Could I Be? (BxB)

Chapter 10

Christmas and winter break goes by slowly and eventfully. I take Zane with me back home and Mom and Dad welcome him back into the Swanson household. Dad's a lot warmer this time around and the house accommodates to Zane immediately. Patch spends most of his time around Zane, which I find to be the cutest thing.

Travis and Brandon are taking well to Zane and find they like watching him draw. The four of us even have a pick up game in my backyard with some of our old teammates from our high school team. Zane shows that while he may be an art guy, he can play with the jocks. The game ended 1-0, with my team winning. Zane only allowed three hits.

The date for the art gala is fast approaching and I'm getting more and more nervous the closer we get to it. Zane doesn't know a thing about it and I intend to keep it that way. It's finally 2014 and I made a new year's resolution: be the best boyfriend I can be. That's a resolution I plan on following.

Zane and I head back to Stanford a few days after the start of the New Year. We fall back into our usual routines and classes start back up a day after we get back. Josh and The Cardinal made it to the BCS National Championship Game and faced the University of Florida Gators. With a final score of 14-13, The Cardinal clenched the title with a last minute eighty-seven-yard touchdown by Josh. He came back to school a hero with Leo under his arm.

It's January 20th and the art gala is tomorrow and I'm a nervous wreck, and my art isn't even on display! But, I'm ready for everything that's going to happen tomorrow. After finishing a late evening workout, I walk back into Florence Moore Hall and start to head back upstairs. "Eric, stop for a second."

I look to the D.A. office and see Charles stepping out. "What's up, Charles?" I ask.

"Two things: First, here." Charles hands an envelope to me and inside are two laminated tickets. "Those are your passes to get into the gala tomorrow. My ticket is paper, so your and Zane's tickets must mean you're VIP's. I'm going to kill Anthony when I get my hands on him...not giving me a VIP ticket..."

"Charles," I say, snapping him back to reality.

He shakes his head out. "Oh, right. Second, I want to thank you again for helping me let go of Jason. It was hard, but I think I'm starting to live without the regret I was feeling."

"That's great to hear, Charles."

"But I got some more good news: I talked to Jason."

My first shock of the new year is the head of my dorm telling me he talked to his son who's been dead for more than five years. "Excuse me?" I ask.

"Last night when I went to bed, Jason was in my dream, in his army fatigues. At first, I thought it was nothing more than my imagination, but I actually talked to him, heard him, hugged him. He was there. I know he was."

"Maybe he came down from Heaven just so he could talk to you."

"That's what he told me." Charles' slightly wrinkled face smiles. "Jason and I talked about a lot, mostly how much we had missed each other. I told him he won the Silver Star for what he did in Afghanistan and he told me that he didn't deserve a medal that anyone would've done. His humbleness hasn't changed at all.

"It felt so good just to see my boy, but to hug and talk to him? That's a moment I'll never forget for the rest of my life. Jason promised me he'd appear in my next dream, so I can't wait to get to sleep tonight. My boy may be gone, but I'm still lucky enough to see him every night."

"I'm happy for you, Charles. I hope you can tell Jason a little about me."

"I already have, Eric."