H.B. and Gypsy

“You owe me 10 bucks, sweetie.” Mrs.Lee laughs and sets her purse down on the counter.

…That’s it?

Landon let out the breath he was holding and blushed. “So! H-how was I s-suppose to kn-know this was g-going to happen?” He laughs. I uncurl his legs from me and scratch my head.

“Am I missing something here?” I choke out. I couldn’t help but feel completely mortified that Mrs.Lee caught me kissing her son in the middle of her kitchen. My face must have been on fire.

“I bet Landon 10 bucks that you guys would end up together at one point or another, and apparently, I was right.” She smiled and walked over to us. I let out a relieved laugh and ran my hand through my hair. “So, Im guessing this happened last night?” She added, leaning up against the counter.

Landon and I nod together. She just puts her hand on my shoulder and smiles. “Im glad its you, Ever. I would tease Landon about his crush on you from day one.” She laughed and went to the fridge, getting some lemonade.

“You had a crush on me since the first day?” I smiled and turned to him.

“He wouldn’t shut up about you.” Mrs.Lee adds.

“M-mom!” Landon blushes.

“Oh, hush. There obviously isnt anything to be embarrassed about anymore…” She smiles and sits down at the table.

“Yea, doll. “ I laugh and run my thumb down his cheek.

“How cute. “ Mrs.Lee smiles and covers her mouth. “I always thought you guys would be a good match. I mean, you guys are inseperable.”

I just laugh and help Landon off the counter. We go and sit with Mrs.Lee at the table. “So, you don’t care?” I ask nervously. She furrows her eyebrows.

“Why would i? I’ve been wishing for something like this to happen for Landon. He deserves it.” She smiles. I feel landon slip his hand in mine under the table.

“Yeah.” I smile. “But, can I ask a favor of you?”

“Sure, what is it?” She says softly.

“Please don’t tell my parents…I don’t think they could handle it right now.” I beg her. She tilts her head curiously…just like Landon does.

“Do they not know you’re gay, sweetie?” She asks me nicely.

“Well, I don’t even know if Im gay…I just know that I should be with Landon.” I say awkwardly and keep my gaze towards the table. I hear her lightly laugh to herself.

“I knew you couldn’t stay away from him for long.” She smiles. “And sure, I will make sure your parents don’t know until you’re ready. You cant hide it forever, though. “ She raises an eyebrow.

“I know, I just need time. This would be too much of a shock for them.” I explain.

“No worries.” She smiles and looks at Landon. “So, have you seen Ever with his shirt off yet?” She lets out a laugh and Landon rolls his eyes. I cover my face in embarrassment.

“Y-yes, Mom. H-happy?” He chokes out with a shy giggle and stands up, taking me with him by the hand.

“You havent seen him naked have you?“ She Laughs with raised eyebrows. Landon lets out an exasperated sigh and covers his face.

“G-god, mom, s-seriously?” He blushes. “N-no...”

“Come on, you must ha-“ She begins but Landon cuts her off.

“B-bye, we’ll be i-in my room.” He hurries and rushes us upstairs. We just hear Mrs.Lee laughing in the background to herself. As soon as we get inside his room, landon shuts his door and covers his face in embarrassment.

“Sorry a-about that, E. She c-cant help h-herself.” He tries to explain and goes to sit at desk.

“I don’t mind…” I smile and go over to him.

“You l-looked so embarrassed th-though…” He blushed and sat next to him.

“No, I…I don’t know. Its just that I’m still working on getting used to the fact that we’re actually together now.” I begin. Landon looks up curiously and listens.

“When she started talking about the whole seeing me with a shirt off thing, it just kind of made me realize that eventually, if we’re still together, you’re going to see me with a lot more…off.” I start laughing when I finish my rambling sentence and cover my face. I hear landon laugh to himself. “Well, its true…” I say, trying not to laugh, but failing miserably.

