Heartbeat by Nicholas Brown

Author:Nicholas Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary, romance, YA, high school, bisexual, pansexual, hurt/comfort, depression, grieving, therapy sessions
Publisher: NineStar Press
Published: 2022-11-08T00:00:00+00:00

“Love alters not,

with his brief hours and weeks

But bears it out even to the edge of doom

If this be error and upon me proved

I never writ, nor no man ever loved”

“Marlowe, Shakespeare, I don’t care. It’s beautiful.” I pointed out.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Hey, we should go as them.”

“What?”

“To the party.”

“Shit, I forgot about the party.”

“Come on; costume parties are fun.”

“Are they?”

“Yours will be. Who are you going to invite?”

“Everyone,” I said, figuring more people would probably equal less time for awkward encounters. “So are you.”

“Don’t worry. We just need to tell two or three people, and the rest will take care of itself.”

“Hopefully,” I said, still not too keen on the idea.

Ethan tried to scoot down a bit, clumsily balancing the laptop on his knees as he attempted to realign his pillow with his one free hand.

“Do you want to change positions?” I asked him, raising my head somewhat.

“No. Don’t move. I just have to…there.” He’d almost let his laptop slide over to the side and fall off the bed because he refused to let go.

I turned back to the screen, resting my head on his bare chest and mindlessly drawing shapes on his skin as we watched the film in silence.

“Imagine,” I said, “loving life that much.”

“Wouldn’t you want to be immortal?” he asked, ignoring, purposefully or not, my recent history.

I thought it sweet, to be quite honest. I would’ve hated for him to tiptoe around the subject, for whatever reason. “I would, if I had what they have.”

“Eve and Adam or Marlowe and Eve?”

“Either. Or both. I just think there wouldn’t be much point in spending eternity alone without somebody to recognize you.”

“Recognize you?” he repeated, intrigued.

“You know. Someone who can look at you and actually see you. Someone who can find you, regardless of you being able to do so yourself.”

“God, the way you talk,” Ethan said, with a breathy voice I found so very interesting.

“What?” I looked up at him.

“Most people don’t talk like that.”

“Is that…bad?”

He leaned in and kissed me, biting my bottom lip as he pulled away.

“Definitely not bad,” he softly said.

It made me completely lose focus, which was apparently becoming a habit.

“Tell me something about you,” I asked him.

“What do you want to know?”

“All of it?” I blurted out.

It seemed I was starting to say stuff I never thought I would too. Words I would normally do a better job at editing in my head before setting them free.

“Tell me some of your firsts.” I was quick to amend.

“My firsts?”

“Yeah, like…first memory?”

He thought about it for a few seconds. “Grandma Cooper holding me in her arms when I was probably about three, feeding me…something. Probably a tomato.”

“A tomato?” I smiled.

“I love tomatoes,” he said, serious. “What’s your first memory?”

“Playing pirate with Liam; I was Blackbeard.” I then added, “First pet?”

“Cindy. Black lab. I got her as a gift for my fourth birthday. I say gift, but it was more of a bribe. My parents were divorcing, and Mom thought it would be a good idea for me to have some company.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.