“I was a freshman. You should never take anything a freshman says seriously. Nobody knows what they’re saying until they turn twenty.”
“Oh, Gideon. You are a fountain of bullshit wisdom.”
“I think I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Mac sat down on the bed. Gideon acted as spotter. He had a water bottle handy for his winded boyfriend. Mac gave him a look like he was off in a daze. He shook his head.
“What is it?” Gideon asked.
“I just got such a strange flashback when we were sitting on my bed that night we first met. It was just like this. You by the pillow, me over here.”
Gideon could see it, too. Time had both passed and stayed still. “That was a good night. Well, up until…”
They both turned red.
Gideon took out his phone. “So I was looking up matzo balls on Pinterest right before you kissed me, right?”
“Correct.”
He turned his phone around. A picture of a matzo ball was on the screen. It wasn’t that different from the original all those years ago, except this matzo ball was smaller and plopping in soup rather than being raised out by a spoon. Gideon remembered those details.
“And then what happened next?” Gideon asked.
“I kissed you.”
Gideon motioned for Mac to repeat history. Mac leaned forward and pressed his lips to Gideon’s in a soft kiss that sparked with magic.
This time, Gideon didn’t pull away. And he wasn’t going to ever again.
SIX MONTHS
Later
CHAPTER thirty-three
Gideon
Gideon knocked on the bedroom door holding up a spoon. “I found this in the sink.”
Textbooks and notebooks created a moat around Mac on the bed. “It’s just one spoon.”
“This is summer, Mac. We don’t want to get ants. One spoon is all it takes for the cast ofA Bug’s Lifeto make an appearance.”
“Can you put it in the dishwasher for me? I’m still recovering.” Mac gave him his best I’m sick face and rubbed his leg in pain for added effect. Gideon rolled his eyes.
“Your legs didn’t seem to hurt you last night when they were over your head.” Gideon arched an eyebrow, and Mac blushed.
“You may have a point.” Mac got off the bed and snatched the spoon out of Gideon’s hand. “Is it possible that you’ve become even more of a cleaning Nazi since I came back to school?”
“Are you seriously using a Nazi reference for me?” Gideon slapped Mac’s ass as he walked into the kitchen.
Bright rays of sunlight burst through every window of the apartment. Their window air conditioning unit was trying its best, but they were in the midst of a cruel summer. Mac wound up having to miss winter and spring quarter at Browerton since his recovery took a little longer than expected. He had made great progress with his physical therapy, thanks to Gideon’s constant motivation. When he wasn’t there on weekends, he was having daily Skype calls to get Mac through his exercises, even if it required some removal of clothes for added motivation. Dr. Wright said that since Mac was doing so well, if he took off spring quarter to keep concentrating on recovery, he would be able to return to Browerton in nearly perfect condition. He would be able to live in an apartment with stairs and attend his classes without help. They both decided it was the right thing to do. “We made it through one quarter. We can make it through another,” Mac had said during one of their Skype calls.
“We can make it through anything.”
There was Gideon, always with a reply that stole Mac’s breath.
The patience paid off, as Mac moved back into Gideon’s apartment with no problem and took summer courses to catch up for fall quarter. Except for some scarring on his face and legs, it was almost like nothing happened. Physically, of course. Mac would never forget, though.
