Page 37 of Road Trip

“Well, it’s probably a good thing since it’d save you from jerking off over FaceTime and all.”

“Joke’s on you,” Matt said. “I can jerk off over FaceTimeandcome visit you in Virginia.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do that then.” Because we wereboyfriends. “Now hurry up and get dressed. We’ve got to hit the road.”

“What’s the rush?”

“We want to make the Grand Canyon by sunset, right?”

Matt’s face split with a grin. “Hell yes! Let’s go!”

CHAPTER

TWELVE

MATT

558 miles to go

Grand Canyon, AZ

There were some places on the planet that just took your breath away, and this was one of them. It was big. There weren’t really words for how big it was—it was like my first memory of looking up into the night sky and catching just the smallest glimpse of something infinite. I sat cross-legged on a rock, my sketchbook on my knee, wishing I had words for the vast array of colors the fading sunlight painted the canyon. Jacob stood at the fence, forearms resting on the rail, his eyes wide as he took it all in.

Below us, hawks wheeled.

A chill breeze ruffled Jacob’s hair, sending tendrils dancing across his cheek, and I was torn between watching him and watching the changing light as it flowed across the canyon, making the colors and striations in the rocks come alive. The sight was dazzling—both the canyon and Jacob. His cheeks and the tip of his nose were pink with the cold, which meant mine must have been red. I didn’t care. I could have sat here all night soaking in the sights and smells, even though I’d be a popsicle by morning.

I opened my sketchbook, but after a few seconds I closed itagain. There were plenty of pictures of the canyon and none of them did it justice, so my pencil drawings sure as shit weren’t going to capture the majesty of the place. Why not be in the moment with Jacob instead?

He shivered as the breeze ruffled his hair again, and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. He flashed me a grin. “Holy shit, it’s cold! My balls have crawled so far up into my body that I think they might be in my nasal cavity by now! It’s supposed to besummer!”

So much for the moment.

But he wasn’t wrong. My balls weren’t in my nasal cavity, but those bad boys were definitely tucked up tight somewhere around my rib cage. But still I didn’t move, unable to look away from the vastness in front of us. “Hey, does this count as our first date? Because if it does, we’re killing it as boyfriends.”

Jacob laughed, the sound echoing off the surrounding rocks. “Holy shit. It is. And we are.” He beamed at me and I grinned back.

I still couldn’t quite believe last night was real, but here we were. We’d fooled around, and it had been everything I’d ever dreamed about, and now Jacob was talking about flights and visits, and I knew if he said he wanted to be boyfriends, he meant it.

I just had to get through the next few days without fucking it all up.

The next gust of wind had more of a bite to it and the light was starting to fade, so I reluctantly levered myself to my feet, stuffing my hands into the pocket of my hoodie and shivering. Jacob threw an arm over my shoulders, and it warmed me in more ways than one.

We made our way down the path, and I knew Jacob would probably tease me for staying well back from the low stone wall that was all that was standing between me and plummeting to my death, but I didn't care. There was a book in the gift shop thatlisted all the ways people had died in the canyon, and I didn’t want to be the reason they released a new edition.

He kept his arm around me as we walked, and we didn’t rush. It felt like we both wanted to make the most of every moment together before we hit San Diego in two days and had to say goodbye. And even though we’d just said we were dating, the insecure part of me couldn’t help wondering what would happen when Jacob got his newly bisexual ass to college and found out he was hot. Like, I was pretty sure he already knew he was hot, but now he was going to be at a college full of other hot college guys who might feel the need to share that information with him.

“Hey,” Jacob said, pulling me closer. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I was just thinking. Do you think we can stay one more night at a hotel before we get to my dad’s?” I wasn’t sure how to say I didn’t want to let him go when we’d only just gotten together without sounding like a complete loser, but it turned out I didn’t need to because we were on the same page.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Jacob said, and he sounded almost…shy?

I tilted my head back to look up at him. His cheeks were flushed, and I didn't think it was from all the walking we’d done. “Why are you blushing?”

Jacob steered me over to a nearby bench seat and we sat down. “I mean, we’re camping tonight, so we can’t really fool around without everyone else hearing. But I was thinking tomorrow night in Yuma, if we got a room, I could try and last longer than ten seconds next time.”

That sounded pretty great to me too, but since it was me, I didn’t say that. Instead I said, “Bro, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say if you came in under ten seconds when you were with Layla, no wonder she dumped your ass.”

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