Fanboy (boyxboy)

Epilogue

One Year Later....

Bryce drove himself to the church that afternoon and picked a parking spot he figured was far enough away that he didn't look stupid but where no one would park right next to him. He was still getting used to the fact he didn't have to have anyone in the car with him anymore and parking lots made him really nervous. The fact that he had Eli's old car helped a little. It was the car he'd learned to drive in and he'd thought Eli was joking the day he got his provisional license and Eli handed the keys to him. It didn't feel real until Eli came home the next afternoon with a brand new car that cost more than a year's tuition at school. Clay had joked that he must be having a midlife crisis but Bryce hadn't been able to laugh. Adam hadn't laughed either.

Skye was already setting up when Bryce walked in so he dropped his bag in the church office under Skye's desk and rushed back to help. They finished with plenty of time before the rest of the group would get there so Bryce sat on one of the tables to wait.

"How was surgery today?" Skye sat down too, a big cardboard box on the table between them. Over the year Bryce had started to admit Skye wasn't so bad. They were kind of like friends, at least to the point that Bryce accepted his follow request on Instagram, but he drew the line at texting. If Skye needed to talk to him about a youth group thing he had to use GroupMe.

"Basically the best thing I've ever seen," Bryce was working with Dr. Burton again that summer and earlier that day he'd gotten to watch an open heart surgery from inside the operating room instead of watching through a window. "Want to see pictures?"

"No, that's disgusting," Skye shuddered and pulled out his phone. "Hey, what do you think of this?"

"What is it?" Bryce took the phone from Skye. There was a picture of a dark grey ring on the screen. "It looks nice."

"Do you think Branden will like it though?"

"Skye. You're not asking him to marry you."

"Uh, I think I am," Skye laughed and took his phone back.

"You can't seriously marry him. You've known him like 10 minutes," Bryce protested.

"When you know, you know," Skye shrugged and opened another picture. "He's a nice guy and he's really cute."

"Cute, yes. But you've literally only known him...what, 3 months?" Bryce tried to remember back when Skye first told him he was meeting Branden.

"5. I know that's fast, but I'm sure it's the right thing," Skye held out his phone so Bryce could see the latest picture of them together.

"It's the insane thing. What did Pastor Ben say?"

"Something like what you're saying. But you don't know him."

"Neither do you," Bryce laughed. "You're just doing this so you can have sex."

"No, I'm not. I'm excited to have sex but that's not why," Skye insisted.

"If you say so," Bryce shrugged. He could hear voices in the hall and knew their conversation was about to end.

"I do. And I'm going to ask him," Skye stood up and put his phone away. "And yes, once we're married, I'm going to enjoy having all the sex we want. I'm so tired of waiting, you have no idea."

"Actually, I think I do have a good idea but you still don't see me running off and proposing to Nick."

"That's because you're still in high school. Also because you don't know what you're missing, which is a good thing."

"I so do, not that it's any of your business."

"Watching videos of it is not the same as doing it," Skye shrugged. "Whatever, I'm buying the ring tomorrow. We're going hiking on Friday, I'm going to ask him then."