Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

compatible cell phone charger because you don't answer unknown numbers and then you don't check your messages. Come and get us."
    Moose Creek. I knew where she was, and how she'd got there. It was an oddity of the "highway" that had lost half the climbing club once. "Okay, Mom. Just ask someone how to get onto Route 8, and then—"
    "Lukas, I'm done. If I have to spend another minute in the car with Will, I'm going to find a creek to drive into. Come and get us."
    Moose Creek was an hour and a half away. The round trip would take the rest of my day. I looked at Alan and he rolled his eyes, but put the lid back on the sparkly polish. I thought lustful thoughts about his hands and answered my mom. "I'll be there as fast as I can." My shirt landed in my lap and Alan slipped silently passed me, handing me a sock as he did. "I love you, Mom," I said, but my eyes were on Alan's bare ass.
    "If you love your brother, get here soon, Lukas," she said and hung up. Alan handed me my pants. I dropped them to grab him and let my hands wander, appreciating his skin.
    "I'm sorry," I said. "I have to—"
    "Yeah, I heard." He smacked the side of my head lightly. "Shower fast, unless you want to hug your mother smelling like sex. I'll find your stuff."
    "Thank you," I said, and kissed him quickly. When I was washed and dressed I tried to kiss him more thoroughly, but he shoved me out the door with orders to "hurry up and get your mother, you jerk."
    On the way to my truck I dialed home. "Lilia," I said when she picked up, "it's Lukas."
    She snickered. "I didn't expect to hear from you for a few days. Did you wear that poor boy out?"
    "Lilia, listen. Mom just called. She and Will got as far as Moose Creek and got lost. I'm on my way to get them now."
    "Marcia drove all the way from Indiana to save you from the gay? That idiot."
    "Lilia—"
    "Aye, forget I said that. But you listen, swabbie— don't let her hurt you. You can respect your mother and still think she's acting dumb as shit."
    "Yes, ma'am."
    "Marcia can use the guest room but the sofa won't hold Will— I'll figure something out. Call when you're an hour out and I'll order pizza."
    "Yes, ma'am."
    "And Lukas— I have no say in how she talks to you, lad. I'm not in that chain of command. But you let her know that if she runs Alan down I'll string her from the yardarm by her thumbs."
    I shouldn't have laughed, but I did. Lilia said she loved me and hung up. I checked my mirrors and backed out, already wondering if Mom and Will would be so tired they'd go to bed early and I could run back to Alan's for the night.
    Probably not a good plan, and not good to treat Alan like that anyway. He wasn't a pastime, an amusement to be fitted in when I didn't have more important things to do.
    I should take him out and show him that, actually take him out of the apartment on a date… I wished I'd thought of that sooner.
    I couldn't believe Mom had decided to drive over instead of just calling me back. What did she think she could do in person? I was twenty-one; she couldn't exactly drag me home in disgrace. And Alan, thank God, wasn't on a work visa or anything else she could affect even if she wanted to.
    That reminded me that I hadn't even talked to Alan about how he could stay at school. I'd done some investigating through a friend in the financial aid office— I'd made sure to make friends in the financial aid office my first semester— and there were a couple ways it might work, but I hadn't told Alan that. Of course, things had changed since then, and I liked the idea of Alan moving in with me and Lilia a lot better than trying to work some paperwork magic. Then his paycheck could go to tuition instead of rent, but getting him to move in would be tricky, navigating both his pride and Lilia's sensibilities. She adored Alan, but she didn't think "something for nothing" was good for us of the younger generation. Maybe if he was willing to cook?
    I really liked the idea of coming home to Alan every night. Listening to him and Lilia tell each other stories over a delicious dinner I didn't cook, doing homework with his legs thrown over mine in the dog-pile on the floor, taking his hand and leading him upstairs at bedtime… trying to get those amazing noises out of him without waking Lilia? Yeah, that might require a little more thought.
    Downtown Moose Creek was three stoplights long. Even in the rain I could have found the diner without Mom's twelve-year-old Crown Victoria in the tiny