"Lafayette, I - oh. Sorry. I thought he was in here."
I stared flatly at Liam O'Hara. Who the hell did he think he was just barging right into the office? This is not his damn house. This is my house.
"Do you know when he'll be back?" he asked.
"Probably not for thirty minutes," I replied.
He sighed, and I expected him to leave, but he instead plopped onto the couch, the couch I sleep on while Lafayette is at his financial meeting. I really need to stop being jealous, but this guy sleeps with him. I can't help it. I'm a Taurus. Tauruses are jealous. Or so my horoscope says.
"So it's Emerson right?" Liam asked.
I looked up at him and nodded.
"Are you and Lafayette, like, together?"
"What?" I asked. "Of course not."
"Really?"
"Uh - yeah."
"But you two live together right?"
"Yes."
"You should ask him out."
"He said he was taking the year off," I stated flatly.
"From dating?"
"Yeah. Not from sleeping around, though."
"Just ask him out anyway. I'm sure he'd say yes. He says you're cute, funny, smart-"
"He thinks I'm smart?" I asked, surprised.
"Yeah. He says you know a lot of random stuff. Just the other day he said you know something about Isaac Asimov and-"
"He's the only author who has a book in every section of the Dewey Decimal system."
"See? How do you know that stuff?"
"I don't know. I watch Jeopardy a lot. When I was in high school and college I remembered all the weird facts and none that were actually going to be on the test. I dunno. I have pretty good memory, too. I just remember hearing about it." I never thought about it, but I guess I did know a lot of stuff. Nothing to do with math of course, but I did have a good memory and so I sort of remembered the stuff I find most interesting. Which is why I remember people that I think are interesting, and that's also why I didn't remember Liam at first because he's not interesting in any way, shape, or form. And you can say that's why I didn't retain much math either.
"He tells me a lot about you, you know? I don't know if he means to, but he'll just be telling me about his day and you're always in his story."
"Well I'm his assistant. I have to be with him everyday."
"Yeah, but the story sort of revolves around you. I think he likes you."
"He doesn't like me," I said, shaking my head.
"Why wouldn't he? He constantly talks about you. He buys you everything. You two are incredible friends. That sounds like something a boyfriend would do. So many people would love to be in your position and yet you aren't even dating. Yet." He smiled at me.
"Well why don't you date him?" I asked.
"He's really not my type. He's just a friend. I'm kind of like his confidante, too." Hm. Maybe Liam is to Lafayette as Owen is to me. "I'm into more earthy, laid-back guys. I like black guys, too." He laughed, and I sort of grew relieved.
"Black guys huh?" I asked.
"Yeah, like personality obviously matters but black men are so smart and aware of things and I really need that in my life," he said.
"Are you extremely busy right now?"
"No."
"Great. Let's go to lunch."
"What? I-"
"Come on. You're going to lunch with me." I grabbed his wrist and jerked him to his feet. We walked down the street to a small café. Meanwhile, I texted Owen and demanded that he meet us. Then maybe the two could end up liking each other and that would get Liam out of the picture. Liam and I ordered drinks first, trying to take my time deciding what to order so then Owen could show up. Luckily for me he wasn't too far away. I saw him through the window and waved at him, Liam seeing.
"I tell you I like black guys and so you try to set me up with the first black guy you know?" Liam asked.
"No. I set you up with one who is earthy and laid-back. He's a photographer and a writer. And he's a good cook."
He tried to act like he wasn't interested, but Owen was hot and he looked curious after I described him.
Owen came in and sat down with us at the table. "Hi," he greeted.
"Hi Owen," I replied. "This is Liam. Liam O'Hara. Liam, this is Owen Brave."
They said their hellos and talked briefly, kind of using me as an anchor, but after a while they talked casually and even flirted. I am such an amazing matchmaker. I said I had to go and they were fine with me leaving. I was glad to leave so then they could talk and freaking get together or something, and I also didn't have to pay. I walked back to the building and Lafayette was in the office again, his back to me as he did something with his planner. I jumped onto his back and he laughed, catching my legs.
"Can I help you with something?" he asked.
"No. I just don't want to walk," I replied.
"I can easily get you a wheelchair."
"You haven't been to the gym in a while. You can use me to lift today."