He just blushes and looks down, nodding his head. “And its just weird, because its something Ive thought about for a while now, and it actually came to be. I never thought we would actually get to be something.”

“W-why?” He asks politely.

“Well, first of all, I never planned on telling you how I felt, it just happened. Second of all, I never thought you would ever be interested in me. It didn’t help that you were into Cal that one night either. That crushed me.”

Landon just shoot his head and blushed.

“I only l-liked him as a r-reaction to never being a-able to g-get you” He whispered. I squinted my eyes,not understanding.

“What do you mean?” I ask him.

“I was t-trying to convince m-myself that I c-could like o-other people…s-since I knew y-you would never l-like me.” He said shyly.

“I cant believe you thought that!” I laugh. “How could you not see that I was falling for you? I was horrible at hiding it.”

“It n-never even crossed m-my mind. I s-still don’t g-get it.”

“Still don’t get what?” I tilted my head and questioned.

“Why y-you care a-about me.” He stuttered.

“Because you’re Landon Lee.” I smiled and took his hand, leading him to his bed. He smiled bashfully and took my hand.

“That d-doesn’t make a-any sense…” He mumbled to me as we laid down.

“To me it does.” I grin and turn to him. He shakes his head and looks at me curiously. “Hey Landon?” I speak up after a moment of silence.

“H-hey E?” He jokes.

I smile and tuck some hair behind his ear as he scoots closer to me. “Whats u-up?”

“I don’t get it either.” I whisper.

“H-huh?” He furrows his brow.

“Why me?” I ask him. His eyes soften in understanding.

“B-because y-you’re Ever Brenin.” He smiles.

“You cant copy my answer!” I laugh and poke him. He raises his eyebrows.

“I j-just did.” He giggled.

“Fair enough.” I sigh. We lay there in silence for another hour, and Im sure landon was dozing in and out of sleep, where as I was dozing in and out of my thoughts. Landons voice brought me back to reality with my name.

“E-ever?” I turn to him.

“Hm?”

“What are y-your plans f-for college?” He asked me.

That was random.

“Uh…” I scratch my head, “ I decided I was going to take a year off to write and explore different outlets. I wanted to travel a little as well.” I explain. “Why? What are your plans?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “College w-would be too much o-of a challenge r-right now. My stutter a-affects my participation and s-speech credits. So, I-Im gonna pass on c-college for n-now and stick to l-local art courses. I’m g-gonna work f-for this art g-gallery a couple m-miles away though. J-Just keeping and e-eye on it during th-the day and stuff. My m-mom knows th-the owner.”

“Wow, love, it sounds like ill never get to see you…” I joke sadly. It sounds like he’ll have a lot on his plate and that kind of worries me. I mean, It’s already the beginning of september. All of that must be starting soon.

Landon caught the blue tone of my comment and wrapped his arms around my waist. “That’s n-not true. I’ll be w-with you e-everyday…” He smiles. “Like I c-could actually spend t-time away from y-you now, ha!” He adds and kisses me cheek.

“Congratulations, You’re the first person who has ever wanted to actually spend time with me.” I laugh.

“That c-cant be true.” He looks up at me.

“Honestly.” I tell him and he squints his eyes in thought. “I swear.” I laugh.

“Th-that’s crazy. Either way, I w-wont be th-that busy…” He mumbles. and thinks to himself for a couple moments. “I w-would like t-to travel with y-you, E.” he randomly says to me. I look at him and grin.

“We should try and plan something in a couple months. That would be awesome.”

His eyes light up. “Like I-Italy…”

“That would be expensive, doll.” I laugh and run my finger down his cheek. “I was thinking we start small. Like a trip to the mountains or something.”

“That c-could work.” He smiles and snuggles into his pillow. As that sleepy smile made it way across his face, I found myself in a blur. I realized that Landon is most beautiful right before he falls asleep. Just as his cheeks turn rosy and his eyes get dark gold from the shadow of his half lidded stare.

