Lander - Before vs. After

In the Closet

"Zander, truth or dare?" Milly asked mischievously.

Zander narrowed his eyes at her and hesitated. "Dare," he said finally.

She grinned. "Do seven minutes of heaven with Luke. In there." She pointed to a small closet to our left.

Before:

"W-what?" Zander stuttered, blushing madly. Luke's cheeks were also red.

"You heard me." Milly grinned even wider.

Grudgingly, Luke and Zander walked into the closet and closed the door behind them. They were quiet for a moment before Zander said, "I can't believe Milly did this to us."

"Oh, y-yeah," Luke said, sounding disappointed.

Zander heard this and quickly amended, "I didn't mean that I don't like being in here with you. I mean, she could've done worse, right?" He forced a little laugh.

Luke smiled a bit at Zander's words. "Yeah, she definitely could've," he agreed, then they elapsed into silence again.

Then Luke said, "Zander, I have something to tell you."

Zander looked up at him curiously.

Luke continued, "I've wanted to tell you this since forever, but I never had the courage to." He took a deep breath. "I think that now is a perfect time to say it."

"What is it?" Zander asked worriedly. He had no idea what to expect, no idea that Luke's next four words would change his life.

"Zander, I love you."

Zander's face heat up. "W-what?"

"I love you," Luke repeated. "I have for years. I know you probably don't love me back, I just wanted to say that." He examined Zander's face with worry.

Zander finally found his voice. "I love you too," he said softly.

Luke's eyes brightened. "You do?"

"Yeah, I do," Zander confirmed, smiling at Luke.

Luke beamed, making Zander's heart flutter. They both leaned in for a hug, crying small tears of happiness.

This was a moment neither boy would ever forget.

After:

Zander rolled his eyes as he and Luke made their way to the closet. They shut the door behind them and sat down, thinking.

Luke was the one who finally broke the silence. "So, what do you want to do?"

"Can we just cuddle?" Zander asked, blush coating his cheeks in the dark.

Luke nodded, smiling. "Of course."

Zander inched closer to his boyfriend, cuddling into his chest and burying his face in his cardigan.

Luke wrapped his arms around Zander protectively.

They stayed like that for a minute or two, warm in each other's embrace.

"Luke?" Zander said, looking up into his boyfriend's gorgeous butterscotch eyes.

"Yes, Zander?" Luke answered, smiling down at him.

Zander wrapped his arms around him, holding him close. "I love you."

Luke hugged him back as he said, "I love you too."

Milly leaned forward eagerly. "What were they saying?" She whispered.

Hailey smiled. "Just cuddling," she replied. "It was really adorable to listen to."

Milly squealed with joy and Sean had to cover her mouth so Zander and Luke wouldn't hear them.

"They're so cute!" She enthused.

"Is this going to become a normal thing now?" Jake asked. "Spying on Luke and Zander when they're having a moment?"

Hailey grinned at him. "Maybe. But I also want to let them have some private time to themselves, so we probably shouldn't."

"Yeah, we should just let them have their moments and tease them about it later," Sean joked.

They all laughed at that. Hailey was totally going to tease her brother about this afterwards. It was only fair, since he kept teasing her about her crush on Jake.

Maybe one day I'll stop teasing you about it, Hailey thought. Just maybe.