“Would you still love me if I was a worm?”
“Too easy.Obviously.”
He’s smiling as he takes the final turn onto my childhood street, and I can see my house off in the distance.
He’s in a light grey hoodie and his dragonfly necklace is out in front, glinting in the sun.
“Is it weird that I’m nervous to take you home again?” I ask him.
“You’ve got zero reason to be nervous.”
I reach over, squeezing his leg. “I’m taking my boyfriend home for the first time.”
“Ollie, I know we’ve beenthrough a lot, but I didn’t think you had memory loss. I’ve been home with you before.”
“Not as my real boyfriend.”
He bites his lip, then slowly lets it go. “I’m nervous about something, too.”
The car pulls up outside the front of my parents’ house and he cuts the engine, taking a deep breath.
“Oh no,” I say. “What is it?”
He turns to me, running his hand along mine. “I got an email this morning, and I’ve been too afraid to open it. It’s from that agency in New York City.”
I lift my eyebrows. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah.”
Over the past month, Niko’s finally had the courage to start reaching out to agents, going out for model casting calls, building a new professional portfolio, and contacting independent professional editorial photographers, without any help or connections. At times it’s been brutal. He’s gotten rejections, from people saying he has the perfect look, but their roster is completely full.
He had a very promising call last week with an NYC agency, but didn’t want to get his hopes up.
I glance down at his phone, currently lodged in the upper console where we used it for GPS directions.
“Do you want me to read it first?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “No. It’s got to be me.”
I pull in a breath. “Well, take your time. We can go inside first, if you want to?—”
He reaches up and pulls the phone down, navigating to his email app. “I’m ripping the Band-Aid off.”
I watch his eyes scan the email as he reads it.
“Fuck. Fuck, Ollie, they… they want to set up an initial shoot with me.”
“Let’s fuckinggo!” I shout, leaning over toward the driver’s seat and wrapping my arms around him in a hug. “This… this doesn’t mean you have to quit school, right?”
“They said I can go out to the city as needed. I could probably get more gigs if I quit school, but I’m not doing it. It’s a non-negotiable.”
Something smolders in my heart.
I know that at this point, Niko doesn’t need the degree from Crimson. He doesn’t need the money, and he mostly wants to be there for me.
Because I matter that much to him.
And I have no clue why or how, but I’m not going to question my luck.
