Page 31 of Footlights and Forever

My ears perked up as I pulled back to give him a confused glare. “I’m not a fan of sudden surprises.” I eyed him suspiciously.

“I know,” he chuckled. “Now you have to put all your trust in me, mwa ha ha ha.”

“The evil laugh doesn’t fill me with confidence you know.”

He smiled and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Come on.” He tugged me along behind him as he made his way out of the center of hell. “I wanna do something special and unique with you today.”

An hour later I found myself glaring at him from the upper deck of a New York Ferry as we rounded the Statue of Liberty en route to Ellis Island. “Special and unique?”

He schooled his face into a serious stare, failing every few seconds as a grin broke free. “Well, we have been here for a while and we never get to do this stuff.” He gestured around the boat. “This is New York, and we are spending all of our time locked in our rooms.”

“I thought you liked being locked in my bedroom.” I chuckled as he dug his fingers playfully between my ribs.

“I just don’t want you missing out on experiences you know.” He nuzzled close and warm into the soft skin of my neck. “I worry about you.”

“You don’t need to.”

“I’ll always worry about you baby,” I felt his smile against me, “it comes with loving someone.”

He stayed close behind me as the ferry meandered its way across the Hudson towards the dockside of the island. My grumbles slowly fell by the wayside as I took in the histories of New York and the immigrants who’d landed on these shores. It was easy to forget when looking around the sprawling metropolis, footfalls heavy on the sidewalks of people going about their business with their four dollar lattes, that people from all over the world had arrived in New York with nothing, and yet here I stood, with the man of my dreams, getting everything I could have ever wanted and all it took was me reaching out to grab it.

I was not letting this man go.

Chapter 11

“Normal is an illusion, what is normal for the spider is Chaos for the fly” Morticia Addams

Dylan

“Ididn’t say what you were wearing was bad,” Natalie shouted through the dorm room door, “I just said it was a brave choice.”

“You said brave like I was a Make-A-Wish recipient,” I called back, rummaging through my wardrobe to find some clothes that didn’t make me look like I was a survivor of some horrible sartorial tragedy that had seen the demise of all well-fitting clothing in existence and left only rags to wear for warmth.

“You looked okay!” I heard her clearing her throat, making room for more lies. “I mean, was paring a black and white checkerboard shirt with a pair of canary yellow pants a choice? Yes it was, but you would have definitely stood out.”

I pulled out a heap of slacks and jeans from the chest of drawers and dumped them on the bed behind me.

“Why do you actually own those pants anyways?”

“I thought they might be suitable for going out to, like, a theatre show.” I plucked a pair of dark trousers from underneath a mound of blue denim.

“To wear?” Her shocked voice came through the door, as if I’d just told her I wanted to wear the tutu from the opening titles of Sex and the City to a funeral.

“No Nat, to wear on my head as a hat.” I grabbed a simple blue Oxford button-down from the hanger and dressed quickly, then opened the door wide and stood in the entryway for inspection.

“See now you look hot.” She smiled, coming into the room and closing the door behind her.

“But I won’t stand out,” I mumbled, my stare trained down to my shoes.

“Why would you need…” She trailed off before realization dawned on her face. She slipped her arms around my waist and pulled me tightly to her. “You don’t need to physically stand out for Austin to notice you, you idiot,” she admonished me gently.

“I just want to make sure his eyes stay on me, you know?” I hated admitting that to myself more than anyone. I knew though, if anyone would understand, it would be Natalie.

“Austin could spot you blindfolded across the other side of a crowded room silly.” She poked a finger against my forehead.

I started to respond, but a sharp knock on the door stopped me in my tracks. It couldn’t be Austin because he said he would be getting a ride to the frat house with his housemates. The plan had been to meet him there. I crossed my fingers, hoping that it wasn’t the RA telling us once again to keep the noise down. Hailey had been known to disturb the neighbors.

I pulled the door open mid-sentence. “I’m sorry we will totally keep it… Oh my god.”

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