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“Jesus!” Cameron said with a wince. “Really?”

“Yeah. Is this any good?”

“You’re asking me?”

Anthony laughed. “Can I borrow it?”

“Sure.”

Anthony slipped the cassette into his pocket.

“What’s the verdict?” Cameron asked. “Has my taste in music scared you away?”

“You have potential,” Anthony said. “If we can get you away from the top forty stuff. I’ll do what I can to help.”

“Thanks. You know, I was worried the digging through trash thing would freak you out, but this was the real test. Wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Anthony said with a straight face. He began looking around the room again. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Almost eleven. When’s your curfew?”

“Ten on weeknights and midnight on the weekends. My parents aren’t strict, but my mom can’t sleep until she knows I’m home.”

That sounded blissfully normal. Cameron often had to rouse his mother from her drunken slumber so he could help her getto bed. He knew it shouldn’t matter. Sleep was sleep, but it was depressing to come downstairs in the morning and find her on the couch next to whatever bottles she’d managed to empty.

“So we have an hour, huh?” he said, turning his thoughts to more pleasant subjects. Like what they would do with the remaining time. Cameron knew what he wanted. More than anything. But he didn’t want it to happen here. “Can I walk you home? There’s something I’d like to show you along the way.”

“Cool.”

They stealthily made their way outside and then headed north to a plot of undeveloped land. Most of the trees were spindly, having sprung naturally from fallen seeds. The field of overgrown grass stretched to the edge of a forest. Walking across it would have been inconvenient, but Cameron knew of a small dirt trail. He led the way, just in case any spiders had cast a web across the path, but he was lucky. They reached the far end of the field where a huge willow tree had branches that drooped so low they touched the ground.

“This might be a little spooky at night,” Cameron warned.

“I love it already,” Anthony replied.

“Good.” Cameron used his arm to move the branches aside like a curtain, so they could enter. “I used to come here all the time. I still do, if I’m honest. Just not as often.”

“It’s like a natural tree house,” Anthony said as he looked around the dim interior. Little grew on the ground aside from a layer of stubborn crabgrass. “Although I bet you could build an amazing tree house with your carpentry skills.”

“Maybe. I never felt the need. The willow tree provides its own shelter.”

“I would have used it as my base when playing.”

“I was a little old for that kind of game,” Cameron said. “I mostly came here to be alone.”

“An only child who needs even more privacy?”

“Yeah. Everyone wants to get away from their parents sometimes. It was a good place to figure things out. Like who I am… and the sort of person I want to be with.”

Anthony turned toward him, his face pale in the filtered moonlight. “Is that why I’m here?”

“Yes,” Cameron said without hesitation. “This is where I finally accepted myself. I used to dreamabout what would happen next, how I’d find the special guy that I’d want to be with, and how I wouldn’t always be alone beneath my tree. I used to imagine him next to me, and how important this place would become to us.”

“Why’s that?” Anthony asked.

“Because of this.” Cameron pressed his lips to Anthony’s and left them there as insects hummed and chirped in the night. When he tried to step away, Anthony stumbled forward, as if not wanting the kiss to end. Cameron was forced to grab him so he wouldn’t fall. With their faces close again, Anthony stared into his eyes with an almost tangible intensity, as if seeing him clearly for the first time. Then they wrapped their arms around each other and swayed, like an offspring of the tree that shielded them from the rest of the world. And it feltright. Perfect even. As if they were made for each other, two broken pieces that had finally reunited.

“I’m so glad I met you,” Anthony murmured.