Brian pretended he was still asleep when Justin got up. He couldn’t face watching him go. It was too hard to tell him to follow his dreams. To put Justin ahead of himself. But he knew it was the right thing to do. That’s what he had to keep telling himself until he believed it.

As he went into work he listened to a radio station he usually didn’t. A song came on that he had never heard before. The Deejay said the song was called Goodbye My Lover.

While listening to the song, safe in his car, tears started to fall. As if feeling the emotions warring inside him, the sky opened up and the rain poured down.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts and emotions, he missed the stop sign. It was a stop sign he came to twice a day, but for some reason he blew right past it. Into the path of a bread truck who didn’t have a stop sign, meaning he was going full speed. Much too fast to stop or slow down much.

The driver of the bread truck saw the green corvette fly past the stop sign. He hit his breaks but it was too late. His large truck smashed the smaller car. When he got out of his truck, he saw the car was unrecognizable. Finding what he thought was the driver’s side he started to yell.

“HELP!”

Nothing from the tangled mess made a noise. He knew then it was too late. Nothing could survive that impact.

“Fancy meeting you here,” a light voice said.

Brian opened his eyes and saw Justin. But it wasn’t the Justin he remembered. It was a younger Justin. He looked like he did when they met.

“I see you chose to be young too,” Justin said with a laugh.

They were in a simple room with gray walls and hard wood floors. Looking down he saw he was on a chair. That couldn’t be right though, he had just woken up. Right?

“You look confused,” teenage Justin said.

“I am,” he said. His voice didn’t sound like it should though. He sounded young, real young.

“Guess, we’re both seventeen now,” Justin said, sunshine smile in place.

“Am I dead?”

“Of course. Same as me.”

The last thing he remembered was driving. He then remembered the bread truck. “I died the day you left?”

“Yes, it was very sad. Emmett called me as soon as my plane landed. I turned around and flew right back. You were dead when they pried you out of your ‘Vette.”

“Did the plane crash?”

Justin lightly laughed. “Of course not. Unfortunately, I died the day after Gus’ wedding. It was a shame too; I hope the good memory overshadows the bad.”

“Gus’ wedding? He’s a little boy.” Brian couldn’t get his head around what Justin was saying.

“He hasn’t been a little boy for a long while. He was like you. Waited a long time before finally finding the ‘one’. You would love the man he’s become. He runs Kinnetik with your flare and no non-sense attitude.

“Married. I can’t believe it.” Brian shook his head.

“Expecting a baby too. Sucks we won’t be there when she’s born.”

“And not in the life affirming way.”

“Damn, Brian, I missed you.” Justin jumped off the plush chair he was sitting on.

“I would say I missed you too, Sunshine. Except it feels like last night I was with you.”

“Because it was silly.”

“What? I’m really confused now.”

“You were put in a heaven stasis until I got here. You were lucky you found your soulmate before you died. If you hadn’t it could have taken centuries to find me.”

Justin walked over to him and wrapped his arms around Brian’s waist. It was then Brian noticed he was still kind of gangly. Justin was right he was still seventeen. He hadn’t gotten his lean muscles until college.

“What the hell is going on?” he said, pushing Justin to arm’s length.

“Okay, listen closely. You were killed in a car crash. Thirty-one years later, I died. Now we are here together.”

“How did you die?”

“That doesn’t matter. We’re here together now. That’s all that matters.”

Brian could know Justin well enough to know when he’s avoiding a question. He had done it a lot in their life together.

“Tell me,” he said gruffly.

If they were going to be spending all eternity together, the last thing they needed was lies.

Justin sigh then mumbled something.

“What did you say?”

“I was kind of murdered. It’s why we get these swanky new/old body. Turns out, thirty is the going age around here. It’s like a default. Unless you were younger when you died. Then you start at that age but you get to age until thirty. Isn’t that cool.”

“Wait a minute…murdered?”

“Oh, that, let’s not get in to that. What’s done is done.”

“Fuck no.”

“Brian,” Justin hissed. “No cursing in heaven.”

“First of all, if they let me in that was their own fault. Did they not know I’m an atheist?”

“Doesn’t matter if you believe in God. Only that God believes in you.”

“Did you fucking take a class here?”

“Sorta, they gave me a rundown before they brought me to you.”

“Who killed you?” Brian growled.

“It doesn’t matter. I know he would take it back if he could. Now that both of us are awake we can go visit Debbie, Vic, Carl and Rodney. My mom is probably going to be here soon, but I hope she lasts enough to see her great granddaughter born.”

“Who?”

“Our granddaughter. Gus’ daughter. She’s supposed to be born in a few months. I wanted to see her so much. Our son is such a fine man.”

“When did you start calling him our son?” He wasn’t upset, just curious.

“When I adopted him.”

“What? When did you adopt him?”

“On his ninth birthday we put in the paperwork. He said it was all he wanted for his birthday. To have his father’s should-be husband adopt him.”

“The munchers were okay with that?”

“Just Lindsay. Mel and Lindsay broke up a year after you died. Lindsay moved to New York with me. We raised Gus together, and Jenny when she visited. I was her best man when she got remarried.”

“She got remarried? To who?”

“A lovely woman named Rose. You would absolutely hate her. It’ll be a blast when they get here.”

Brian couldn’t wrap his head around everything he was hearing. Justin was talking about their family. How they went on living their life after he was gone. Did they miss him at all?

“Did you miss me at all?” Brian asked harshly.

“Of course. I was ready to take my own life after you died.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. But what stopped you?”

“Funnily enough, it was Michael. He said it wasn’t what you would want.”

“He was right.”

Something shifted in Justin’s eyes ever so slightly. It was then Brian had his answer.

“It was Michael, wasn’t it?”

“It was, but it wasn’t his fault. After you died, Ben died thirteen years later. Debbie followed soon after, Carl six months later. After that Michael moved in with me. He got sick a few months back. Jenny convinced him to go to the doctor. He had a brain tumor. It messed with his way of thinking. He didn’t know what he was doing when he killed me. I have no anger over how I died. I just hope that he doesn’t remember it.”

Brian hugged Justin to him. This was his sunshine through and through. Thinking of others before himself. It was why he was here. Brian didn’t know why he was lucky enough to be here with him, but he wasn’t going to complain.

“You didn’t get married?” Brian asked, realizing Justin hadn’t spoken of a partner.

“Me? No, I dated here and there but my heart wasn’t in it. I had our family, I never spent a holiday alone…even if I wanted. I had the love of my life, I didn’t need to look for something I knew was already gone.”

“I’m not gone, I’m here,” Brian said, closing his eyes as he hugged Justin.

“Goodbye my lover, goodbye my friend.”

A horn blasted, he looked but he wasn’t in the room anymore. He was in his car. There was just enough time to slam on his breaks before a huge bread truck flew down the road. If he hadn’t stopped, he would have surely hit it.

But he did hit it. He hit it and he died. Didn’t he? Was it a premonition or was is just a daydream? He didn’t know but he knew he had a flight to catch. Justin could fly to New York to pawn his art. There was no reason he had to stay there. He wanted that life with Justin. He wanted to be there when his son was married. Wanted to be there to make Michael go to the hospital sooner. Wanted to meet his granddaughter. Most of all wanted to grow old with Justin. Somehow, he believed what he had just seen and felt. It was real, he knew it.

                                  The End