He pauses for a moment, and my eyes flutter open, and he smiles, so I smile back. And then he leans in to kiss me again, sweet and feather-soft. And it’s almost too perfect. Almost too Disney. This can’t actually be me.
Ten minutes later, we’re holding hands and eating Oreo mush, and it’s the perfect lunch. More Oreos than milk. And I never would have remembered spoons, but he did. Of course.
“So now what?” I ask.
“We should probably go back to school.”
“No, I mean, us. I don’t know what you want. I don’t know if you’re ready to be out,” I say, but he taps along the creases in my palm with his thumb, and it makes me lose focus.
His thumb stops tapping, and he looks at me, and then he twines his fingers through mine. I lean back, tilting my head toward him.
“I’m all in, if you are,” he says.
“All in?” I say. “Like what? Like boyfriend?”
“I mean, yeah. If that’s what you want.”
“That’s what I want,” I say. My boyfriend. My brown eyed, grammar nerd, soccer star boyfriend.
And I can’t stop smiling. I mean, there are times when it’s actually more work not to smile.
That night, as of 8:05, Bram Greenfeld is no longer Single on Facebook—a.k.a. the best thing that has ever happened in the history of the internet.
At 8:11, Simon Spier is no longer Single either. Which generates about five million Likes and an instantaneous comment from Abby Suso: LIKE LIKE LIKE.
Followed by a comment from Alice Spier: Wait—what?
Followed by another comment from Abby Suso: Call me!!
I text her and tell her I’ll talk to her tomorrow. I think I want to keep the details to myself tonight.
Instead, I call Bram. I mean, I almost can’t believe I didn’t have his number until yesterday. He picks up right away.
“Hi,” he says, quickly and softly. Like the word belongs to us.
“Big news on Facebook tonight.” I sink backward onto my mattress.
His quiet laugh. “Yeah.”
“So what’s our next move? Do we keep it classy? Or do we blast everyone’s newsfeeds with kissing selfies?”
“Probably the selfies,” he says. “But just a couple dozen a day.”
“And we have to shout out our anniversary every week. Every Sunday.”
“Well, and every Monday for our first kiss.”
“And a couple dozen posts every night about how much we miss each other.”
“I do miss you, though,” he says.
I mean, Jesus Christ. What a week to be grounded.
“What are you doing right now?” I ask.
“Is that an invitation?”
“I wish it was.”
He laughs. “I’m sitting at my desk, looking through my window, and talking to you.”
“Talking to your boyfriend.”
“Yeah,” he says. I can hear him smiling. “Him.”
“All right.” Abby accosts me at my locker. “I’m about to lose it. What the heck is going on with you and Bram?”
“I’m, uh.” I look at her and smile as a wave of heat rises in my cheeks. She waits. And I shrug. I don’t know why it’s so weird talking about this.
“Oh my gosh. Look at you.”
“What?” I ask.
“Blushing.” She pokes my cheeks. “I’m sorry, but you’re so cute, I can’t even stand it. Just go. Keep walking.”
Bram and I have English and algebra together, which basically amounts to two hours of staring longingly at his mouth and five hours of longingly imagining his mouth. Instead of lunch, we sneak into the auditorium, and it’s strange seeing the stage stripped of the set for Oliver! The school talent show is on Friday, and someone’s already hung spangled gold tassels in front of the curtains.
We’re alone in the theater, but it feels too big, so I take Bram by the hand and pull him into the boys’ dressing room.
“Aha,” he says as I fiddle with the latch. “This is a doors-locked kind of activity.”
“Yup,” I say, and then I kiss him.
His hands fall to my waist, and he pulls me in closer. He’s only a few inches taller than me, and he smells like Dove soap, and for someone whose kissing career began yesterday, he has seriously magical lips. Soft and sweet and lingering. He kisses like Elliott Smith sings.
And then we pull out chairs, and I twist mine around sideways so I can rest my legs across his lap. And he drums his hands across my shins, and we talk about everything. Little Fetus being the size of a sweet potato. Frank Ocean being gay.
