Home for the Summer (BOYXBOY)

34 | For Everything

We crashed into our beds as soon as we got home and slept for what felt like days. With the future tugging our bodies around, it seemed like our legs had walked a full year ahead. Parts of us couldn't keep up.

I had begun an internal stopwatch to help me shove every moment I could into the approximate 32 days and 17 hours I had left with Nico. Today: We had shifts at the gelato place, but tomorrow: Summer would resume back to its usual saturated colors and smiles.

Mom was out at meetings all weekend which left Nico and I to hurdle ourselves through the doors and bike down to Armino's a mere 15 minutes before our shifts. I unlocked the front door and we stepped inside.

"This is probably my favorite part of working here," he said, softly, not daring to interrupt the quiet. "It's so... Still in the mornings."

I gave him a smile and closed the door behind us, turning to take it in. The slight pink from the sun leaking through windows, the smell of cleaner from the closing crew, the quaint emptiness of the entire shop. I took a mental photo. I wanted to remember how it felt to be working because I could, not because I had to.

"Have we settled that you're better on the register and I'm better with the gelato?" I said as I flicked the lights on.

"What are you talking about? I'm great at scooping."

Nico took his apron off the hook and tied it around his waist. He looked good in an apron. It made my head spin 20 years ahead, him standing in our kitchen, me watching him from the doorway.

"You're okay at scooping, but you're better than I am with the customers."

He smiled at me and pulled me in a bit, hooking his fingers through the belt loops of my jeans. "You're just introverted."

"Am I?"

"Definitely."

"So, how come I don't get tired of spending time with you?"

He leaned his head down a bit. "Don't know. Probably just how charming I am."

"I wouldn't say charming," I said. "Maybe... Full of yourself."

"I see. Why are you my boyfriend then?"

My eyes beat down to his lips before I placed my arms around his neck. "Touché." Our lips met and, for a moment, I forgot that we were in the middle of the shop floor. "Here," I said, pulling him behind the counter and through the double swing doors to the mess of machines and backstock.

"What time is Candace coming in?" he asked as he peeked back through the doors.

"Not for another half hour."

Nico's eyes met mine as he let out a simple, "good," and roped me in again.

My back hit a countertop and he raised his hand to rest just behind my head as our lips moved in sync. I breathed him in, tugging him impossibly closer to me, and let my hands drop to his waist. I could hear every hitch in his breath and it only made me want him more.

I had felt this with him before: the longing, the connection between us. But, right now, it was amplified, like someone had thrown the dials in my brain askew. I couldn't get enough.

His lips parted from mine to trail down my neck as I tried to control my breathing. I could all but feel my heart beating out of my chest as he tugged the neck of my shirt lower for more access. Nico sucked on my collarbone ever so slightly, leaving a muted moan to escape my lips, and a smile to form against his.

"Is this okay, Ollie?" he asked quietly as his hand began to trail along the side of my body.

"Yeah- Yes," I rushed out. "You're okay?"