He laughed again and dropped me to my feet. "What do you want to do today? There's nothing else scheduled."
"Uh..." I thought about it, tilting my head. "I dunno," I said, sitting on the couch. I bit my lip, thinking. "Can we go to that one restaurant a few blocks over? It's really cozy and cute."
"Captain's? Sure, but it's only three o'clock."
"Alright. I would love to sleep before going to dinner."
"Sleep? Out of everything to do in this city you want to sleep?"
I shrugged. "I'm tired."
"Fine. We'll sleep."
"You don't have to. You can go to the gym."
"I don't want to go to the gym."
"Well what do you want to do?"
He stopped to think about it. "Let's go boating."
"Boating?"
"Yeah. I have a boat at a dock and we can go boating. We can just sail around and go fishing, get a tan."
"Okay. I suppose so."
We got changed into comfortable clothing, which was always something new to me when I saw Lafayette in anything but a suit, sweatpants, or pajamas. I wasn't use to seeing him in regular clothing. He put on a pair of white pants and a blue tank top along with some boat shoes. I put on my black shorts and my red tank top along with some flats. Man, how gay was I? We drove to a dock about thirty minutes away and he called for his boat. I had only been on small boats before on a lake, but his was a very nice big boat. I'm not a boat expert, so I can't say what kind it was. It was just big but not massive. I guess you can say it was meant for a smaller group of people, somewhere between four and ten. He sailed it out into the water, far away from any city noise so it was peaceful. It was a Wednesday, so there weren't that many boats out. He let me steer for a little while as he did...boat stuff...and once we got out pretty far he stopped the boat. He showed me around the boat, telling me what certain things were and then we went down to the bow where some long chairs were. I first put on sunscreen, because I burn pretty easily, but with sunscreen I get wonderfully tan. He put some on as well, and I wondered what he would look like with a nice sunny tan. He had a natural tan about him already because of genes, so a deeper tan would look sexy on him. Not saying pale people were ugly. I mean, I get really tan in the summer but really pale in the winter.
Anyway, I didn't exactly feel like fishing so I sat in a chair while I watched him fish.
"It's kind of cold," I said. It was a bit chillier than what I thought it was going to be.
"I think it feels perfect," he said. "There's a jacket in the cabin."
I stood up and walked into the small cabin. It was a cozy little area with a second floor. The first floor was the lounge, small bathroom, and kitchenette. The upstairs was the bedroom area. I didn't see a jacket on the first floor so I went up to the second floor. I hadn't been up to the second floor, he just told me it was the bedroom. It was a very nice room actually, and it wasn't as small as you would think. It had a dresser and a really big bed with satin, red sheets. There were lots of candles and windows all around. I realized that when he wanted to swoon someone this is a definite way to do it.
Oh. Is he trying to swoon me over? Oh my god. Is he really making a move on me? No. Yes? I can't get my hopes us, but damn. I do indeed hope he is trying to jump me. Then that way I don't have to worry about trying to find the right way to tell him. I found a jacket and slipped it on, feeling cute because it was big and was longer than my shorts, stopping mid-thigh. I went downstairs and opened the fridge. I grabbed some glasses and a bottle of wine, walking back out to the bow.
"Looks good on you," he said, peering at me over his glasses. He flicked them back up and looked at his line.
"Tell me about it. I should wear dresses more often."
He smirked at me as I handed him a glass of wine. He drank it all in one sip and held it out for me to pour more. I did so, sipping my own.
"When do we start traveling?" I asked.
"One week."
"Where to first?"
"We are going down south first. Through Mexico and the Caribbean islands, Latin America, South America. Then over to Africa. Then to Australia. Up to Asia, through some parts of Europe, and back home."
"When should we be home?"
"I have all the tickets bought in advance, and so we should arrive back home July 28th."
"We're going through all those countries in that amount of time?"
"Yep. For some places we'll be driving, but I also have a jet."
"Alright. Sounds fun."
"It will be. I love traveling. Even when I work it's still fun. I drink a lot more when I travel."
"Can't wait to see you drunk."
He laughed. "I'm a very fun drunk."
"Unlike me. I'm emotional, but that just makes it funny for everyone else."
