I look him dead in the eye. “Phone sex. With video. And toys.”
His face breaks out into a full-blown grin. “Hot damn, now you’re talking.”
I point at him. “Your turn.”
He seems to consider for a second before answering me. “More daily Dippy pictures.”
Now it’s my turn to grin. “I knew it. You love our dinosaur.”
Jordan runs his knuckles over my cheek. “I love making you happy. The pictures make you happy.”
“Gah, when did you turn into such a softie?”
He shrugs and runs a hand through his hair. “When I kissed you under the fireworks and you made me feel everything.”
“Holy fuck,” I mumble. “I’m obsessed with you.”
“Right back at you, Hurricane. So, bright side me some more.”
In what is now a habit, I push Jordan’s hair back from his face and lay a hand on his cheek. “Surprise mail. I freaking love surprises and I love getting mail that’s not, like, the postcard I filled out myself at the dentist’s office telling me it’s time for my six-month cleaning that I always reschedule a thousand times before I finally go.”
Jordan gives me a sly smile. “I already know what I’m sending you.”
I give him one right back. “I bet it’s not as good as what I’m planning on sending you.”
He leans in and kisses the spot behind my ear that makes me shiver. “It’s definitely not. You always win at the present game.”
“I’m so glad you recognize my gift-giving genius. And speaking of which.” I lean over and rummage through my bag, coming up with a bag of candy I hand to Jordan.
He studies it before looking back at me, confused. “Why are you giving me a bag of jellybeans?”
“Not just jelly beans. Toasted marshmallow jelly beans.”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why are you giving me a bag of toasted marshmallow jelly beans?”
I give him aduhlook. “Because it’s National Toasted Marshmallow Day, of course. The Central Park police would probably arrest us for lighting a fire to toast actual marshmallows, so this is the next best thing.”
“I love your brain,” he says, opening the bag and tossing a couple jellybeans in his mouth. He chews for a second and then makes a face. “Even if your brain had the idea to give me the most disgusting jelly beans on the planet.”
I look at him incredulously. “You have to be joking. Toasted marshmallow jelly beans are, objectively, the best jelly beans in the world.”
“Hurricane, they so completely are not.”
I put a hand on my chest and gasp dramatically. “Is this our first fight? Mere minutes before we’re separated by hundreds of miles, left to pine away for each other with nothing but fuck hot phone sex, surprises in the mail, and pictures of a scarf-wearing plastic dinosaur to comfort us until we can be together again?”
Jordan barks out a laugh and wraps his arms around me, raining kisses over my face and neck and everywhere he can reach. “Jo Jo, you are my favorite human in the world.”
With a smile, I press my lips to his. “You are my favorite human in the galaxy.”
When he grins at me, humor playing in his eyes, it warms me more than the August sun, and it makes me feel like, no matter what, we’re going to be okay.
* * *
“That’s everything.” Ben sticks my last bag in the car and slams his trunk shut. He turns to Jordan and me, his gaze bouncing between us like he’s unsure of his next move. Jordan decides for him, letting go of my hand and wrapping Ben in a hug.
There are no bro slaps on the back for these two. This is a real hug between two people whose friendship has been through some things but who will never, ever be anything except for brothers.
“Thank you for everything,” Jordan says to Ben when they break apart. “I know I haven’t always acted like it, but I couldn’t have gotten through the last two years without you. Jeremy, Asher, and Gabe too.”
