After finishing the sanding and taking quick showers Josh printed off his letter for the board, using the wireless printer in Cory’s parents’ office, and they piled into Cory’s Jeep and headed out to run their errands.
They hit Cory’s school first and seeing that classes were in session, the campus was relatively quiet. With little fanfare, they collected Cory’s large envelope of work and upon returning to the car, Cory pointed them in the direction of Josh’s school.
Josh held Cory’s hand over the center console as they drove. He could see the appeal Cory mentioned about driving with the top off. With the sun shining and the wind whipping through both their hair, Cory looked completely at ease and relaxed behind the wheel, and Josh began to imagine them doing this same thing on long trips in the future.
He brought Cory’s hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it softly. Cory turned his attention to Josh for a moment giving him such a sweet smile that Josh could feel it in his soul. This was his place in the world. For the first time in his almost adult life, Josh knew, he was doing exactly what he was meant to be doing. His uncertainty about the fall and the future, his worry about making things work with Cory, the questions weighing him down over the last several days, vanished. He had found his place. He had found his person.
Even though he hadn’t known he was looking for Cory or anything about his Connective genes for that matter, and the timing was absolutely awful, all of that was forgotten.
Cory was his future.
Their lives were meant to be intertwined, and Josh felt a sense of bone-deep satisfaction and happiness settle over him as they wove their way through the city on that sunny day in early May.
Arriving at Josh’s school was much the same as arriving at Cory’s. Everyone was in class, and they only needed a few minutes to hand Josh’s request off to Ms. Muler, who promised to get it to the headmaster right away. She asked that they wait in the chairs by the door for a minute as she had some things accumulated for Josh to take home. When she returned from another office she handed Josh a folder with a small stack of papers inside.
Thumbing through the folder on the way back home, as Josh was beginning to think of it, Cory took Josh on a bit of a tour of his stomping grounds. They had driven past one of Cory’s favorite fast food hangouts and picked up a couple of sodas and some chili cheese fries to share.
They drove past some shopping strips with a few big box stores and chain restaurants. But slowly the area changed and they passed through what looked to be an older part of the city. Cory explained that that area of the city was the up and coming trend in revitalization. Several of the older buildings had recently been refurbished into small cafes, bookstores, and coffee shops. There were lamp posts along the street with flower baskets hanging from each one and benches in front of every other shop. As was the nature of those establishments, the area was becoming increasingly popular with teenagers, local families looking to spend a night out, and working folks needing coffee or somewhere to eat on their lunch break.
Toward the end of the old town area, Cory pulled the Jeep into an angled slot at the curb.
“Come on,” Cory said, grabbing his soda and keys while Josh followed with his own drink and their fries. “Over there is the pizza place we always hit after baseball games or whenever we have something to celebrate or really anytime we go out together. They sponsor our baseball team so we try to support them in return. Which of course is no hardship seeing as how we’re in high school and pizza is practically its own food group.”
Josh laughed at that as Cory pointed across the street indicating a small pizzeria named Tony’s.
“Next shop down is a small ice cream parlor with other specialty desserts. They have the absolute best chocolate dipped ice cream cones.” Cory almost groaned. “We could go there tomorrow night after our date and get a sweet treat if you want. They’re open pretty late on the weekends during summer.”
“Sure. Sounds good,” Josh said, following Cory in the opposite direction of the shops.
Just past the last shop, Josh noticed a bit of a grassy area with some small play equipment and several large trees outlining the perimeter of what looked to be a small park. There was a white gazebo on the other side of the play area just next to a decent sized pond with a white bridge going over the top of it. There appeared to be a well-maintained gravel and dirt walking path that circled the pond with several other benches dotting the shore here and there, along with large willow trees dangling their branches into the water. Each bench seemed to have a lamp post next to it, and Josh could easily envision sitting out there with Cory on summer evenings, just the two of them or with a group of friends.
Cory led them to a bench looking out over the pond and they sat down to enjoy their snack. The area was quiet since it was mid-afternoon and everyone was either still at work or in school. Cory explained that his parents had taken the job to landscape the park years ago and that their family had always enjoyed visiting it and watching it mature. The park had also apparently become a favorite local hangout after school, since it wasn’t too far from the high school, and a place for couples, or families out for an evening stroll, to come before or after dinner.
When they finished with the fries, several of which they tore up and threw to the ducks swimming in the pond, they sat side by side with Cory leaning into Josh and Josh's arm wrapped around Cory’s shoulders. They talked and laughed and enjoyed the relaxed afternoon. Since they each had a small mountain of school work to complete for their missed days in class, they decided to take that last bit of time for themselves before returning to reality. If they happened to get a little too handsy, or inappropriate for public, Josh certainly hoped no one would mind two teenage boys in the throes of first love.
~
After they arrived home, they dropped their packets of school work off in the bedroom and prepared to see if they could help out with dinner. Both of Cory’s parents were in the gardening studio working on a design for a new customer, so Josh and Cory volunteered to get started with the chopping and prep work for them.
