[Twice Featured Noteworthy Novel & Staff Pick on Tapas.io] ✔
[Previously featured on Tapas.io's LGBTQ+ Community collection] ✔
One night. That was all it took for Senn Reyes' life to change drastically--and permanently.
Senn Reyes is a seventeen-y...
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Wednesday
Senn knew he still needed to tell Julian he had decided to work on things with Elio; whatever there was between them. But the fact he made that decision made him feel like he was no longer carrying to world on his shoulders. It felt liberating, it felt like there was room to breathe.
Well, except for the moments in school in which Elio secretly flirted with him. Quick touches under de table, the looks from across the room, the smiles Elio sent him; daring and cheeky, the whispers in the hallway.
They made his breath stop, his heart race, and his stomach flip.
They shared normal conversations too, whenever someone was paying attention to them. But whenever Elio could, he was there to make Senn long for him more each passing second.
Even sitting with him at their lunch table felt unbearable.
Even watching Elio walk up to the seat next to Senn in class that morning made tension rise a little.
"Hey," Elio greeted him, sliding in his seat with a swift movement, "cutie," he whispered when he was close enough so the word would only be heard by Senn.
"Hey," Senn replied like some sort of love suck puppy.
"Joseph asked about you. He wants to play memory with you again."
"Oh, really? I can come by after school?" He really wouldn't mind coming over after school to spend more time with Elio. Preferably alone, but he didn't mind if Joseph would be there. Joseph had already seen them kiss, and it only made him giggle and ask—over and over again—if Senn was Elio's boyfriend. Joseph wouldn't judge them for flirting, or holding hands, or sitting close to each other. No, at Elio's home, they could just do whatever they wanted.
"You can come over any time, but make sure to clear some time on your schedule for me too." He leaned closer again. "I wouldn't mind playing... memory... with you either."
"Memory huh?" Senn muttered back, while his heart was beating against his chest.
"You could remove that word from the sentence if you want to make more sense of it."
Senn couldn't help but laugh, though his face heated up in the same time. It continued throughout class, and Senn repeatedly wrote down warnings for Elio to stop touching him under the table, only to return the teasing seconds later. It was more exciting than anything Senn had experienced in a long time to flirt with him freely, knowing the interest was mutual.
But during the past few days, things were quickly escalating, and once class was over and lunch started, Senn fled into an empty classroom to take a breath and calm himself down. He was in school, not in a club or at a party. Elio was driving him crazy—wild even. But before he was able to close the door, Elio squeezed himself through a small opening and closed the door behind him, leaning against the door with a daring smirk on his face.
