The Summer to Remember

Miami, Florida - Part 2

Pre-Note: so it's the weekend so I can finally update yay! :D And in case you were wondering, it's going pretty okay so far :)

Anthony:

The second I woke up, I knew something was wrong.

Maybe it was my splitting headache, or the taste of rotten bile in my throat, or the fact that I could barely open my eyes, but I recognized it instantly as one of the worst hangovers I'd ever had. 

I slowly sat up, groaning, and looked around. The alarm clock read 10:16, and Ian wasn't anywhere in sight. I rubbed my eyes and forced myself to stand up, ignoring my body's desperate begs not to, and stumbled a little. I walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the closed door.

"Ian, come on, I gotta pee," I groaned, my fist gently hitting the wood. "Ian?"

After there was no answer, I cracked the door a little, and repeated, "Ian?" When there was still silence, I slowly opened the door, cautiously peeking behind it. I found a motionless Ian laying on the tile, his head resting on a pile of those clothy white hotel towels.

I walked over and shook him a little harder than intended. "Ian, Ian get up."

His eyes slowly fluttered open, and he looked around, looking just as confused as I was.

"You hungover too?" I asked, going to wash my mouth out in the sink in an attempt to get rid of the unbearable taste. 

"Hungover?" 

I looked through the mirror at him, as he stood up and winced a little; I'm sure his back was just a little sore from spending the night on a hard tile. 

He shook his head a little. "No, I didn't drink much."

I raised my eyebrows, grabbing my toothbrush from the side of the sink. "Then why the hell did you sleep on the bathroom floor?"

I turned around after a few seconds of silence, and he quickly looked away, not meeting my eyes. 

"I-I... I really don't know."

I laughed a little. "What, were you just taking a shit and just like, fell asleep?"

He laughed, and it almost sounded like a nervous laugh, and I raised my eyebrows a little as I squirted some toothpaste on the bristles. He was acting weird.

"Yeah, uh, I don't know. Maybe."

I turned around again and he was staring at the floor, awkwardly lingering by the door.

"You okay, man?" I asked, sticking my toothbrush in my mouth.

He looked up and met my eyes in the mirror for a second, then quickly looked away. "Yeah, fine."

"Okay," I replied, not believing him, but pretending I did for the moment. "Hey, can you run down to the little shop thing they have in the lobby and grab me a bottle of Advil? I really don't think I'll be able to make it through the day without anything."

"Oh, uh, yeah." He exited the bathroom, leaving me alone to come up with reasons he might be acting so weird. He wasn't hungover, he seemed to be starting to get over me...

And then it hit me. An epiphany that caused me to drop my toothbrush in the sink and lose my breath.

Last night, he was sober. 

I was terribly, ridiculously drunk.

Oh God.

What did I do? Or say? Obviously something pretty bad if it caused him to be acting so... un-Ianish. I had so many secrets I could have spilled, so much I could have-

Oh no.

Oh no oh no oh no.

My drunken self, my horrible, uncontrollable self, probably spilled the beans. The beans that back after I kissed him on the beach, I thought I felt something towards him. I thought. 

God, this was bad. This was so bad.

Now that he knows, he's probably even more hurt than before. Or, hopefully I bothered to tell him that I realized that I actually didn't like him; I just got a random wave of missing her. If he thinks I like him now, well, that would really be bad. I would have to reject him twice.

But... as I stood there, in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at my long hair, sticking up in all directions, my face that desperately in need of a shave, I had yet another epiphany.

Ever since I'd been here, travelling around the country with Ian, something had been different. This whole time, I hadn't been too, like, depressed over the break-up. I didn't feel completely empty inside like usual. Despite losing the best relationship of my life, I was... happy. And it was because I was with Ian. And it wasn't just because I was spending all this time on a wonderful adventure with him. It was because of the little things. The little flirtatious things that would happen in the car that I was just now realizing were flirtatious. The time we accidentally fell asleep in the same bed and I didn't even care. The time in The Black Hills when we really almost kissed. The night in Myrtle Beach when we did kiss. Hell, we got married.    

And I was just now realizing that it was those things that were making this vacation amazing. That were making me happy.

I couldn't be in denial anymore. I couldn't brush it off, thinking it was just me missing my ex-girlfriend. I couldn't lie to myself anymore.

I liked Ian Hecox.

And I think I have for a long time.

I was gay, and I liked my best friend. And I really wanted to be with him. God, I wanted it so bad.

And the hard part was already over; he knew I liked him. Well, hopefully. Probably. 

But now for the hardest part: building up the courage to actually date him.      

A/N: :) How is this? I'm really sick right now and a little loopy from like seven different kinds of medecine, so sorry if there's like mistakes and whatever in here .-. So yeah! Happy weekend! See ya latah c: