Where to Find Love (MXM) ✔

Chapter 52

Eduardo Garcia

I looked across the club to where Isaiah sat at a table in the corner. Kiet and Liz sat across from him mostly engrossed with each other, but occasionally Liz would try to engage Isaiah in conversation. Isaiah had his laptop open in front of him. He used a program to create bridges. It wasn't a school project or anything, he just had fun doing it. It was like a game to him. I wanted to be next to him, but New Year's Eve was one of our more turbulent nights. Young adults came back to the city right before classes started again and everyone wanted to celebrate the old year turning into the new year.

Marcos danced on the dance floor surrounded by other young college students. Levi was back. He was out of rehab and from what he told me earlier, it was the first night his parents had let him out of the house since. He had no idea I was the one behind his parents finding out about his drug use. He refused when any meth or anything else was offered to him, but there was hunger in his eyes each time the drug was offered to him. The person who had taken up being Marcos's friend - Brian Scotts - since Levi disappeared was nowhere to be seen tonight.

My eyes drifted further onto the dance floor where a group of young women were beginning to argue with another group of young women. Dancers around them stopped to stare as one young woman pushed another and then they were all going at each other, pulling hair, slapping, punching, kicking, biting. The normal bouncers were already on their way, but they were going to need help with that group so I moved in to help them. It took all of us to kick the two groups of women outside. Even there they argued until we urged them into taxis and away from the club. They were no longer our problem.

I went back inside and immediately looked for Isaiah. He was in the same spot, doing the same thing, sipping on Sprite and ignoring Liz and Kiet who were now making out on the other side of the table.

The night passed with my eyes switching from Isaiah to the rest of the crowds. I wasn't sure how I lucked out to get such a great boyfriend. I was sure there weren't too many people who would just hang out by themselves on New Year's Eve at the place their boyfriend worked. Especially since it was a place he hated being in the first place.

About a minute to midnight, I made my way to his table. Liz and Kiet had made their way to the dance floor so he was alone but he didn't mind. He looked up at me and smiled. A smile automatically came to my lips in return. I reached out my hand to him. He grabbed his laptop, but his other hand took mine. He stood up next to me and met my eyes as I stared at him. Neither of us had said we loved each other, but it was clear in our eyes that we did, it was clear in the way our bodies joined and entwined together. I wasn't even sure it needed to be said. We knew we loved each other even if we didn't vocalize it.

The count down to the new year started all around us, but I could only see him. When the count down hit zero, cheers went up all around us. People kissed. I stared at him a moment longer as he tilted his head back expectantly for the kiss. The corners of my mouth barely turned up into a smile at his gesture. I bent down and pressed my lips to his.

For the first time since high school, I had hope for my future. I had hope for a life with Isaiah. That was something I had never thought possible. Not with anyone. But especially not with a college student eight years younger than me. Love was funny like that. It crept in and took over. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him deeper into the kiss. He wrapped one arm around my neck while his laptop was tucked underneath his other arm. Our lips continued to move with each other as other people went back to dancing or leaving the club all together now that midnight had hit.

We finally pulled apart and I saw it in his eyes as I felt it in my heart. He was thinking of our love as a permanent thing. Not something temporary we could back out of at any time. We had already been through so much together.