Lafayette and I stayed on the boat for another hour or so. He caught a fish but tossed it back. He unfortunately didn't swoon me, even though the sunset looked beautiful over the water. No. He sailed it back to land and we went to the little restaurant. We luckily didn't have to change because it wasn't the fanciest. I liked it because the booths were really tall and so you couldn't see the people in the booths in front or behind you. We got tucked away into a corner, just the way I liked it. There was a candle in the center of the booth and it was cheaply cute and romantic I suppose.
"What're you afraid of?" I asked.
"Why do you ask?"
"I don't know. You don't seem too afraid of things."
"Nonsense. I'm afraid of a lot of things. I'm afraid of death of course. I mean, I just want to get things done before I die. I'm afraid of failure. I'm definitely afraid of rejection. I don't know. They're not the most extreme fears. My fears end up helping me actually."
I nodded. "So no spiders or snakes?"
"No. You can say I'm kind of afraid of commitment. Not entirely, but I'd be scared to get into a relationship due to all my history. Doctors kind of weird me out. You can say I'm kind of a hypochondriac. I don't think I have every disease, but when something feels sick or wrong then I think it's something serious. I hardly ever get sick, so that's probably why. My fears aren't the biggest things. Like the failure, rejection, and doctor thing isn't that big really. Small fears. What're you afraid of?"
"Well, I'm afraid of people I care about dying. I'm kind of afraid of germs. Like, bodily fluids. I always make sure the person I sleep with wears a condom. I had a dream where I got AIDS and it really freaked me out. So I hate poop, urine, semen, blood. I'm afraid of surgery, too. I had jaw surgery once. They had to give me an IV and the nurse said I would start to feel a little woozy. That was a lie. She stuck it in and I instantly was out. I remember her asking me if I needed help standing and I was like 'I got this.' I was slurring and laughing and I asked my mom if the kids in the waiting room looked scared. They weren't but the conversation on the way back was hilarious. I was just talking about everything and Mom couldn't understand a word I was saying."
He laughed. "I would've loved to have seen that. I had appendicitis when I was young. Then I broke a few fingers before and some ribs. That's about it, though."
"Tough guy."
He smiled and drank his drink. "So NYC Pride is Saturday."
"Yep."
"Know anyone going?"
"Other than you, me, my parents, some hometown friends, and Mr. and Mrs. Jameson no."
"Well I'm looking forward to it."
"Me, too. I went to a pride event once in my life with Alisha three years ago. It was so fun. I really can't wait. What should I wear? I feel the need to go shirtless because every other guy will be. I think I'll wear my cut-off jean shorts. Then my Toms I guess. I have a pair of rainbow suspenders, too. Yes. I have a game plan. What about you?"
"Probably just jeans and a NOH8 tank top."
"Alright. Sounds good."
On Saturday, Lafayette and I got dressed in our gay clothing. I forgot how good he looked in jeans. He didn't wear them that often but he looked so good in them. They were holey and just perfect on him. He had on his white NOH8 tank top and a bracelet, too. I dressed in my little jean cut-off shorts, my red Toms, and I put on the rainbow suspenders I never wore much. We drove to the parade route and found Mom, Dad, and Mr. and Mrs. Jameson. It completely spaced my mind, but Lafayette Jeff - a world famous businessman - was going to be walking in the NYC Pride parade. So he'd probably be posted in the media. Cool. Maybe photos of me will appear as well.
Mr. and Mrs. Jameson held up their sign while I held up a PFLAG sign. Lafayette was just going to wave at the crowd with my parents because everyone would recognize him. We were somewhere in the middle of the parade and I don't think I had ever seen so many people gathered. There were tons and tons of people, lining the streets, cheering and waving. A lot of younger guys like myself were wearing just underwear or short shorts. A lot of younger girls were wearing shorts with bikini tops. Then everyone else was just wearing gay pride clothing. It was so completely wonderful. I mean, so many gay people gathered together to just kick back and celebrate being gay. Forget the time they were in the closet. Forget the names they had been called. Here they all were, happily gathered together. Everyone waved at Lafayette, excited to see a hot, famous guy walking in the parade. I felt very flattered at all the cat-calls I got from guys as I held the stick of the sign up, letting everyone see my lovely torso and suspenders. Everyone always cheered for the PFLAG group because it was refreshing to see parents supportive. They always cheered for church groups, too, for the same reason. When they saw Mr. and Mrs. Jameson's sign they all cheered even louder, some people shouted "I love you!" or "You're wonderful!" or really nice things.
