And They Lived...
To every queer person who grew up never seeing themselves in fairy tales but still dreamed of being swept off their feet in a Technicolor love story: this is for you, go find your adventure
To Steve, who swept me off my feet and made me believe I was worthy of being loved: together we lived
Also by Steven Salvatore
Can’t Take That Away
CONTENTS
Chapter 1. Once Upon a Time
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29. Five Months Late
Acknowledgments
1
ONCE UPON A TIME
My mother is trying to get me killed.
“So, what do you think?” Mom asks, bouncing on the balls of her feet. I’ve just gotten back to my new dorm room suite with my twelve-year-old sister, Taylor. She couldn’t sit still for the short amount of time it took to unpack my entire life, so I’d taken her on a walking tour of the campus. We were gone for twenty minutes, which apparently was long enough for Mom to put a scrolly decal on the wall just above the head of my extra-long twin bed that says Once Upon a Time. She might as well have gotten one that says Live, Laugh, Love.
“I think I’m going to get the shit kicked out of me before classes start,” I say.
“Chase Arthur, watch your language.” Mom nods toward Taylor, who rolls her eyes.
Taylor looks awkward and innocent—still incubating in the stage between ugly duckling and beautiful swan—but I know better.
“Sorry. But …” I stick out my tongue and gesticulate wildly toward the wall. “Seriously, Mom. Why? You know the rules.” I swipe my phone from the desk and pull up the email about move-in day. “Only adhere things to the walls with tacky stuff.” My fingers pinch the air.
Mom waves her hand dismissively and glances toward the corkboard above my desk at my high school Drama King picture. “Oh, relax, you’re such a drama queen.”
I was not in the drama club or anything like that. I was crowned Most Dramatic, aka Drama King, aka the person most likely to cause a whole scene and then gossip about it later. Which, fair.
The picture is ripped down the middle. Missing in action: Leila Casablanca, my former best friend, voted Drama Queen. We haven’t spoken in months, and I seethe when I think about how I’ll probably run into her because she just had to come to my college. But I love this picture of me, so I keep it. Seriously, I fucking sparkle in a tiara.