Our hands are still joined, and I make a joke about him writing a hymn about us for his church back home. He lets go of the leaf and digs into his pocket for his phone, making a comment about loving the word hymn.

He hasn’t shaved in a few days, and it’s adorable because his light, patchy facial hair has barely grown in, just enough to feel scratchy when I peck his cheeks.

My temples throb a bit, and this isn’t exactly a perfect moment, but I figure now is as good a time as any. Just because he wants to keep me and his family life separate doesn’t mean I have to keep him away from mine. Maybe it’ll show him he can trust me. “Question.”

“Answer,” he says, not looking up from his Notes app.

The intensity with which he writes makes me smile, especially the way his eyebrows crinkle and his tongue sticks out slightly as he pulls from his arsenal of words.

“Next weekend is my sister’s birthday, and I was wondering if you’d want to come. Home with me. Rae is driving.”

He looks up. “As your …” He still can’t say the word boyfriend.

I shrug. “Not if you don’t want to be.”

“I didn’t say that,” he says playfully.

“I know it’s weird timing because midterms are the week after, and then it’s Halloween, and the weekend after that is Parents’ Weekend, and if you’d rather chill on campus and go to parties and stuff, that’s totally cool. Oh, and this weekend there’s an exhibit in the gallery I wanted to check out. Someone who graduated in May from my program. It’ll be cool if you want to go with me, but I know I’m asking a lot of you, so …”

He kisses me quickly, and I didn’t realize I wasn’t breathing until his lips touch mine and my whole body relaxes. I inhale, breathing him in.

“I love when you ramble,” he says.

“So is that a yes?” I ask.

He shrugs with a smirk. Then his face changes. “Ugh, Parents’ Weekend. I forgot about that.”

“Your family is coming, right?”

I want him to say, “Yes, and I’d love for you to meet them!” But I know he won’t.

“They’ve had it marked on the calendar since I got my acceptance email,” he says. “Just here for one night, though, Saturday into Sunday, so, you know, I’ll be busy showing them around and stuff.” Subtext: Not a chance in hell are you meeting them, Chase. He might as well do the sign of the cross: Father, Son, and Holy gay Ghost.

“Gotcha.” I clear my throat. “So, what do you think about coming home with me for my sister’s b-day?”

He smiles and holds out his phone.

you dance on my tongue