“Do you?” I asked quietly. “Because if you do, I won’t ever get over it. I won’t. You’re the reason I can’t wait to wake up every morning.”
He inhaled and exhaled. “You’re the reason I want to wake up.”
We gazed at each other, and his gaze dropped to my lips. When his head followed, my heart raced in anticipation. Our first kiss. Before his lips touched mine, he smiled. “Glad to know you like me too.”
I punched his chest. “Stop playing with -”
His kiss cut off my words. A kiss that started tentative and sweet and then deepened. He stole my protest and my breath with his tongue that opened my mouth. My softness melded into his hardness as we kissed. A horn blaring nearby broke the kiss.
Freedom rested his forehead against mine. “You probably have to go.”
“Wherever you want to go. I have time.” My voice's calmness belied the bubbling emotions that threatened to explode at the kiss, which was better than my wildest imagination.
His expression saddened. “Nowhere to go. I can’t go back home, and Kody is hanging out tonight. And I don’t want him to see me like this, even if he were at home. Um…I’ll find something.”
I grabbed the ends of the large pocket of his hoodie. “You’ll come home with me. My parents are out of town. We can figure everything else out tomorrow.”
Freedom jammed one hand in his pocket and shifted away from me. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. What if someone sees us or your parents get back early?”
“No one’s home, and they won’t be back until Sunday. You can spend the night. Maybe even tomorrow night, too, if you need to. I’m supposed to be with Lori, but she’s covering for me. I won’t get in trouble.”
He ran his hand over his thick hair. “You’re too good for me. Any other dude in this school would’ve been here at the game with you, having fun. You should be headed to eat at some fast-food joint, hugged up beside him in his ride. And you stuck with a boy caught up in family drama who can’t do shit for you.”
Freedom had always been full of energy that could be light or dark if provoked. Witnessing his vulnerability and self-doubt only made me like him more. I lightly touched his sleeve. “Being stuck with you is better than the best date with another boy.”
Freedom’s gaze slowly rose to mine, and he removed his hand from his pocket, tugging me to him to kiss me again. This time, when he broke the kiss, he grinned. A tiny spark shone in his eyes. “I’d rather take you to my place. It’s not that far from here. We can walk.”
“But I thought you didn’t want to go home because of your father?”
“I said ‘my place’, not my house. It’s where I go to think. We can stop at that Walmart down the street and get a blanket and some snacks. My treat.” He entwined his hand with mine, and he pulled me behind him as we blended in the dwindling crowd of students and families enjoying their Friday night, like we were about to do.
PRESENT DAY
From the hood of my car, I stared out at the Dallas skyline before looking up at the stars, wondering how I ended up here on this bluff at night. I should be scared or, at the very least, cautious. Instead, the night bugs and creatures communicating in the background, along with the cool air of early spring, comforted me.
This was our place, though he’d found it one day when he’d run from home after another fight with his father. We would come here and talk about our families, our hopes, our dreams, and our future. Freedom always included me in whatever vision he had, even before he told me he loved me. After the football game, the night his father hit him, he brought me here for the first time. We were hugged up all night looking at the stars, talking, and kissing. He didn’t press for more. Months later,when we became lovers, I would escape out my window at night while he hid nearby to walk with me to our place.
A car's headlights approaching startled me, and I cursed for putting myself in danger when I knew better. I slid off the car and hurried to open my door.
“Guess we both still come here when we’re troubled.” His familiar voice instantly slowed down my adrenaline. I looked back, and Freedom stood outside of a black Range Rover. The sight of him standing there after all these years in a space that had been uniquely ours finally pierced through the hard shell I’d erected once I accepted that he was never coming back.
“I was able to escape the fans and the media to get here.” Freedom jammed his hands in his pockets. Out here alone, he lacked the bravado and arrogance of the superstar he’d become. In the darkness, he was the vulnerable young man who willingly opened his heart to me. I couldn’t see his eyes or read his expression, yet I knew he needed me. And in the past, when he needed me, I was there.
He gasped aloud when I rushed to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, and quickly recovered to hold me tight as I sobbed into his chest.
Time seemed to stand still again as if we were the only souls in the world. Freedom rubbed my back and allowed my tears to flow without any attempt to stop me from crying.
Finally finding my words, I asked, “Why now?”
My head rose and fell with his chest as he solemnly replied, “Can I just hold you a little longer? I’m afraid that whatever I say will be the wrong thing. I used to hate when you were mad with me, and I still hate it.”
I looked at my Apple watch and started the timer. “Five minutes.”
Freedom’s head went back with laughter while his grip on me tightened. “I can’t believe you still do that?”
“Don’t laugh. I had to do it back then to avoid getting into trouble, and I have to do it now for the same reason.”
Expecting a smart-ass, flirtatious response, he surprised me with his simple reply, “I know.”
