With Cedric, things were easy. He slipped into my life and it felt like he'd always been there, filling a space I hadn't realized was empty. He made conversation at dinner with my mom like we'd been friends for years.

Afterwards, we walked back to the co-op, where he'd left his bike. I waved him off into the sunset with promises to text or call him to get together the next day. As soon as he left my sight, I pulled out my phone and texted him.

Hi :)

He returned the text a half second later.

I miss you already

He called me once he got home, and we talked for hours about our favorite books, songs, movies. We watched a movie together on Netflix, his favorite: The NeverEnding Story. Then we watched one of my favorite silent films, Sir Arne's Treasure. "I don't think I've ever watched a silent film," Cedric told me.

"The best part is that we can talk the whole time," I said.

It was late by the time we finally hung up and then I could barely sleep. All I could think about was Cedric touching me, the way his mouth tasted. I woke up to bright sunlight and my phone buzzing against my cheek. It was Cedric. "Do you have a car?"

I did, in fact, have a car. It was my dad's old car, he gave it to when he upgraded to a brand new Lexus. Cedric gave me his address, and told me to come to the door so I could meet his parents. His dad—I called him Mr. McKinney, but he said, "Call me Rob"—insisted I come inside for breakfast after I said I'd only had a granola bar. His mom, from whom Cedric had gotten the Japanese features I had found so interesting yesterday, sat staring into a mug of coffee, and his little brother Nic—"without a K!" Nic made sure to tell me—towered over Cedric. They also had a dog, a pitbull mix that Cedric fed bacon under the table. The kitchen was so full I barely had to say anything.

We drove to the beach and walked around. I had been to this beach with Eli's family, with my friends, and yet it was all new with Cedric. With my Pentax I took photos of anything I found interesting: a discarded flip flop, a girl sitting on a fence looking out at the sea, graffiti on one side of a souvenir shop. We got slices of pizza and then had ice cream and then, inexplicably, the sun was setting.

I parked outside his house, and we spent a while kissing there in the dark. I didn't want to leave. Cedric's hand had found its way down to my thigh and there it teased me, refusing to move to where I wanted it. Occasionally he would squeeze his fingers, and I would pant in his ear and try to orient myself to this new heady reality where I thought I could be in love already.

"Let's skip school tomorrow," he whispered.

That brought me back to the previous reality, and the realization that I hadn't done any of my homework over the weekend. It was early in the school year and we didn't have much, but it was my senior year and I didn't want to destroy my chances of getting into college.

He laughed at my studiousness, then said, "Yeah, I kinda should do my homework too. But call me? Text me? Send me a dick pic?"

I shoved at him, and then pulled him back for another kiss before finally saying goodnight.

School the next day felt surreal. None of these people knew about Cedric. None of them knew that I was gay. None but Eli, who took one look at me and said, "What the hell happened to you this weekend?"

"What do you mean?" I carefully put my books in my locker and removed the ones I would need for my morning classes.

"I stopped by your house yesterday and you weren't there! Your mom had no idea where you had gone!"

"You came to my house? Without texting first?"

He threw his hands up in the air. "I sent you like three emails!"

"Email? On a weekend?" I peered at him. "Did you lose your phone again?"

"This isn't about me, Jimothy," Eli said. "This is about you gallivanting around with some dude."

Hunching my shoulders, I said, "I can have other friends."

It felt wrong to call Cedric my friend. Like a betrayal, even though he wasn't here.

"Jamison. Jamarcus. Jimbo. I have known you your entire life. You've never had any other friends than me."

I gave in and laughed a little. "I have too had other friends."

Eli crossed his arms and looked at me sternly.

"Okay, so I met a guy..." I said, and winced. It had felt so natural to kiss Cedric I had never considered the idea of coming out.

"And?"

"I'm gay, I guess?" I said with a shrug and an awkward smile.

"Well, obviously. I meant, is he hot?"

After that, Eli kept trying to pry details out of me, and when he wasn't, he was looking at me like I was suddenly interesting. I had to admit, I had looked at myself in the mirror that morning with the same expression. I'd never thought of myself as interesting, and here I was, with a not-so-secret new boyfriend.

I was walking out to my car after school when Cedric texted me.

Let's meet at the co-op

I had about three hours' worth of homework to do. Eli was going to come over after dinner to do math together. I hesitated with my thumbs hovering over the screen of my phone, but only for a few seconds.

See you in a few

Cedric's beat-up black mountain bike was chained up outside when I pulled in. I headed for the section with records and cassette tapes and old bits of technology. "James!" he called from the opposite direction. I turned. Today he was wearing skinny jeans and a hot pink t-shirt with giant block letters that said CHOOSE LIFE on the front. He ran up to me and grabbed my hand and hauled me over to the section I had been sitting in just two days ago.

