When they all groaned and proclaimed themselves too stuffed to eat another bite, they cleared the table, and Wes and Patton tackled the dishes as a team. It was exactly how Patton saw so many holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions playing out in their future. He hoped to have these people in his life for years to come, and maybe, when he and Wes moved to Maine and had a place of their own, their family would come out for the holidays to visit them, and they could be in charge of preparing the holiday meal.
Wes bumped Patton’s hip as he handed him the next plate to dry. “What’s up? Whatcha’ thinking about?”
“Us,” Patton replied truthfully. “I was thinking about our future and how many more holidays we get to spend together. How maybe we’ll be in charge of hosting Christmas dinner in Maine when we move away and how the family will come visit us. Can you imagine Christmas on the coast? Maybe we can get a place right on the water, and we can listen to the waves every night as we go to sleep. I’ll get to see you every day, and we’ll get to sleep together every night. You’ll be in school for teaching, and I’ll be learning about building boats. What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Patton asked as he caught Wes’s gaze. He’d turned the water off and was staring at Patton like he was ready to cry.
Wes dried his hands and gently cupped Patton’s cheeks. “I love you, sweet pea. So much. I can’t wait to do all of those things with you either. It feels like a dream to think about a future with you, but I’m totally willing to keep my head in the clouds if that’s what it takes to make all of those dreams a reality.” He kissed Patton gently, pressing the sweetest promise to his lips then wrapped his arms around Patton’s shoulders as they listened to Christmas carols and watched the snow falling softly outside the kitchen window.
— — —
The mall was once again insane, but, it was Christmas Eve, so what did he expect? Patton hadn’t told Wes what they were doing there, just that he needed to do something, and it wasn’t a lie. He needed to take Wes inside to give him his first Christmas present. He just hadn’t told Wes that yet.
It took him nearly twenty minutes to find a parking spot, but he didn’t mind. They chatted about what they’d each gotten Ty, and Patton had thanked Wes for getting Ty something in the first place, saying that he realized how awkward their situation was and he was glad Wes hadn’t been without understanding, still taking the initiative to do something nice for their friend.
They walked hand-in-hand up to the entrance, and Patton directed them the way he wanted, leading Wes without giving anything away.
“Where are we going?” Wes asked as they bobbed and weaved. “The only shops down this way aren’t places we’d normally go shopping for anyone we know.”
“I know,” Patton returned. “I’m taking you to get your first gift.”
“What?” Wes asked again, pulling Patton to a stop. “Here? Now? In the mall? You haven't gotten my gift yet, and what do you mean my first gift?”
Patton smiled. “Yes, here. Yes, now. I haven't gotten it yet because I need you with me. You’ll see when we get there. Come on.” He tugged Wes’s hand and Wes followed, a look of curiosity entering his eyes.
Wes walked along beside him and only a few stores down, Patton veered left and entered The Piercing Place. The shop was well lit, and on first glance, had every conceivable piece of jewelry one would ever need for any type of piercing lined out in display cases throughout the shop. There were two separate piercing stations, and Patton walked them up to the counter where a lovely blue-haired gal named Lisa greeted them with a smile.
Wes tugged his hand again. “Babe, what are we doing here?” he whispered as Lisa greeted them.
“Merry Christmas. Welcome to The Piercing Place. Can I help you guys find something?” Lisa asked.
Patton ignored Wes’s question in favor of spilling the beans with his response to Lisa instead. “Merry Christmas. We’re not looking for anything, but we’d like to get his ears pierced, please.”
Lisa nodded with a smile and began her schpiel as Wes squeezed his hand. Patton only had half an ear on Lisa as she stepped out from behind the counter and beckoned them to follow.
“Patton?” Wes asked as they followed along, and Patton turned his gaze to his boyfriend. Wes definitely had questions in his eyes, but he looked excited and hopeful and a giddy air had perked up his demeanour. “We’re getting my ears pierced?”
