“Eventually. If you want. No pressure.” He bites his lip. “So, what do you say? Want to break the internet with me?”
Instead of answering, I take his phone and hit Share myself.
And I watch for the next few minutes as an unbelievable number of likes and comments start piling in.
@sparklequeenxo: you two are ADORABLE
@believerinlove: okay, this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen
@musiclover2847: I don’t think I’ve ever seen Anthony post about any of the guys he’s dating before???
@nycgayboi: get yourself a man who kisses you like this
@antonyfanclub: wait, is this the guy from the apartment tour video? You know, the guy who mocked yourArchitectural Livingsegment? It really looks like that guy.
Anthony laughs when he sees that comment. “It looks like your identity has been outed.”
“Great. Now the entire internet will know I did a spoof video of you.” I groan. “Then my mom will find out and interrogate me about why I was mean to you.”
Anthony’s expression shifts. “Speaking of your mom… We should probably do the family introduction thing sooner rather than later.”
I blink at him. “You want to meet my parents?”
“I want to meet everyone important to you.” He squeezes my hand. “It’s just that this whole thing is probably going to get big. My publicist is going to want to ‘manage the narrative’ or whatever, and I’d rather your family meet me as Anthony, your boyfriend, not Anthony Devine, media spectacle.”
“That’s a fair point.”
“Then let’s get ahead of it. What about tomorrow?”
I stare at him. “Tomorrow? That’s…soon.”
“Too soon?”
I think about my mom’s face when I tell her I’m bringing Anthony Devine home to meet her. The sheer chaos that will ensue.
But then I imagine showing Anthony where I grew up. The sunny kitchen where my mom stress-bakes. The backyard where I had my first kiss with a boy and immediately panicked. All the pieces of me that existed before I became the guy who messaged him. I want him to see those too.
“It’s not too soon,” I say slowly.
He grins at me. “Besides, I need to see your childhood bedroom. I’m hoping there are more posters of me.”
“There are definitely not more posters of you.”
There’s absolutely more posters of him.
I glance again at all the comments coming in, with a whole side thread of people speculating about whether I am actually the guy from the spoof video.
“If I knew a spoof video was the key to finding a famous boyfriend, I would have tried making one of Matt Bomer,” I say, and Anthony laughs and reels me in to kiss me again.
EPILOGUE
ANTHONY
Three Years Later
The roar of the crowd hits me like a physical force as I belt out the final note of “Complete.”
Fifty thousand people. All screaming. All here for this moment.
