Although sea bass rotate between salt and fresh water throughout their lifetime, they can most commonly be found in the Indo West Pacif—
Lifting his hands from the keyboard in frustration, Luke glared at the monitor's screen, willing it to set fire, only to be disappointed when his pathetically short report glared right back at him, entirely not on fire. Knowing he would have to bullshit the majority of the paper in order to have it done in time for his morning Oceanography class the following day, Luke began to type again.
—ic region. Famous for loving freshwater, no one gives a crap about sea bass.
Sighing heavily, Luke held the backspace key and watched his entire paper steadily disappear. He hated this. He hated that his laptop was broken, he hated having to work in the school library, he hated living in the dorms, and he most definitely hated sea bass. Just when he thought there wasn't anything that could possibly force him to forget his most sincere hatred for this pointy-headed fish, a small piece of notebook paper fluttered into his lap.
Unfolding it, Luke read the sloppy handwriting.
Luke,
I think you're gorgeous. Your smile makes my heart burst.
Noah
Luke's heart imploded then and there, and a nearly-psychotic, entirely-pleased-with-himself smile ripped its way across Luke's face. He spun around, eager to find the man responsible for such flattery, but was greeted only by the empty space of the library. There were only five students in the library, three of whom were women. Luke glanced at the only other boy still in the library: he had long, straggly red hair, an unfair amount of acne, and seemed entirely enraptured by whatever it was he was doing on the computer.
"Um. Excuse me," Luke said quietly. Receiving no response, Luke raised his voice. "EXCUSE ME?"
The boy looked up, his eyes wide, seemingly frightened by the idea of talking to an actual human. "...Yes?" he asked cautiously.
"Uh, well. Is your name Noah by any chance?"
"No. My name's Anthony," he said. "My friends call me Thor, though."
"Oh. Okay." Luke smiled politely. "Thanks then."
Sitting back down, Luke held the note out in front of him, smiling shamelessly as he read it over and over and over again. The fact that some guy out there was brave enough to come onto him without being sure of Luke's sexual orientation astonished Luke. Then again, a note isn't exactly the bravest move, thought Luke. But it's so cute!
"So, who the hell are you, Noah?" Luke asked aloud.
"What?" Anthony called out.
"Nothing, Thor!"
---
"Ameera, do you know anyone named Noah?" Luke asked as he walked into his Oceanography class the following morning. He had spent the previous night calling all his friends in a desperate search for this Noah, and still had no leads. As Ameera sat, Luke sat next to her, tossing his unfinished sea bass report on his desk. Luke frowned, unhappy that he'd been so preoccupied with smiling and giggling about the note that he hadn't bothered to write his paper.
"Why?" she asked, her face still and focused on Luke.
"Oh, well." Suddenly, Luke felt unsure. Are Iraqi women okay with gays? he wondered. Though Luke had never told Ameera directly that he was gay, he figured that all his references to their teacher's nice butt had made it clear enough for her. The hell with it, he figured. Today's the last day of class, anyway. He pulled the note out and showed it to her.
"Isn't it sweet? Some boy gave it to me in the library yesterday. I didn't see who it was, though," he said, pouting.
Ameera stared at the note for a moment, her mouth open in shock. Oh, gads. I've offended her.
"Don't know any?" Luke asked quickly, snatching the note away.
"Oh. No. Um, no, I don't know anyone named Noah," Ameera replied. Though her voice and body language told Luke a different story, he simply quirked an eyebrow at her and let the topic drop. She quickly changed the subject to their paper, which would act in place of an exam as their final, but Luke cut her off hurriedly, not wanting to waste any time.
Using the last few minutes before class started to travel around the classroom, Luke asked each of his classmates about any Noah's they might know of, but was saddened to discover that no one seemed to know of any Noah.
Soon, class started and the teacher gave a lecture and gathered everyone's papers. Once handing in his paper, Luke rushed out of the classroom. After calling Casey, who had promised to ask around about Noah, Luke was again left empty-handed. Luke feared that if he did not find this guy soon, he wouldn't never find him. Today was the last day of classes, denoting a two-month winter break from school just in time for Christmas.
Luke sighed sadly.
