The Fiancé (It's Just Us Here Book 6)

by Christopher X Sullivan

  “I’m working on this app.”

  “What do you mean, you haven’t written?” My mom was politely curious and still didn’t comprehend what Mark was getting at. “Nobody ever tells me anything.”

  “It’s nothing,” I said. “Mark and I have a running conversation about this and now is not the time to bring it up.”

  My father chuckled. “If Mark hasn’t learned when to give up, he’s going to now that you’re in it with this one. I assure you.”

  “Watch it,” my mom said testily. “We don’t want to scare off this very nice young man.”

  “Scare him off?” I said with a laugh. “Trust me, I've tried.”

  “We've been through thick and thin,” Mark agreed.

  Mark talked about his current job, but I didn't let him get off that easily (not after trying to bring my mother into our argument about my burnout with fiction writing). I teased him about his travels around the world.

  Mark turned the conversation back on me. “You liked it when I took you to Italy. Remember how we went to the sauna?”

  I kicked him in the shins. Mark must have been expecting the attack because he didn't react. I decided that in the future he would deserve a harsher punishment. Maybe a grab at the balls.

  “He went to Italy?” my mother asked, stunned. She was probably tipsier than she had been in a long time.

  “I won some money gambling and Mark made me spend it.” I must have had too much to drink as well because I definitely made myself sound like a degenerate with all the gambling and drinking and hedonism. Despite this being a moment of truth, I carefully negotiated around the reality of who paid for that trip to Italy. Could I tell them that Mark basically covered a lot of this stuff? I could do that... right? I could tell my parents that I was basically a kept man.

  “He's such a tightwad.” Mark didn’t know when to let something drop. “It's impossible to get him to spend money.”

  “I'm just happy he finally has money to spend,” my mother said. “He's always been so...” She sighed expressively. “I'm just happy he's happy. And it takes two to live the way we do, doesn't it honey? If I didn't work, we wouldn't have all these extra things.”

  “Don't talk to Mark about work,” I suggested. “All he does is work out and tighten his abs..”

  “That is so not true and actually it’s a really mean thing to say.” Mark laughed off my barbs. “But yeah, that was kinda my job. At least now I'm using my brain. I wouldn't be in my marketing firm without Chris.”

  “Yes, you would.”

  “I wouldn't. It's the truth. I had no intention of taking it this far. Not everyone is as sharp as you. You just pick things up and go to town.” Mark was getting sloppier and more affectionate with me.

  “He's always been like that,” my mother agreed.

  “But when he does things with his hands, he gets that from me,” my father added. “Don't think everything comes from his mother.” My father had limited himself to one drink so he could drive home, but Mark and my mother were extra thirsty.

  This led me to be cautiously optimistic that the night would end on a good note. But, of course, it wasn’t to be.

  “I can't believe my only son is gay,” my father mused. My mother glared at him, but Dad only shrugged. “Not that it's a bad thing, but I just kind of hoped, I don't know... you were always different growing up...”

  Weird.

  “I'm not even gay.” It was an instinctive defense, honed from my closeness to Mark last year when I subconsciously tried to set myself apart from all that other gay stuff.

  “What do you mean?” My mom turned on me sharply like how she did when she was about to grill either me or my father. The one person I didn't want to discuss my sexuality with was suddenly intent on understanding everything about what I had just uttered.

  “I mean... I'm not really interested one way or the other. I'm not a sexual person.”

  “What do you mean!” my mother yelled. “You mean you could have been with a woman?” She didn’t give me a chance at a denial, which wouldn’t have been forthcoming anyway. “Why would you do this to yourself!” She flew into a rage.

  “We’re going to sit calmly through dinner,” my dad mocked, cheerfully throwing back the words she had probably repeated to him numerous times throughout the day.

  “You stay out of this,” my mother declared. She wasn’t drunk enough to pass out, unfortunately. She pointed at me, finger trembling. “Why would you do this to yourself? Why would you put yourself through all of this—” she couldn't spit out the words. Maybe she didn't know the words to say, but she knew instinctively that she didn't want this life for her son. “I don't get it, Chris... why would you do this?”

  “I didn't do anything,” I stressed. “You can't help who you fall in love with. It was a one-time thing. You know I've never been interested in anyone.”

  Her hands were in the air—she looked deranged. “I don't know what you do with your time! Nobody tells me anything!”

  “You know I didn’t leave the house,” I said calmly. “What do you think I've been doing these past few years? I've been working and that's all I've been doing. Can we not argue about this right now? I don't want to argue in front of Mark.” I didn’t waste my college education, so stop harping on that like you have for the past decade! This is just another thing to add to my pile of disappointments.

  “We're not arguing,” she said hotly. “I'm trying to understand what you mean. This doesn't make any sense to me. Like why can’t you just find a nice girl? There's nice girls everywhere... you're so smart and talented. What about all those friends you had in high school and all the girls we met in college?”

  “They're just friends, Mom.” And my partner is literally at this table listening to how this plays out.

  “Get the keys!” she said dramatically to her husband. “We're getting out of here! I don't want to say something I'm going to regret.” She launched herself at the apartment door and bolted.

  “Mom!”