This is one of those moments.

I took this opportunity to try and selfishly absorb every aspect of this occasion.

“Wh-what?” Landon yawns and feels along his cheeks. “Is th-there something o-on my f-face?”

I pull his hands away from himself and hold them close to me. “No, I was just taking in my favorite moment of the day.”

“And th-that is…?” He whispers curiously.

“Right before you start dreaming.”

He scoots closer to me and rests his head on my chest with a sigh.

“Im a-already dreaming, th-though, E.” He whispers.

“How so?” I look down at him with a soft smile.

“I’ve g-got you…” He says thickly, quickly falling back into sleep.
_________________________________________________________________________

Its almost unfair how fast time goes when you’re happy.

Two weeks have quickly approached and left me and Landon with nothing but a closer, better relationship. Of course, over those days, I have had to adjust to being with someone…having that responsibility. Landon made it easy though. There was never a moment where I felt we shouldn’t have been together. I don’t regret telling him how I felt or finally taking the chance of becoming more than friends.

In the end, we are both happier.

One thing was making me feel a little down today though. Landon started working at that gallery today. He was basically there to organize things for them and do paperwork, and I’m thankful for that. Landon wouldn’t be able to handle talking to strangers all day. It would make him far too anxious.

It made me anxious too. I don’t like to leave Landon with people he doesn’t know…people I don’t trust. The longest Landon is ever left alone is an hour or two…Imagine what it’ll be like to be alone with people he doesn’t know. I hope the poor thing is ok. I gave him my cell number in case he need me.

Him leaving today also made me realize that I would like to start expanding my interests. I think I want to get some kind of an internship at a publishing company or something like that. Somewhere I get to write. I needed something to take up some of my free time, and my time away from Landon. Until then, I guess I’ll just have to live with it.

“Ever?”

I blink out of my thoughts and look over to my door. My mom stood there with a strange expression on her face. I sit up in my chair and clasp my hand together.

“Yeah, mom?”

“Um…” She kind of shuffles around at the door for a moment and then finally speaks up. “You’ve been spending the night at Landons house a lot recently…” she trailed off and looked up, obviously trying to figure out what to say next. I figured I should help her out a little.

“Yes…and?” I comment, curious where this conversation is going to go.

“Is that…normal for 18 year boys to do?”She glances up at me. She wasn’t asking me, already knowing the answer. She was genuinely curious if that’s usually the norm.

Not usually, but its different when those two guys are dating. I wanted to say.

“Uh…I don’t know? Why, is something wrong?” I attempt at being nonchalant about it. She shakes her head and laughs to herself.

“Oh, never mind me, Ever, I’m just being silly.” She smiles and goes to close my door.

“No, mom, what was it?” I drill her. Now Im curious. Is she starting to figure it out?

She turned around and looked at me.”Did, um…” She coughs and straightens her hair with her fingers nervously before continuing. “Did you know Landon was…gay?”

Oh, god.

“How do you know?” I asked her, slightly starting to worry. She walks back into my room and sits on my bed.

“Mrs.Lee mentioned something about Landon being bullied when he was younger for it, and I dont know…I started to wonder about, you know, you two.”

“Please be more thorough.” I ask anxiously.

“You are going to laugh, but I had this strange idea that maybe you and Landon had something going on.” She smiles and rolls her eyes at herself. “I know it’s silly.” She adds while she stands up, while I’m sitting there in a cold sweat, hoping she doesn’t have her motherly x-ray vision on right now.

No, Landon and I arent in love with each other, not at all… I joked in my head.

“Yeah…” I nervously laughed and ran my hand through my hair. “That’s pretty strange, mom.”

“I know, I just thought I would run it by you for old times sake.” She smiled. ”Dinner will be ready in an hour. Landon’s invited too.” She added and closed my door. I let out the breath I was holding and felt my heartbeat. It was going a fucking mile a minute. I decided to call Landon and tell him…he was off work right around now anyways.