---
That night, Luke returned to the library. He didn't know what he expected to happen; he just waited. He knew he wouldn't be able to recognize the note-giver, but he had no other hope, and so he waited. The few people who did enter the library seemed to be in and out quickly, only there to return their books or quickly check their Facebooks, and none gave Luke a second glance.
After about two hours of waiting, just as Luke began to lose hope, someone spoke to him.
"Is someone sitting here?"
Luke gawked, mouth open, at the tall, blue-eyed, dark-haired wonder that had spoken to him. Finally finding his voice, Luke replied, "Um, no. I don't think so."
"Someone left their sunglasses here," the boy said awkwardly, picking up the sunglasses and turning to Luke.
Luke nodded and smiled at him. The boy just stood there, looking down at the sitting Luke, holding the sunglasses.
He gave Luke an awkward smile and then broke their eye contact. "Can you watch my stuff for a second?" the boy asked. "I'm gonna go turn these into the front desk."
Luke nodded again, and watched the man drop his backpack and set his binder on a chair two computers away from Luke before he made his way to the front desk. Luke watched as the guy handed the librarian at the front desk the sunglasses. Luke was mesmerized by him.
Suddenly, an irrational possibility occurred to Luke. He turned around to look at the guy's binder, and then turned back to see the librarian handing papers to the man. Acting quickly, Luke stepped over to the binder and flipped through the pages, looking for a name, but all he got was a bunch of packets: 'Implications of American Psycho', 'Disney and Pornography', 'Cinema History: Black and White in America'... Jeez, movie buff much? thought Luke, laughing lightly to himself. Looking over his shoulder, Luke was reassured to find the nameless boy still working on the papers.
"Come on, come on," Luke said to himself, not wanting to push his luck too far. Finally, Luke found some worksheets covered in strangely familiar messy handwriting. Luke exhaled and forced himself to look at the upper right hand corner of the sheet.
Noah Mayer.
Luke slammed the binder shut and rushed back to his seat, unable to breathe. He heard footsteps behind him and a nearby chair swivel, but Luke dared not look up. Taking a few short breaths, Luke lifted his head to the left ever so slightly, only to see the boy—Noah—staring directly at him. Luke smiled and exhaled loudly with a kind of hiccup noise following his breath. Luke covered his mouth in embarrassment, fixating his now wide eyes on the computer screen. Hand still over his mouth, Luke turned again toward Noah, whose eyes were still on Luke. Noah smiled, revealing adorable fang-like teeth. Luke smiled back, pulling his hand away from his face. Luke averted his eyes for a moment and smiled softly at Noah, who then averted his eyes. Luke couldn't take much more of this.
Looking back up at Noah, Luke asked simply, "Are you Noah?"
Noah's eyes widened and his cheeks flushed as he replied shyly, "Yes. Hi."
"Hi," Luke responds, grinning.
"So, you gave me a note yesterday."
"Yeah, yes. Yeah. Yes." Noah lifted his hand to cover the left side of his face in embarrassment.
"Were you serious in that note?" Luke asked.
"Yes," Noah said more confidently. Luke was impressed with how rapidly Noah had regained his composure.
Smiling again, Luke scooted his chair closer to Noah. "How did you even know my name?" he asked curiously.
"One of my friends told me about you," he replied, "and then I noticed you started to come to the library recently and I don't know—"
"Oh, well, I was writing a report on sea bass," Luke explained.
"Oh," Noah responded, taken aback.
"You know, every sea bass starts out male and then goes through a sexual change and becomes a girl," Luke said. Immediately he scolded himself. Oh, God. Did I really just say that? Stupid, stupid Luke.
"Really? Wow, interesting... I wonder if that's normal for a lot of fish," Noah said, trying the best he could to go with the flow.
"Yeah, I wonder... Are you gay?" he blurted. He felt like hitting himself.
"Well, yeah," Noah said laughing. "How many straight guys do you know who call each other gor... geous..." Noah's voice caught at the end as he looked away from Luke, embarrassed.
"Cool..." Luke said, grinning as he noticed Noah's red cheeks. "So. Um. Do you, I don't know, want to go to Java together or something sometime?" he asked, rubbing his ear, trying to sound casual.
Noah looked up, smiling sweetly as he said, "Sure. How about tomorrow?"
