Page 154 of College Town
Tommy groans. “If you make another erroneous pumpkin metaphor…”
“You’ll what?” Lawson grins. “Stop sucking my dick?”
Tommy blushes, but takes his hand. “No. But I’ll stop doing it well.”
“That won’t work. Baby, you’re a natural.”
“Oh my God.” Tommy rolls his eyes, and lets Lawson haul him upright and into the circle of his supportive arm. He drops all pretense of annoyance when they’re pressed together, leaning into him and humming happily.
“Look.” Lawson points to the open patio doors. “He’s doing it.”
As they watch, Leo sinks slowly down to one knee, ring box held up in supplication. They’re too far away to hear, but they can see Dana’s face crumple, and the way she folds down to throw her arms around Leo’s neck is answer enough.
“I’m happy for them,” Tommy says, in a rare fit of sweet sincerity.
“Me, too. Come on, my little pumpkin.”
Tommy sighs, but it’s all fondness.
“Did you have fun?” Lawson asks, as they wend their way slowly through the tables.
“I did.” Tommy sounds surprised. “I can’t remember the last time I got to say I worked in insurance and actuallymeant it.”
He landed a new job, just in time for Christmas, selling auto policies with a local State Farm agent. Lawson has never seen someone so excited to put on a tie, pack a lunch, and head off for a cubicle job. Tommy had beamed, and kissed Lawson with lots of tongue when Lawson dropped him off in front of the building.
“Yeah?” Lawson says. “Was it good to see the old gang?”
Tommy snorts. “What old gang? It was always just the four of us.”
“The Fantastic Four.” Lawson swipes his free hand through the air, as though reading off a billboard. “It’s a shame Noah couldn’t make it.”
“Hm. He and Nat said they’ll visit after the New Year. He’s busy settling in with Narcotics.”
Regular old Detective Noah Katz, no longer embedded undercover, landed a sweet new gig at a new precinct, and Natalia was apparently job hunting in the fashion industry. Noah hasn’t popped the question yet – because he really isn’t as brave as Leo, police business aside – but he keeps emailing them ring brochures and asking their opinion in a nervous, sweaty way.
“It doesn’t matter,” Tommy said one night on a Zoom call, utterly exasperated. “She’ll love it because it’s fromyou.”
“Have you seen her shoe collection? I’m not taking any chances.”
They reach the doors of the ballroom, and Lawson pauses, holding Tommy tight and glancing back over his shoulder. The room’s in total disarray, like Christmas got drunk and fell down. The music’s stopped; the DJ’s packing up. Out on the patio, Dana and Leo cling to one another and sway back and forth.
“You know,” Lawson says, “when I first got this email, I was dreading this party.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. But it was fun.” He turns away from a room that, minutes ago, held all of his graduating class, and looks down into the face of the person who didn’t get to share the graduation stage with them. Who shattered Lawson’s heart…and then put it back together again. “It was fun,” he repeats, and cups Tommys chin, presses his thumb to his lower lip, where it’s soft and yielding. He swallows, throat thick. “Thanks for being my date.”
Tommy reaches up to grip the back of his neck and pull him down.
“Thanks for asking me.” The kiss is fleeting, and chaste. Lawson rests their foreheads together, afterward, and thanks God, and his lucky stars, and Tommy himself, and any other divine power that had a hand in spinning this moment for him…and all the ones to follow.
“Let’s go home,” Tommy whispers.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
And they do.
THE END
