Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
He’s everything.
My Superass…and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life knowing he’s mine.
If only I can figure out how to ask him without making a fool of myself.
2
Gary
“I think he’s off-key.”
“Are these the lyrics?”
“Bless his heart.”
I blush as I overhear several guys commenting on Evan’s performance of Adele’s “Hello.” He stands on stage at the front of Flirt, mic in hand, reading off the monitor to his side—royally fucking up the hit ballad. I feel for the guy; I really do. I don’t know why he insists on singing karaoke when he gets this drunk, but God knows, he’s…the…worst. Any other night, I might’ve stopped him, but considering he offered to help me hand out flyers around town this evening to get people to come to our fundraiser tomorrow, I figured he deserved a moment to terrorize Midtown with his less-than-American-Idol-worthy voice.
As Evan continues annihilating the song, Hayden leans close to me and says, “I guess we can’t give him a hard time. Look, he’s moved that guy to tears.” Hayden motions to a man who leans back against the wall on the other side of the stage. Tears roll down his face as he watches Evan’s performance.
“That guy’s crying because he’s butchering Adele,” Derek explains. “Like how I cry every time he butchers ‘If I Could Turn Back Time.’ ”
Derek leans against the wall between me and Hayden, keeping his flyers for the event close to his chest.
“I’ve never seen you cry when Evan sings,” Hayden says, his eyes rolling behind his thick-rimmed glasses.
“My soul weeps.” Derek cringes as Evan continues recklessly, yet passionately, belting out the words.
“You’re just jealous that Evan’s twinkier and blonder,” Hayden teases with a warm smile.
Derek sighs. “With great power comes great responsibility.”
We chuckle before Hayden turns his attention back to the stage, saying, “This karaoke night thing, is this a regular thing?”
“Don’t worry,” I say. “It’s a special thing they’re doing tonight. Karaoke Fridays here would be social suicide.”
“That’s something I can drink to,” Derek announces, raising his pointer finger as though he came up with a brilliant idea, rather than just a reason to drink. “I’m going to get us some shots. We’ll need a few to make it through tonight.”
Normally, I’d say no, but considering how stressed I am about the fundraiser tomorrow, I don’t resist, especially as Evan hits a particularly high note that stings my eardrums.
Derek hands Hayden his flyers before practically skipping off. Hayden runs his hands through his lengthy jet-black bangs. The sides are shorter than usual, courtesy of the cut Derek gave him last week. When Derek is out of earshot, he glances around before leaning into me. “You ready for the big day tomorrow?”
“Ready? Please tell me you’re kidding. I don’t know what me and Trav were thinking when we decided to organize a kayak relay race and a fundraiser lake party. You’d think either of those things would have been enough, but no…we had to make it epic.”
“Shut up. That’s why people go to these things…because they know you and Travis are going to make them epic. They aren’t interested in some boring-ass house party or another talent show at Flirt. Not that they’re bad, but we do those all the time. Everyone is really excited about this, and you’ve raised a lot of money.”
“Well, that should have been enough, but then I had to go and top it all off with the you-know-what.”
My “you-know-what,” is proposing to Travis—something I’ve been planning ever since we both agreed to take on this massive project together.
“To make it even worse, Travis has been acting weird.”
“About?”
“I don’t know. I think he’s just nervous about all this, but then I’m like, that’s my job to be the nervous one. So we’re both stressed, and here I am, trying to make sure tomorrow is a perfect and memorable moment for the rest of our lives together. Remind me why I thought this would be a good time for a…you-know-what.”
“Awww…this is really cute,” Hayden says. “You’re always spastic and stressed, but now it’s about something adorable.”
“Adorable? We’ll see how adorable it is if everything is just a clusterfuck tomorrow…or if he says no. Hayden, what if he says no? What if he’s stressed out about us, and I’m totally jumping the gun on this?”
“Okay, as your good friend, I will slap you if you keep saying stupid shit.”
“No, you’re right. I love him, and he loves me.”
I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. And as stressed as I can get in my head about life, Travis is the only thing that keeps me sane.
It’s not just that I can’t imagine my life without him, though. As conceited as he may act, he’s one of the most compassionate guys I’ve ever known. He wouldn’t just give a guy the shirt off his back, but his pants too. Oh, no, that sounds dirty. Hmmm…