Boys of Eternity Pt. 02

His forehead creased, and he had a serious look on his face. "Well, I'm not like them. I'm me. And if I tell you something, it's cause I actually feel it and mean it."

"Oh." I felt kind of bad. "I didn't mean anything by it. I was just surprised that you'd say something like that. You have to remember, all of this is super new to me. And well, I don't know. It's just new to me. But for what it's worth, you're a literal dream come true for me too."

He had a sad look on his face. "I don't want to go home."

"I feel the same way. I don't want you to go home either."

He kissed me and snuggled closer. "We have this coming week after school."

"And the next week," I told him.

He sat up. "As much as I don't want to, we both have to clean up. Your parents will be home soon. We have to make it look like we're just chilling out."

"I know. You're right." I looked around for my phone. "What time is it?"

He glanced at his phone. "It's 5:19."

"Ohhhh." I was sad. "We only have a few more minutes together."

Sensing my sadness, Alex kissed my nose and my lips. "That's not true." He kissed me again. "Like we said, we have the next couple of weeks to look forward to. And then some."

I nodded and forced a smile.

"I take that back." He pulled me close and held me tight. "We have all of eternity together."

I didn't know what to say. I was feeling choked up in that moment. "I... I..."

"It's okay. I love you, Emmett." He looked deeply into my eyes and said it again. "I love you so much. I knew I had these strong feelings for you when I saw you for the very first time in the band room."

A tear rolled down my cheek. "Just like on the bus, and afterward at school... you made the first move. I love you too."

He took the back of his hand and wiped the tear away from my face. "I made the first move, cause I was scared."

"What do you mean?"

He continued. "I was scared that if I didn't do something, I'd never have a moment with you. That the days would just pass, and we'd always just be friends in passing, just acquaintances. So I took a chance. I figured, the worst that could happen was that I'd be outed. But since I'm a Senior, I'd be out of this town soon enough and it wouldn't matter anyway."

I felt like full-on crying. My heart was thumping. He was like a clear lake, telling me his secrets, and telling me 'I love you'. And I was speechless. He was clearly stronger than me in every way. It was all I could do but wrap my arms around him, and maybe some of his inner strength would rub off on me.

As I moved to put my arms around him, he gently took my arms and placed them at my sides. And with a gleam in his eye, he wrapped both his arms around me. A few tears had already streamed down my face, and he kissed my eyes and rubbed our faces together.

We sat quietly like that for the next three minutes, until he broke the silence. "Come on, babe. Your parents will be home any minute."

He stood up and offered me his hand. As I took his hand in mine, a certain comfort washed over me, knowing that I was no longer alone. I let that settle in me as we walked to the front room.

I was no longer alone.