It felt like an eternity ago that I had been here last, methodically going through old photographs and jewelry to try to find some evidence of a past life with the Victorian girl. My hands immediately started to sweat. We had forgotten all about this strange thing that had drawn us together. I had hoped we wouldn't have to revisit it, because I was sure Cedric would think I was certifiable if I told him.

"I keep thinking about that picture you have," he said, pulling a box of old photographs down from a shelf. "I don't know why. That girl is, like, in my brain. I want to find another picture of her. Or... something. You know? You know."

"Yeah." I knew there weren't any more photos of her—I had already checked the box Cedric was going through. I stood in front of the shelves and looked at all the trinkets, finally bringing a cigar box full of old brooches to the table.

The store owner, Mr. Valdez, watched us sit down, but it wasn't because he was worried a couple of teenage boys were going to steal anything, or break anything. He smiled under his thick mustache then pretended to be very invested in examining an old stamp underneath a magnifier.

"I was thinking maybe you were somehow related to her, and that was the connection," Cedric was saying. "But then, why did I feel a connection to her? Then I thought, maybe the photo is haunted!"

The theory was so much more ridiculous than my past lives theory that I blurted it out. "I thought maybe I had known her in a past life."

Cedric's eyes widened. "That's even better! Maybe we both knew her. Or maybe..." He paused dramatically. "She's haunting us both!"

Laughing, I lifted out a brooch shaped like a cat.

"Ooh, do you feel vibrations? Was that hers?"

"No," I laughed again.

I couldn't focus on feeling the girl's energy with Cedric there. His knees kept bumping mine under the table and all I could think about was our elbows touching and how I could smell him and how I just wanted to be alone with him. Finally Cedric gave up, too.

"Wanna get some coffee?"

I pulled out my pocket watch to check the time and Cedric screamed – quietly, but it was still scream. Someone shopping in another aisle scoffed in disgust. "You have a pocket watch?" he shrieked as quietly as he could manage.

He grabbed my hand before I could stuff it back in my pocket and clicked it open and shut, a huge grin on his face.

"Yes, I have a pocket watch," I said, defeated.

Pressing the pocket watch back into my hand, he grabbed both sides of my face and kissed me. It was big and sloppy, because he couldn't stop smiling, not while he was kissing me, nor after. He held my face and said, "You're the awesomest person I've ever met."

My face felt like it was on fire. "Thanks."

"So, coffee?"

"I'm meeting my friend Eli after dinner to study," I told him.

"What time is dinner at your house? It's only four."

"Mom likes to eat at six. But I usually make dinner. On Mondays, I mean. We usually trade off. Every other day."

Cedric stood up. "I can help."

But I didn't want him to help. I wanted to take him up to my room and make out with him until my mom got home. Which is what I did. Dinner was canned sauce and pasta. Cedric made garlic bread. We were still eating when Eli texted me that he was on his way.

Good, you can meet Cedric

Srsly?

I wasn't sure if that was sarcastic or not, so I made sure to go to the door before Eli could let himself in. "What's this?" Eli demanded when I stood in his way.

"Be nice to him," I begged.

"Relax." Eli shoved my shoulder. "I'm excited to meet the love of your life."

I tried to shush him, but this was Eli, and he did not know how to keep his voice down. I trailed after him to the dining room. "Um," I started.

"Hi, I'm Eli," Eli announced, cutting me off. "I guess you're Cedric?"

"I am." Cedric set down his fork. He looked prepared to fight Eli or hug him. "And you must be Eli. James's best friend?"

Looking pleased, Eli said, "I am. What are we having for dinner? James, I was hoping for chicken piccata." He sat down and served himself some rigatoni and sauce. "What's up, Ma?"

Mom gave me a long-suffering look, then stood. "I'll leave you boys to finish up. I'm meeting up for drinks with some of the girls from work."

She breezed off to change, and we all looked at each other for a minute.

"So James tells me it was love at first sight," Eli said.

Cedric laughed and sat back. "Did he, now."

"I'm not gonna lie, I did not expect James's first love to have purple hair. He's an old-fashioned boy. A total virgin."

"I'm sitting right here," I protested.

Across the table, Cedric gave me a shy smile. "I like old-fashioned things."

"Good thing. James gets a hard-on watching Antiques Roadshow."

I threw down my fork. "Elijah Alexander Feldman!"

Eli and Cedric both laughed. My face flaming hot, I had a moment where I wanted so badly to be angry. But I couldn't be angry. My best friend and my boyfriend were getting along. And after we had loaded up the dishwasher and made some popcorn to eat while we studied, Cedric and Eli talked about music and Cedric did some reading for his English class while Eli and I worked on math and my face hurt because I had barely stopped smiling all night.

Just like that, Cedric became a part of my life. We traded off whose house we met at, and spent afternoons studying or watching YouTube videos or kissing. Weeks slid by in a haze of happiness. It wasn't until all those late nights texting each other led to a new afternoon activity, napping, that the dreams began.