best.” I hoped he knew that I appreciated how much he’d changed to include me in his life.
“I had no other choice. It’s all about you, Pix.” He kissed the top of my head before spinning me and then letting me return to his arms.
“What’s all about me?” I mean, I could understand the prom and the dress all seemed so important for the girl.
“My life.” It was simply how it was for Gaze.
I had no words then. Between the love I felt and his devotion, I could only kiss him to let him know how I felt. He tasted my lips and gently nibbled on the bottom one. He gave me shivers.
“Hey, you kids break it up.” I recognized Austin’s voice after gasping broke our kiss.
“Hey, brother.” Gaze smiled and then turned to me. “He’s going to take our, ” he did air quotes, “‘official’ pictures. I thought we’d do it before we totally ruined your dress.”
“Oh my.” I covered my mouth, pretending to be scandalized. Gaze quickly tried to fix it.
“With dirt. Your dress is getting dirty. I noticed on the swings!”
Austin was close enough to hear us. “So, you know I’m down if you guys ever want to be swingers.”
Gaze rolled his eyes. “With as much as I’m paying this photographer, you’d think he’d leave the dirty jokes at home.”
They gave each other the handshake that I was now used to. “Thanks for coming out here.”
“Honestly, I’m stoked to get some of these outdoor pics. It’s hard to get indoor pictures to feel quite as alive.” Austin had a duffle bag and a wireless ring light with him.
Now that I thought about it, when reviewing Austin’s Instagram, it focused on the fashion and content, but a huge skill he had was capturing images.
“I’m down. This seems right for tonight.” I went to my toes and fixed Gaze’s hair that I had mussed up when we were kissing.
And then we had our photoshoot. It was so unstiff. Austin had us laughing and posing, even when we didn’t know we were actually doing it. He dragged us back to the swings, and we kicked the kids off again, which made them grumble. My job was to swing and flip my head back so my hair and the dress would follow the same line, whatever that meant. Then we kissed a few times, staged by Austin.
After seeing the images, I was thrilled. We looked so in love. You could see it all. The way we grew up. The bond between us was beyond all the normal things teenagers worried about.
I thanked Austin and hugged him, even though I’d see him in just a few. Gaze had a few more stops on our DIY prom, so we wished Austin well.
“Hungry for some dessert?” Gaze put his hand on my lower back. I stilled, just warmth from his hands. I didn’t tell him that I was scared his touch would remind me of the things I hated to remember. But not yet. Not tonight. So we continued. The past was buried tonight. We strolled to our favorite Creamsicle dealer and Gaze got us each a pop just before he closed down for the night.
“There is literally nothing better than this on a hot day.” We toasted the Creamsicles. We had to pause to thank random passersby for the compliments on our outfits. Gaze grinned at me proudly every time someone told me I looked beautiful. It was perfect. But the humidity was picking up now that the breeze was breaking down.
I heard the telltale laughter echoing off the buildings and I knew. This time I took charge of the date and pulled Gaze behind me after we tossed out our popsicle sticks.
“How about some fireworks?” I pointed at the fire hydrant shooting crystal clear water into the air as the kids ran through it. Friday night had a different feel around the neighborhood, even when we were kids. There was a joy in it. The kids were up late, but still allowed to play. I twirled under the spray, feeling a little guilty that Austin’s hard work was getting destroyed, until Gaze took off his jacket and joined me. He picked me up in his arms and spun. I held the edge of my dress so all the kids around us would get sprayed like a sprinkler from my wet train. Gaze stepped out of the water to let us catch our breath and let me stand on my feet. One of