Man In Motion - 13. Claire’s Wedding

July 15, 1985

Claremont, OH

The plane lifted off from Claremont, headed for Paris. We'd have to get fuel along the way, probably in Canada or Iceland, but that was just a small blip on the journey. The plane had been configured so there were two bedrooms with two beds, which would have been more than adequate except we had five people. I smiled to myself, wondering how that would work out.

“So what are you going to do in Paris, JP?” Stefan asked.

“I've been communicating with the people in charge of the Louvre, and they've agreed to let me survey some of their excavation work.”

“Excavation? At the Louvre?” Stefan seemed amazed by that. It was a bit surprising.

“Yes. It's fascinating. They've dug up the courtyard, and they're working their way down to the original castle.”

“The Louvre was a castle? I thought it was a palace?” Robbie asked.

“It started out as a castle, built in the late 12th century. Over the years they've built on top of it, so now they're excavating below, trying to expose that original castle to the degree possible without damaging the palace above it.”

“That sounds incredible, Dad. Maybe you can get us in to see it too?” I asked. I never expected the Louvre to be the site of a major archaeological dig.

“We'll see,” he said.

“So if you are going to be at the Louvre, and the boys are going to be in the Latin Quarter, an obvious place to live would be the Île de la Cité.” Stefan seemed lost in his imagination as he said this, dreaming of the city of his birth.

“That would be perfect Stefan, but it is rare to find places to live there. Unless you have bought the Conciergerie or Notre-Dame?” JP teased.

“You always underestimate me. We will see about that,” Stef said, pretending to be in a snit. “In the meantime, we can broaden our search to other places as well. I was thinking we could look to see if there's anything else near the Louvre, or perhaps in the 7th arrondissement.”

“Where is the 7th arrondissement?” Mouse asked.

“It is the neighborhood that contains the Eiffel Tower,” I told him.

We chatted away until fatigue overcame us, and then we headed back to sleep. Robbie and I snuggled up on one of the beds, while JP and Mouse took the other one. I felt sorry for Stefan, the odd man out, wanting to be with JP as he'd been so many times; But even with his fussy sense of justice, I knew he was nervous about sleeping, just sleeping, with two guys who were HIV-positive. I wandered back out into the cabin and dragged him back into the bedroom with me.

“Robbie has a spot right there.” I said, as I took my normal spot, cuddling up to his chest on his right side, so his left side was open.

“I do not want to intrude,” Stefan said politely.

“We'll make you move if we fuck. Lie down,” I said, more of an order, and he did. “He's comfy isn't he?” I teased. “It's because he's fat.”

“I am not fat,” Robbie protested. Stef giggled, and then put his hand carefully on Robbie's abdomen. There was a look of sadness. Whether Robbie's body type was making him remember Jeff or Roger, I didn't know.

July 19, 1985

Paris, France

Paris was a blast. The five of us had separated yesterday, heading out to deal with our own arrangements. I had met my advisor and found my studio. I had been exploring it and was surprised to bump into Mouse. His studio was right next door. Robbie’s studio was a couple of blocks away. Such was the Sorbonne, with its buildings scattered throughout the Latin Quarter. Almost all of our classes would be here, in the Latin Quarter. Robbie had two classes at Nanterre, the only part of the Sorbonne that was a modern campus. JP had gotten thrown out of Nanterre by the gendarmerie during a lecture in 1968. In the middle of the lecture, when the gendarmes were trying to evict him from the lecture hall, he'd reminded them that the last time the Sorbonne had been forcibly closed by the government had been when the Nazis had done it. Not surprisingly, that had really pissed them off. I wondered if he'd go back to visit. I figured that the new Socialist government would probably remember his comment fondly.

It was weird to read about the US in the French papers. Vice President George Bush was going to take over as President for a couple of hours while President Reagan had a colonoscopy. Reagan had treated the AIDS epidemic like some minor thing and had virtually ignored it. I hoped when they did the colonoscopy they'd find his head and pull it out of his ass. If Reagan weren’t a big enough disaster, in Italy the Val di Stava dam had burst and ended up wiping out a bunch of buildings and bridges, not to mention killing almost 270 people in Northern Italy. I thought about how many times I'd had to have the Ferrari worked on due to faulty wiring, and I wasn't surprised. Modern Italy did not seem to represent the legacy of the great Roman engineers.

