Page 25 of Level Up (Franklin U 2 #4)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jay

Maddy, Colton, and I sat on the comfortable blue bean bags set inside the busy coffee shop. The sweet scent of cappuccinos woke me up through osmosis. The sound of coffee beans being ground mingled with the chill music that played in the background. I stretched my arms over my head and let out a contented sigh.

Things were good.

No, scratch that, things were actually great.

Three weeks had passed since Ryan and I had our big dramatic scene, and each day after had been filled with more reaffirmations that being with Ryan was the right choice. I woke up in his arms feeling a kind of lightness I hadn’t felt in so, so damn long. I’d walk around the FU campus with a permanent smile on my face, my sneakers feeling as if the soles had been replaced with clouds.

Best of all? I wasn’t hiding my relationship with Ryan anymore. We’d hold hands walking to our dorm, and we’d kiss hello when we met at the food hall. Maybe people were talking shit (Timothy, I was looking at you), but it didn’t bother me as much as I feared it would.

Not only that, but the planned protest was being received with a lot of enthusiasm. Dating the son of Redpine Global’s CEO didn’t hinder me or stop people from showing their interest in the cause and RSVPing for the protest.

It was coming up fast, and there was still a ton of shit to figure out before.

“What if we hire catering?” Maddy suggested as she chewed the cap to her pen, a notebook open on her lap with mostly doodles filling the page. “Everyone loves free food.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Colton said. He took a loud sip from his nearly finished vanilla latte.

I shook my head. “Unless we get sponsors, I don’t see that happening. I don’t have the funds to get people free sandwiches and drinks.”

“My cousin works for a catering company, actually,” Colton offered. He had a knee resting on Maddy’s. It wasn’t just Ryan and me who had recently decided to take the leap into “official” territory. They’d apparently been talking nonstop since they met, and Colton had asked Maddy out in one of the most romantic ways ever: through a scavenger hunt that took her through all of their fave spots, leading Maddy to a field of roses, where he was waiting with a bouquet in hand. I teased them both, wondering what a proposal by Colt would look like.

“Reach out to them,” Maddy said as she jotted it down in her notebook. “That’d be cute.”

I cracked my knuckles, still stuck on one major part of the protest. “Okay, we have the food, but how are we going to draw the eyeballs? I’ve got a good amount of RSVPs but I want to go bigger. I want to reach people all across America. And I want to get the media’s attention, too.”

“What about putting on some kind of show?” Colton asked. “You’re a big theater star, and Maddy, you love musicals. I think that could be cool. And if we film it and throw it up on social media, it could blow up.”

“That’s not a terrible idea,” Maddy said, arching a brow. ”…Do you think it’s a good idea?”

Colton flashed his girlfriend some puppy eyes, batting his long dark lashes. They made a really cute couple. Colton was like the all-American boy next door, and Maddy was the edgier and—frankly, a little cooler—girl who fit him perfectly. It was cute to see. And I was glad that both I and my best friend happened to snag two guys who were also really good friends. It made double dates much more fun. It was like we’d quickly formed this little family together, and it was really, really nice.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Maddy said, leaning in and giving Colton a kiss on the cheek. “But we also already talked about it. Not many people are going to watch a play on their phones. It would have to be amazing, and we don’t have that kind of time.”

Colton turned his green eyes to me, smiling with a slightly crooked but overly charming grin. “Well, whatever it is, I’m sure you can be the main star, of course.”

My gut instantly did a somersault. He was only being sweet, but he didn’t know about my past.

“No, no,” Maddy quickly said. “You know you don’t have to be there, Jay.”

Colton cocked his head, clearly confused. “But you’re the main organizer. Why wouldn’t you be there? ”

“Colt…” Maddy shot him a look.

“I don’t have a good history with the ocean,” I said. Understatement of the fucking century. Thankfully, Colton didn’t probe any deeper. I was okay with talking about what happened to me, but it always left me feeling beyond drained, and there was way too much shit to do today.

“I still want to be heavily involved in planning it,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee. “And, I dunno, I might decide to go. I have to think about it some more.”

Maddy looked up at me, shocked. I hadn’t brought it up before. Hadn’t really been thinking about it, but for some reason, now that my life felt all kinds of new, I realized it was time to move past the old. “Just don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Maddy said.

“Thanks, friend.” I lifted my paper cup and tapped it against hers. “I can’t be missing the spotlight, though. You know me.”

“What kind of show can we put on, though?” Maddy asked, back to chewing on the cap of her pen.

“Musical?” Colton said.

“That’s really involved,” I said. “The drilling project is set to start in a couple of months. We need to be ready in three weeks or less.”