  “Oh boy, you're in for it now.” My dad chuckled. “Just you wait,” he said to Mark. “Chris takes after his mother.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Mark replied. The dunces shared a laugh at my expense.

  “Don't you two start behind my back!” I pointed at Mark like I was the Master and he was the slave. “This isn't the right time.”

  “I’ll be a good boy. I'll stay here and hold the fort. You go do your thing.”

  They laughed at me as I left. I ran down the stairs and then up one side of the street and then down the other before I found my mother. She was in her car with the doors locked.

  I knocked on the window. “Mom, let me in.”

  “I don't want to say something I'm going to regret,” she said forcefully. “I never drink. Leave me alone and we'll talk tomorrow.”

  “I didn't mean to say that. I didn't mean to upset you.”

  “I'm so embarrassed,” she said. “I can't believe I acted that way. I've been yelling at your father all day.”

  “Can I sit in the car?”

  “Get in. You're my only son, of course you can get in. Of course I support you and love you.”

  “I know,” I said as I slid into the driver’s seat. “I’ve always known.”

  “Mark seems like a nice guy.” My mom was warm and composed, but her cheeks were wet.

  “He's a great guy. You're going to love him.”

  “So he's the one who broke your heart?”

  “Did Lynn tell you?”

  “No.”

  “Whatever.” I’ll yell at Lynn next time I talk to her.

  “You forget that I still pay for your cell phone bill. We have unlimited text and talk, but you haven't used more than ten minutes a month in years.”

  “Everyone I talk to is on Verizon.” In the family.

  “Yes, but sometime in the summer last year, that all changed. You started sending texts. Making more and more calls. And then it all stopped. In December. And if I
recall correctly, you weren't in the best of moods at that time.”

  “We broke up,” I admitted. “But we're back together and now we're doing it the right way. I'm coming clean and it makes me happy that you know about it.” My voice wobbled. I started crying and I couldn't contain myself. I wasn't normally an emotional person in front of my parents. I wasn't normally an emotional person at all.

  Mark was going to be so happy that he met my family. So, so, so happy.

  “I know,” she soothed. Then she started crying. “But I guess I still don't get it. If you could really have been with a woman, why wouldn't you be? This is confusing to me. Everyone makes sacrifices for their relationship. You think I've loved your father every minute of every day? He gets on my nerves so much.”

  “Mark is the same way. He's always energetic. Like a puppy that needs a leash.”

  “He's very handsome,” my mother said, which was such a non sequitur that it jolted me out of my funk.

  “That's not important. He takes care of me. He loves me. He's going to be at my side for a long time.”

  “I'm so happy for you,” she said sweetly, then wiped her eyes. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I've only ever wanted the best for you. For you to be happy. And for you not to have to deal with so much on your own. But this—” Gayness. “—feels like just one more thing you have to deal with.”

  “It's not like that at all. Mark simplifies things for me. It feels like everything has finally fallen into place. Everything makes sense.”

  “I just hope you aren't bringing more pain upon yourself. That's all I worry about. I worry about you all the time.”

  “I told you to stop doing that. You saw my monthly income. You don't have to worry about me anymore.”

  “That's a mother's job,” she said tearfully. “And what happened to that girl? I thought you were dating a girl?”

  “So you have been talking to Lynn.”

  “She didn't tell me about Mark. I swear it.”

  “I believe you. But I don't know how I'm going to reintroduce the two of them. She hates Mark. She won't even say his name around me.”

  “So she got to meet him?” I couldn’t tell if my mother was jealous or not.

  “She was one of the few family members who did. Who knew the truth. Oh Mom, I love him so much. I wish I could have introduced him to Grandma.”

  We had a good cry after that.

  I eventually composed myself. “Why don't you come up and chat some more. I know Mark has been dying to put on a good impression.”

  “He has.” She patted my hand. “He definitely has. Anyone who has captured your heart and knows how to deal with it has to be good in my book. You could have brought anyone home and it wouldn't have made a difference to me.”

  Except I just can’t say that I’m somewhere in the middle of gay and straight. Gay, you can handle. Straight, nothing strange. Anything in the middle is off limits.

  “I know.... You’ve always been so good to me. Let's go up and make sure Dad is still doing alright.”

  “I need some time to adjust,” my mom said. She always got her way and this evening was no exception. “Leave me here to collect myself. Send your father down. I know he's going to need some time to get used to this idea as well.”

  “I don't know, he and Mark really hit it off last week.”

  “So he really met your boyfriend last week?”

  “Yeah, when you sent him with the pie.... You really didn't do that on purpose? I thought you did that because you knew something was up and you wanted to get to the bottom of it.”

  “I did notice you were in a better mood,” she said with a shrug. “But your father forgot to bring the pie, that was all. So he offered to deliver it before I got upset.”

  “It all worked out in the end,” I said. I gave my mom a hug. “I love you,” I whispered. She couldn't say anything and just kept hugging.

  Then I left the car as she requested.

  As I made the lonely trek back to my apartment, I wondered if Mark had been slain by my father... I assumed my partner wouldn’t have put up a fight because he was so desperate to make a good impression.