After the parade, everyone gathers in the park where a stage is set up and multiple people perform. There are tons of booths every where, for Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, all sorts of stuff. Then there are a lot of small shops set up where you can buy all sorts of rainbow gear. Plus there's amazing food. People have their own canopies set up along the edge of the middle field, where they just drink and sit together, playing cornhole or something. All the booths pass out little freebies, too, and tons of people take pictures with the gorgeous queens. Other people are dressed up in other costumes like Batman or Spiderman or My Little Pony. People dance to the music in the field, the MC being a really cute gay guy who is highly entertaining. There are spots to sit down and eat and just to have some fun and soak up the sun.
"Em!"
I turned around, trying to find the source of the voice. I spotted Owen by a booth for Homo magazine. He was shirtless, wearing breezy white pants. I bounced over to him and said, "Why hello."
"Hey," he replied. "Great to see you here."
"Yeah, were you in the parade?"
"No, I was just watching. I saw you, by the way."
"Yeah, I was with my parents and neighbors. Mom!" I shouted for Mom and she walked over, pulling Dad along. "Mom, you remember Owen right?"
"Oh right, from the party. Nice to see you sweetie," Mom said.
"Very nice to see you, too ma'am."
Mr. and Mrs. Jameson came over and I introduced them as well. Owen had a nice conversation with them, interviewing them. They were very happy to tell him about Kenneth and their message. They exchanged emails so they could contact each other again. Homo magazine was going to do a spread on NYC pride and so they were interviewing a lot of people, but the Jamesons were definitely going to have a column. I pulled Lafayette over so he could be interviewed, too. He talked about how he was very supportive of the LGBTQ community and how the environment was always a pleasant one to visit. He didn't hint at his sexuality or anything. Owen took a picture of the Jamesons, then one of Lafayette and I, then one of me, Lafayette, my parents, and the Jamesons. He gave us all an issue of the new magazine, too, and when I flipped to the feature section Liam was the featured homo that week.
"So are you and Liam an item?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said, smiling. "We're getting there. Thanks for, you know, setting us up."
"No problem."
Once Lafayette and I walked away from the booth, he asked me, "You set him up with Liam?"
"Yeah. Liam came in the other day and said what type of guys he liked and Owen really fit that description."
He laughed, saying, "Hopefully things work out."
"Hopefully."
Once it got to around five in the evening we retreated back to the flat, tired and sweaty from the hot, fun day. Some time later I looked online and saw some articles of Lafayette at Pride. Apparently, when I must not have been looking or something, he was interviewed by other journalists there, and he said the same thing he basically said to Owen. "I'm a big support of the LGBTQ community and pride events are always a joy to go to. I came with one of my friends, his parents, and some of their friends. We helped support the PFLAG group they had and I'm looking forward to next year." Only one journalist other than Owen had interviewed me, and so I guess other journalists took that quote from the one. I had said, "One of my friends committed suicide when I was young because of his sexuality, and his parents invited Lafayette and I to come join their PFLAG group in the parade. My parents are in the PFLAG group as well because I'm gay, and Lafayette is a great friend and supporter. These pride events are always fun because I love being surrounded by all sorts of gay people. Gay people really know how to party." They took multiple photos that I didn't know were being taken, and luckily I wasn't making a derp face in any of them. Some were from the parade, others were from us just walking, and there was only one where Lafayette and I actually posed, which is the one they used a lot over the internet. I looked cute but stupid at the same time. I had a leg popped up, hands on hips, and I was looking at the camera over my glasses, giving an open-mouthed smile while Lafayette just had his arm around my waist, smiling at the camera like a normal person. None of the articles said he was gay or anything, but a couple pointed out how Lafayette never says his sexuality. Then all the comments underneath say that he is totally gay and that I'm definitely his boyfriend. Whatever. I'm not his boyfriend. And he's not gay. He's bisexual. God, whenever I think that through my mind, that he's bisexual, it just turns me on.
