“Oh, uh, CJ. Hey,” Alex stammered.
“You didn’t call me after our date,” CJ said, always frank and to the point.
Alex blushed and shuffled his shoes. “I’m sorry.”
“I waited. I thought you would call. I thought it went well. What happened? Did I do something wrong?”
Alex fussed with his zipper. “No no…but that’s just – I don’t know. That’s just it. Nothing went wrong. It was too perfect.”
“What?” CJ chuckled. “What do you mean, it was too perfect?”
“It was just a great date. You were flawless, funny, handsome. The food was nice, the prices good, the ambiance pleasant. No gaps in conversation…”
“Buuuut?”
Alex shifted. “I just never had a date go so well before. I just, I am used to dating guys that are almost perfect, then I spend the next 48 hours obsessing over if their flaw or flaws will make or break our relationship. If I think I can deal with it, I go out with them again, and if not, no. But with you I just…I have no precedent.”
CJ looked confused. “So why not call me?”
“Cause I was scared I would convince myself I had a good thing going, and then you’d break my heart over something, and I’d be burned forever.” Alex coughed. “Sorry I’m a bit dramatic.”
CJ looked at Alex, who avoided his gaze. He thought about what the boy had said. “Or maybe, whatever is inevitably wrong with me can be fixed, or worked though, and dating me will be a happily ever after?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Alex said with a little smile.
“So now how about this,” CJ began, “You go on another date with me, and you tell me what my flaw is. And if you can’t find it, we will just go on our more dates until you do, and then you can tell me what it is and we can go from there. No surprises. You’re in control.”
Alex studied CJ’s face, still fussing with his clothes, shy and nervous. “…Really?”
“Yes. I like you. I was so down when you didn’t call. I’d like to spend more time with you,” CJ confessed.
“Aww,” Alex clucked, “I’m so sorry. I was so selfish.”
CJ thumbed his jaw. “It’s ok. I was once burned before too. Your heart is a precious thing to trust someone with. I get it.”
Alex nodded and bit his lip. “You know…that night, I was really regretting I didn’t let you kiss me at my door.”
CJ straightened. “Really?”
Alex nodded rapidly. “Stupid huh?”
“Oh no. Not at all,” CJ murmured, leaning in. “The feeling was mutual…” The words evaporated as a heavy, pregnant pause hung between them in the cramped library aisle. When Alex didn’t turn away or break their locked gaze, CJ moved closer. Their lips touched, Alex’s trembling gently as CJ pushed against his for a warm, soft kiss that made both of their knees weak.

So lost in each-other they were, that neither noticed that they were standing in the 300 section of the Dewey decimal shelving system; behind them were shelves of books on gay love and romance. Their story was just starting to be written.

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Text is fictional.