It's Like This

It’s like this: Ian and Brice and Parker and Dylan get off the bus. They’ve pretended this whole time – just as they’ve pretended for the last three years – not to notice that Rylan has his arm draped casually over the blue plastic bar at the back of my seat. They pretend not to know that the second we get off the bus (scratch that, he’s not even going to wait for that second; it happens before the bus has even come to a complete stop), he’ll lower that arm over my shoulders, or drop his hand forward to f**k with my hair and knuckle my neck a little. He’s like that: likes touching me in public, holding hands, kissing, and he does it in that easy way of his – with a Rylan-specific brand of confidence that almost makes people around us forget to look twice. Like he knows, as far as I can tell, what the f**k is going on. That is the difference between us. He knows. I don’t. * * * A brave and funny love story about the anxieties, insecurities, and heartaches that drive people apart and bring them back together, It’s Like This is the journey of Niles and Rylan, as they learn to communicate in the shadow of a life-changing illness. Niles and Rylan have been together a long time. They have great sex, they are deeply intimate, and Rylan never holds back on displaying his affection. As far as their family and friends are concerned, they’re an established couple, and yet, after three years of being “together,” Niles is still unsure if they’re actually in a relationship. As their sexual intensity reaches a dangerous tipping point, Niles must find the courage to articulate how he feels in order to try and keep the only thing he has ever wanted. Emotional and compelling, It’s Like This is a must-read for true romantics. Note: Please be aware that this is not about a safe, sane, sober and fully consensual BDSM relationship (although it is not non-consensual). It is instead about two people who want what they want but don't know how to express exactly what that is and the emotional repercussions of their miscommunications.