Heteroflexible

He smiles against my chest, relieved at once, and for the first time in weeks, I think the both of us feel whole again.

Then he adds, “You danced like a fuckin’ star out there, Bobs.”

“Only ‘cause I had you as a partner.”

He lifts his head off my chest and gives me a kiss, then he leans back and peers into my eyes in wonder.

I tilt my head. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Promise me that you’ll work on this it’s-the-Jimmy-Strong-Show spotlight complex of yours?”

He bites his lip, considering it. “Well …”

“Haven’t I proven I can stand up for myself?” I give Jimmy a tough, challenging look. “You might be a Strong by name, but I’m strong in my own way, too. And if we’re gonna do this …”

“Do this?”

“Us. You and I. If we’re going to make this work, I need to know that I can trust you’ll let me handle my own situations, and that you’ll control your temper. Y’know, as my …” I catch myself smirking. “Protector.”

Cuddled up on the bed of this truck with Jimmy in my arms, my world’s perfect again. I know Jimmy will do whatever it takes to make me happy.

And I’ll do the same for him, so help me.

“I’ll try to be the best version of myself for ya,” he tells me, then tilts his head cutely into mine, “but my rambunctious ass can’t promise I won’t mess up now and then. I’ve got a tendency to get hotheaded. Or run my mouth. Or say the wrong thing.”

“More than a tendency,” I sass at him.

He chuckles, gives it a second’s thought, then sits up to get a good, strong look at my face. His pretty brown eyes turn sincere. “But if there’s one thing I can promise, it’s this.”

He runs a hand down the side of my face, then lets it settle at my chin where he gives it a soft, loving pinch.

I smile into his eyes, adoring him utterly, and listening to his words with all my heart.

“You’ll always have someone to run to when shit get tough,” he says. “You will always have a good, reliable fella to hold in the night when you’re feelin’ lonely and just plain need a warm body to snuggle right up against. Bobby Parker, you will always—always—have a special guy in your life who adores you for every fuckin’ part of you—good, bad, and everythin’ in-between.”

Warmth rushes through my body by his words alone.

I’ve never felt more fucking complete than I do right now in this little moment under the stars, with nothing but the whispers of distant trees touching our ears.

And Jimmy’s sweet, loving words.

I take his hand into mine, pulling it from my chin, then gaze into his eyes. “Jimmy,” I say, then cock my head. “What ‘bad’ parts of me are you talkin’ about exactly …?”

The hint of a grin plays on his crooked lips. “What we’re ‘bout to do on the bed of this here truck out in the middle a’ nowhere.”

I bring a hand to his chest, feeling his heartbeat.

It’s fast.

My lips are caught by Jimmy’s so quickly, I hardly see the kiss coming. Then my eyes close, and I’m drifting among the stars as he takes me away with the strength of his kiss.

His hands find the buttons of my shirt, opening it up.

My fingers find his belt, and off that comes, along with his pants, and just about everything else.

Out here in the middle of nowhere, under the night sky, with nothing for company but the trees and the playful breeze and the wild animals.

A pair of wild, untamable animals, indeed.

And when Jimmy and I make love tonight, it’s clear to me that there is something absolutely eternal about the special thing we have between us, something everlasting, something undeniably fateful. It’s as if every star in the night sky above us has been waiting patiently for these two silly small-town boys to finally end up together in this vast, unknowable universe.

Well, them stars up there sure don’t have to wait any longer.

EPILOGUE

JIMMY

The ceremony is long and unseasonably blazing hot.

Especially in these dumb gowns we gotta wear.

Bobby Parker sure looks cute as hell in his, though. Long blue cloak like a wizard. Square cap, all scholarly and accomplished. His extra Honors College tassel. The crisp and shiny look of his shoes, which I lent him from my own supply since his had scuff marks on them and just wouldn’t do.

Two years fly by really fast.

And now Bobby Parker and I are graduating from South Wood University at long last, our eyes set on the future.

But whatever’s in store for our future, neither of us can know yet.

Out here in the windy pre-summer heat, over a thousand miles away from Spruce, I turn to my man, my two-years-going-on-forever boyfriend, my lover, and I mumble, “Dude, did I forget to put on deodorant?”