"You aren't going to do anything to stop him?" Ken asked over the phone. I could hear another more feminine voice over the line in the background.

I called him Saturday night to remind him that Monday training was being rescheduled to Tuesday because someone accidentally drove a truck into the side of the skating rink and the team had to find another place to practice until they patched up the hole in the wall.

"I can't make him give up his dream of doing music just so that we can date. Who knows, maybe I can go visit him when during breaks." I stare up at my blank ceiling as I lay on my bed with my phone lying next to my ear. My arms find their way around a pillow and I turn to my side in fetal position.

"How are you going to find money to do that?" Ken asked.

"Do you think the McDonald's across town is still hiring?" I asked half seriously.

"You'll probably have just enough left to pay for gas after the taxes." I could hear Ken laughing and a girl's giggle joining his voice over the phone.

"I'll think of something. I have to." I said adamantly, but I knew that my voice wasn't very convincing.

A pause, then Ken said slowly, "Man, you are sure in love."

"It's Lan we are talking about here. " I tried to explain. "I've never been apart from him fore more than a month since we were four. Even if we weren't dating I'd still try to find a way to see him."

"Dude, I've known you since we were you diapers, I didn't see you saying the same thing when I had to go to school in Ireland for a year because of my parents."

"Hey man, I didn't know you missed me that much."

"I didn't. Just admit that Lan has you wrapped around his little finger. " Ken teased.

I grunted something along the lines of agreeing.

"I guess there's not much you can do then, might as well try to make the best of the time you have left with him. Hang in there buddy." Ken said. Then I heard another voice say something blurry through the phone.

"That sounds like Barbie in the background." I said after I went through a phonetic estimate of all the girls we knew.

"It is," Ken says with a long drawl. I could practically hear the grin in his voice. "She's hanging out with me. You are actually disrupting our movie time."

"Our?" I ask skeptically.

"Well, you know what they say, sometimes persistence pays off."

There was a big round moon in the middle of the lake. The night was clear and the wind was calm. I was waiting for Lan in my car with a bag of some of his knickknacks that he had left around my house. I kept all his random clothes and doodles for myself, but I figured he might need some of his CDs and phone chargers with him. I had also bought him a voltage converter for a going away present. In case I couldn't' give it to him at the airport if his mom doesn't let me come; I wanted to give it to him before then.

My eyes trail down the path where Lan was walking towards my car. He was bundled up in my letterman jacket and hunched over against the chilly spring night.

I leaned over and unlocked the passenger side door to let him in. As soon as he was in, he practically climbed into my lap and wraps his arm around my head. His lips land on mine with enough force to make me jump back in surprise. Quickly his tongue muffles my moan as it slipped teasingly into my mouth. I could feel him grinning as I meld into his touch. Finally he let go of me. My eyes were still shut when I licked the traces of him on my lips.

"Guess what, I've got news." He whispered softly against my ear in a voice dripping sex sex as he smirked at my reaction. His thighs were riding over mine and grazing dangerously close to where it counted.

"You won the lottery and would like me to be your house husband to take to Korea." I said with my head still in a daze.

"Eh, close, but no dice." He laughed between a huff of air.

"Which part's close?" I perked up a bit.

"I'll be with you, not the lottery or the Korea part though."

I snorted and shrugged stiffly, my enthusiasm lacking despite the reaction from my hormones. "Only for tonight though."

"I'm not going to Korea." His voice came quietly and the words were light against my cheeks, but they went through me like cannonballs.

I froze and the frown on my face turn into worry, "What do you mean—did something happen?"

Lan chuckled and looked at me with a smile. "I'd rather be with you. That's all."

"Okay, wait, no… are you just pulling my leg? Don't joke about stuff like this. It's hard enough when you told me you were going to leave." I fidgeted nervously as I wait for Lan to jump out with a 'gotcha' in the next moment.

"Hey, aren't you happy?" Lan was grinning at me. His face was glowing with the light from the moon and I just wanted to take him in my arms and kiss him until we were dizzy again. "I just spend the last thirteen hours arguing with my mom and then another two hours talking with my dad on the phone about this."

"You are serious?" I asked in disbelief. My nerves were all shot to bits as I teeter on the edge of my seat.

"I wouldn't joke about something like this." He said in a very matter of fact voice.

