A few days later, I snapped my buckle on the plane in the first class seat right next to my… my boyfriend.

Everything was set for Christmas break. With the permission of my stats professor, I was able to take my exam early. Two days ago, I left the testing room, feeling confident that I would get at least a low A.

Now I could devote all of my attention to the man next to me and exploring his world.

I still couldn't believe that Sam was actually my boyfriend. When he didn’t think I was looking, I snuck a glance at him.

He was looking off to the aisle, and his jawline caught the light from the window. Just him being this close to me stirred up deep feelings of desire.

As the plane took off, my heart did too, soaring into the heavens with my spirits. I couldn’t remember that last time I’d been this happy.

He wanted me to meet his friends and family from back home!

I wondered if they would think I was good enough for Sam. I was still haunted by my past, coming from a trailer park in Tennessee. And here I was just hanging out with by this person who was way out of my league.

“Do you want a drink?” He asked me with that shining smile of his, tantalizing me.

“A—a drink?” I asked. “I probably shouldn’t…”

“Fuck it, you’re on vacation.” He tempted.

He was like the devil on my shoulder, telling me to relax.

I nodded and accepted. “Yeah. Fuck it.”

A few minutes later, I had a beer in my hand while we were cruising the high altitude and Sam was clutching an old fashioned. He was swirling the perfectly square ice cube around. It made a soft tinkling noise as it clattered against the glass.

“Are you nervous?” I asked, eyeing his swirling drink.

“Flying makes me… a little nervous.” He admitted reluctantly.

I put my hand on his, caressing the length of his index finger with my thumb. He looked down in surprise at my touch, then and made eye contact. His hazel eyes were simmering and melting; liquid gold.

So this is what Happy Sam looks like, I thought to myself.

“You’re really special to me, you know that?” He said.

My heart felt like it was swelling with joy. “Yeah, I know.” I replied softly.

He leaned over and gave me a soft, gentle kiss on the cheek. I turned back at him and brushed my lips against his for a more tender, heartfelt kiss.

I’d never felt like this before, not with anyone. I didn’t realize that I could feel this good just by being around someone else. It was like his aura was intoxicating. He made me so happy.

Ugh, I thought of going back after this two-week break and having to go swim again. I was not looking forward to that. The practices were long and hard, and early in the morning. They were intense, and I couldn’t ever eat what I wanted and had to stay super disciplined. There was no wiggle room for fun. And the guys on the team were okay, but all they ever talked about was girls and sports, and put each other down constantly. I could never get on board with that. I just didn’t get it. I acted like I did in order to fit in, but I needed more out of my friendships.

I looked over at Sam, taking him in with my eyes again. How his perfect features shown in the golden light of the afternoon sun, bobbing above the clouds.

I could see what he looked like, but exploring underneath him, under the surface was like exploring a diamond mine. The more I learned about him, I wanted to keep going deeper and deeper, unearthing all of his secrets and all of their facets. There just was so much to him, and so much more that I wanted to find out. I was… captivated by him. Whatever was going on in that head of his, I probably couldn’t understand, but I wanted desperately to try. He filled me up with the thing I was missing, the thing I needed.

I held his hand, feeling the warmth and chemistry of his body, flow into mine through the whole flight. Normally I would have gotten sick of touching someone for so long, but in this case, I longed for more. It felt like his energy, warm and safe, was flowing through me.

After three hours or so, we landed and he took his hand away, getting up out of the seat. I immediately felt colder than I had before. I wanted nothing more but to regain his touch.

We quickly maneuvered our way out of the airport and into a rental car. The plane ride had been long, and I was greeted by the cold, dry air of Colorado.

There was something different about the air here, something new. And as soon as we got out of the airport, I saw the mountains in the distance rising up like sawtooth to cut the sky. I’d grown up in Appalachia, but this was the first time I’d seen mountains like this. They were majestically beautiful; the purple earth reaching up to challenge the yellow-orange sky.

I watched Sam’s eyes taking them in too.

“Feeling inspired?” I asked. I was beginning to recognize when his mind was turning, taking in the surroundings, and processing it into something else. Something beautiful.

“Maybe a little.” He smirked at me, coming out of his reverie.

He looked so beautiful in that moment… words couldn’t describe what was happening inside me. It felt a lot like melting.

And just waiting outside the airport with him made me kiss him, in front of all those people. I wondered if even the onlookers could feel the chemistry between us coming off like the shockwave of a bomb blast, because it was enough to almost knock me on my ass.

My lips pressed against his, leaning up a little since he was taller than me. He leaned down, meeting his perfect, soft sculpted lips to mine and we stood there for that moment, sharing that connection.

It was like the world stopped moving around us. We were frozen in time.

I wanted to say it then.

I looked up into his eyes, and saw his hazel ones looking down into mine, flickering back and forth to meet my gaze. I loved the feeling of his strong hands on my back, pulling me in close.

Then he looked up at the terminal, breaking our eye contact. “I think our car is here.” He said.

I looked around and saw a BMW pull up next to us with a woman in big sunglasses in the front seat with this huge, all-encompassing smile plastered on her face. She beamed, bouncing with excitement in the driver’s seat as she put the car in park, her brown curls raffling around her head.

Even from here I could tell she was beautiful, inside and out.

When she parked the car and turned on the flashers, she excitedly got out of the driver’s seat and hurried over to us.

“Sam!” She said, throwing her arms out into a huge hug and tried to pull him into an embrace.

But he got the best of her with his linebacker form, wrapping his huge arms around her and lifting her up and swirling her around. She cackled madly.

Then he set her down, still giggling.

She looked over at me, and for a second I felt awkward. But then she threw her arms around me too, enveloping me in a hug that channeled warmth and acceptance.

“Is this him?!? Is this the magical man you’ve been telling me about?” She gushed, rocking back and forth.

I struggled against her embrace, but let it overtake me in its love. I looked at Sam with questions in my eyes.

With a proud smile, he said, “Evan, this is my baby sister Katie.”