating who’s turn it was.
Most of the kids had visible features that suggested they weren’t fully human, whether it were horns, tails, or talons. All of them were smiling and excited to be there. A boy with fox ears and big, hairy feet said a few words in Greek into the microphone, then looked at Ner. “Thank you all for coming.” He waved at someone in the front row and lifted his smoked Squier. “This will be our last number,FoundbySwimming with the Sharks. It was the first song we picked as a group because it represents who we are and what we’re fighting for.” He followed it with more in his native tongue which I didn’t understand, but I assumed was a translation of what he’d said in English.
The crowd clapped, and I gasped. Ner had been teaching them my song way before he’d met me.
Several bands and online artists had played covers of our songs, but this version was by far my favorite. I’d written the first verse about me and my brother trying to find ourselves when we moved to Miami. We were new, weird, and interested in music, not popular sports. I hadn’t even been into girls. The second verse was about the preternatural friends we’d made and how they struggled to be a part of the society that treated them as different even after so many years of the stupid drug being banned.
Ner’s students created a fantastic rendition, and my chest swelled with how well Ner’s project worked. He brought light and hope everywhere he went, not only for me and my sad ass. I should go back and leave him to lead the wonderful life he’d carved for himself.
I remained at a distance, watching Ner congratulate his students and talk to the families. His gaze locked on me and his soft smile fell.
Panic coiled in me, but then his entire face lit up as his lips formed my name.
He said something to the people around him and darted towards me. I ran, but in reality it was my heart carrying me to Ner.
We collided into a hug, and breath whooshed out of me. Ner squeezed me tight, and I inhaled the scent of his hair mixed with the chilly air. My lungs burned, but my heart swelled at his proximity.
“What are you doing here?” Ner pulled away and held me at arms’ length.
“I had to see you. Because I couldn’t—I don’t know…”how to live without you.I shook my head, seeing people staring at us. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”
“Yeah.” He beamed. “Wanna meet my family?”
“I don’t want to crash the party—” I huddled into the scarf I bought at the airport and zipped up my parka. Even if the weather wasn’t supposed to be much different to Miami, I was shivering.
“Nah, if you’re okay with being fresh gossip, you’ll be fine.”
“Thanks.”
“My parents’ house is close, so let’s walk.” Ner looped his tentacle through my arm and steered us towards a footpath between two old brick buildings. “I’m happy to see you, but did something happen?”
Yes, you took my heart with you when you left and I couldn’t deal with it.
I shrugged to buy me some time and gather my thoughts. The speech I’d practiced on the way had flown out of my head and I was drawing a blank as to how to put my dilemma into words.
“I felt like the mom in Home Alone, catching one plane after another to get to you. But here I am. I don’t have a plan, and I’m not asking for anything.” I stepped in front of him and took his warm hands in mine. “But I need you in my life, on any terms you wish. I’ll go insane if I’m not close to you. It’s selfish, but until you tell me to go, I won’t.”
“Rick, what are you saying? I want you. Don’t you know it? You have to.” His teal eyes shimmered as he looked at me. “I love you, Rick.”
I reached for his tentacle and nuzzled it. “I love you too.” A shiver ran through me and I pulled him into a hug. “That’s what I came to tell you.” I closed my eyes and buried my face in his neck, reveling in the unique scent of him I now associated with happiness. Cupping his cheeks, I kissed him and he met my tongue with his on a sensual stroke that told me I still had a chance to figure out how to keep him, to keepus.
“Come inside or you’ll get sick, the both of you!” A female voice carried loud from behind me.
I startled away from Ner and turned to see a woman standing in the doorway to the house we’d stopped at. It was a white-stone beauty with a low whitewashed wall encompassing a flower garden in front.
Ner waved at her and rolled his eyes. “We’re coming, Mom!”
I burst into laughter, feeling my cheeks flush. “Here’s for first impressions.”
“Oh, you’re fine. Come on in and meet my family.”