"What about your parents? They'll let you stay?" I quickly fired of one question after another. Lan put a finger to my lips to shush me.

"I told them if they can't deal with who I am then I can pretend to be straight for them, but that they'll never get to know why I am." Lan explained.

"That's a good point." I nodded in agreement.

"Well, that and many other issues. I think I brought up enough good points to convince them that letting me figure my own way through the world is the way to go. I just grinded my teeth and kept trying until I could get them to listen to me. I guess persistence pays off."

I feel like I had heard that line somewhere else. I nodded in agreement, then I asked, "Should I go talk with them sometime?"

"If you want to. I know that they'd really appreciate it. They are grateful that at least I'm with someone they know and trust."

"You always could argue your way out of a paper sack." I said proudly after I took a deep breath and processed the good news. I wanted to kiss him so badly right then, so I did. Then I said, "If I knew my night was gonna get this good I should've bought a lottery ticket."

Lan laughed, a sound that sent a warm flush through my body. "What's up with you and the lottery tonight?"

"I've been thinking all weekend about ways to make money to visit you when school goes on break." I explained meekly, a little embarrassed by my idea.

"How many ways did you come up with?' He asked curiously with a slight raise of an eyebrow.

"I thought about helping around the neighborhood by cutting grass, or at Ken's mom's salon by cutting hair, or just cutting off my hair—"

"Why would you cut off your hair?" He interjected with a raised eyebrow.

"I heard people pay for hair." I shrugged with a goofy smile. Lan returned my smile and kissed my forehead.

"You always surprise me." He laughed as he twirled the strands of my short mop between his fingers.

"I was going to surprise you with a spanking new voltage changer. I guess you won't need it now." I said with complete bliss in my voice. Never had I been so happy to buy something I wouldn't need.

Lan looked at the paper bag laying at the foot of the passenger side and back at me. Our hips grinded against each other and he had to lean back to allow me to reach for the bag. I took the converter out and showed him the fancy description of all the different voltages it could take.

"Thank you." He said as he ruffled through the contents. There was a little surprise on his face when he saw how much stuff was in the bag. It was only a partial collection of items representing all the times he had spent over at my place.

"You are welcome. I can probably get them to exchange it if you want something else." I suggested hopefully.

"For that too, but I meant for being a good boyfriend. I feel like I've only been stressing you out lately." He looked at me with a small apologetic smile.

"I think it's been good for our relationship. We've become better at talking our issues out. " I said confidentially. Then I mumbled softly, "I just don't want you to regret not going to Korea and doing the music training program."

"The only wrong decisions in life are the ones we come to regret. I wanted to make a decision I know I wouldn't regret. I want to stay with you and go through college here."

"I don't want you to give up on music." I said weakly even though my heart was telling me to shut up and enjoy the good news.

"I won't be. I'll be studying music in college, and I'm still going to keep writing music. I can still record and market myself if I wanted to. I never wanted to be a product for some music business machine anyway."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Lan said confidently.

"What about becoming a singer?"

"I can still do that, but I don't want to be the industry's expendable merchandise and be on display all the time. Those training camps my dad wanted to send me to wouldn't have helped me become the type of singer I want to be."

"I'll help you too. I'll go peddle your music on the streets for you." I suggested helpfully.

"I have the best boyfriend in the world." Lan's head dipped closer to mine. I tilted my head up and kissed him softly. "I'll try to make a good hockey boyfriend."

"You'll sit in the wife and girlfriend section for me when I get on a college team?"

"You betcha. I'll even wear those low cut shirts." Lan laughed as he placed his hands on my stomach. They were a little cold so I guided them under my shirt.

"What about the mini skirts and pantyhose?" I asked hopefully with a wink in my eye. Lan pinched at my waist, then rubbed the pain away with his fingertips.

"Only if you don't feel like living anymore." He replied dangerously.

I laughed as I pulled him tight against me and he closed his arms around me. Our breaths fogged the window. The tight space in my car was filled with nothing but the sound of our breathing and heartbeat.

"I think we'll be fine." Lan said quietly. His cheek was soft and warm against mine. The accumulation of all the stress from the past few days seemed to have dissipated from my body. All that was left was the feeling of dizzying happiness and horniness as Lan's body melded against me.

"I think the future's looking good for us." I agreed.