He knew it would be at least a couple of hours until he met Will, so he tried to keep himself busy.

His dad knocked softly on the half-open door.

"Hey, can we have a little chat?"

It took Taylor by surprise. He looked at his father, trying to think if he did something wrong.

His dad laughed a little at his reaction. "You didn’t do anything wrong. I just realized we've never had The Talk."

It took Taylor a couple of seconds to understand. He shook his head. "We don’t have to — we had a class in school for that."

The last thing Taylor wanted was to sit through The Talk with his dad. He squeezed through the door, passed his dad, and practically ran to his room.

His dad followed him.

"Please, Dad, no," Taylor begged.

"Okay. I assume they teach you all that in class. But I still want to give you some tips."

Taylor looked at his dad with a face full of discomfort.

"Hey, don’t give me that face. I promised your mother I’d talk to you. I’m sure you wouldn’t want her doing it instead of me," his dad told him.

Taylor’s eyes widened.

"I know," his dad continued. "You don’t know how awkward it is. I’m telling you, your grandma didn’t skimp on the details. I think I was younger than you when she gave me The Talk. I swear I blacked out most of the things she told me." He spoke with an almost nostalgic tone.

"So you don’t mind if I black out now?" Taylor asked him.

"You can. But not on the protection part."

"Protection?"

"For you, that means condoms. But you need to remember, they don’t work all the time," his dad told him.

To Taylor, it sounded like his dad was speaking from experience—but there was no way he was going to ask about that.

He just wanted the conversation to end.

He wanted to slip out of the house and wait in the garage until it was time to meet Will.

Before you black out, you need to find a way to get… you know… cool down… without taking a shower."

Taylor looked at his dad in shock.

His dad’s face was red from embarrassment—it seemed like both of them were just waiting for this awkward conversation to be over.

But his dad knew that if he didn’t finish going through all the points his wife had told him to cover, she would finish the conversation herself. And he definitely didn’t want Taylor to have the same experience he’d had with his own mother.

"What I’m trying to say is… you don’t want to be in a situation where you need to take more than two showers before bed…"

"OMG… How do you even know that?"

"We all know that. We all live under the same roof, and we share a bathroom…"

"OMG… NO. NO." Taylor started pacing around his room, covering his ears.

He knew he was being childish, but he didn’t care. He had never been sexually attracted to anyone—until Will came into his life. He’d never thought it was even in the cards for him.

Taylor was used to sharing everything with his family, especially after what had happened to him before they moved. But he had never told them about Will—or about what had led him to seek help on the internet, which eventually brought Will into his life.

"Taylor, do you want to finish this conversation another time?" his dad asked, not wanting to pressure him.

Taylor nodded quickly.

"Ok." His dad turned to leave, then stopped at the doorway. "One more thing—sometimes it helps to think about a math problem, or something sad and unappealing."

Taylor let out a dry laugh.

"I hear climate change really makes you wonder about our future… don’t you think?" his dad added, then left the room.

Taylor threw himself on the bed, burying his head in his pillow. Hoping time would move faster so he could get out of the house. He was sure his dad would do more research before talking to him again.

*

*

*

Will sent a message to Taylor as soon as he was in front of his house. After a few seconds, Taylor power-walked to his car.

Taylor entered, and as he put on his seatbelt he said, "I'm so happy I have a reason not to stay at home today."

Will looked at Taylor's haunting face and laughed. "Why?" he asked.

"Please drive," Taylor pleaded. His face turned red as he remembered, once again, the reason his dad wanted to have 'The Talk' with him.

Taylor looked at Will's beautiful profile—it was like he just noticed Will's long eyelashes, cute nose, and full lips.

Will peeked at Taylor as the silence stretched. He noticed Taylor's eyes lingering on his lips.

He swallowed his satisfied smile.

Taylor's reaction gave a big boost to his self-esteem.

Will started to talk about something, but Taylor didn’t hear a thing. It was like he was stuck in a trance, only snapping out of it when Will touched him. Taylor jumped a little, his blush deepening. "Sorry… what did you say?"

Will didn’t hide his amusement. "You’re cute." He bluntly flirted with Taylor. Taylor thanked him, which made Will laugh out loud.

"What I said," Will continued, "I didn’t know Barny worked as a babysitter. My mum was shocked—she was sure the woman who recommended him never mentioned the babysitter was a boy. Luckily I know him, so I gave him a thumbs up."

Will peeked at Taylor again and saw him nod at what he said.

"What, tell me why you’re so glad to leave home? I’d be happy if that was me, but I sense there’s more to it."

Taylor scratched his nose. "You do play a big part in that, but mostly because my dad wanted to talk with me." He bit his lips.

