Hot Off the Press (Ridgemont University Book 1)

by Meredith Taylor

  ***

  They sat on the couch together, having some wine, enjoying the freedom they finally had to share their feelings and be together as they had wanted for so long.

  Simon again felt the regret of trying to hide his feelings from Ian: “I’m sorry I pushed you away for so long. I’m sorry that I gave you the impression that I didn’t feel the same way you did.”

  Ian responded, “I knew we had a connection, and I wanted to be around you constantly from the first time we worked together at the Weekly. We could have conversations for hours, and I could always trust you and rely on you. I didn’t know yet that I was falling for you. But once I knew, it was all I could think about. That’s why I became so down over the past few months. I couldn’t bear the thought that I couldn’t be with you like I wanted to. That we could only ever be colleagues or friends.”

  Simon frowned, “What I don’t understand is why you decided to give Margeaux the impression that you were interested in her.”

  “I needed to try and distract myself from my feelings for you. I couldn’t deal with the idea of falling for a guy yet. It was all so strange to me. I needed to see if I could make it work with a girl.”

  “But Margeaux, of all people?”

  They both laughed. “Yeah, I could’ve made some better choices there. But it all worked out in the end. I get to be with you now.”

  Ian bent over and kissed Simon again. Who would’ve thought: once this was only a fantasy for Simon, and now he was kissing the man of his dreams.

  Simon took Ian’s hands in his: “Let’s just make a promise not to hide from our feelings for each other ever again. To always be honest. I don’t want to ever lose this.”

  “Deal,” Ian responded. “I don’t either. I’ve never felt this strongly for someone before, tiger. I’ve never been this happy and comfortable with someone before.”

  They sat late into the night, discussing everything, opening up to each other. A few times Simon thought that he must have been dreaming. But it was no dream. He and Ian were together.