An issue of Homo magazine came out again and I read the part with Mr. and Mrs. Jameson, them getting a page. They had emailed Owen some pictures of Kenneth, and one of them actually had me in it. The page on the right side of theirs was kind of about them, kind of about the PFLAG group and me and Lafayette. There were the pictures he had taken of us, his interview with me and then Lafayette. I felt so kick-ass. I was in national news and all the pictures of me were super cute.
"Do you have everything packed?" Lafayette asked me as I sat on the bed, flipping through the magazine.
"Yep," I said. "All my clothes, shoes, toiletries, and all that other stuff."
"Good. We leave tomorrow at ten."
I sighed. "Alright. I've never flown before."
"It'll be fine. It's my own personal jet. I'll be flying."
"What!"
"I'm kidding. I did get my pilot's license a few years ago, though."
"Is there anything you can't do."
"I can't ride a mechanical bull for more than a minute."
I just stared at him, trying to figure his weirdness out.
The next morning, we flew down to Mexico with Michael and Emilio. Vince was staying at the office to maintain things there. Donald was returning for the summer to help. I had to call my mom once we landed, or else she would think the plane crashed. I told her it was more likely I'd die in a car crash than a plane crash, but she pointed out the fact I didn't drive. Anyway, we went to a nice hotel in Mexico City and went to the penthouse. We got some sleep and the next morning we had to meet at the new Lafayette Inc. building. He had hired a woman named Lola Perez to be in charge of the Lafayette Inc. in Mexico. He would always inform her for all the things necessary and he would occasionally stop by to check up on her and the company.
I was surprised when it didn't take long. It really only took a few hours. There was some official stuff they had to do, some pictures taken, and then we all went to lunch together. We had a few hours before we had to check out of the hotel, and so we explored some parts of Mexico. I made sure to buy souvenirs, because I always wanted to keep something from all the places I go. We visited the Chichen Itza pyramids before we left, and I loved it because I totally believed the alien theories. I felt like aliens were just going to come back and see what humans have done. Anyway, we checked out and then flew over to the Caribbean. That's all there was to it. Two days and one night in each place. Seriously. I was expecting to crash at each place for at least a week, but then I thought about it. We had so many countries to go to, and he planned on being back in late July. For some places, we didn't even stay two days. We stayed one day, slept on the plane, and arrived to a new place. That's the way it was for some of the Caribbean Islands. I mean, we still had some fun. We made sure to buy some things, take pictures, and see the must-see things. He said we were going to stay longer in places he actually wanted to visit. Like once we made it to Brazil we stayed longer.
We visited the Christ the Redeemer statue, getting pictures by it. Michael demanded we go to a nudist beach, too, and I wouldn't miss a chance to see Lafayette naked. So we went there and I tried to tell myself I would not be the worst thing to look at on this beach. Emilio and Lafayette went to the water while Michael and I sat on the beach towels. For some reason I always thought Lafayette would have an average penis. It's just, with perfect guys, you'd think they're perfect everywhere except for down there. Turns out, he's pretty perfect all around. Tight ass and a nice penis. Michael wouldn't stop teasing me about how I couldn't keep my eyes off of him, but I really couldn't. I just wanted to jump him so bad.
Anyway, another place we stayed long in was Peru, because Lafayette has always wanted to see Machu Picchu. The four of us went to it after business, and it was really surreal. It was another place that aliens were highly talked about, and that just made me giddy being there. I was so glad when Lafayette said he liked the alien theories, too, because then I looked less crazy. We got our picture taken and I made sure to send these all to Mom. I also decided to tweet them. I hadn't been on Twitter in forever, and coming back after a few months I had a lot more followers. I never checked the email account that I went with it because I had a new one, and so I didn't know people started to follow me. They mentioned Lafayette a lot when they tweeted me, and so I figured after people had seen me in the news with Lafayette then they followed me, which was cool and so I happily tweeted my photos.