Our project today was to go house hunting. Stefan had spent his time scouting out properties for us, and he claimed he'd found a great place on the Île. He also wanted us to see a place in the 7th arrondissement, but we were starting with this place on the Île. We strolled up to a small-looking building, perhaps four or five stories tall, sandwiched in between two other small buildings.

We walked in and there was a nice, small lobby, along with a concierge and a realty agent. The agent led us to the small elevator, one so tiny it only fit four people, so it took two trips to get us all up to the top floor. When I opened the door and walked in, I was stunned. I’d expected to find a rabbit warren of rooms inside, but it was nothing like that at all. The apartment was spacious, for Paris anyway. It seemed that the three buildings that appeared to be separate on the outside had been combined, or at least the apartments had, to provide a four-bedroom place with a study, a dining room, and a family room. There were three bathrooms, and two of them had bidets. That might be interesting, I thought with a leer. In addition, there was a nice balcony overlooking the Seine, with a view toward the Eiffel Tower. It was magnificent. The best feature of all was on top of the building. The central building had a flat roof that had been converted into a patio, complete with a small garden and a fountain. It was fabulous. It was perfect. And it was even furnished.

While we explored the place, JP and Stefan talked to the agent. None of us wanted to go to see the other place; we wanted this one. I sketched a floor plan with the help of Robbie and Mouse so we could figure out any changes we wanted to make. By the time we were done, JP and Stef had pretty much worked things out. I was stunned at the speed of the transaction which made them the owners of a beautiful condominium in the heart of Paris. While there were still legal issues to wrangle with, the deal was done.

We went out to dinner to celebrate and started arguing about who got what room. In the end, JP gave Robbie and me the biggest bedroom, and in exchange, Mouse and I were going to share one of the bedrooms, the smallest, as a studio. JP got his own bedroom, as did Mouse. I think JP was worried that if one of them got sick, they'd need their own space. In addition to his bedroom, JP got the study. The only one who got screwed on the whole deal was Robbie, but he was so easygoing he just didn't give a shit. We spent the next few days finalizing the details of the purchase, buying some furniture, and hiring a contractor to make some upgrades while we were gone. We planned to be back by the end of August.

August 2, 1985

Foster City, CA

“Thanks for coming with Robbie again, Brad,” Dr. Sizemore said in his friendly way. “As Robbie has been making such good progress, I asked him if we could include you and talk about that.” I smiled at him. This summer had been great, probably the best time I'd ever had.

“Thanks, David. I think he's doing great too.”

“I asked you to stop fisting a while back. I want to ask you if you've done any fisting or if you've refrained. Remember that there are no recriminations for doing it. I'd rather have you be honest with me.”

“We haven't done that for a while,” I told him. “Not since before you asked us not to.”

“How do you feel about that, Robbie?”

He smiled at David. “Brad has figured out ways to help me get off even better than before. His fingers are amazing.” David smiled while I blushed.

“How lucky you are to find a lover who works so hard to completely satisfy you,” David said. I blushed even harder. “And how do you feel about that, Brad?”

“I'm happy. Totally happy. And since we stopped the fisting thing, Robbie's, uh, ass has gotten, uh, tighter.” I had to be bright red by now.

“And you like that?” David asked. He was teasing me now.

“Yeah. I like that. A lot.” What a weird bunch of emotions. I was embarrassed, nervous, and horny all at the same time.

“Do you feel it's something you'd like to do again?” he asked us.

“No,” Robbie said quickly. His instant answer, his definitive answer, surprised me. I hadn't been expecting him to react that way.

“What about you, Brad?”

“Are you sure about that?” I asked Robbie, ignoring David.

“Yeah. I've figured out that I don't need to do that to know that you love me. It's irrelevant. I know how you feel about me, and you know how I feel about you,” Robbie said to me lovingly. “Sex with you is great every time. There's no such thing as shitty sex with you, Brad.”

“I could say the same thing about you,” I said. I turned back to David. “I don't really care if we do it or not. I just don't want Robbie to suddenly decide that he wants to, and to think that he has to go somewhere else to find someone to do it to him.”

“You saying you don't trust me?” Robbie asked. David was about to intervene, but then I saw him back off and watch.

“I trust you. But we got into a big mess with this in the first place because you thought I wouldn't be willing to do something you wanted to do. What I'm saying is that if you do want to, I want you to know that I will, and to promise me that you'll come to me and ask me. I'm having a hard time trying to imagine something I wouldn't do with you if it made you happy.”