They exchanged cell phone numbers, and late that night, Luke stared at Noah's number for hours before finally mustering the strength to call and confirm a time and place for their date. He made sure he said 'date' many times so that Noah wouldn't mistake their date for a friendly hang out, and the chatted for about 10 minutes about their parents and the like.
---
The winter season brought night to the small Illinois town of Oakdale much earlier than usual, and so when Luke and Noah met for coffee at around five, it was already becoming rather dark. Both boys were wrapped in nice coats and scarves, and their hands were in their pockets as they greeted each other nervously and entered Java. Noah ordered a medium plain coffee. Luke, a bit hesitantly, ordered a mocha, selecting a medium size instead of his typical choice of large so as to seem less indulgent.
Once sitting down, Luke wrapped his cold hands around the warm coffee mug, and, recalling something Noah had mentioned on the phone the night before, asked, "So you're an army brat, then?"
"Yeah. We moved around a lot, me and my dad, but we spent most of our time in Missouri," Noah replied.
"So what brought you to Oakdale?" Luke asked.
"My mother," Noah said. "She lives out here and I came to visit her one summer and I just fell in love with Oakdale, so I decided to come here for school. It's a great city."
"Really?" Luke asked, making a face of dissatisfaction.
"Well, yeah! Don't you think so? The community is awesome!" Noah smiled genuinely.
"I guess the community is pretty good... But, I mean, wouldn't the community be way tighter in a fort?"
"It wasn't just tight, it was suffocating. If you're late by five minutes for curfew, everyone knew about it. And everyone was always moving around, so it was hard to make friends who stuck around."
Luke felt a twinge of sadness for Noah. "So have you made some good friends at Oakdale U?"
"Yeah, I have. And my best from Missouri came up here with me, too, so I rent a place with her."
"Oh, you don't live in the dorms?" Luke asked, surprised and a little jealous of the 'her' Noah had mentioned.
"No, I don't," he said, taking a gulp of coffee. "Actually, the girl I live with is the one who told me about you. You know her right? Ameera?"
"Who?" Surely he had heard wrong.
"Ameera. You have a class with her, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do," Luke said, furrowing his eyebrows. "But, I thought—well, she said—" Not understanding why she had lied about knowing Noah, Luke looked directly at Noah, as if expecting the answer to written plainly on Noah's face. His piercing blue eyes stared back, causing Luke to decide not to ask about it. "Nevermind," he said. "Do you two live near school?"
"Yeah, really near by."
"That's cool. So have you two been friends since you were little?" he asked cautiously.
"No... Well, my dad helped her get her green card awhile ago and we became best friends fast," he explained. "She's one of my only friends."
That explains why no one seems to know you, thought Luke sympathetically. Luke reached across the table and grasped Noah's hand. "Well, now you have one more," he said, and, feeling a tad brazen, he pulled Noah's hand to his mouth and kissed it quickly.
"Yeah, I do," Noah said, squeezing Luke's hand as their hands, still clasped, descended back to the table. Both boys examined their hands, enjoying the sensation.
The two continued to chat about classes, their families, and, occasionally, someone the two of them both knew, like Ameera. They had long since finished their first cups of coffee and were now on their fourth cups, and each time they sat down, they held each other's hands off and on, playing gently with each other's fingers as they talked. Eventually, the huge amount of coffee they had consumed began to have an effect on the boys.
"Would you excuse me a second? Bathroom," Noah said.
"Sure, no problem," Luke replied. He watched as Noah walked toward the restroom, his red shirt flattering his back, and could not help himself from allowing his eyes to travel a little bit lower.
Luke took a sip of his mocha, but, by now, he had become rather disgusted with its flavor, and, in particular, its lukewarm temperature. Just as he sat the mug back on the table, the bell above the entrance door jingled as a newcomer entered. Luke jolted as he realized who it was.
"Ameera!" he called, gesturing for her to come over to him.
She obeyed, greeting him politely. "Hello, Luke. How are you doing now that the fall semester is over?"
"Good, good..." he said, and then jumped straight to the issue. "Listen, did you—did you lie to me yesterday? About Noah?"
Her eyes widened, and she played with her hijab awkwardly as she replied, "No. No, I don't know any Noah."
"But you live with a guy named Noah," Luke said in a low voice.
"Yes, but that Noah can't have written that note," she said assuredly.
