Do You Remember

I’m not sure if you remember reading this.
You might not, it was pretty early on in this book of memories, but I’ll see if I can find it again, just to refresh your memory.

Ah, there we go.
I wrote:

You have no idea how broken hearted I was when, at school on Monday, you greeted me like any other day. A slight hug and a “Hey, Josh” was all I got. There I was, expecting you to run into my arms and stick your tongue down my throat and I got a “Hey, Josh”. Thank you, Addison. Way to make me feel loved. Pshh.

Oh well, it doesn’t really matter anyway. You were mine in the end. Mine mine mine mine mine. And you did do the whole run-into-my-arms-and-kiss-the-shit-out-of-me scene eventually. It was just a little late… okay, like a few years late. But still, better late than never.

That was when I was talking about right after your slutty ex-girlfriend dumped you, remember?

Anyway, where was I?
Oh yes, that’s right.
The first time we kissed in public.
It was supposed to be at school; a Monday, the day after our parents discovered us practically fucking against the wall near the front door.
After we escaped to my room and had sex (twice, cause we were horny little bitches back then), we were lying naked under the messed up covers on my bed, your head on my chest and the two of us breathing heavily, having finished just a minute or two before.
We were talking quietly, still in a shock-like state at how well our parents took our whole coming-out-of-the-closet-as-well-as-telling-them-we’re-engaged thing, when you sat up suddenly, and so abruptly I thought something was wrong with your back.
Even then you had trouble finding a comfortable position for you to be able to sleep.
I sat up quickly, too, and began to rub down your spine with the flat of my hand; something that always seems to make you feel better, even if it doesn’t actually cease the pain.

“What’s wrong?” I’d asked, worried.
Your eyebrow furrowed, “Nothing,” you told me, your voice surprised, “I was just thinking… now that our parents know… I was wondering about maybe going…uh, public. Like, at school and stuff. I’m sick of watching girls hitting on you and having Adam and the guys asking us both who we like twenty times a day. I want everyone to know you’re mine, and I’m yours. I want everyone to know that I love you and I want to be able to kiss you in the halls between classrooms and have sex in the bathrooms at lunch…and wait. Maybe not that last one, but you get what I mean,” you finished rambling and drew in a deep breath.

I giggled (because I’m so manly, and all), and kissed the back of your neck, seeing as it was the only place I could reach.
“You sound just like me. I’m usually the one rambling.”
You blushed, and I kissed the back of your neck again, “Don’t worry, it’s cute,” I told you sincerely, “And I agree, we should be able to be ourselves at school. Tomorrow, we’re not going to be just Addison and Josh, the best pair of best friends ever, we’re going to be Joshison, the school’s newest – and greatest – power couple!”

You turned around in my arms to face me, and stared silently at me for a minute or so, probably questioning my sanity (what sanity?) before you burst out laughing.
“Joshison?!” you choked out, still laughing hysterically.
There were tears streaming down your cheeks and your entire head was a bright red.
“Shut up,” I grumbled, trying to look mad and failing miserably.
A small smile stretched its way across my face no matter how hard I tried to hold it back.
“Sorry, Joshy,” you said, as you tried to catch your breath.
“’Sokay,” I replied, “So…you want to tell everyone?”
You nodded slowly, and I could see you weighing the pros and cons of coming out to the school in your head as you did so.
“Are you okay with that, though? It’s up to you as much as it’s up to me…” you trailed off, searching my face for any indication that I wasn’t comfortable with your suggestion.
“It’s fine with me.” I placed a kiss on your temple, and you sighed and leaned into my chest.
“Tomorrow?”
“Whenever you’re ready, baby. I’m ready when you are.”
“Tomorrow it is, then,” you said, sounding both happy and nervous at the same time.
You turned to face me once more, placed a light kiss on my lips, and then snuggled down under the covers on my bed.
“Goodnight, Joshy. Love you.”
I buried myself under the covers too, and wrapped my arms around your naked waist.
“Love you, too, Ad,” I murmured, before I followed you into Dreamland.

---

We woke quite early the next morning, the day we were planning on telling everyone about our relationship.
You had one leg thrown over my body and my hands had somehow ended up cupping your ass and holding you very close to me. Isn’t it funny how, even in my sleep, I still do inappropriate things to you?

“Mornin’,” you mumbled into my chest as you stirred. “Wass time?”
“It’s 6:02am,” I replied quietly after glancing at the clock on my bedside table.
You groaned, rolled so that you were facing away from me, and, after a few minutes, swung your legs over the edge of my bed and lifted your body so you were in a sitting position.
You held that position for a minute or so as you rubbed your eyes wearily, before standing up and making your way to my closet in all your naked glory.

“Stop staring at my ass,” you whined, without even turning around.
I snorted (y’know, cause I’m a horse and everything).
“Why should I? It’s mine. I can stare at it all I like.”
“Shut up,” you muttered, bending down to grab a pair of my jeans that were lying on my closet floor and giving me a fantastic view of your ass.
You stood up and turned back to me, and shook your head when you noticed me practically drooling over you.
“Josh! Get up, damnit. And stop staring at me!”