With the ingredients Cory pulled out of the fridge, he explained to Josh how he liked to make a simple grilled chicken salad. Cory set Josh up to chop the lettuce and red and green peppers while he prepared the marinade for the chicken to sit in before grilling. Cory opened and drained a can of black beans and mixed the salad veggies with the beans in a large bowl.
Diane had also asked them to clean and cut up the strawberries they would have on the side with dinner.
Once all the prep was done, they headed back into the bedroom and Cory put on some music. Josh grabbed out his camera, fiddled with the dials, and changed to an indoor lens. He hadn’t had much time to play around with his camera in the last week with everything going on, and while he was sitting at the pond earlier he kept thinking it would be a beautiful place to photograph. Moreover, it would be a beautiful place to photograph Cory.
The park was only about a ten-minute walk from Cory’s house, and Josh thought, between the sunset lighting around the pond and the little hillside next to Cory’s house, he’d be able to capture some really amazing shots of Cory, and of them together.
Cory was sitting on his bed watching Josh clean and recap lenses. When Josh was satisfied with his settings he raised the camera and framed Cory in the viewfinder. Cory blushed and covered his face with his hands. Josh didn’t mind. Most people reacted that way when they were first having their picture taken. Sometimes those were some of the best photos, when the subject was shy and peeking a look over their shoulder, or smiling in a goofy self-conscious way that was really endearing and generally captured a pretty genuine smile.
After taking several shots of Cory in various states of embarrassment, he finally seemed to loosen up a little. He actually began posing on his bed and making silly faces as Josh clicked the shutter. They were laughing and goofing off when Cory’s dad knocked on the door frame to ask them to come out and help set the table for dinner.
After their meal was eaten and cleaned up, Josh and Cory sat with their school packets for a while. They sorted out the most pressing assignments and organized the rest according to due dates. Looking over all the work to be done and knowing it was only just to catch up, they came up with a schedule and timeline for their days. As much as Josh enjoyed spending all his time focused solely on Cory, it was time to buckle down and get back to school work.
As the evening waned, Josh wanted the opportunity to photograph Cory in the golden hour. They set their school work aside as Josh gathered up his camera.
“Are you really going to make me pose for you?” Cory griped as they left the bedroom.
“Yup.” Josh smiled and kissed his Complement on the nose. He had his camera bag slung over one shoulder and threw the strap of his camera around his neck. “Come on. The lighting is about to get really good and I’d like to take some pictures of us together. At least if we get a few good selfies you might relax some, and then if you feel up to it, I’ll take some of just you. It’s just supposed to be fun, not serious.”
Cory grumbled a little more and checked his reflection in the bathroom mirror before he finally allowed himself to be dragged out the front door.
They made their way around the house and up the pathway toward the top of the hill. Once they reached the top, Josh stripped off the camera bag and changed out his indoor lens for his wide angle lens. Scoping out the small space, Josh picked a spot he thought they could work with and positioned Cory in a seated pose with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms clasped around his knees. He angled Cory in such a way that the golden glow of the setting sun was just over his left shoulder and slightly obscured by the overhanging branch of a tree. The light was slightly more diffused filtering in through the tree leaves and provided a softer buffer for their picture.
Once Josh tested the light and made the necessary adjustments to his camera, he clicked a few test images of Cory, who had turned his head to look out over the view. Satisfied with the setup, Josh used his camera bag as a makeshift tripod and engaged the Bluetooth remote. He took a seat next to Cory and struck a similar pose, asking Cory to continue looking out over the view. Josh took a few shots like that, zooming in and out, then changed it up and moved behind his Complement.
With his chin resting on Cory’s shoulder and his arms looped around Cory’s middle, he took a few more shots. They separated slightly, pulling apart and looking at each other and Josh clicked away. Rearranging again for better maneuverability, they posed with Cory’s head resting back against Josh’s shoulder, Cory slouched down some, and Josh rested back on his hands with his arms straight with Cory leaning against Josh’s stomach, and finally, they ended with Cory turned around almost straddling Josh’s lap, each leg draped over Josh’s with their chests almost touching. Several shots were taken of them looking at each other, or holding hands, some with foreheads resting together, and then the shots they both liked best, several more with them kissing.
The sun was all but down, and dusk was upon them when they finally ended up with Josh laying on his back and Cory tucked up into Josh’s side with his head resting on Josh’s chest. Josh had his right arm tucked under his head and his left hand idly running up and down any part of Cory’s back he could reach.
The evening music of nature and insects provided a dreamy background as the world slowed down for the close of another day. Josh and Cory lay still and calm for a few minutes more until Cory broke the silence.
“Josh?”
“Hmm?”
“Will you go to prom with me?”
Josh chuckled. “I thought we already said we’d do the prom thing.”
“Well, we kind of did. But I wanted to officially ask you to go with me. I never thought I’d get the chance to go to prom with anyone, least of all anyone I had romantic feelings for. I guess I probably would have gone with the guys if they were all going stag, but some of them have girlfriends, so it would have been all awkward. I just didn’t expect you, so I wanted to do this right.” Cory sat up next to Josh and Josh rolled to his side propping himself up on his elbow.