"Oh, really? And why not?"
Before she could answer, Noah returned, happily shouting her name.
They embraced like friends as Luke sat silently, severely uncomfortable.
"I read the note you left on the counter... That you were going to Java," she said, pulling her mouth into a strange smile.
"Yeah, I'm here with Luke, that boy from your class," he said and gestured toward him. "We're on a date," he added quietly, jokingly covering his mouth to feign secrecy.
"Oh, I see," she said sharply. Noah didn't seem to notice her clear objection, but it hurt Luke to witness.
"So what are you doing here?" Luke asked, still sitting while the other two stood.
"I came to tell Noah," she said, emphasizing Noah's name to send an unfriendly message to Luke, "that I'm going to go to my friend Katy's house tonight."
"You are?" he asked, visibly shocked.
"Yes. She's having an three-day bachelorette party in Chicago."
"What? Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Noah asked, grabbing Ameera's arms.
"Well, I just found out this morning. It was a spontaneous decision. I'm leaving in an hour," she said.
"Oh, well, I hope you have fun," chimed in Luke.
"Yes, I will. I'll see you later, Noah," she said, hugging him again.
"Do you want me to help you with anything, packing or anything?" Noah asked. Ameera shook her head. "Okay, well, I guess I'll see you later," Noah said, still very shocked.
Once Ameera left, Noah sat back down, giving Luke an exaggerated shocked look. Luke laughed.
"She's usually very predictable," he informed Luke.
"Yeah, I can see that," Luke said, laughing. "You won't be too lonely in your apartment all alone, will you?"
"No, not at all," he said. "To be honest, it'll be kind of nice. It's good to have alone time."
"Yeah, it definitely is," Luke agreed. "Is your place nice?"
"I like it. I mean, it's small, just two bedrooms, but it's perfect for me. You should come over tonight and take a look," Noah said, and then instantly closed eyes in embarrassment, scrunching his nose. "Sorry, I didn't mean that like it sounded."
Luke laughed, saying, "I didn't even think that until you said something! Must be on your mind!" He attempted to reassure Noah, "It's okay, really. I'd love to see your apartment sometime."
"Not tonight, though," Noah said, talking to himself.
Continuing to laugh, Luke said, "Well, if you have coffee at your place, we'd save tons of money. We've already spent over fifteen dollars here."
"Do you want to come over for coffee, then?" Noah asked, laughing gently with Luke.
Suddenly Luke's face became serious. "Yeah. I do." He smiled at Noah, and, hoping he wasn't pushing too much, said, "Let's go. Seriously."
"Okay. Let's go," Noah said just as seriously.
---
Luke walked up the steps with Noah toward the door of Noah's apartment. Noah and Ameera's apartment, Luke reminded himself bitterly. He hated that this handsome guy, who just happened to be gay, was close friends with someone Luke had brushed aside for months. It bothered him that he hadn't been lucky enough to meet Noah earlier on in the semester.
"Okay," Noah said as he pulled his key out and twisted the doorknob, "Home sweet home!"
Noah shoved the door open and ushered his guest in. Luke was greeted by a small (but efficient) hallway with a small (but practical) kitchen and a small (but cozy) living room attached. He grinned, absolutely in love with the place. As Luke entered the living room, he was assaulted by the sight of an object in the exact center of the living room. There stood a short and stubby potted bush-like plant that had pathetic, tacky Christmas ornaments hanging from it and soil spilled all over the floor around it.
"What is that?" Luke demanded, pointing to the atrocity.
"A Christmas tree!" Noah asserted.
"Really?" Luke asked, giving Noah his best snobby rich kid look.
"Here, wait," Noah said. He turned off the living room lights and switched the single string of weak Christmas lights wrapped around the bush both laughed as Noah explained, "Ameera doesn't celebrate Christmas, and I didn't really want to buy a tree just for myself. But it's my first Christmas away from my dad, so I just thought I would try to keep up with some sort of tradition."
"That's sweet," Luke said, smiling. "You mentioned your dad a lot on the phone yesterday. Are you and him close?"
"Yeah. We've had our rough times, but we're on great terms now," Noah said, sitting on the couch without switching the room's lights back on. Luke followed, sitting perhaps a little too close to his dark-haired host.