“A comedy sketch?” Maddy asked.

“Maybe…but those bomb so often. And I don’t know if that’s the vibe we’re going for.” I rubbed my forehead, feeling the frustration start to bubble up.

The door to the coffee shop chimed as it opened. I looked over my shoulder and felt myself smiling wide. Ryan walked in, backpack slung over one shoulder, backward baseball cap sitting on his head, a tuft of dark brown hair sticking out of it. He had a rosy tint to his cheeks and neck. He wore the rowing crew’s shirt with a pair of dark blue shorts that showed off his sexy thigh tattoo, the snake curling around his muscular leg.

Just like that, any frustration I’d been feeling went poof .

He came over to where we sat and gave me a kiss, my heart skipping a couple of beats. We didn’t have enough spots where we sat, so we gathered up our stuff and moved to a small table on the palm-tree-shaded patio. A couple of other students hung out around us, studying or chatting, a few glancing our way. If it had been weeks earlier, I would have instantly started to worry that they were aware of the protest and the conflict of interest going on.

Fuck that noise. I reached over for Ryan’s hand, his big fingers interlocking with mine so perfectly.

“Sorry I’m late. I wanted to get some extra pumps in at the gym.”

“Isn’t the big race coming up?” Maddy asked.

“Sure is, in about three weeks,” Ryan said. “Depending on how we place, we might make it to the championships.”

Ryan had been training for hours and hours lately. He’d come back to the dorm exhausted as fuck, but not exhausted enough to not fuck. It was actually really hot. Sometimes he was still sweaty and clearly ready to rearrange my guts, which I gladly let him do.

He hadn’t invited me to see him practice, nor did he invite me to the big race. I knew it was because of him respecting my past but it did make me feel a little sad that I wasn’t going to be seeing him compete.

Maybe …

“You guys are still working on the protest, right?” Ryan asked. I had already texted him, which was why he came straight here after the gym instead of back to our dorm. He’d been extra supportive about it. He never tried to hold me back or stop this from happening, which made me even more certain he was a great guy. In this case, the apple fell far, far, farrr from the tree.

“We are,” I said, pointing at Colt. “I just finished handing out flyers with this one. Did you know he likes to dare people out of nowhere?”

“Oh yeah, been his thing since we were little. What’d he dare you to do?” Ryan asked.

“We were handing out flyers for the protest and were losing a little steam, so he dared me to make the next one dramatic and memorable.”

Colton started to laugh. “It was a good idea!”

“Actually it kinda was,” I said. “I went up to a group who were talking about roommate problems. So I channelled my early days with you and went off. Improving the entire thing. I think I even called you a stoner.”

Ryan dropped his head forward, smiling. “A stoner?”

I shrugged. “It was off the cuff. They for sure didn’t see me and Colt cracking up as they walked away, either. Anyways, I’m sure they’ll show up now just to see how my ‘roommate’ troubles turned out.”

“They’re going to be surprised.” Ryan answered with a sexy smirk. I leaned in for a prolonged kiss, my smile pressed against his.

“You guys are so gross,” Maddy said. “I fucking love it so much. ”

We settled back in and gave Ryan a rundown on what we’d been talking about, coming up to the current roadblock: what could we do on the beach that would draw in the views?

Ryan sat back, the sun slashing a golden beam of light across his handsome face. Without missing a beat, he said, “What about a drag show? I thought about it after we saw the one at Passions, forgot to mention it.”

And just like that, our problems were solved. It was as if the few clouds floating above us all jerked to the side, dropping a beam of sunlight on our circular table.

Maddy put a hand to her chest. “Oh. My. Madonna. How did I not think of that? Drag queens are always getting views online. And they are the definition of activism.”

Ryan continued, smiling like he was proud as hell. “I think we can pull off a really solid drag show on the beach. We can have it all themed around protecting the environment and film it so the queens and kings are performing with their backs to the oil drill site. Or we can put up a backdrop showing the ocean drenched in oil behind them. Something powerful.”

“Oh shit, I have an aunt that has an events company with portable stages. Maybe she can set something up.”

Maddy cocked her head in surprise. “How many hookups do you have in the entertainment business? Next, you’re going to tell me you have a grandfather who owns a studio in Hollywood.”

Colton’s smirk turned sly. “Actually…”

“Oh, shut up,” Maddy said, giggling. “I also know a bunch of local drag queens. We can have them perform individual numbers, so there doesn’t need to be any big rehearsals or anything. Oh! And I’ve been chatting with Blaise. He’s super cool. His schedule’s pretty packed but he said he’d move things around for a good cause.”

“Can he do that in three weeks?” Colton asked.