In the darkening night, it was a bit harder to make out Cory’s expression, but Josh could tell that he was putting a lot of thought into his words, and the way he was playing with Josh’s fingers probably meant there was more he wanted to say.
“What is it, Cory? You know I’ll go with you. What are you worried about?”
Cory remained silent and appeared to be biting the inside of his cheek. Since it was too dark to tell, Josh couldn’t be sure, but judging by the look on Cory’s face whatever he was thinking about was probably causing him to blush.
Josh sat up fully and gave Cory his full attention. They were sitting cross-legged in front of each other and Josh put one hand on Cory cheek. “What is it, baby? What’s got you so flustered?”
Cory looked at Josh then away into the distance. He swallowed then returned his gaze to Josh. “I was thinking about,” Cory roughly whispered. He paused and cleared his throat. “I was thinking about prom and all the traditions that are usually associated with it. Um, I wondered if you,” he paused again. In a lower voice, that wasn’t quite a whisper, he continued. “I wondered if, um, if we’d want to have sex afterward?” He waited a beat then rushed on. “We don’t have to, I only mentioned it because, you know, it’s prom, and that’s what everyone does. And yeah, we’ve only known each other a week, but with our Connection and everything I wondered if any of that really mattered and then I was thinking that you’re not even eighteen yet, so I didn’t know if you’d want to, or ever even thought about it.”
Josh quieted Cory’s nervous ramblings with a solid kiss to his lips. He drew Cory into his lap and as the smaller guy situated himself their kiss softened to a tender and slow exploration, finally yielding altogether. They caught their breath with their foreheads resting together and Cory chuckled a little.
“Sorry about that.”
“Nothing to apologize for. I can understand why you were nervous to bring it up. It’s kind of a heavy topic. But I’m glad you did.” Josh drew back and looked at Cory’s silhouette in the dark taking his hands in his own. “I want sex and kissing and intimacy to be things we can talk about in our relationship. I know we’re both pretty inexperienced so it definitely needs to be something we agree on and discuss together. We’re not going to do anything if both of us aren’t one hundred percent ready and on the same page, okay?”
Cory nodded.
Josh continued. “Since you brought it up what were you thinking? Did you want to?”
“I’m not sure,” Cory sighed. “I mean, I love you and everything, and I was totally on board with the handjob the other day, but I’m not sure I’m ready for sex yet, you know? I hadn’t really thought that much about sex or anything since I’d never even kissed anyone before the other day. I think I might need some time to wrap my head around all this before we take that next step. We have plenty of time to fool around and be close without any deadlines or either of us running off to college or work. We’re pretty much stuck with each other twenty-four seven—”
“Hey. I’m not sure I like where this is going,” Josh grumbled teasingly.
Cory laughed and nudged him playfully. “I’m teasing. I’m just saying we have plenty of time to explore our different levels of intimacy. I personally don’t think we need to rush into anything just because of some arcane ritual, rite of passage thing, most guys emulate. What do you think? You have just as much say in this as I do.”
“I think you’re absolutely right. We don’t need to rush into anything. Just because we love each other doesn’t mean we need to jump right into sex. I know we’re pretty much it for each other, but in a way, I think that takes the pressure off. We’re not out to try to impress the other or hold on to the other by dangling sex as bait or incentive to stay. I mean, I really hope we do get there, not to the sex as leverage place, but just to sex in general. And I have no doubt that we will when
we’re ready. We haven’t even known each other a week yet. Hell, by next week, we could both be begging for it, if this week’s level of Connectedness is anything to go by. But we definitely don’t need the added pressure of sex overshadowing this new amazing beginning to our lives we’re creating. Besides, I'd really like to enjoy prom with you without any pressure about what comes after.”
Cory had been nodding along with Josh while he spoke. “Totally. That's exactly what I was thinking. Thank you, Josh, for understanding. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just think maybe we should wait a little while.” Cory leaned in to kiss him again, and when they broke apart they agreed it was getting late. They gathered Josh's camera bag and checked the area with their phone flashlights for anything they might have left behind. With everything collected, they headed home for the night.
-XIII-
Friday morning was very low-key. They had set their alarm for the first time in a week and woke up to bowls of cocoa crisps. Lounging around the bedroom, each of them sorted through their school work. Cory alternated between reading for his English class and attempting to study his Algebra II lessons. Josh focused on making up his missed work in Biology. That was one of his least favorite subjects since he was more of an abstract thinker, so he figured he’d get it out of the way ASAP.
As the morning wore on, they switched up the music a few times, alternating between each of their favorite playlists. Cory had admitted to Josh the other day that he loved supporting queer musicians, so his playlists included a lot of songs by Sam Smith, Troye Sivan, and even a few acapella songs by Scott Hoying. Josh liked more alternative songs, or rock songs, but found he actually kind of liked the playlist that Cory favored. The songs were pretty catchy and Josh thought it was pretty cool knowing that most of the songs that were sung about love, or relationships, were written by gay men for gay men. He found that to be comforting in a way he never really thought about before. He could understand Cory’s desire to listen to something he could relate to; the change of pronouns made a big difference.
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