"Yeah, I'm close with my parents, too," Luke said, pressing himself against Noah ever so slightly. He turned to look up at Noah as he said, "The struggled when I first came out, but they got over that pretty quick. What about you?"
Luke nearly shouted in shock when he felt Noah's hand find its way to his upper thigh. "It was fine," Noah said, distracted by Luke. "I mean, no, it wasn't, but just like your parents, mine got over it. My dad was super weirded out by it for a long time. My mother talked some sense into him after awhile..." Noah's voice began to trail as Luke inched closer.
Squeezing Luke's thigh, Noah leant in for a kiss, only to have Luke draw away.
"I'm sorry, I," Luke paused, taking a breath. "I've never done this before. I mean, I don't just mean sex. I've never kissed anyone." The flush in Luke's cheeks was so bright that it was visible even when lit only by the dying Christmas lights in the center of the room.
"Neither have I," Noah admitted, and then pressed his mouth to Luke's. Immediately, Luke responded. He pulled Noah closer to him, gripping the back of his head. Their kiss was unpracticed and entirely too passionate too fast, but both enjoyed the sloppy mess that it was. A few times, their teeth clashed, and their tongues struggled at first to find rhythm, but once the rhythm was discovered, their kiss became something neither boy knew how to explain. The sensation of tongue on tongue tore at Luke's insides, exciting him. When the need for air overwhelmed them, both boys pulled back, panting.
As he pecked Noah on the lips and then lingered, Luke became more daring. "That girl's not here," Luke said, referring to Ameera, "We could..." Luke tilted his head suggestively, and Noah smiled. After one last brief kiss on the couch, the pair stood.
All promises of coffee forgotten, the boys headed toward Noah's bedroom.
---
Late that night, after total darkness had taken over, Luke and Noah lay wrapped in each other's arms, basking in the afterglow of sex silently. Neither knew what the hour was, and neither cared. They were comfortable in Noah's small bed and occasionally intertwined their fingers or kissed, both happy to have lost their virginities.
After awhile, Luke broke the silence. "Was that a one-night stand?" he asked.
"No! Was it?" Noah asked, unsettled.
"I don't think so. I mean, I hope not!"
"Me too. I mean, I hope not also."
"It's not then," Luke said decisively.
Noah nodded and pulled Luke closer. "I never thought I'd do anything like that," Noah said. "I'm honestly really shocked that I did."
"Shocked you had sex on the first date?" Luke asked. Receiving a nod from Noah, Luke added, "Me too. I'm actually pretty prudish."
Noah laughed and admitted that he also was. For a moment, they examined each other's faces lovingly.
"I want to see you again," Luke said.
"I want to see you again, too. But don't leave yet," Noah pleaded.
"It's too late to!" Luke exclaimed, smiling. He was surprised that, after smiling so much for the last few days, his cheeks hadn't started to hurt.
For awhile, the boys talked about their past attempts at dating, which were numbered and all miserable failures. Luke told Noah about Kevin, and Noah told Luke about a crowd of people he'd hung around in Missouri that were the wrong sort. They continued to talk about random things: the weather, clothing styles, old films, and even politics and religion. Just as the sun began to rise, they drifted into sleep, warm in each other's embrace.
Neither had totally understood how they had ended up sleeping together that night. They dated normally and took it slow after that, only occasionally mentioning their sex. Eventually they grew so in love that sex became natural and frequent. Ameera didn't take the relationship well, and made redundant attempts at ending the boys' relationship. At some point, Noah did realize that Ameera had acted out of jealousy, but he struggled severely in forgiving her epic rudeness toward Luke. Many years later, all three were on good terms. Luke's family loved Noah, and Noah's family came to love Luke as well.
At 20, Luke and Noah moved into their own flat, leaving Ameera alone in her apartment. At 24, the boys became engaged and many well-wishings were given. At 25, they had an outdoor wedding and an all-expenses paid honeymoon to Rome. Their favorite wedding gifts received were a rice cooker, a new state-of-the-art vacuum, and a bean bag chair. At 30, they adopted a child from Romania and named her Amanda. At 31, they adopted a two-year-old American boy named Jacob. Every Christmas, a traditional small bit of shrubbery had Christmas decorations poorly attached to it and was then shoved in the center of the living room.