Page 31 of Friendly Skies
Then Darius’ lips touched Luis’, and it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced or dreamed about. Familiar and completely new at the same time. Revelatory. Luis held Darius tighter, brought their bodies as close as they could possibly be. At least while they were in public. Though Luis was barely aware that they were. All he knew was the feel of Darius in his arms and in his heart and how very, very much he wanted to live in this moment for the rest of his life.
The kiss gradually slowed, and they began murmuring to each other in between quick touches of their lips. It didn’t matter to Luis what they said because it all meant the same thing: Darius loved him.
Of course, they couldn’t stay like this forever, and as small as Luis was, Darius couldn’t carry him all the way home. Darius carefully lowered him to the floor, making sure he was steady before letting him go. He held out the flowers, now slightly crushed, and Luis’ eyes filled with tears all over again as he took them.
“Let me grab my bag,” Luis said but couldn’t bring himself to let go of Darius. He leaned in for another quick kiss. “I love you.”
“And I love you.” Darius kissed him back, then nodded toward where Luis had left Paul with his bag. “And so do they.”
Luis turned to see his coworkers still standing outside the sliding doors. As soon as he faced them, they broke into applause and cheers, as did several people who had watched the whole reunion. A few tucked cell phones back into their pockets, and Luis had a brief thought for how many of them had posted videos, but then he was surrounded by his fellow flight attendants, and all thoughts of anything but Darius flew from his mind.
There were hugs and several “about time” comments, along with a couple of “we know what you’ll be doing” ones said with a lilt and a wink, which made Luis blush. It was strange to think that after all these years of fantasizing, of all the times he and Darius had played with others, this was going to be their first time together as a couple.
As that thought truly sank in, Luis clutched the bouquet closer to his chest and felt Darius’ arm tighten around his shoulders, pulling him closer. A light kiss to his temple made Luis tilt his head up to take in Darius’ profile, and his heart welled with joy all over again.
Gradually, the congratulations died down as the crowd around them thinned until it was just Paul and a few other attendants they knew well. Paul pulled Luis to the side, smiling at Luis’ reluctance to let go of Darius as he took a couple of steps away while still holding on to Darius’ hand.
Paul nodded with his head, and Luis finally let go, loving that Darius turned so Luis was still in his field of vision.
“I’m happy for you, sweetheart,” Paul said. He glanced back at Darius and sighed. “Someday, I want to find a man who looks at me like that.”
“You will,” Luis said. “Thank you for everything.”
As they hugged, Paul told him again how happy he was for Luis. “Be honest with him, hon. He’ll understand.”
“I know. And I will.”
The constant hum of voices around them shifted in an instant, became more focused, and Luis was vaguely aware of a group of people stepping into the bubble of space that had surrounded the flight attendants since they’d stepped through the doors. Luis immediately looked for Darius and found him shaking his head as a reporter thrust a microphone in his face.
“Shit,” Luis said, recognizing that he’d seen a news team in the terminal just before his entire focus was filled with the sight of Darius and the sign and the roses. But now, reality was crowding back in.
“Yup,” Paul agreed as they both closed the distance they’d put between themselves and Darius.
“No comment,” Darius said as the reporter asked him a question about the incident in which he’d been involved.
“But you’re a hero,” the reporter cajoled.
Darius shook his head. “No comment.”
The reporter turned to Luis, and her eyes got comically round as a sly smile curved the corners of her lips upward. “And how do you feel about your boyfriend saving a plane full of people?”
In shock, Luis looked at Darius, who shook his head, then took hold of Luis’ hand while Paul and the remaining attendants stepped between them and the news crew.
“Go,” Paul told them, and Darius pulled Luis away as their friends blocked the reporter’s path and kept her and her cameraman from following. Her voice rang out in the terminal, firing more questions, which made people turn their heads to try and figure out who or what was causing the commotion.
Despite the unusualness of the situation and the way his heart was pounding, Luis laughed as they rushed toward the far end of the terminal, Luis’ flight bag clattering behind them, and then out the doors toward the parking garage. When they stopped at the curb, Luis was slightly out of breath.
“Is this what celebrities have to go through?” he asked.
Darius shook his head, his mouth a thin line. “It’s been fucking nuts,” he said. “That’s why I had to turn my phone off. Thank fuck Paul got ahold of me before I did.” He grinned as he turned toward Luis. “The flowers were his idea.”
“I love that man,” Luis said. “Not as much as I love you, of course.”
In a heartbeat, Darius turned serious. He raised his hands to Luis’ face, the move at once tender and possessive, and Luis’ heart started beating harder for an entirely different reason than it had before.
“I love you,” Darius said just before his lips touched Luis’.
The drive home was both familiar and not at the same time. Familiar, of course, because Darius was driving a route either one of them could probably do in their sleep and because Luisknew the contours of the passenger’s seat in Darius’ car like he knew his own face. But it was also unlike any drive they’d ever made before because of three simple words.I love you. Luis couldn’t wait to whisper them to Darius in the shelter of their bedroom, beneath the covers of a bed they had shared for years as friends, while he finally got to know Darius’ body the way he had always wanted to. They had so much to discover about each other.
