Everyone I’ve ever liked has either been a.) straight, (or gay, depending on my current sexual preference at that time) b.) heavily involved with someone or c.) not interested. Sometimes it was all three. Or just a mix of two. The point is, I didn’t get any of them.

But then he came along. He embodied everything I ever wanted in a significant other. He was smart, really cute and extremely witty; not to mention charming. He had charm coming out the ying-yang, and he knew it.

I’d never met anyone like him before. He made me forget about my sordid past relationships (or lack thereof, if I’m being completely honest). Even though it’s terribly cliché, he made me feel special.

When we started hanging out, it was strictly platonic. I wasn’t even sure I was gay, and I certainly hadn’t asked him if he was. We had so much in common that we could talk non-stop for hours on end, but not so much that we couldn’t have a rousing debate on occasion (like which Star Wars film was best; I said Revenge of the Sith, he chose Return of the Jedi).

One night, when we were hanging out drinking and watching movies, things changed.

We were sitting pretty close together, which for some reason always made me a bit nervous. It took all of my strength not to pull him close to me and kiss him senseless. I couldn’t do that, not yet. I wouldn’t consider myself a brave person. I’ll skydive and I’ll bungee jump, and sometimes I’ll run with the bulls, but when it came to telling someone how I felt about them, I was a coward.

I don’t know if it was all the beer running through my system, or if I’d just suddenly gained some courage. Sort of like the lion in the Wizard of Oz. “Wizard,” I’d say to him, “I’m a chicken shit. Can you do something about that?” And suddenly, like a light bulb turning on over your head, something flicked a switch in my brain and I wasn’t a cowardly lion anymore.

He was laughing at some joke that had just been told. I wasn’t paying attention. Hell, I couldn’t even tell you what movie we were watching. I just know that my heart was beating hard, and my palms were sweaty as they clutched the bottle of beer.

I set it down, knowing if I didn’t that it’d end up all over the place. I turned to him, inhaling slowly and deliberately.

“Dom,” I said quietly, licking my lips, which had suddenly become dry like the Sahara desert.

He shifted a bit, moving his head so he could look at me; his lips were curved in a huge smile, a leftover from the joke. “Yeah?” He asked, his voice just as husky as usual. It was a voice that made you shiver, and not in a bad way. When he spoke, you listened; it didn’t matter what he was saying. I would listen to him reading the dictionary for the rest of my life and still never get tired of hearing him speak.

I moved uncomfortably under his piercing gaze. His eyes were intense; the color of the clouds on a stormy day. I could lose myself in those eyes for hours on end, and sometimes I did tend to go into my own little world and forget what I was supposed to be doing. Like right now. He was looking at me in bemusement, watching as I stared at him. I couldn’t seem to get my throat to work.

“Spit it out, Lighe,” he joked, laughing a bit and then taking a swig of his drink. I watched him wipe his mouth off with the back of his hand and then set the bottle back down. He was still looking at me, waiting.

It was now or never. I’d look back at this moment as the one point in time where my life changed so drastically that I felt like I was spinning out of control and couldn’t see my past no matter how hard I squinted in that direction. I’ve had a lot of moments that I thought would go down in history as the moment my life changed, but this one…this time right here…this was the real thing.

He reached out and curled my hair around his fingers; he had a gentle way about him that was sort of amusing because it reminded me of a cat. He had a gracefulness that ballerinas and felines alone had, but don’t ever tell him I said that. One of the things I loved most about him was how easy it seemed for him. Just to be. He was himself no matter what, and if anybody didn’t like it, he said screw them and moved on. I envied that. I watched him sometimes when he didn’t know it, and I saw how easily he talked to absolutely anyone in a room. From an older woman with a walker, to a tall guy with a nose ring and eye makeup, to a five year old girl in pigtails. It was all the same to him. He just loved people. And they loved him. Just like I did.

I took a deep breath and studied the way his nose curved perfectly, and how his chin accentuated his profile; he was watching TV again, obviously having given up on me ever saying what I wanted to say. Either that or he was just waiting, in that patient way he had about him. His fingers were running through my hair, absently I was sure, but it was still causing me quite a lot of distraction.

“Dom.” My voice was strange to my own ears, like someone had shoved a piece of wood in my throat and caused my voice to become choked. He looked at me strangely, like he was sure I was going to keel over and die right there.

He raised an eyebrow and for some reason that was like my cue.

“I’m in love with you.” It was said in a rush, and I’m not sure he even caught most of the words. To my own ears, it sounded like I said “I’m….you.” so it was no surprise to me that his face remained impassive.

Dom pulled his hand out of my hair and rested his palm against my cheek; it was cool against my hot skin and I closed my eyes for a minute, relishing this contact.

Before I realized what he was doing, he had pressed his lips to mine in a very brief kiss that shocked me so badly, I jerked out of the way.

He smiled at me in a fond sort of way and laughed. “It’s about time, Lighe.”

Without hesitation, I pushed forward and captured his lips with mine, loving the feel of him pressed up against me. It was wonderful. Which was why I nearly cried when he pulled away to look at me.

“I’m in love with you, too,” he said softly, kissing me again.

And it was at that moment that I realized nothing could ever be more perfect. Nothing would ever compare to that first moment I spent with him, in his arms. Being with him, I knew that this was exactly how love should be.