I'm Your Wreck

35- It's the Best Thing

 "I know you said you didn't want anything for your birthday," I said as I got into the driver seat of Banks's truck.

"That's correct," he said with a nod from the passenger side. "So, then why are we in my truck? And why am I not allowed to know where we're going?"

"Because I didn't listen," I admitted. "If I had more notice, I could have planned something better, but I only had a week."

He sighed, sinking into his seat as I started backing out of the driveway. He quickly resigned to his fate, not asking any questions about where we were going or what I might have planned.

"Why are you so grumpy about your birthday anyway?" I asked him as he lazily draped one hand over my knee.

He shrugged. There was still some glitter on his cheek from the drag show we went to last night. Tess was the star of the show, rocking a neon purple jumpsuit as she lip synced to Britney Spears. "I don't know. I've never liked the attention."

"Doesn't it make it better that the attention is coming from me?" I asked, flashing him my most charming smile.

Banks smiled back. "Astronomically."

We haven't talked much about his parents' visit. He spent most of the weekend with his family while I pretended to be busy so that he didn't feel like he had to drag me along. His mother made no secret of not wanting me around, despite being polite. He apologized about nine thousand times for how his mom blanched every time my shoulder so much as brushed her son.

He was embarrassed, but once they were gone, we practically pretended the entire weekend never happened.

Our trip back to my home town was in two weeks and I was now shitting myself about it. My parents and sister were ridiculously supportive of my relationship with Banks, but I still had no idea how the rest of the family was going to react. I loved my family, my cousins and I all grew up really close and it was nerve wracking that this might ruin things.

"When's your birthday?" Banks asked me as he was fiddling with the radio station.

"July," I answered.

"So you'll be in Rochester, for your internship," he realized out loud.

"Yeah. Maybe we could celebrate after I get back? That's a long way to travel just for a weekend or something."

"I could come up for a week," he suggested.

"What about..." I trailed off when I realized what a ridiculous idea it was. But then Banks looked at me too curious and gave my knee a squeeze. "What about coming up for the summer?"

"What do you mean?" he asked slowly.

"Just that they're setting me up in my own apartment while I'm there. I know you want to start looking for apprenticeships after you graduate, but maybe you could take the summer off?" I suggested. "I know that's a dumb idea, you probably want to go spend time with your parents or something, but I don't know."

He quirked his eyebrow at me, grinning. "You want to move in together?"

"For the summer," I emphasized. "And we already live together anyway."

"Spending three months without you does sound completely miserable," he said.

I took his hand in mine, lifting it off of my knee to kiss his knuckles. "It'll be fun. You could probably find a summer job up there if you wanted."

I'd been thinking about suggesting this for a little while now, ever since I knew I was getting the internship in Rochester for the soccer club again. It seemed like a lot, almost too much, to ask him to change all of his summer plans for me though.