Page 136 of Something Like Forever

He pulled Ben to his feetand kissed him. Even once they had finished—and it took quite sometime—Tim continued to hold him, never wanting to let go. Sure, afew people walked by during this demonstration, no doubt on the wayto medical appointments of their own, but when faced with thingslike illness and mortality, it was good to be reminded oflove.

* * * * *

Summer was officiallyover. The double-wide trailer had been converted into a classroom,and despite the calendar’s promise that this was the first day ofautumn, the day was too hot to conjure up visions of falling leavesand carved pumpkins. Especially in this stuffy trailer. One windowair conditioner unit wasn’t enough. All it did was make noise,forcing the teacher to nearly shout every word. Luckily theyweren’t seated too near the front. Their chair and desk combos werein the third row, and might have belonged normally to youngchildren. Ben fit comfortably into his, but he wasn’t nearly as bigas his current and future husband. Tim caught him looking, grimacedwhile trying to shift into a more comfortable position, andreturned his attention to the front.

Ben allowed himself asmirk. They were in the middle of a pre-marital education course,an eight-hour lesson on how to maintain a successful relationship.He had signed them up for it, thinking it would be fun, but threehours in and the novelty had worn off.

“Whatare some of the healthiest ways to resolve a disagreement?” askedthe teacher who—ironically—didn’t have a wedding band on herfinger.

A teenage girl raised herhand. “By talking about it?”

“Verygood!” The teacher trilled.

“Who else?”

Tim raised his hand. “Byhaving sex?”

Ben snorted.

The teacher wasn’t soamused. “Sex shouldneverbe used to address underlying issues. That’s nota permanent solution.”

“But ithelps blow off steam,” Ben chimed in. “Which makes it easier tohave a levelheaded discussion.”

“And it’s really hot,” Timadded helpfully.

The teacher narrowed hereyes in their direction. Then she addressed the half-dozen couplesaround them. “What else can you think of?”

“Ask someone to mediate,”said an older man.

“Very good!”

Ben rolled his eyes andraised his hand. It was ignored until he said, “Sorry, quickquestion.”

The teacher’s nostrilsflared. “Yes?”

“Ifsomeone keeps leaving their dirty socks around the house—like onthe couch—what do you think the best strategy is? To yell at themuntil they finally change, or to silently throw the socks away eachtime so that person is forced to buy new ones?”

“Morelike forced to dig socks out of the trash can each morning,” Timsaid, his hand shooting up. “I have a question too! If you’re withsomeone who always squeezes the toothpaste from the front of thetube instead of the end, don’t you think it’s perfectly reasonableto buy your own tube and hide it so that you don’t have to dealwith their sloppiness?”

“That’sperfectly fine,” Ben said, “but when the other person runs out oftoothpaste, surely any good spouse would, after being asked ifthere was more somewhere, fess up and share.”

“I did share!Eventually.”

“Onlywhen you wanted to kiss me, and even then, you wouldn’t let metouch the tube of toothpaste. I had to hold my brush out likeOliver Twist and beg.” Ben put on his best Cockney accent. “Pleasesir, I want some more!”

“Let’sget back on-topic,” the teacher said. “What are other ways wecan—”

“What doyou think about calling your partner’s mother to complain aboutperfectly harmless issues,” Ben said, “knowing full well thatshe’ll badger her son about it for monthsafterwards?”

“That’snot why I called her!” Tim shot back. “It came up in conversation,that’s all.”

Ben shook his head. “Firstof all, I only snore when I’ve been drinking, and she’sstillsending me crazycures that I don’t actually need.” He whipped out his phone, pulledup a text he had gotten earlier in the day and held it up. “Look atthis chin strap she expects me to wear!”

“It’s supposed to keepyour mouth shut,” Tim grumbled. “Doesn’t seem to beworking.”

A girl sitting across theaisle from Ben leaned over to look. “Oh hell no! I wouldn’t becaught dead wearing that!”

“Even while sleeping, am Iright?” Ben asked her.