“Oh, and guess who was apparently bisexual,” Bram says.
“Who?”
“Casanova.”
“Freaking Casanova?”
“For real,” he says. “According to my dad.”
“You’re telling me,” I say, kissing his fist, “that your dad told you Casanova was bisexual.”
“It was his response to me coming out.”
“Your dad is amazing.”
“Amazingly awkward.”
I love his wry smile. I love watching him relax around me. I mean, I love this. Everything. He leans forward to scratch his ankle, and my heart just twists. The golden brown skin on the nape of his neck.
Everything.
I float through the rest of the day, and he’s all I can think about. And then I text him as soon as I get home. Miss you sooooo much!!!
I mean, it’s a joke. Mostly.
He texts back immediately. Happy two day anniversary!!!!!!
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Becky Albertalli's books
- Grounded (Up In The Air #3)
- In Flight (Up In The Air #1)
- Mile High (Up In The Air #2)
- THE BRONZE HORSEMAN
- The Summer Garden
- Bait: The Wake Series, Book One
- Into the Aether_Part One
- The Will
- Reparation (The Kane Trilogy Book 3)
- The Rosie Project
- The Shoemaker's Wife
- TMiracles and Massacres: True and Untold Stories of the Making of America
- The Death of Chaos
- The Paper Magician
- Bad Apple - the Baddest Chick
- The Meridians
- Lord John and the Hand of Devils
- The White Order
- Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
- The Ripper's Wife
- The Wizardry Consulted
- The Boys in the Boat
- Killing Patton The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General
- It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways
- The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry
- The Pecan Man
- The Orphan Master's Son
- The Light Between Oceans
- The Edge of the World
- All the Light We Cannot See- A Novel
- Daisies in the Canyon
- STEPBROTHER BILLIONAIRE
- The Bone Clocks: A Novel
- The Magician’s Land
- The Broken Eye
- The High Druid's Blade
- The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
- All the Bright Places
- The Other Language
- The Secret Servant
- The Escape (John Puller Series)
- The Atopia Chronicles (Atopia series)
- The Warded Man
- Return of the Crimson Guard
- The Line
- The Source (Witching Savannah, Book 2)
- Return of the Crimson Guard
- The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Last Town (The Wayward Pines Trilogy 3)
- The Man In The High Castle
- The Fiery Cross
- The Merchant of Dreams: book#2 (Night's Masque)
- The Prince of Lies: Night's Masque - Book 3
- The Alchemist of Souls: Night's Masque, Volume 1
- The Space Between
- An Echo in the Bone
- A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows
- The Killing Moon (Dreamblood)
- The Crush
- IMMUNE(Book Two of The Rho Agenda)
- The Last Threshold
- The Second Ship
- The Rift
- Homeland (Book 1 of the Dark Elf trilogy)
- Exile (Book 2 of the Dark Elf trilogy)
- The Winter Sea
- The Girl on the Train
- The Escape
- The Forgotten
- The Burning Room
- The Golden Lily: A Bloodlines Novel
- The Whites: A Novel
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The Clifton Chronicles 4
- Clifton Chronicles 02 - The Sins of the Father
- Mightier Than the Sword
- The City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments 4)
- The Blood of Olympus
- The Shadow Throne
- The Kiss of Deception
- Ruin and Rising (The Grisha Trilogy)
- The Nightingale
- The Darkest Part of the Forest
- The Buried Giant
- Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles: Levana's Story
- The Assassin and the Desert
- The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
- To All the Boys I've Loved Before
- The Deal
- The Conspiracy of Us
- The Glass Arrow
- The Orphan Queen
- The Winner's Crime
- The First Bad Man
- The Return
- Inside the O'Briens
- Demon Cycle 04 - The Skull Throne
- The Raven
- The Secret Wisdom of the Earth
- Rusty Nailed (The Cocktail Series)
- The Lies of Locke Lamora