While we were in Peru, we ventured into the Amazon. Not alone of course. We just road a boat through it and looked at the remote land around it. I really liked South America actually. People were so kind, the food was great, and the scenery was, too. The last thing we saw in Peru were the Nazca Lines, which are ancient lines drawn in the desert. Definite aliens. We got to fly up in a helicopter to check them out and once again I tweeted these photos gladly. I only had a few things to do when it came to handling the business, but otherwise I didn't care. I was just excited to check everything out. We got to see the world's largest lake, Lake Titicaca. We went to Argentina and checked out the Iguaza Falls. We went to Buenos Aires where we partied. Then the last thing we did in South America was go to Easter Island and look at the big head sculptures, which are so totally sculptures of alien heads. Duh.
We then went to a few countries in Africa, and I was looking forward to that because of the Egyptian Pyramids, Victoria Falls, and the safari we were going to go on. We went to Morocco, and I love Moroccan fashion so I made sure to buy some gorgeous clothing. We went to the Egyptian Pyramids as well, me referring to ancient aliens again. We went on a safari, going up in a hot air balloon and seeing the "Big Five." We also relaxed on some beaches because some countries have beautiful beaches. We saw the Nile river. We saw Victoria Falls, one of the biggest waterfalls in the world. We got to swim right up to the edge of it with a guide, and we also got to bungee jump off of a bridge. No joke. They even have a camera so you can see your reaction when you fall.
We had a change of plans and instead went to the Middle East instead of Australia. As I continued not to care about the business crap, we rode camels in the desert near Dubai, we then explored Dubai, we explored the ancient ruins of Petra, we took a dip in the Dead Sea, we trekked through the beautiful Wadi Rum Valley, we saw Jerusalem and took part in traditions there, we dived in the Red Sea, we saw the beautiful Oman sights, we visited the beautiful Pamukkale hot springs, and visited Alexandria.
"I can't wait to see India," I said, lying on a bed on a plane that wasn't his as we headed to Asia.
"You know, this is a business trip," Lafayette told me.
"Whatever. This is a vacation with some work involved."
"You can say that."
"Be honest. You could've done all of the business crap through email. You just wanted to travel."
"Maybe I did."
"Hell yeah you did. I love India so much. We definitely have to see the Taj Mahal of course. I wish the Holi Festival were this time of year. Next March we so have to take part in that."
He laughed. "You really like travelling huh?"
"Duh. I've done more stuff on my bucket list in a matter of weeks than in the rest of my life. We should go scuba-diving, sky-diving, white-water rafting, hang-gliding."
"We'll see what we do."
After that conversation, Lafayette started to think less about the work aspect of everything. We ended up ahead of schedule and so we had the chance to stay in some places longer, much to my joy. I told him that we could visit more places in Europe, too, since we were only going to see a few countries there.
So, in Asia, we did a lot. We saw many sights in Sri Lanka, saw the Taj Mahal, saluted the sun at Bhanggarh, met a holy monkey, flew over the Himalayas during the sunrise, paid to visit Bhutan, lit a yak-butter candle for fertility, climbed to the Tiger's Nest, sailed in Vietnam, participated in Angor Wat, gave an elephant a bath, gave an offering to a monk, visited the peaceful Bali, walked through rice fields while sipping watermelon juice, saw the Forbidden City, walked on the Great Wall of China, saw the Terracotta warriors, walked through a bamboo forest, ate so much delicious foods (I take back what I said earlier about disliking Asian food, I just needed to have authentic Asian food to come around), saw Tokyo fashion, received a jukai blessing at the Garan complex in Kyosan, and lastly went sky-diving.
"So, where exactly are we going now? Australia?" I asked.
"Yep. Finally heading there," he said. Lafayette was really looking forward to Australia. We were actually going to spend the longest time there. He said there were many things he wanted to do, and since he was the one that always came up with the ideas of what to do, I knew it would be fun. He said he planned on getting hammered in our time in Australia as well, and so I was looking forward to that.
We first went to Perth, where we saw tons of horses and races. We swam with dolphins, too, visited some concerts, went to Gold Coast where we kayaked from the ocean to a mountain. We also watched a movie outdoors in pale moonlight. We showered in a waterfall, swam in the Great Barrier Reef, four-wheel drove through the desert, went bowling barefoot, and then went ghost hunting through the Rocks. We watched an opera in Sydney Opera House and also partied there as well.
Even though we did all that, Lafayette still had some other ideas. We took his jet and flew to a camper's house in the outback. He did his research to find it, and so we flew out to it, almost in the middle of the outback. It was one square house with no other civilization for miles. There were two jeeps out there as well and the house was stocked with food and water. He said people came out there weekly to stock it up for visitors.