Patton smiled and nodded. “If you want to. This is my first Christmas gift to you. I know you’ve talked about doing it for a long time, so I just figured, why not let me do this for you for your Christmas present?”
Wes beamed. A smile as wide as the store lit his face. He stopped abruptly as they neared one of the piercing stations and hugged Patton with one arm around his shoulders. “Baby. I can’t believe this,” he exclaimed. “Thank you! I’ve been wanting to get my ears pierced for so long. I don’t know why I haven’t done it yet, but this is perfect. Thank you so much, babe.” He released Patton and pecked him on the lips, laughing as they continued over to the counter where Lisa was pulling out a clipboard and paperwork.
After a round of questions and providing the obligatory documents, to which Wesley raised a questioning eyebrow, Lisa produced the array of earrings for Wes to choose from that were specifically designed for piercing.
Patton had other ideas. “Can we use these instead?” He produced a small box from his coat pocket and handed it to Lisa. She opened it and inspected the earrings.
Wes looked at him. “You bought your own earrings for me?”
Patton nodded. “They’re for piercing. They have the little sharp thingy that can be trimmed later so you can wear them anytime and they won’t stab you.”
Wes smiled at him. “What are they?” he asked as Lisa said they should work fine and handed them to Wes for him to see. He looked down at them and a moment later looked back up at Patton with an adoring smile on his face. “You got me anchor earrings?”
Patton nodded again. “They seemed fitting. You’re my anchor so I figured, why not? If you don’t like them you can choose something else. I just thought it was kind of us and they would remind you of me.” Patton shrugged.
Lisa ah’d as Wes set the earrings down and hugged Patton tightly. “Thank you, baby. I love them. You’re so thoughtful. And you’re right, these will always remind me of you. I can't believe you went to all this trouble for me.” He pulled back and pressed a kiss to Patton’s lips. “I love you. Thank you again. They’re perfect,” he said as he picked up the box to look at the earrings again.
They weren’t much, just a simple gold anchor with a very small diamond in the center of each crown, but Patton had liked them on first sight.
Wes handed the box to Lisa and she set about preparing the space, talking them through everything they needed to know, from aftercare and cleaning, to how many times to turn the earrings each day. She got out a marker and examined Wes’s earlobes, marking and re-marking until she was happy with the placement. She stepped aside so Wes could see if he liked it as well and Wes turned this way and that, asking what Patton thought, and after careful consideration and discussion, Wes declared himself ready.
Patton held his hand as Wes took a deep breath and smiled at him nervously as Lisa counted them down, piercing first one ear, then reloading and finishing off with the second ear.
Wesley barely flinched through the whole thing, keeping his eyes on Patton the whole time, and when it was over, he looked in the mirror and grinned.
“They look amazing,” Wes said, turning his head to see, and Lisa handed him a small mirror so he could get a better angle. “What do you think?” he asked, turning to Patton for his approval.
“I think you look just as gorgeous as always, complete with a little bit of bling.”
Wes smiled and cupped the side of Patton's face in his large hand. “Thank you, baby. I love you.” He pressed a sweet kiss to Patton’s lips and after Patton paid and got the aftercare package, they left the mal
l, Wes hardly taking his eyes off Patton the entire drive home.
They made a quick detour by Wes’s house after a last-minute decision to exchange their gifts in the boathouse before dinner. They figured Christmas Eve and Day were going to be full of other surprises and family time and whatnot, so they decided they’d take an hour to themselves before the chaos of tradition overtook their time and they could appreciate the gifts they’d decided on for one another in private.
After they got home, they made a quick dash up to Patton’s room and were back outside before they had a chance to be stopped by anyone. Patton had wrapped Wes’s gift up in bubble wrap and then placed it in a gift bag with some tissue paper. It wasn’t the fanciest wrapping job, but Patton hoped Wes would appreciate the sentiment behind his gift more than the amount of time he’d spent wrapping it.
Wes carried a small box in his hand that was wrapped in Santa wrapping paper and had a gold bow on top.