Taylor really wanted to open up to Will. He wanted to shift their friendship to something more, but he didn’t know how much he should talk about himself. He was afraid he might say something that would put Will off.

"Everything okay?" Will asked, concerned.

"Yeah… it’s just… I never had 'The Talk.' I mean, they teach us some stuff in school… but I didn’t want to hear it from my dad…"

"Oh… 'The Talk'… I got that a long time ago, once from my dad and once from my cousin after she caught me making out with my first boyfriend. I have to say, it was way more awkward talking about sex stuff with my dad than with her. So yeah, I get you."

"It's so awkward. He told me that the whole family noticed my changes… I just wanted to run away, but he said if I didn’t talk with him, my mom would. And I can’t talk about stuff I don’t even understand myself. Being a teenager these days is really confusing."

"I can always lend you an ear if you want to talk."

"Thanks," Taylor said, looking at Will with a smile. He was glad Morgan had bought them the movie tickets.

Will drove into the mall parking lot. As they got out of the car, he said, "I want the biggest bucket of popcorn they have. You want something too?"

"You shouldn’t fill up on popcorn, I booked a table at a restaurant after the movie," Taylor told him, pulling his phone from his pocket to show the cinema gatekeeper.

"A restaurant..?" Will arched an eyebrow. "If you’re not careful, I might mistake this for a real date," he joked.

Taylor wanted to tell him he could mistake it as much as he wanted, but instead, he bit his lip.

Will chose the bucket just one size smaller than the biggest, and also bought two large cups of cold cola—one for himself and one for Taylor.

"We’ll share the popcorn," he told Taylor, handing him one of the cups.

"So… what’s the movie Daniel picked for us?" he asked.

Taylor pointed toward one of the posters and took a sip from his straw.

"Horror movie—nice. How much time do we have until it starts?"

"Not much, five minutes. We better find our seats."

They stepped into the theater and sat down. Will set the popcorn between them, grabbed a handful, and before shoving it into his mouth, said,

"I’m so excited for this one. I heard it got a lot of good reviews."

"So am I. My sister wants to watch it for our next family movie night, so I’m hoping it’s good enough that I don’t have to sit through a bad movie twice," Taylor said.

The theater began to fill up as more and more young people entered.

The air buzzed with a mix of overlapping conversations, making Will and Taylor lean closer to hear each other.

Will caught the faint scent of Taylor’s shampoo, blending with the salty aroma of the popcorn between them. They laughed quietly, their cheeks warm with blushes, exchanging long, lingering looks.

The light in Taylor’s eyes made Will’s chest tighten. For a moment, he could almost believe this was a real date.

Taylor was in the middle of telling Will a funny story about basketball practice when he heard his name.

He turned around. In the row of seats behind them, three boys and one girl were sitting. Will didn’t recognize them, but from the way they looked at Taylor—and the way Taylor froze—he could tell they knew each other.

When Taylor’s smile vanished, their expressions only grew more satisfied.

“Well, well,” one of the boys said, leaning forward. “It’s Taylor. Fancy seeing you here after all these years.”

The other boys snorted a laugh.

Taylor didn’t answer. He just sank lower into his chair.

“Does your new friend know you’re a girlfriend stealer? Want me to give him a heads-up?” the boy drawled, his smirk curling like he’d been saving this moment for years.

Will’s jaw tightened. He wanted to know exactly who the hell this guy was and almost stood to ask—but just then, the theater lights dimmed and the opening credits rolled.

The group behind them didn’t stop. They lowered their voices to a whisper, but the words were sharp enough to cut, dripping with old venom. No matter how many annoyed shushes they got from other moviegoers, the snide comments kept coming.

Will glanced at Taylor.

Taylor’s leg bounced in a rapid, nervous tic. All the color had drained from his face, and his eyes—glassy, tight—held back tears he refused to let fall. The pain there wasn’t just from tonight; it was years old, clawing its way back to the surface.

Will looked at Taylor — he was on the verge of a panic attack.

The color had drained from his face, his leg was bouncing in a nervous tic, and his eyes were full of pain, holding back tears that threatened to fall.

Will thought of the one thing that might snap Taylor back to himself and shut up the annoying kids in the back.

He placed a hand on Taylor’s neck and pulled him toward him.

Will pressed his lips to Taylor’s.

The chatter behind them cut off instantly.

Or maybe it was just in Will’s head — all he could hear was Taylor’s gasp.

It seemed Will had succeeded in pulling him back.

Taylor stopped shaking. For a moment, he just looked at Will, then closed his eyes and deepened the kiss.

It was a little shocking how quickly Taylor took the lead, but Will liked it.

He parted his lips, giving Taylor all the access he wanted.