Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 3

for you. And clearly I was right if you've been watching him like a creep all night."
    "Not all night," Aaron said petulantly.
    "You should go talk to him. The guy he's with is a jackass."
    "Then why is he with him?" Aaron asked. Granted, he disliked jackasses as much as the next non-jackassy guy or girl, but Aaron wasn't the sort of jerk to presume he knew better than someone else who that person should be spending time with. Though, if he'd picked up on the vibe that maybe Noah wasn't having the best time and had been looking for an opportunity to intervene if necessary, well, Katie didn't need to know his embarrassing drunken fantasies. As it was, Noah seemed to be able to handle his date just fine.
    "He's not, really. First date. He figured a party would be a good place to have it, since he doesn't really know the guy." She nudged him with her shoulder. "Come on, go talk to him."
    Aaron shrugged, feeling uncharacteristically shy about the prospect. "Naw, it's cool. I'm working my own angle here."
    "Your angle of creepy staring," Katie said flatly.
    "Trust me. I've got a whole plan worked out." He didn't. "He will be mine." He probably wouldn't. "Oh, yes..."
    "That's my cue to go back to where the fun people are." Katie patted his leg and stood up again, wobbled, righted herself, and headed back towards the kitchen.
    Aaron looked back to where Noah was standing, and for a second their eyes met, making Aaron panic during the time it took for his brain to register that there was no way Noah could've overheard his conversation with Katie from where he was. Then he just felt a little dumb and took another sip of his beer to cover for it. Perhaps it was best to bypass sloppy affection and proceed directly to drunk.
    ****
    They move to the couch once they're done with their pizza, both of them a little tipsy still, but neither of them ready to go to bed quite yet. They have stuff on the DVR to watch, and at least some of it should be entertaining in their current state.
    Aaron stretches out, grabbing one of the pillows and settling his head in Noah's lap, happy to let Noah control the remote and entertainment choices for the moment. Noah flips through the channels instead of the DVR and settles on the Food Network, which is a bad choice because it will just make them hungry.
    "No," Aaron says. He nods when Noah changes it to the Cartoon Network. "Better."
    Noah laughs and sets the remote down, starts running his fingers through Aaron's hair, which feels really nice. "Hey, you remember that party?"
    "At that one place that time?" Aaron shuts his eyes at Noah's continued petting, content to let him do what he will.
    "Shut up. Katie's birthday party, right before we met."
    "You shut up. Yeah, I remember. What about it?"
    "You were into me." Noah sounds smug enough that Aaron opens his eyes.
    "What, did Katie say something? You don't know that." The defense is only half-hearted. Noah looks so adorably pleased with himself.
    "She didn't need to." Noah cups his face and leans down to kiss him. It's an awkward angle, so it's little more than a peck. "Of all of the many wonderful things that you are, subtle is not one of them. I think the guy I was with thought you were my angry, jealous ex."
    Aaron laughs. "Come on. I was not that bad."
    "Maybe not. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't already been noticing you back."
    "You never told me that."
    "It didn't come up."
    "All this time." Aaron reaches up and laces their fingers together, resting their hands on his chest. "Any other confessions you want to make? Now's the time."
    Noah shakes his head. "Naw, I'm good."
    Aaron nods. "Hey, you know how they say, 'Today is the first day of the rest of your life?'"
    "Yeah. That's a dumb saying."
    "Shut up. I'm being romantic again." Aaron squeezes his fingers. "Today's kind of like that. Y'know. The first day of the rest of our lives."
    For a moment, it looks like Noah is going to insist on arguing against the saying, but he just nods and says, "Yeah, I guess it kinda is. Was. Is."
    "It was good, right? I mean, for a first day and stuff."
    "You're drunker than I thought." Noah grins, and before Aaron can take offense, adds, "It was. You know what's even better?"
    "What?"
    "The 'rest of our lives' part."
    "Come on." Aaron sits up with a newfound urgency and manages to get himself standing in an impressive display of coordination, if he does say so himself. "You are about to get so lucky. I am dead serious."
    "I'm pretty sure I