He smiled. “I got it. If I want a fist up my ass again, it will be yours and no one else's.”

“Good,” I told him. David smiled.

“I'd like to see you again before you go to Paris,” he told Robbie. “When you're there, I'll refer you to a doctor, but you only need to go see him if you need to.”

“How would he know if he needs to?” I asked.

“If he wants to do anything that seems like self-punishment, including fisting, he needs to see someone. And here's a card for both of you with my office and home numbers.”

“Thanks, Doctor,” Robbie said, grinning as we left.

“Looks like you've gotten the closest thing to a clean bill of health you're going to get from a shrink,” I said to him. “I'm so proud of you. Let's go home and celebrate.” He smiled at me lovingly, but that turned to a leer as he began to think about how we were going to celebrate.

August 22, 1985

Santa Cruz, CA

I was Jack’s best man, so it was my job to plan the bachelor party, which wasn’t exactly the easiest task for a gay guy. I'd had a hell of a time with that until I’d delegated the responsibility to Ace. He had totally embraced the challenge and seemed to be having a blast with it. He’d already booked a whole bevy of strippers. We were having it at the house in Santa Cruz, remote enough to keep control of rowdy, 20-something guys. There were six groomsmen plus one best man. Of the six guys, I knew half of them from high school, plus I knew Ace, so that left two guys I didn't know. Then there were six ushers as well. Robbie was an usher, and so was Rich Crampton. He'd come in from Claremont early, just for the party. I kind of thought Jack would ask Mouse, but I guess the stigma of touching someone with AIDS was too big to deal with at their wedding.

I socialized as much as my shyness would allow, smoking a bunch of pot but not drinking too much. Everyone was really trashed by the time the strippers got there. Ace sure knew how to pick girls: they were hot. It soon became apparent that these were no ordinary strippers. These girls were ready to do way more than just take off their clothes.

I watched Jack deal with two beautiful, completely naked girls, dancing around him and rubbing against him. They stripped him down to his boxers, and his hard cock kept poking out the slit while he tried to keep his hand there to guard it. They stuck their tits in his face, then their pussies, and one of them got down on her knees and tried to blow him, but drunk as he was, he wasn't going to let them. I paused just to look at him, how beautiful he was. He was like the perfect male, perhaps a little light on the muscles, but otherwise, he could be our generation’s “David.” I thought about Mouse: he could be our Michelangelo. He'd like that.

I was about to intervene to save him when Ace beat me to the punch. The girls were fired up now, and they were basically offering to fuck anyone who wanted to. I saw Rich pull down his zipper while one of them sat on his lap, and it became obvious to all of us that he was fucking her. That shocked the shit out of me. He didn't even use a condom, which was pretty scary. Ace sat in his chair and let some girl blow him while he made out with another girl.

One of the cutest strippers sat in my lap. I looked over at Robbie and he just grinned at me. I let her dance around then sucked on her awesome tits. She reached down and grabbed my hard dick and her eyes got really big. It was all I could do to push her off me gently and go help Jack keep the women at bay.

“You were a good boy, Jack,” I said, sitting next to him.

“Yeah, a good boy. With Claire's brothers here waiting to kick my ass, I'm gonna fuck one of these chicks?” I laughed.

Then I looked at him seriously. “You could have if you wanted to.”

“I didn't want to,” he said just as seriously.

“I know. You are a brother-in-law's wet dream in so many different ways,” I teased.

At 4am, and no sooner, Ace finally made the whores leave. Rich fucked at least two of them, and they'd done pretty much all the guys except me, Robbie, and Jack. I led Jack into his allotted room and he passed out immediately on the bed. What a great guy. I stared at his body, his magnificent form, his hard cock poking out through his boxers. He was so tempting, but I just smiled and covered him up, locking the door behind me to keep any residual whores out.

“Those girls got you all fired up,” Robbie said as I climbed into bed. “I was almost jealous.”

“You have a tighter pussy than any of them,” I teased. He jumped on me, tackling me, and we wrestled around in the bed, giggling. He was so strong, such a man. He was on top of me, thrusting against me, but we stopped long enough to take off our clothes, and then he was back on top of me again.

