“You should tell him how you feel,” Aunt Augustine suggests in a kind, quiet voice when he is silent too long.
After a moment, he finds himself agreeing. But then he remembers his upcoming travels. “After my trip and my course.”
She raises a condescending eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s not just a convenient excuse to push it off?”
He shakes his head. “No, I just think if we’re going to start a relationship, we shouldn’t do it when I’m about to leave town. I need to have a clear head so I can focus on my studies. I sank a lot of money into this.”
“Fair enough. I raised a good student after all.” Julien beams under Augustine’s statement. “And besides, I know the old cliché to be true—absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
The two of them let that settle, and then Greg is calling the room to attention from behind the bar. He’s brought his iPhone tripod from home and has begun directing a TikTok. Julien can’t suppress his laugh as Greg teaches the crowd a dance to a song that’s a trending sound on the app.
Aunt Augustine chugs the rest of her drink. “Ain’t no way I’m missing out on this. Come on.”
Before Julien knows it, he’s up front with Greg waving his hands, popping his chest, and swaying his hips. Last year, he could never have imagined being this goofy and free with his coworkers and strangers, yet here he is. There’s an unadulterated pleasure in dancing beside Greg,withGreg,close toGreg. It’s like their sex—fluid, evolving, fun. He doesn’t want to dance ever again if he’s not dancing with Greg Harlow.
Eventually, Greg tells everyone they are camera ready. He sets the timer, stands in front, and they dance their little hearts out to an effervescent pop song.
Eighteen
GREG
Greg wakes up to hundreds of thousands of notifications from TikTok.
Three days ago, he posted the dancing video from their early St. Patrick’s Day shindig—colorful bubbles bursting up with the ingredients for his Midori Shamrock Punch as the group pointed along—but like everything else he’s posted since arriving in the Lehigh Valley, he assumed it would perform just okay. Maybe moderately okay if he was lucky.
Right now, his thumbs can hardly keep up with the speed at which new notifications are flooding the screen of his phone. At the peak of his “fame,” he had his notifications turned off; he didn’t like the relentless chiming in his pocket. But since leaving that and the city behind, he hasn’t had reason to silence his phone. Now, he’s elated to find he may need to again. (Of course, he’d set up special alerts for Julien and Martin. The latter, for work-related reasons. The former, for personal ones.)
The comments on TikTok roll in:
Where is this place?
This is sooooo cute. I wanna go!
Granted, there are some less kind comments and some sexually forward ones he chooses to ignore, but overall it seems like the reactions are largely positive, which lifts his already optimistic spirits. He sends the link in a text to Julien.
Julien: Oh God. I don’t want me dancing to be the first thing I see in the morning.
Greg: You dancing is the ONLY thing I want to see in the morning.
The typing bubble pops on and off the screen for a few seconds. He wonders if Julien is blushing as hard as he hopes he is, fingers too flustered to type back.
Julien: I can’t believe we have that many views.
Greg smiles at his phone and types,Me neither but it’s incredible!!! We should celebrate before you leave.
He has been thinking a lot about Julien leaving the valley for a few days at the beginning of next week. Okay, maybedreadingis more like it. It’s not that he doesn’t want Julien to go and follow his passion, learn everything there is to know about wine and all the ways he can make people happy with it, it’s just...
He wants Julien to behere...
Makinghimhappy.
Which is beyond selfish, but he can’t help it. He’s melded to Julien in a way he didn’t entirely expect, and he hasn’t gotten the opportunity to talk to Julien about his New Year’s resolution. The one about making Julienhis—in a nonpossessive, sweet, respectful sort of way.
He knows it’s been months and there have been moments, but they never felt like therightmoment, and with Julien, Greg wants to do things right.
Greg’s heart has begun doing the TikTok dance inside his chest; it’s giddy with the thought of finally talking to Julien about what their future might look like. What their present might look like, even.
Ever since the holidays, he has been confused about how to refer to Julien when he’s talking to Rufus and Jessica. Of course, Rufus and Jessica refer to Julien as hislover, which never ceases to make him cringe. It’s both old-timey and untrue. Julien is way more than someone he has sex with. Though the “love” part might be true.
