Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

thought we were safe one afternoon, hanging out in my room. Mom and Dad weren't due home from work for a while, and we had the door shut as a precaution. But not locked.
    Lance and I were kissing and making out on my bed. We'd just taken our shirts off, but were still clothed from the waist down, thank God.
    "Adam, did you leave..."
    Lance and I froze the minute we heard my Dad's voice. I think my Dad froze too, because when I looked up at him he was just staring at us with this blank look on his face. He didn't say a word, just shut the door again and went back downstairs.
    I immediately started freaking out. Lance tried to calm me down, but he was freaking too. He wasn't out to his parents either and he was afraid my dad was going to call his parents.
    The mood killed, Lance and I were just too scared to even talk, so he left. I didn't know what to do— whether to stay in my room, go downstairs and find Dad, or get out of the house before his wrath hit.
    But the house remained silent. When Mom finally called me down for dinner, I didn't think I could even force a bite of food down my throat. My stomach was flopping around so much I was sure I'd throw up everything.
    I eyed Dad warily. He wasn't looking at me. My eyes slid over to Mom. She was putting the food on the table and chatting away like nothing was wrong. So, did he not tell her? Or was she ignoring it?
    I managed to make it through dinner, somehow choking some food down. I kept watching Dad, but he never acknowledged me and barely said anything.
    I kept waiting all night for something to happen but nothing did. The next day I got up and went to school like usual. When I got home I let myself in, and just as I was walking by the living room couch, he spoke.
    "Adam."
    I froze and looked over at him.
    He was sitting on one end of the couch, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped in front of him, and his tie was undone and hanging loose. He was staring right at me and he nodded his head toward the chair across from him.
    I was too scared to move.
    "Now, son." His tone was firm, but not angry. I'd heard that one enough to know the difference.
    I sat and we just looked at each other for what felt like forever, until he finally broke the silence.
    "You know I have to talk to you about yesterday."
    I gulped.
    "I didn't say anything sooner because I needed some... time with this... in my own head." He sighed. "You know you are my son, and I love you no matter what. I have from the day I first held you, when you were just minutes old." His gaze moved, staring off over my shoulder for a minute, a slight upturn of his lips as he lost himself in the memory of the moment. And then, quickly, his eyes were back on me, clear and serious again. "Nothing changes that."
    I blinked.
    "Adam, you understand that, don't you?"
    Realizing he was expecting some kind of response, I nodded my head, my throat too dry to speak.
    "So, do you want to tell me what I walked in on yesterday?"
    At first my frazzled mind freaked, trying to think what was I going to say. We were wrestling with our shirts off? I tripped and fell on top of Lance? I was sweating and everything I came up with I knew would sound completely stupid.
    Dad waited patiently, his gaze never wavering. "Take your time, son, I just want the truth. It's okay."
    And suddenly everything silenced, everything in my brain stopped, and it all became clear. My Dad wasn't looking for a literal explanation, he wasn't dumb, he knew what was going on. He wanted me to be able to say the words, to own up to it.
    Our eyes were still locked on each other and, his face was passive. There was no anger, there was no disappointment. " I love you no matter what... nothing changes that."
    "I'm gay."
    And that was that. The words came out clearly with a new confidence that surprised me. But it felt right. I hadn't realized how good it would feel to finally be able to say the words.
    "And you're completely sure, without a doubt?"
    "Yes." There was definitely no doubt in my tone.
    "Then why have you been taking out that Tiffany girl? Why did you take her to the Homecoming dance?"
    My mouth dropped open, then shut. That was not what I expected him to come up with next.
    "Son, you're lying to her, letting her believe in something that isn't there. She deserves better than that, she deserves the truth. I taught you boys better than that. Or I thought I had."
    He must have seen the fear in my eyes. "Didn't I teach you boys to