  I shouldn't have worried because everything appeared to have gone smoothly in my absence. They were both laughing and having a good time.

  “What's going on in here?” I asked.

  “Oh nothing,” Mark said expansively. “Just getting some life advice from your father.”

  “If he's going to be with you for as long as your mother's been with me, then he needs to be prepared for a few things.”

  “Oh God.” I rolled my eyes. “Now I know why I put this off for so long.” Life advice from my dad!

  My dad chuckled. He was in a good mood. “Where’s your mother? I think there were a couple beers still in the fridge. We should stay longer and take a cab home.”

  “She's out in the car waiting for you. She's too worked up.”

  “Tell me about it. What you do to that woman... it's crazy.”

  “I don't do it on purpose...”

  “You never do.” The way he delivered that line was so mean-spirited, and so exactly like him. He could be so overtly offensive, it was crazy. My mother was the queen of subtle backhanded compliments, but my father was so obviously disapproving in every way. I just wanted him out of my room and to have my boyfriend to myself.

  Mark and my father were amused by something.

  Quit laughing!

  Mark and I helped him out the door. Mark shook his hand. I shook his hand. He wished us both good luck. Then the night was over.

  For all the angst that we had been subjected to over the past few days, the evening had flown by quickly and with so few fireworks that I was actually amazed. “That was nerve-wracking.”

  “I told you it wouldn't be bad.” Mark was smug and happy. He wrapped me in a hug.

  “You're still in the doghouse for going behind my back.”

  “I didn't want you to get hurt.” He practically begged me to take his side. “How can you judge me for that? It all worked out in the end.”

  “It did, but you could have at least told me what you were doing. I agonized about it for days and it was all for nothing.”

  “And it turns out there was nothing to be worried about... just like I said.”

  “I'm not going to agree with that. Things didn't go over as smoothly as you seem to think. My mother went ballistic.”

  “How was she out in the car?” Mark tried to change the subject, but I wasn’t fooled.

  “She was her normal self. She'll be fine. He'll be fine. I never wanted to talk about what we were almost, kind of talking about. It felt strange to talk about sexual things with them.”

  “You didn't have to say any of that. You’re so dramatic. Just say: Mom and Dad, I'm gay.”

  “But I'm not gay,” I stressed, hating how my voice whined.

  “Oh my God, your dad was right. You are going to drive me crazy.”

  I tackled his chest but he barely moved an inch. “That's not funny,” I grunted while trying to pin him to the wall. He tickled me.

  “Look at you, Mr. Tough Guy with these cute little muscles.” He squeezed my arm. “So cute cute cute cute. Cute little Chris.”

  “Shut the fuck—” He fought back and I started giggling so I had to give up. “I feel strange right now.”

  “That's the way it goes, little man. I'm happy for you. So proud of you. Now we can go meet my parents.”

  “Oh please, I love them.”

  “Yeah... uh... they kind of hate you. Melanie spent the past half a year poisoning them against you.”

  “What did you tell them to make it so bad? We just broke up.” Unless he told them about the erotica stuff...

  “I may have said a few things to make it sound like you were... I don't know how to put this...” He hesitated.

  “Just tell me how bad it is. Did you show them the stories I wrote?”

  “Of course not... but I may have call
ed you perverted a couple times.” He made his typical I’m-just-an-innocent-boy face.

  “You didn't.”

  “I was angry and heartbroken and mad at myself and I couldn't figure out what to say. Melanie cornered me. She wanted to know what went wrong. She thought it was my fault.”

  It was your fault! And it was my fault!

  I tried to soothe him. “It was both our faults.... But if you hadn't gone looking through my flash drives...” Why did I have to bring that up?

  “You let me use your computer,” he answered. “I didn't know what kind of crazy stuff you had on there. It's not like I was looking for that freaky stuff. I was looking for an empty one.”

  “Relax, babe. I'm just teasing. But I thought it was hidden in a drawer. I must have... I don't know... completely blanked on it, or relaxed around you and left it hanging out in the open.”

  “Where is it now?” he asked—it was first time we had disgussed my erotic writing.

  “Destroyed.”

  “You didn't have to do that.”

  “I did it the minute you left. I destroyed all my flash drives and all my hard drives. I killed my computer.”

  “You didn't!” He was horrified. “You loved that computer. I wondered why you have a new one. I thought they were lying when they said you killed it on purpose.”

  “Shoved my foot through it and killed it. Let's not talk about this right now. I'm tired and it’s time for bed.” I was like a computer myself, switching from one logical program to the next. Avoid. Refresh. Power down.

  “We can cuddle all night. I know that's what you want.”

  “You know me so well.”

  “Let's go to my apartment.”

  “I'm not feeling it tonight. We can sleep on my bed for one night.”

  “I'm not sleeping in the tiny ghetto slum. It's basically a closet.”

  “It's perfectly fine and I've slept there for the past year.” I dismissed his objections. “Anyway, you're going to sleep where I sleep.”

  “That's true,” he agreed. “And you're going to sleep in my bed.”

  “I have two memory foam mattress covers. My bed is perfectly fine.”

  “My bed is bigger.”

  “Your everything is bigger.”

  He grabbed his crotch.