Emilio and Michael stayed inside for a lot of the time, though, because Michael had some serious sunburn and he wasn't feeling too good because of it. So while they were inside, Lafayette pulled me outside. "Come on, Em. You have to see this."
"What is it?" I asked, not exactly sure why he wanted to come to the outback. It was hot, the ground was hard, and there could be snakes anywhere.
"Stand here," he said, positioning me so I was facing the horizon. "Alright, now look. There are no trees anywhere on this horizon. Look all along it."
"Okay. I'm looking."
"Do you see it?"
"I'm guessing not."
"The curvature of the Earth, Em. Look again. You can start to see the horizon curve."
And I did see it. It was a very small curve, but you could see it.
"It's almost impossible to see this anywhere else in the world."
"It's amazing," I said, finally seeing something he saw. "I could've sworn the Earth was flat."
He laughed, locking his arms with mine from behind me. I grew a little red, but let it happen anyway. He seemed so awed by everything I don't think he really paid attention to what he was doing. "We're camping out here tonight," he said.
"But there are snakes."
"Don't worry about snakes. They won't come anywhere near us."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
Emilio and Michael didn't camp out with us, but they managed to come out for a few minutes to see the curvature. Lafayette and I set up a few thick blankets for cushion and then grabbed some pillows and another blanket to cover us up. Though since it wasn't night it wasn't getting cold out at all. We pulled out some beer and food, having a little picnic as we watched the sunset. I wanted him to get drunk, just to see what he was like drunk, but he wanted to watch the sunset, look at the stars, and then watch the sunrise. He said he'd get drunk tomorrow.
The sunset was really beautiful. You could clearly see the sun go down on the horizon, which was just amazing to me. The sun actually looked bigger, or maybe there were no buildings that made it look smaller. Either way, it was stunning. Plus, Lafayette looked gorgeous as the fading sunlight hit him. Once the sun was completely below the horizon, no glimpses of orange hanging above, it was completely dark, and the darkness was pure darkness. Lafayette pulled me back down on the makeshift bed, and I was even more amazed as I looked up at the night sky. Never in my life had I ever seen so many stars, and I'm not exaggerating.
"Australia is the only place in the world where you can see as many stars as possible with the naked eye," he said. "In the outback, since there are basically no artificial lights or anything, you can see the stars that ancient civilizations saw. In every other place in the world there are too many lights, even in remote places like in Siberia. Still too many lights, and yet you can see a lot of stars in Siberia, too. So just look at this. This is what the Mayans saw. The Aztecs, the Egyptians. People get so excited to see the Milky Way, to see a shooting star, or to see the Auroras, but when you're out here you can see so much of it naturally."
He was right. Within all those stars, I saw the Milky Way, the dazzling blurriness of the stars' lights. I saw shooting stars like they happened all the time. Though then I was shocked when I saw the green light. "What is that?" I asked.
"It's the Aurora Australis."
"I thought it was called the Aurora Borealis."
"Those are the northern lights. The Aurora Australis are the southern lights. They're less famous than the northern ones, but still just as mesmerizing. They don't normally reach up to here, so this is just a special night then."
I smiled, gazing at the faded green light on the horizon. I rested my head on Lafayette's chest and he covered us with the blanket as it started to get cold. It was beautiful, really it was. The Milky Way, shooting stars, the southern lights were above me, while the beating of his heart was below me. I wanted to stay like that forever, and that's when the bombshell happened.
I didn't just like Lafayette. I was in love with him.
And that changed everything. Before, I thought I just liked him. I wasn't sure what I wanted from him and so I wasn't sure if I should tell him. Though now I know what I want from him. I want to be with him. Forever. I wanted to marry him, have kids with him, grow old with him, die with him. I. Love. Him. I loved him. And as we lied there in the most beautiful place we had ever been to, it was the perfect time to tell him how I truly felt.
I lifted my head up, saying, "Hey-" but stopped. He was asleep. I smiled, watching his peaceful face. I leaned down and as gently as possible I kissed him, just barely grazing his lips. I rested my head back onto his chest.
Well, there's always tomorrow I suppose.