“Yeah, as long as we keep it to four or five queens. Maybe they can do two numbers each?”

“I think that’ll work really well.” I squeezed Ryan’s hand and leaned over to kiss him. “A drag show. Genius. So fucking smart.”

"Ryan’s always had great ideas," Colton said, clearly proud of his best friend. Another check in the “Ryan’s a great guy” column.

Ryan turned to me, grabbing both my hands in his. His gaze radiated something that I could only describe as “home.” “And I don’t want you feeling any pressure to have to attend or any guilt for not attending, either. We can set up another one that’s a little more inland after we draw all eyes to us with the ocean show. How’s that sound?”

I nearly started to cry but somehow held it all back, building an invisible dam. “That sounds so fucking perfect.”

To have someone who so profoundly understood me, understood my fears and how to handle them, it meant the world.

This “great guy” column was soon running out of space.

We spent the rest of the day tossing around different drag queens and kings we wanted to reach out to. It was fun, the time flying back, the four of us creating a bond that felt concrete. I was excited. Scared that it would be a lot to pull off, with a fuck-ton riding on it, but excited.

And looking over at a smiling, joking, handsome-as-fuck Ryan only made that excitement bloom even brighter. Not only for the protest, either, but for the future.

My entire body became filled with sunlight and butterflies and big ol’ gay rainbows. My ribs were grassy knolls, and my lungs were meadow-covered fields, and my heart was the bright, beating sun, with Ryan and me lying down together, Twilight-style.

My Edward, his Bella…except much less clumsy and awkward.

Huh.

Guess this is what love feels like.

Being at my mom’s house always felt like a warm, art-filled hug.

She lived in a gated community further inland, where the San Luco rich rubbed elbows with the middle class. Her neighborhood was very eclectic which matched my mom’s vibe perfectly. There were massive modern mansions mixed with one-story Spanish style homes. The hills made a picturesque backdrop against her backyard, where I currently sat and watched her paint.

“Need more tea, honey?”

“Nah, I’m ok. Thanks.” I leaned against the pillow on my side and looked out to her garden. “The tulips look great. And those orchids are slaying.”

“They are thriving aren’t they? I’m thinking of finding some rare succulents and putting them by the koi pond.”

“Oh, that would look really good.”

“Want to go find some with me later?”

“I can’t, I need to meet Maddy. Our Beacon Bay protest is almost here. Still have so much to do for it.”

My mom gave her canvas a once-over and set her brush down on the paint palette next to her. She turned her chair around so she could face me. “How’s that going?”

“Great, actually. We figured out what we want to do—well Ryan actually figured out what to do. I think it’s going to get the attention we need to add pressure. I’ve got hope.”

My mom’s hazel eyes crinkled as she twirled a turquoise beads on her bracelet. “You really like him, don’t you?”

“Well yeah, he’s my boyfriend. I hope I like him.” I smiled, knowing my mom meant more than she was saying. “He’s a really great guy. Nothing like his father. And… yeah, he makes me really happy.”

“I can see a change in you. You seem so much more, no sé, carefree. Especially when he’s around. The other night at dinner, it was obvious how good you are for each other. I saw those puppy eyes you gave him. I love seeing my son like this.”

“And your son loves feeling like this.” I looked back at the garden again. “I think Dad would have loved him.”

“I know he would have. He always said he wanted you to end up happy, successful, and with someone who lifts you up.”

The cloudless blue sky took on a new life every time I spoke about my dad. “When did you know he was going to be the one?” I asked. I’d known how they met, when they got married, and watched the rest of their love story unravel with my own eyes.

But I never asked how she knew.

“Well, not to burst your romantic bubble, but I don’t think there isn’t really one exact moment someone knows. Unless I watched your dad fly into a burning building and come out rescuing a basket of crying kittens, then yes, I would have known then. But I don’t think there’s ever a true moment,” she said. She swirled her matcha tea, took a sip, and continued. “Instead I think there’s a multitude of moments, that only continued after me and your dad married. Reaffirmations to my initial guess, because that’s really all we can do. Guess at our futures.

He gave me all the reasons —tiny and huge— so that I could pull them together, paint them onto a canvas that would never really be complete. Not until I can no longer paint.”

She took another sip of her tea, letting me sit in her words. I thought about all the moments Ryan proved he was the one for me. My painting of us already begun forming.

My mom cleared her throat. “Does that make any sense? I did eat an edible before you got here.”

I cracked up, happy I can share this moment with her. “Yes, that made complete sense.”

“Okay, good.” She smiled, opened her arms.

I got up from my seat and hugged her tightly.

“I love you, Jay.”

“Love you too, Mom.”