“Fine,” I grumbled, but dragged myself out of bed anyway, and towards my closet.
I found a random clothing ensemble and threw it on, not really caring what it was.
I noticed you roll your eyes as you looked at me, before marching back over to my closet from where you were in front of my mirror and grabbed a white t-shirt with red print on it.
You threw it at me, saying “Josh. Hot pink shirt and red pants? Really?”
“Sorry,” I said, trying to hide a smile as I threw on the new shirt.

I grabbed your hand and picked up both our backpacks in the other and began to drag you downstairs towards the front door where our shoes were sitting.
I immediately began shoving my feet in those Vans you gave me on our anniversary and that I still wear everywhere, while you stared at me in wonder.
“Get your shoes on; we’re going to breakfast first before we go tell everybody of our undying love for each other.”

After you did as you were told, we made our way out and into my shitty car.
The engine spluttered to life as usual and, after I backed down my driveway, I headed to our favourite breakfast bar that was about five minutes away.
As soon as I parked, you were out of the car and into the restaurant.
Never have I seen someone get so excited about food as you do.
You were already seated in an intimate booth with a menu in front of you when I walked in. You didn’t even glance up when I joined you, just said “I want bacon and eggs, okay? Oh, and a cappuccino.”
“Fine,” I said vaguely as I scanned the menu.
The few moments of silence was broken by a chirpy voice belonging to a pretty blonde waitress asking us what food we would like.
We ordered and the girl went away into the kitchen.

I grabbed your hands in mine and looked into your eyes.
“Are you absolutely positive you want to do this? You can say ‘no’ at any time, and I won’t mind, I promise.”
“No. I want to do this. I really do. As long as you do.”
“I do as well,” I said quietly as I leaned over the table towards you.
You mirrored my actions.
“I love you, Ad,” I whispered, before closing the gap and kissing you lightly on your lips.
You deepened the kiss and soon we were making out over the small table between us, until…

“Oh. My. GOD! Addison? Josh! What the fuck?!”
We both jumped away from each other when we heard Adam’s voice shout out in the quiet café.
“Oh shit,” you muttered, red-faced. “Uh…hi, Adam, hi guys…”

It was only then that I noticed that we were not only caught making out by Adam, but also Ryan, Callum, Jack, Lily, Belinda and Charlotte.
The only one who didn’t look like they’d been hit over the head with a mallet was Charlotte, and that was only because she’d known about us for so long.

“…Hi,” Adam replied. “Is there something you wanted to tell us? Maybe about how you two were kissing each other?”
“Actually, yes, there is. And just so you know, we were actually going to tell you all today at school…” I told them.
“And it is…? What were you planning on telling us? Addison, you tell; Josh never gets to the point,” Lily, the impatient little bitch she was, demanded.

You giggled before taking a big breath and letting it out slowly.
“We’re together,” you stated simply. “Josh is my fiancé. We’ve been together for over a year now. The reason we’re telling you now is because our parents found out yesterday and we figured now would be a good time to tell you guys too. Sorry for keeping it a secret from you for so long…”

Adam let out a short bark of a laugh. “Huh. Wow. Well… it’s cool with me, mate. Just no more making out in front of me, kay?”
The others nodded enthusiastically at Adam’s words, and I grinned as an evil thought popped into my head.
“Mmm, you know. I don’t think I can keep that promise…” I trailed off mischievously as I grabbed the collar of your my shirt and pulled you towards me.
I sent a wink to Adam before connecting our lips once more.

“Oh, God. Can you not? Please? You know how weird this is for me to watch?”
I pulled away with a quiet ‘pop’.
“Don’t watch then,” I said simply, before kissing you again.
“Damnit. I’m going to school. See you there, if you two ever come up for air. Later,” Adam stated and with that, walked out of the café followed by everyone else except Charlotte.
We pulled apart and looked at her, the two of us grinning from ear to ear.
“I’m so happy for you guys. I’m glad everyone’s fine with you two dating and that I don’t have to keep it a secret anymore,” Char said, smiling.
She hugged us both quickly before breezing out the door, just as our meals arrived.
The cheery blonde waitress placed our respective plates in front of us.
“You two make a really cute couple,” she told us before she went off towards the kitchen.
I leaned over the table, careful not to lean into my breakfast and kissed you once more before I picked up my fork and dug into my scrambled eggs.

We ate breakfast fairly quickly and then headed back to my car, where we made out for a short while until you pulled away to glance at the clock and nearly had a heart attack when you noticed how late it was.
We raced to school and made it just in time to hear the bell ring.
I placed a kiss on your lips in front of everyone, feeling slightly jittery as I did so.

Luckily nothing too bad happened.
We received a few wolf-whistles and a few of the football jerks muttered horrible things under their breath, but most people just ignored us, which is what I was hoping for.

“Love you,” I murmured, kissing you once more, before we headed into our respective classrooms.

After that day, it was a regular occurrence for people to see us kissing in the halls between classes, and you doing the whole “run-into-my-arms-and-kiss-the-shit-out-of-me scene” in the mornings of the days we didn’t travel to school together.
Adam and the others managed to get used to us being all goo-goo with each other and defended us whenever someone would hurl abuse at us, which, luckily, didn’t happen too often.

I’m so happy that finally we were able to be ourselves at school for the rest of our schooling, and that people, for the most part, accepted us as we were.
Like when we told our parents, for me, it felt like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders.
It was just one less thing we had to bear, one less thing that might’ve put strain on our relationship.
If only your cancer was that easy to overcome…