“Maybe. Open to the idea,” I say simply.
“Aliens?”
“Of course.”
“Atlantis?” I burst out laughing.
“Like the lost city?” I ask, doubled over in laughter.
“What’s funny about Atlantis?” he asks with a pouty frown on his face. If I was laughing a little less hard, I might lose my focus on his full bottom lip stuck out.
“There’s no way it’s real. How do we go from such real things to Atlantis of all things? No more conspiracy theory videos for you.” I gasp for air between laughs.
“Fine, fine. No more conspiracy theories,” he says, thinking.
“Dream car?” he asks. I just shrug. One that drives has always been good enough for me. I don’t particularly care about cars.
“Don’t really have one. No big car opinions.” I shrug. He hums out loud as he thinks.
“Dream house… What’s it got?” he asks. This one, though, I’ve daydreamed about. I have answers for days about my dream house.
“How much time do you have?” I say with a giggle. He checks an invisible watch on his wrist.
“All night, approximately.”
“A skylight over the bathtub, an en suite bathroom for the master, a big open kitchen, and one of those outdoor kitchen spaces. I’d love somewhere I can have friends and family over, you know, just a good hosting space.”
“Those are good,” Roman replies.
“Oh, I’m not done. Oceanfront, like this house, would be a dream, one with one of those pastel colors for siding, maybe palm trees, fans on the deck…” I pause. “Oh! More than one deck would be lovely. And a pool!” I exclaim.
“You really know what you want,” he points out.
“Yeah, I guess I do.”
* * *
Present day
“How the hell did you remember that?” I ask as soon as he’s done telling me about the night I told him all the things I’d want in my dream house. Years later, he bought it for me, for us.
“When you talk, I have this bad habit of hanging on to every word,” he admits. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ares open his mouth and act out making himself puke.
“You guys are gross, I’m going home,” he says, holding up a hand as a stiff wave.
“Thank you for bringing me and being a part of this,” I say, running over and throwing my arms around him. He wraps one single arm around me.
“You’re welcome.” He smiles, letting me go. Roman pulls him into a hug.
“Thanks for staging a kidnapping for me,” Roman says.
“No problem, just had to threaten to light her on fire.” Ares shrugs and heads out of what’s nowourfront door.
I walk back over to Roman and wrap my arms around him, tipping my chin up, waiting for him to kiss me. He cranes his neck down to kiss me. The world comes to a dead halt, and it’s like everyone has been thrown off of it, except the two of us. Just us, in our house.
This is it; this is the feeling I’ve been chasing my entire life. The moment that you remember forever. Pure bliss, nothing but joy, is in this room with us.
“I love you so much,” Roman says in between kisses.