I wrapped my legs around his torso, offering him my hole. He slid a condom on and lubed me up good, then gently entered me. “I've been waiting for this all night,” he said, his voice deep and manly, his thrusts firm and unyielding. I just gave myself to him, let myself go, and let him fuck me like I was one of those cheap whores. We made it last as we'd learned to do, as you could only do if you knew the person you were with. Finally our bodies could resist no longer and we came, exploding together. I'd never been so in love with him. I was absolutely giddy.

August 24, 1985

Stanford, CA

There are lovely brides, pretty brides, beautiful brides, and then there was Claire, who was in a class of her own. Mother had taken her to New York to get her wedding dress, the latest fashion. For something borrowed, Stefan had gotten this amazing set of diamond earrings. They must have been worth well over $1,000,000. They were stored in JP's safe, and Stef had to take them back to LA the day after the ceremony.

Claire’s wedding was the summer society event on the Peninsula, and everyone who was anyone was invited. We'd ended up with over 500 people, and that required a massive amount of organization. The wedding was taking place in Stanford's chapel, and the reception was at Escorial. That had made our home life chaotic, to say the least, what with wedding planners and caterers running around like crazy people. Add to that the fact that our entire family was there, everyone from Grandmaman to Darius, and that just increased the tension. Still, it was fun to have everyone around. Last night for the rehearsal dinner we'd gone to the restaurant at the top of the Fairmont in the City. That in itself had been an exercise in logistics. Then afterward we'd all come back to Escorial and had a fun, laid-back time, swimming and hanging out.

There was nothing laid-back about today. I stood next to Jack, determined to be at his beck and call like a good best man. I checked for the millionth time to make sure the ring was in my pocket. Planning for the wedding, and indeed everything up until this day, had seemed to just drag along at a snail’s pace, yet when it was actually time and the wedding started, it seemed to fly by. The bridesmaids, all friends of Claire's, all beautiful girls, walked down the aisle with the perfect cadence, even though one of them walked like she was modeling and another one did the slut walk. Nothing is ever perfect. All of that was forgotten when Claire appeared on JP’s arm, looking angelic in white. I giggled at that. Jack had been literally shaking up until that point, but when she appeared, he got a huge smile on his face and a tranquil calm descended upon him.

The service was thankfully short, and then we all walked out and were whisked away in limos to Escorial, where there would be pictures and a receiving line. I pretty much allowed myself to be shuffled from spot to spot, doing what I was told, while my mind was focused on my big challenge for the night. As the best man, I had to give a toast, and with 1000 eyes looking at me, it had to be a good one. I'd written and rewritten it; I'd rehearsed it in front of a mirror, pausing only to throw things at Robbie while he laughed at me, but I was still petrified. I hated talking to one or two people I didn't know. Talking to hundreds was terrifying.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Stefan. “You are nervous?” he asked.

“You are Einstein?” I answered sarcastically. He laughed. He would.

“Here is my advice. Remember that your toast is to Claire and Jack and that they love you. Do not look at the crowd; do not look at the planners; look at them.”

“I guess I can do that,” I said, even as I let his words work their way through my brain.

“You will do fine,” he said, and patted me on the back.

I waited for the signal from the wedding coordinator, the point at which I was supposed to start. As soon as he nodded to me, I stood up and then he helped get the attention of the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure, and supreme honor, to offer a wedding toast to my sister and her new husband. I've obviously known Claire all of her life. As one of her older brothers, I've had to control my pride as I watched her grow into a truly amazing young lady. Claire is bright, talented, and beautiful. She has an innate sense of style, so much so that my brothers and I gave up dressing ourselves and just wore what she told us to, kind of like Jack does. (That got a laugh.) But she is also gracious and kind, as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside.”

I paused and turned to look at Jack. “So you may wonder what kind of guy would be good enough for my angelic sister. We were wondering that too, and we certainly weren’t thrilled about her going out with some pretty boy who would use his looks to seduce not only her, but every girl he met. As you can see, Jack is definitely that handsome, so when Jack started dating Claire, I had to hold Ace back a few times to preserve Jack’s good looks. It didn’t take us long to realize that we had nothing to fear. We figured that if he wasn't a wolf, he must be gay. I took it upon myself to try as hard as I could to lead him down that path, and this is one time I’m glad I didn’t succeed in seducing a hot guy. He's most definitely not gay. (More laughter, although a little less comfortable.) When I really got to know Jack, I realized that he is one of those unique guys who can have pretty much anyone he sets his sights on, but that’s not what he wants. He wants only one person, and we as a family are lucky that he has chosen my sister.” I paused, catching my breath.