They crunched their way out to the boathouse, leaving a trail of footprints in the snow, and Patton flipped the light on once he was inside. His boat was still in pieces that were scattered all over the floor and stacked in piles to be assembled in their predetermined order, following each step in the assembly instruction manual to a tee. But part of his second gift to Wesley was a smaller, more compact version of the very thing that Wesley had been helping Patton to build over the last few months.
He went over to the small heating dishes they’d set up to keep warm while they worked and turned them both on, angling them toward the bench seat then grabbed Wes’s hand to pull him down next to him. They each set their items down, and Wes pulled the down blanket over their laps, each of them tucking in a bit as their breath fogged out causing them to laugh and rub their hands together trying to keep warm.
As they settled in, Wes took Patton’s hands in his and blew a breath of warm air into them as Patton watched.
Neither of them said a word as they stared at each other. They just soaked in the moment and reveled in their time together uninterrupted and peaceful. They spent a few minutes taking advantage of their solitude to share in some lingering lip action but after a while they mutually pulled back and smiled at each other.
Wes handed Patton the small wrapped box he’d brought along and said, “Merry Christmas, baby. I wasn’t sure what to get you, but I hope you like it. It reminded me of you.”
Patton smiled, and after a quick peck and thanks, he tore off the wrapping to reveal a silver cardboard jewelry box with a lid. Gently loosening the lid, Patton pried it off and peered inside.
Wesley had gotten him what looked like a nautical compass pendant on a brown leather cord.
“It’s a necklace,” Wesley explained as Patton carefully lifted it out of the box. The pendant was only about an inch in diameter and made of some kind of silver metal that hung from a thinly woven cord. It was in the shape of a circle with the letters N, E, S, and W, at their respective locations around a compass rose in the center. “Turn it over,” Wes said softly as Patton admired his new gift.
“You are the compass that guides me in life. ~Wes,” Patton read aloud and his throat tightened as he realized the pendant’s significance and the engraving Wesley had chosen. He looked up at his boyfriend and the warm smile he wore and wrapped his arms around Wes’s narrow shoulders. “Babe,” he drew out. “Thank you. I love it so much. This is so sweet. It’s perfect.”
Wes hugged him in return and said, “I hoped you would like it. I know it’s a little corny, but I thought it was perfect too.”
“It is. Totally.” Patton pulled back and kissed Wes sweetly. “Thank you. Help me put it on?” he asked, and Wes nodded as he took the necklace, deftly unfastening the clasp and positioning it around Patton’s neck. Once it was secured, he straightened the clasp and pendant, and Patton brought his hand up to feel it nestled just below the hollow of his throat. “How’s it look?”
“It looks good,” Wes replied, studying the item intently. “I like seeing it on you. Like it’s my small little claim on you or something.”
Patton almost blushed at Wes’s little display of ownership, but it wasn’t like it wasn’t true. He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Wes’s lips, which Wes tried to turn into more, but Patton smiled as he pulled away watching his boy pout and grabbed Wes’s gift off the floor instead.
“More of that later, babe. Merry Christmas. It’s not much and more of a promise than anything, but I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.” He handed the bag to Wes, and Wes leaned over and kissed him again.
“Thank you, baby. The earrings were so perfect you didn’t need to do anything more,” Wes said but smiled as he carefully pulled out the tissue paper, then the tissue-wrapped package. He set the bag down and gently tore away the wrapping to reveal the bubble wrap and the indistinct contents it protected.
Wes apparently knew Patton well enough to have a vague idea of what the gift might be and his eyes softened as he asked, “Did you make me a ship in a bottle?”
Patton didn’t answer but watched as Wes broke the tape and unwrapped his gift, taking care as he was well acquainted with how delicate the work was. The bubble wrap fell away to reveal Patton’s small gift and Wes smiled lovingly at Patton as he brought the bottle up to his face for a closer inspection.
“Baby. You made me your boat?”
