Page 100 of Advanced Chemistry

Chase gave the adoring crowd a modest wave, but in a moment of impulse, he held the plaque over his head triumphantly. The place went wild. Graduating students seated on the football field threw confetti in the air.

“Thank you, South Rock,” Chase said at the podium. “It’s an honor to receive this award. My friend and our drama teacher Mr. Calloway gave me pointers for a good acceptance speech. He said that I should act surprised even though I was notified in advance I’d be receiving this award. And despite knowing this was coming, I assure you I’m still in shock. He said that I should thank the director and crew, or else I could risk hurting fragile egos and getting myself blacklisted in this town. I’m realizing now that he didn’t try and tailor his advice for this situation, but the sentiment remains. To everyone in the South Rock community, Principal Aguilar, fellow teachers, and my students, the only reason I’m successful as a teacher is because I love coming here every day. I love getting inspired by you.”

He pointed at the students, which garnered him more cheers and confetti. In perfect Chase form, he picked a single piece of confetti off his blazer and studied it as if it were a questionable substance.

“Watching your brain work through challenging material, watching you grow, has been a highlight. The world may not always make sense, but that’s part of its charm. We try to live orderly lives, but I believe life happens in the mess of things. That’s where we really find out who we are and what we want. Never forget how capable and smart you are. If you can get through my notorious advanced chem midterm, you can get through anything. Thank you to all my students, past and present.”

His eyes flicked to us for a flash before he returned to his seat.

Anton and I shared a look of sheer pride in our boyfriend.

“What a guy,” he said.

I couldn’t agree more.

* * *

After the graduation,we had a surprise lined up for Chase. We weren’t taking him to a fancy dinner. We made him one at home.

While Anton schmoozed with Chase and his friends at the graduation, I raced home and put the finishing touches on truffle mac and cheese and braised short ribs. When our leases were up, we moved into a bigger apartment in Chase’s building. We got a two-bedroom space with a very large primary bedroom to accommodate our king sized bed. The extra room worked as a walk-in closet slash office.

The unit was on the ground floor with a lovely view of the communal garden. I missed living on the top floor. All those stairs were great for my quads and hammies. But this was the first place I lived in as an adult that felt like home. There was real furniture. No more futon, no more crate doubling as coffee table and ottoman.

As I was lighting the candles at the center of the table, Einstein hopped on, mischief in her eyes.

“Don’t. You. Dare. You are not ruining this table setting with your hairballs.” I stared her down. She might’ve run this apartment, but she wasn’t the boss of me.

She narrowed her eyes at me, big cat eyes that would’ve been adorable under normal circumstances. A twitch of fear rose up my spine.

She arched her back and began to vibrate with the tell-tale, mechanical-esque sounds of trouble.

“Einstein. Why must you choose violence at every turn?” I dropped her onto the kitchen floor just in time for her to let loose a nasty hairball.

And then she pranced back to the living room. She was not living up to her intelligent namesake.

Well, that was why they invented paper towels.

As I grabbed the roll off the counter, I spotted the anniversary card Hollis had sent to us hanging on the fridge. Seeing it always made me laugh. It was a very nice gesture to send, but he referred to us all as “gentlemen,” something that we cracked up about randomly throughout the day. Still, Anton and I loved working with Hollis. Because of him, business was booming. He put us on the map with other local companies looking for vending machines. He would even chat with us on Friday afternoons and spit off free, invaluable business advice. It made Anton and me dizzy with future ideas. We wanted to install coffee machines and soft serve machines, expand Beverage Solutions to be the one stop shop for your break room needs. We had a hard time keeping up with our ambitions, wishing that God had created us extra hours in the day. We would conquer the world, one break room at a time.

The front door clicked open.

“Honey, we’re home,” Anton said. He led Chase into the dining room, where his special dinner was served, table fully set. His face melted with joy.

“This was why you had to come home early?” Chase asked. “Not because you thought you left the sink on?”

I nodded yes. A little white lie here and there was okay in a relationship.

“This is…wonderful.”

“We both worked on it,” I said. “Spent a good part of the day on those short ribs.”

“We wanted to give you one helluva celebratory meal,” said Anton.

He and I pulled out the seat at the head of the table for our award-winning boyfriend.

This past year exceeded all of our expectations. Managing a three-person relationship was surprisingly easy. It wasn’t much of a struggle when there was love at the core. I got to spend my days with my favorite people.

We sat down to eat. Anton and I chowed down on our food, while Chase was the slower eater.

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