Ring

Ring

“Come on, Babe, pick up…” I whined to his dial tone.

Ring-

“H-hi E!” He finally answered.

“Hey love, how was work?” I ask, really wanting to tell him what just happened.

“It w-was alright…” He sighed. “H-how was your d-day?”

“Alright. Until my mom showed up in my room two seconds ago and asked me about something…” I tell him in a low whisper, hoping my mom couldn’t hear me.

“A-asked you a-about what? Why a-are you wh-whispering?”

“I don’t want her to hear me. She asked me if, first, I knew you were gay…” I began.

“H-how does she kn-know?!” His sweet voice worries.

“Apparently your mom mentioned it a while ago…” I say apologetically.

“God, I-I told her n-not t-to …ugh! I t-told her not to d-do th-that!” He groans. Landon always stutters more when he has heightened emotions. Especially when he’s angry.

“Hey, love, calm down…” I heard him take a deep breath and let me continue, “She didn’t mind. She was just wondering about something else…”

“S-something else? L-like wh-what?” He stumbles.

“Like…if something was going on between us.” I answered slowly. I heard Landon gasp.

“Wh-what?!”

“Don’t worry, she thought even asking me was silly. She has no Idea.”I explain.

“B-but E! Are y-you s-sure?” He worries and I hear a car door close on his end of the phone. He must be on his way home.

“Yes, Im sure.” I laugh at him. “But, I will say…I got so nervous, Im surprised she didn’t see right through me.”

“R-Really?” He giggled.

“Yep. Oh, you’re invited to dinner by the way. My mom’s treat.”

“C-cool. What a-are we h-having?” He asks.

“No clue.” I laugh.

“Sounds d-delicious.” He giggled.
_______________________________________________________________________

“We’re r-right on your f-front porch, E.” He whispered against my kiss. “Couldn’t th-this have w-waited till we at l-least in your r-room?” He giggled as I moved to his jaw.

“Fuck no. I had to be away from you all day, now I have to make up for it.” I smiled.

“Fine, i-if I say we’ll m-make up f-for it later, will y-you stop putting u-us at risk of b-being caught?”

I gave his lips one last kiss and smiled. “Fine!” I laughed. “That’ll have to do for now…”

He giggled as took his hand and led him inside. As soon as we reached the kitchen, I had to let go of his hand. This was something I fucking hated doing every time we were around my parents. We couldn’t touch each other at all.

“S-smells good, M-Mrs.B” Landon politely comments and sits down at the table with me. He clasped my hand under the table.

“Thank you.” She smiled.

Mom my served us and sat down at the table. This dinner seemed to go by painfully slow as I waited for it to be over. Especially the conversation we somehow ended up having. Something about my dads business. Something I couldn’t give a flying fuck about.

Right when my mom stood up and took her plate to the sink, I leaned over to Landon.

“Can we make this quick? I need some time with you alone.” I say quietly in his ear. He shuddered.

“S-sure.” He smiled.

“You guys can go, I’ll clean up.” My mom smiles.

“Thanks mom, Dinner was awesome.” I comment and stand up.

“Y-yeah, thank y-you.” Landon shot her a shy smile and then followed me to my room.

Just as we walked inside my doorway, landon turns to me. “What’s u-up? You s-said you w-wanted to be a-alone?” He commented innocently while going and laying on my bed. I walked over to him.

“So, I need a reason to want to be alone with my Landon, now?” I softly smile at him with a raised eyebrow.

“N-no…” He whispers nervously as crawled on my bed, hovering over him. “U-um…” he swallows anxiously.

“Am I making you nervous?” I ask him, placing my hands on either side of his head on my mattress. He shakes his head as he blushes.

“N-no, just s-surprised i-is all…” He smiles bashfully and I lean down to kiss him.

Tonight should be fun.