Page 139 of Time to Shine

“Probably not.” There was still a lot of the regular season left, and both their teams were heading for the playoffs. It was time to focus on their jobs.

“But after,” Casey continued, “in the summer, I want to be wherever you are.”

God, that easy offer. That Casey would follow Landon, instead of expecting him to spend the summer in Calgary. “I was planning on going home for a bit,” Landon said. “Halifax, I mean.”

Casey smiled, wide and bright. “I’d love to see it.”

“It’s mostly boats and lobsters and shit,” Landon said dryly.

Casey nudged his thigh with his toe. “I wanna see where you’re from. And maybe we can go to Florida too. Or anywhere. I don’t even care. You ever been to Italy?”

Landon laughed. “No.”

“Let’s do that, then.”

“Just...go to Italy?”

Casey looked confused. “Yeah. You buy a ticket and you go.”

Landon supposed it was that simple, when you had money and time and someone to do that with. It was staggering to realize he had all of those things.

“I usually train in Minnesota,” Landon said. “In August.”

“I love Minnesota. I could train there.”

Landon smiled at the thought of them spending the summer together, visiting different places. Sharing things with each other. But he had to ask, “And after the summer?”

“Too soon to say. But all I need is to know that we’re a couple, okay? The distance will suck, but it’s the not knowing where we stand that’s been killing me all month. I’m yours. You get that, right?”

Landon swallowed. “It just...still feels like too much to ask of you. You shouldn’t have to be alone so much. You hate being alone. You could be with someone who—”

“Except I’m in love with you. Bananas, remember? There’s not gonna be anyone else, no matter how far apart we are.”

Landon reached out and took Casey’s hand. “I’m sorry I’m so...me about everything. My parents told me I beat myself up too much, and I really don’t want to anymore. I want to be happy, and I want to make you happy. I want to be the best boyfriend. Even when we’re apart, I want you to know that you’re...” He searched for the right word, and landed on, “Loved. I love you so much, and I could probably live with it, if you wanted to have sex with other people. I mean, we’d be so far apart for so long, and you—”

“I don’t need to,” Casey interrupted. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t. Seriously. I mean, my Fleshlight is gonna be exhausted, but...”

Landon laughed, then pulled Casey on top of him. They were still laughing as they kissed.

The next morning was awful. Landon knew it would be, but he still hadn’t adequately braced himself for the pain of saying goodbye to Casey.

“It probably would have been easier if I’d never shown up at all,” Casey said sheepishly.

“Don’t say that,” Landon said, and hugged him tighter. “I’m glad you came. Even if it hurts now.”

They were standing by the door of Landon’s apartment, trying to squeeze out every second of privacy before Landon drove Casey to the airport, and then drove himself to practice.

“I’m going to call you as soon as I get home,” Casey promised. “And probably every single day after that.”

“Okay.”

“Are you any good at sexting?”

Landon laughed wetly. “Probably not.”

“It’s okay. We’ll do video stuff. I can do all the talking.”

“Sorry in advance for how weird I’m going to be in those videos.”

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