“Mmm-hmm,” Patton responded as Wes studied the small vessel. The bottle itself was only about six inches tall and stood upright but was wide with a narrow neck and was supposedly some kind of specialty wine bottle. Patton didn’t know what it was but had liked the shape of it and though it would make a cool display for his gift to Wesley. The vessel inside the bottle was a near-exact replica of the small dinghy Patton and Wes had been building and was set in a light bluish-green clay, giving it the appearance of actually sitting in water. Patton, however, had taken the liberty of coloring the sail of the small dinghy in a rainbow theme to commemorate their love and pride.
“You named it Weston?” Wes asked, snapping his eyes up to Patton’s as soon as he’d caught that small detail.
“It’s my promise to you.” Patton nodded as a small lump formed in his throat.
“What promise? What do you mean?” Wes asked, looking back at him and seemingly holding his breath, the small boat in his hands nearly forgotten.
“It’s supposed to represent you and me and what we’re building together: our lives and our future. We’re building the ship that will carry us through all our years together, so I named it Weston. When the real boat is finished in the spring, that’s what I want to call it.” Patton gestured between the half-formed boat on the stands next to them and the small bottle in Wes’s hands.
Wes swallowed as he stared at Patton with a look of awe in his kohl-lined eyes. He blinked and leaned over to carefully set the small bottle on the ground next to the bench and out of the way. When he returned to face Patton his eyes were a little damp and he reverently cupped Patton’s face in his hands. He ran his thumbs slowly over Patton’s cheekbones as he gazed into his eyes.
“I will never know what I did to deserve you,” Wes said softly. “You came into my life out of nowhere with your little remote-controlled boat and quiet confidence, and I’ll never be the same. I don’t want to be the same person I was before I met you. You’ve captivated me: mind, body, and soul. I realize it’s probably unrealistic for two sixteen-year-olds to be making promises to each other like we are, but I can’t help what I feel for you. I can’t help that I love you and want you to be mine forever. I can’t help that you came into my life with your voodoo magic and bewitched me so completely that I don’t even know who I am without you anymore. We said we’d go forward slowly, but you mean everything to me, Patton, and most of the time I don’t even have the words to tell you how much I love you.” Wes kissed him in the most achingly sweet way and hugged him close, as he wrapped his arms around Patton and held him like he was something to be cherished.
“Thank you for the earrings an
d the boat, baby.” Wes snuggled into Patton’s neck and pressed a kiss to the skin behind his ear. “I know we’re young, but I would love nothing more than to navigate my way through this life in a little dinghy named Weston, with you by my side. I promise to always be your anchor if you promise to always be my compass. I love you, sweet pea. Merry Christmas.”
About the Author
Whitney Cannon is an up and coming author with a love for gay romance novels. Over the years, her love for reading about boys who love boys turned into a desire to write her own stories and characters. She has gone on to become a published author of her first short story which was a celebration of Pride month and belonging.
Her first full-length novel, Connectivity, was published in October of 2018 and has been featured on Amazon’s Best Sellers list for Teen and Young Adult LGBT Fiction.
Her subsequent novels, Catalyst and Complement, books two and three in the Connectivity series, were published in December of 2018 and March of 2019, respectively.
Over her years of reading, and more recently, her year or writing, she has developed a passion for writing books in the Young Adult genre. She feels that there is a need for more representation and visibility in the teen and young adult categories for LGBT fiction and hopes to provide anyone willing to read her work with a sweet story and a happy ending.
Many young people in the LGBT community find themselves looking for an outlet or a source for others who are like them, who share a commonality with them, either real or fictitious, and Whitney hopes to be able to create characters who are likable and relatable to young readers. It’s one of her goals to give those who either can’t come out or aren’t ready to come out, something to read that will shine a more positive light on whatever situation they may find themselves in.
Every person deserves a happy ending, even if that person is only in the pages of a book.
You can find Whitney Cannon at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitneycannonauthor
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