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Gerard laughs loudly. “He’s not wrong. You are pretty adorable.”

“Shut up. I amnotadorable.”

“Yes, you are. My adorable little kitten.” Gerard reaches out to ruffle my hair, and I swat his hand away.

“I will bite you,” I warn, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Promise?” He waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

See, this is what I love about Gerard. No matter how heavy the conversation, he always finds a way to make me smile.

He pushes himself onto his elbow, his large hand resting on his gorgeous face, and studies me in a way he hasn’t before. “In all seriousness, though, how are you holding up?”

I grab Gerard’s other hand and trace idle patterns on his palm as I gather my thoughts. His skin is warm and incredibly smooth. “Honestly? It sucks. I hate being under a microscope all the time.”

Gerard’s fingers curl around mine, stilling their restless movements. “I’m so sorry, Elliot. I never meant for you to get caught up in all this.”

I glance up at him through my lashes. “I know you didn’t. It’s not your fault the Ice Queen put me on blast.”

“But it is.”

“What do you mean?”

Gerard sits up and scrubs his face with his hands. “When she wrote about me following you back to the library the night we carved pumpkins with Alex, I may have written her back and accidentally let slip your name.”

I rear back, surprised. “You what?”

“I didn’t mean to. I just wanted her to focus on me, not you.”

I want to be mad at him. I want to tell him that his being stupid is what’s gotten me into this mess. But truth be told, it’s not.Ichose to enter a relationship with the one man on campus who is more popular than Zac Efron.Iwanted to be Gerard’s boyfriend.Ikissed him back at the Halloween party, knowing full well that other people were watching.

“What’s done is done. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle, so?—”

“We might as well make the most of it,” Gerard finishes for me.

“And how should we do that?”

“By inviting you to Elk Valley to meet my parents overThanksgiving dinner?” He stares at me with such hope that there’s no way I can say no. And I wouldn’t even if I wanted to. My mom is working, so there’s no reason for me to go home to Boston.

“You, my dear Gerard, are a genius.”

A wide grin takes over his face. “A genius with a big dick?”

He works his pelvic muscles and makes his dick, which is surprisingly still rock hard, wag like a puppy’s tail.

“Eh. Don’t flatter yourself. I’ve seen bigger.”

Gerard lets out the biggest gasp before telling me all about how he flatters himself.

AN EMAIL FROM GERARD

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Date: November 25, 2015

Subject: Your Blog Post