21
Gabe
I hadn’t beendelusional when we’d come back to school after the big blow up. Trevor was the one who thought up the worst-case scenarios, but I’d done plenty of that on my own over the years. I’d thought of all the ways he’d react if news of our relationship wasn’t well-received. I knew Trevor was trying to put on a brave face so I wouldn’t realize how deeply DeeDee’s words had cut him. What Ihadn’tbeen prepared for was the creepy silence that followed him everywhere. Every time I tried getting him to talk about it, he snapped at me, telling me there was nothing to talk about.
I couldn’t help but feel like he was slipping away from me.
At first, I’d considered telling Jayden that as much as I appreciated the offer, I couldn’t work for him, blaming the distance on me having a job instead of devoting as many hours to school as he was. When I’d brought up the idea to Trevor, he told me I was an idiot and to keep working if it made me happy.
That was when I decided we needed to get away for the weekend. Trevor hadn’t been kidding when he said it was tricky to find a place for two college guys to rent a hotel room, but I had a trick up my sleeve. It was a long-shot, but I’d try anything if it meant getting him to unwind a bit.
“Here goes nothing.” I picked up my phone and dialed the number on the website. I’d found a family-owned inn near the state line listed on several LGBT travel websites. Apparently, the owners were a young gay couple, so I hoped they’d understand my plight and take pity on me.
“Thank you for calling Bird Island Inn, this is Dane. How may I help you?”
“Hi, Dane. I’m really hoping you can. I’m trying to do something special for my boyfriend, and I’m hoping you have a room available.” I was careful to steer clear of mentioning anything about spring break. Yes, we would be out of school, but I didn’t want him thinking I was hoping to turn our room into party central. Hell, if anything, I’d chosen the location because itdidn’tseem like a collegiate hotbed.
Everything was going well, right up until the end of booking the room. “...everyone in the room must be over the age of twenty-one.”
I could just not say anything and hope they wouldn’t look closely at my ID. Old me would have done exactly that, but this time I didn’t want to risk ruining a week of relaxation with my guy. “Um, about that…”
Dane let out an audible sigh. “I’m sorry, but that’s the inn’s policy for insurance reasons.”
“And there’snoway around that?” I pleaded. Dane seemed like a reasonable man. Would he hear me out? I was desperate enough to make a total fool of myself. “Look, I know you have your reasons and I completely respect them, but I’m trying to do something for my boyfriend. He’s been running himself into the ground trying to study and make sure I know he’s not forgetting about me. You don’t need to hear our sob story, but we’ve been through a lot of stuff in the past few months and I want him to relax during spring break. We can’t do that if we head home.”
The line was silent long enough I thought Dane had gotten bored and hung up on the pathetic college kid ready to drop to his knees and beg. Then, I heard him tapping away at the keyboard. “If you’re bullshitting me, you should know this isn’t a huge hotel. Every guest comes in through the doors right by the front desk. We’d know if you were trying to sneak people in.”
“We won’t, I swear,” I promised. “It’s just the two of us. We’re not party animals, just a couple of guys who have earned some time alone together.”
“Don’tmake me regret this.”
I pumped my fist in the air. This was going to be the best surprise ever, and I didn’t even have to call our parents to help me set it up. Yeah, I was totally puffing out my chest about that because it felt like we were finally finding our footing as adults.
“You won’t. If you want a deposit to cover any damages you’re worried about, I’ll bring cash. You have no clue how much this means to me.”
Okay, he probably didn’t need me rambling like an idiot. I pressed my lips together and waited for him to ask me for whatever information he needed to make the reservation.
Five minutes later, the arrangements were made and the countdown was on. In just over forty-eight hours, we’d have our toes in the water.
* * *
“Areyou going to tell me where we’re going?” Trevor asked for at least the tenth time. I’d met him at the door to our room with a duffel bag in hand. The only reason I didn’t steal his backpack and leave it behind was that he’d lose his mind if we left it unattended for a week. He’d worry so much about someone breaking in and stealing it that he’d never relax.
“Nope.” I flipped on my turn signal, praying I’d remembered the directions correctly. I had never been as grateful to my dad for insisting that I learn how to read maps because I didn’t want to put anything into the GPS on my phone. Trevor was just nosy enough I could see him stealing my phone and then spending the drive trying to figure out what I had planned. “Don’t you have a book you can read or something?”
“My bag is in the back,” he explained as he laced his fingers through mine. “It’s obvious you went to a lot of trouble to surprise me, so I didn’t want to have my nose buried in homework.”
“Do you have assignments you need to work on this week?”
Trevor shrugged.
“Don’t pull that shit,” I warned him. Both of us were walking a tightrope, trying to balance paying attention to one another with keeping our grades up. He struggled with it more than I did because I’d be perfectly content never studying if it meant more time loving him.
I pulled off the highway into an abandoned gas station.
“What are you doing?”
Without responding, I got out of the Jeep and opened the back, pulling out his backpack. He huffed when he realized what I was doing and opened his door. I would have dropped the bag in his lap but I didn’t want to hurt him. That thinghadto weigh fifty fucking pounds.