“Living here at Escorial sometimes resembles a soap opera. Jack once told me he felt like an extra, where he didn't have to get involved in the drama but he had a front-row seat. Over time, we've all grown to love Jack. To me, he's not just my brother-in-law, he's one of my best friends. He’s someone with the common sense and compassion to help with any problem, yet full of that good-natured cheer that he inflicts upon us, forcing us to be happy even when we want to be miserable. Speaking for my whole family, this is a day we have hoped for, looked forward to, and dreamed of. The day we finally get rid of Claire. (More laughter.) Seriously, Jack, we welcome you into our family with open arms, but that's really nothing new. You've been part of it for five years already. So please join me in toasting the new couple.” I raised my glass and everyone took a drink of champagne.

I hugged Jack and saw the tears in his eyes. “I love you,” he said. The first time he'd ever told me that.

“I love you too,” I said, smiling. After that, with my job done, I settled down to drink a lot. I was just hitting my stride when I saw JP off to the side, finishing up a conversation with some of his students.

“Dad,” I said, tapping his shoulder. “Do you have a minute?”

“Certainly,” he said, and followed me back to my room. I shut the door and lit a joint, passing it to him, making him smile. “You made a nice toast. It was not easy for you, I suspect?”

“Actually, it wasn't so bad. Stef told me to just focus on Claire and Jack, and I did.”

We sat there smoking the joint, pausing between hits to talk about the people who were there, until the thing was nothing more than a roach. “Thank you, Bradley. That was a wonderful mood adjuster.”

“That was my intention,” I said, smiling at him. “Wasn't Sam supposed to be here? I hope you guys invited him, despite the things I told you.”

He swallowed hard and his eyes teared up. “Sam was invited, Brad, and he was supposed to attend, but he's in the hospital.” It was easy to discern from his tone and his sadness that Sam had AIDS.

“Not Sam!” I exclaimed. I was distraught that another person I’d been close to had contracted that awful disease.

JP nodded sadly. I wondered if JP had got HIV from Sam or from Roger, or if they had got it from him. He was probably wondering the same thing. “He has swollen lymph nodes. It seems he's developed cancer.”

“His wife, is she OK?” I thought about what a nice lady she was, and how she’d had to put up with Sam and Jake fucking around behind her back.

“I talked to him briefly and he told me that she had tested negative,” he said. I sighed with relief. “He mentioned that Jake was positive too, though.”

I thought about that. “You know, Dad, that's probably the first person I've heard of being positive that doesn't bother me. He was bad news. Can you imagine what would have happened if Stef had let him stay with him and Greg?”

“It's better not to think about it,” he said. “And now we must return to the party and try to be happy.”

I headed out to the party and found Robbie talking to Jeanine and Darius. “Where did you run off to?” he asked me.

“Worried I was blowing a groomsman?” I teased. “I was talking to JP.”

“What's wrong?” he asked. He could read me like a book.

“We'll talk later,” I said, then focused on Darius. “Are you having fun?”

“I danced,” he told me proudly. I laughed.

“Who did you dance with?”

“Jean,” he said, meaning Jeanine.

“Well, you were a lucky guy.” I turned to her. “I hope you are enjoying yourself?”

“I am glad to be out here again. It is so nice, so much nicer than Claremont,” she said. We all laughed at that, and once again I marveled at how beautiful she was when she was happy. “You will be in Paris for four months?”

“Yeah, but we’ll be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” I said. “We'll try and stop by Claremont to see you when we come back.”

“I'm sure Darius would like that,” she said.

“And you would not?” I teased.

“Quit flirting with me,” she said, laughing. “You are not my type.” Then she and Darius wandered off.

“You trying to make me jealous?” Robbie teased. I kissed him, right there in the middle of the reception. I'm not sure who all saw us, or what they thought, but I didn't give a shit. “You want to tell me what's wrong?”

“Sam has AIDS. He's in the hospital. And Jake is positive too.”

He nodded sadly. “I'm not surprised. They weren't using a condom when they were fucking in the garage.”

“Really? How did you see that? I missed it.”

“Either my eyesight is better or I was staring at his dick,” he joked. I just shook my head.

