-Oliver-

I set the last box down on Cameron's living room floor and then sat down on the couch to rest. It was times like these when I was grateful I didn't have a lot of stuff. Living with roommates who already had furniture had kept me from accumulating any of my own.

"Thanks for letting me take over your living room," I said to Cameron. "I'll try to find a new place as soon as I can."

"No rush," Cameron replied. "Mallory and I don't mind having you here."

"You're lucky you found her. I hope I'll end up in a relationship like yours someday."

Cameron sat down on the couch next to me. "I'm sure you'll find your guy eventually. I'm sorry things didn't work out with Brad."

"I'm not," Mallory said as she came into the living room. "I never liked him."

"You didn't?"

"Nope," she said while putting on her jacket. "He was a jerk to you all the time." She fluffed her curly hair out from under the neck of her jacket. "I'm meeting Naomi for dinner. Do you want me to bring something back for you two?"

"Sure," Cameron replied. "Surprise us."

After Mallory left, I turned to Cameron. "What do you want to do?" I asked.

"I want you to tell me about the guy in your pictures."

"Okay, fine," I said, playfully pushing his shoulder. "I met him on the plane, and it turned out he lives on the Olympic Peninsula. He saved my trip after Brad broke up with me." 

I filled him in on the entire two weeks, leaving out most of the sex details. Cameron was one of my best friends and completely supportive, but there was only so much he wanted to hear about other men.

Cameron leaned back against the couch cushions and crossed his arms. "So you had this amazing time with Cooper, but you left it open-ended as to what's going to happen with you two?"

"I didn't have any other option. We live in different states and we've only known each other for two weeks."

"You won't consider a long distance relationship?"

"I'm not saying that. It's just a lot of unknowns. I know Cooper likes me, but I don't know if he likes me enough to be in another long distance relationship. Besides, what am I even doing? I mean, talk about rebound. I kissed Cooper three days after Brad broke up with me. That's not fair to Cooper, because can I really have moved on right away like that?"

"You weren't happy with Brad, even if you didn't realize it for the last few months. I know the break-up was a shock and you were upset, but once you get past that, are you really still sad about him? Or pining over the relationship?"

I shook my head. "No, not at all. I see how awful he was to me and how much better things can be with someone else."

"With Cooper."

"Yeah, with Cooper," I said, not able to keep myself from smiling. "He's great."

"Then why not go for it? Maybe he's a rebound, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"But what if it doesn't stay great?" I asked, doubt already starting to set in. "Things were great with Brad in the beginning."

"It's not going to turn out the same way," Cameron said. "You can't think like that. I haven't met him, but Cooper sounds completely different from Brad."

"He is. He's one of the most genuine people I've ever met."

"He sounds like he'd be good for you."

Sighing, I slumped down even further on the couch. "I know. But how do we make it work when we live this far apart? I can't afford to fly to see him every other weekend."

"You don't have to make any big decisions now. Stay in contact with him and see how things go."

I tried to smile. "You're right. I should do what feels natural and see what happens. If it's meant to be, it'll work itself out."

-Cooper-

An entire week had gone by since Oliver left and went back home. That week had sucked. I hated going to sleep alone and waking up alone after the nights I'd spent with Oliver's body pressed against mine. I hated making dinner for one person instead of two. And I hated not seeing Oliver's smile and hearing his laugh.

When Oliver called me after he landed in California, it had scared me when he told me that Brad wanted to get back together. For a split second, I thought he was going to try again with Brad and I was going to lose him for good. It made me want to be there so I could make sure Brad stayed away from him. So I could make sure everyone stayed away from him, honestly. I knew there had to be plenty of attractive, available gay men in southern California, and it made me feel sick to think of Oliver moving on with someone else. Not being near him suddenly felt like a huge disadvantage.

But Oliver made me feel better when he kept texting me every day, asking how my day was and sharing something that had happened to him. We traded pictures of California and Washington, and then traded bad jokes. Well, most of the bad jokes came from me.

Two nights ago, Oliver had called me again just to chat, and it had been so good to hear his voice. I sat out on my porch while we talked, and when I closed my eyes, I could pretend he was sitting next to me underneath the stars.

Today I tried to focus on work, but I couldn't keep my mind off Oliver. I wanted to do something to remind him of our time together, and as I looked at the piles of logs around me, I had an idea.

"Hey, Rhett!"

Rhett stopped what he was doing and looked over at me. "What?"

"I need you to do me a favor."

As he walked over, I untucked my flannel shirt and tied it up, Britney Spears style. I picked up an axe and put it over my shoulder, and then held out my phone to Rhett. "Take my picture."

"What the fuck?"

"Just do it. I want to send it to Oliver. He always laughs at this stuff."

Rhett shook his head, slightly glaring. "No way. I'm not getting involved in your gay shit."

"Rhett, come on."

The guys around us were starting to chuckle, but Gary, an older man with a long, unruly beard approached. "I'll do it," he offered, holding out his hand for my phone. "God knows I don't understand the gay thing, but life is too short not to have a little fun."

"Thanks, Gary." I put one foot up on a log and stared seductively at the camera. I had to fight not to break character and laugh as the guys around me started to heckle me and laugh even harder. I traded the axe for a chainsaw and got into a new pose, and Gary was a good sport about taking a few more pictures.

As I tucked my shirt back in, two more of the guys, Merle and Dave, approached. Merle slapped me on the back. "Looks like someone's whipped."

I grinned. "I am, and I don't care."

"This for a boyfriend?" Dave asked.

"He's not a boyfriend yet, but I'm trying."

"And this works?" Dave asked again, raising his eyebrows.

"Sure does. You all should try it. Send some pictures to your wives and girlfriends."

"There's no way in hell I'm gonna do that," Merle said, shaking his head.

"Come on, live a little!"

"I'll give it a try," Gary said.

-

Twenty minutes later, my dad came out of his office in a nearby trailer to see what all the noise was about. Gary had gotten a good response from sending his wife a picture, and that had convinced Dave to do it as well.

"Alright, back to work," my dad said. "I'm not even gonna ask. Cooper, if you don't stop distracting my workers, you're out of here." He sounded stern, but I could see the laughter in his eyes.

As the group of guys broke up and everyone headed back to their tasks, I walked over to the edge of the forest and sat on a stump. I texted Oliver the first picture, along with a message.

"Working hard and thinking of you."

He must not have been very busy at work, because I got a response a couple minutes later.

"STOP. I'm not going to be able to focus today if you send me pictures of you being a sexy lumberjack."

I grinned and sent another picture. This one was with the chainsaw, and I was sticking my butt out, making sure it looked as large as possible - Oliver's kryptonite.

"Fuck you, Cooper."

I laughed. I wished I could see his reaction, but I'd have to settle for imagining it. I waited to see if he'd say anything else, and I was about to put my phone away and get back to work when Oliver sent a picture.

He was in scrubs, and someone was listening to his heart with a stethoscope, which was pushing up his shirt to display his abs. His flexed abs.

I groaned out loud and closed my eyes, taking a second to breathe before responding. "Okay, okay, truce. Not at work. We can only send pictures when we're at home."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll have another picture for you when you get home tonight. ;) "

"I'm going to die."

Oliver's response was a bunch of laughing emojis. I shook my head, knowing I had a silly grin on my face. I forced myself to turn off the phone screen and put the phone back in my pocket before things got out of hand. 

How was I going to get through the day with that thought in my head?