“What are you doing?” he asks through ragged breaths. “Your race doesn’t come through here.”
I take a deep breath, ready to put everything I practiced yesterday into play. “I wanted to run with you instead.”
“Aaron. You can’t do that.” He stops, right in the middle of the road, blocking the path for a bunch of people.
“Come on.” I grab his arm and get him moving again. When we’re back in synch, I say, “There are literally hundreds of marathons every year. You’re running your very first five-k. I’d rather be here. With you.” I add the last part just in case my intention wasn’t clear.
“But you trained so hard.”
“So did you. Besides, I needed to talk to you.”
“The phone works.”
“Only if you answer it.” We’ve been trading text messages back and forth for the last week, but he’s conveniently been busy anytime I tried to call. I don’t doubt the twins were keeping him occupied, but I’m pretty sure it was more avoidance than anything else. “I love you.”
“What?!”
“I love you, Oliver.”
“You can’t say that to me right now.” He sniffles as he wipes his eyes on his gloves. “I can’t hug you or kiss you or anything.”
“You could say it back? Only if you mean it, though. I’m not trying to pressure you.” That’s the last thing I want. My friends all agree that he’s in love with me, but it doesn’t stop this lump from forming in the back of my throat.
“Fuck, Aaron. Of course, I love you. I’ve been in love with you for months.”
“I’m really sorry that I couldn’t be at Matthias’s house. If there was anything I could have done?—”
“Stop. Seriously. I know. I was a jerk about it. We lost a whole week we could’ve spent enjoying each other because I was being selfish.”
We pause our conversation as we hit the next water station. I show Oliver how to pinch the edge of the cup so that most of the liquid gets into his mouth instead of onto his sweatshirt.
“You aren’t selfish. You have needs, and I want to meet them.”
“Your job is important. So is mine. I mean, not to thousands of people or anything, but it still takes precedence sometimes.”
“You’re important to me. So we’ll figure it out, adjust. But there’s something I should tell you first.” I can see the finish line approaching in the distance. I pick up my pace, just a little, and Oliver follows me.
“Go,” I yell at him when we are about a hundred feet away. “Finish as fast as you can.”
When he pulls away from me, I let him go so he’ll have nice pictures to remember the finish by. There’s only one first time, and it’s worth it for him to have some great memories.
As soon as he steps to the side, my friends are on him. They made large signs with his name, cheering him on.
“Way to go,” Nathan says, clapping him on the back. I wince a little, knowing how sweaty Oliver gets. Nathan can handle it.
“Way better than I ever did.” I’m pretty sure Tyler last ran a mile sometime in high school. That’s only if he didn’t fake an illness to get out of PE.
“Here you go.” Matthias, the practical one, hands him a water bottle.
“Are you guys here for Aaron? He didn’t run the marathon.”
“Um, did you not see our signs?” Nathan points to the one Colt is holding. Oliver’s name is written in blue glitter. I’m hoping he made that at work. There’s no way Nathan let him in the house with glitter.
“But?” It’s all he says before I wrap him up in my arms, kissing him senseless. I can’t hold myself back any longer. I love him. He loves me. The rest of it, we can work on.
“What was that for?” he says when I put him down.
I shrug. “Because I can.”