I meandered around the party until I ran into Tonto and Grandmaman. Tonto looked fine, but Grandmaman looked really tired. “You look fatigued,” I said to her in French.

“Sadly, that is true. I am so old now I can no longer stay up all night for the parties.” I laughed.

“Would you like an escort to your room?” I asked, offering her a graceful way out.

“That would be wonderful. Tonto, I am going to bed. I will see you in the morning.”

“Are you coming back to escort me too, or do I have to walk by myself?” Tonto asked, pretending to be bitchy.

“You can come with us,” I teased, “if you do not mind sharing the limelight.”

We strolled down the hallway to their rooms. “How is Bitty doing?” I asked.

“She is a mess,” Tonto said. Leave it to her to lay things out bluntly.

“She is having a problem withdrawing from narcotics,” Grandmaman said more gently. “She tried to go back to her crowd, so we had to put her into rehab. We are not optimistic that it will change her, but we are optimistic that it will keep her clean until she has the baby.”

“Janice sure screwed her up,” Tonto said, referring to the mother Bitty and I shared. She was a truly horrible person. She’d killed herself after leaving me here at Escorial, but before that she’d treated me so badly that I’d ceased to think of her as my mother. I'd adopted Isidore as my mother instead.

“She screwed all of us up, Tonto. Her internal demons devoured her.” I felt some of the painful repressed memories trying to rear their ugly heads and I tried to fight them down, only this time they refused to go back into their cages. We had arrived at their rooms, so I kissed their cheeks and headed back to the party. As I walked down the hall, flashbacks of my conversation with Janice when she’d left me here as a little kid took over my mind, torturing me so badly I all but raced back to my room. I walked into the room and saw Robbie. Somehow I’d known he'd be there, and somehow he must have known I'd need him.

He saw my tears. “What's wrong baby?” he asked. “Is it Sam and Jake?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It's my mother – Janice. I just had a few memory flashbacks.” Just mentioning them made them surge back again, no matter how hard I tried to stop them.

He hugged me then collapsed backward onto the bed, pulling me down with him so I was lying on him. He stroked my back gently. “Tell me about them.”

“I don't want to,” I answered defiantly.

“Come on,” he said, playfully taunting me. “I had to tell you all about my sordid sex life. Think of all the embarrassing things I've had to reveal to you.”

“I just want to forget about it, and forget about her,” I said angrily.

“Don't you trust me?” he asked. I frowned at him, because now I was cornered.

I sighed, and then my words came out like a torrent. “She told me that I was a rotten bastard. She told me that my father had changed boats because of me, and that I was the reason he died. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn't have sunk.” I was crying gently, tears that belied the pain that she'd caused. It was the strangest thing, because I could actually see her saying those things, yelling at me, and it was as real as if she were standing in front of me. “She said that I’d ruined her relationship. She told me I’d taken away the one thing, the one person that she loved. And she told me that she was going to kill herself, and that I should remember that it was my fault.”

“Brad, you know that's crap. She's the one who fucked around. That's what damaged her relationship with your father. How could a woman say that to her son, a young boy, an innocent child?” His calm words and warm touch brought me out of my weird flashback, and helped stabilize me.

“I know that logically, but she was so intense it seemed like she was right,” I said. “It wasn't even so much what she said; it was how she said it. I'll never forget the look in her eyes. She hated me, totally and completely. To her, I was evil incarnate. It was so unfair. I was just a little kid.”

“What made you think of this?” he asked.

“Tonto mentioned her name, mentioned how she’d screwed Bitty up. I don't know, it just triggered some nasty memories,” I said.

Robbie stopped stroking my back and wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight and making me feel so loved. “You know, you may want to try and forget about her. The mom and dad you have now are pretty fucking cool.”

“You're just saying that because your dad is fucking my mom,” I said, teasing him.

“No, I'm saying that as someone who has a mom who is still alive and hates him right now.” I looked into his eyes and saw the pain that caused him, the pain he hid from everyone except me.

“I'm 22 years old, and this is the first time I've ever talked to anyone about what she said to me.” I said. I smiled at him, then I kissed him. “Fuck them. We don't need them. We have each other. You are all that I need.”

He kissed me back. “You think we can be gone for another 15 minutes?” I laughed, but he silenced my laughter with a kiss. He made love to me, and after we were done, I felt whole.