The Big Summer
Page 26
“Rose, this guy flips burgers like nobody’s business,” Arthur said in absolute awe. Men!
Rose stopped what she was doing to give her husband a pointed look. “Are you insinuating that I need to improve my flipping technique?”
“Ooh,” Hannah muttered, egging them on.
“Peace!” Aunt Nellie said, waving an imaginary white flag. “No arguing at my housewarming party.”
“Uh, how about some food?” Jacob suggested in an attempt to ease the tension. Everyone readily agreed and grabbed at the burgers.
Once we were all sitting at the table, reaching over each other for condiments and soda and chips, Rose’s eyes bulged. She said as calmly as she could, “Daniel … my darling son, please tell me that’s not real.” My boyfriend’s sleeveless shirt showed off the bright red heart that was tattooed on his bicep—and his muscly arms!
“Should I have asked permission first?” he asked with a confused frown. Turning his arm to the side and pulling at the skin, he muttered, “It’s not that bad, is it?”
“They’re just temporary,” I assured his mother while stifling a laugh. Her expression was priceless. I showed her the matching image on my arm.
“Thank God.” Rose sighed.
“Okay, don’t mind me. I’m just vomiting a little bit over here,” Hannah said, looking thoroughly grossed out. “Mom, can you please tell them to stop doing cute couple things?”
“Hannah, you’ve been doing an awful lot of cute couple things with the Jackson kid recently,” Arthur pointed out.
She rolled her eyes and flashed me a private grin. We’d become so much closer over the past month. After the intervention, Hannah and Daniel had had a private heart-to-heart. She’d gotten out all of her feelings, and she glowed with happiness these days. I was happy for her.
“Yeah … but still!” she protested.
I guess Hannah was partially right, though … it was a stupid, cute couple thing. But it was my stupid, cute couple thing.
When I’d gone with Daniel that morning to give the apartment keys back to Lysander, I had explained to him that I might have taken the commitment of getting a tattoo a little bit lightly and that I wasn’t quite ready. With his infinite tattoo artist wisdom, he said some mumbo-jumbo about how I was progressing on the path through life. Somewhere in his long presentation, Lysander asked if we were interested in airbrush tattoos. And since we were a stupidly cute couple … we agreed.
11. Get a tattoo that means something
Proudly showing off our new badass ink, Daniel and I had then made our way back home … well, to my home.
You see, after Daniel and I actually got together, I’d had to start thinking about what would happen when it came time for us to leave. Evidently, Aunt Nellie had been having similar thoughts about her relationship with Jacob. So we’d sat down for a “serious” talk, which went more or less like this:
Aunt Nellie: Do you want to stay in Seaside City?
Me: Yes, please.
Aunt Nellie: Okay.
That final month of summer had been spent setting everything up. Aunt Nellie had left her job back home and was quickly snatched up by the local high school after a single meeting. We’d sold the house back home and found a lovely new one within our budget not far from my friends’ homes. And in the interim of getting my documents in order to switch schools and doing all the grown-up stuff that goes along with moving to a different state, Daniel had been by my side the whole time.
We easily fell into the roles of boyfriend and … well, boyfriend. I was head-over-heels in love.
“I hope everyone’s still hungry!” Aunt Nellie announced suddenly, pulling a huge chocolate cake from the fridge. We attacked that cake like starving apocalypse survivors, and from the expression on Hannah’s face—she got the first piece, of course—it was a success.
“What are you smiling at?” Daniel asked, taking my hand.
I tilted my head up and captured his lips in a quick kiss. And then I just contented in watching this eclectic bunch of people, my head resting on his shoulder. “I’m just really happy.”
“Yeah,” he said, laughing. “Me too.”
. . .
That’s the end, in case you were wondering. That’s all the story that there is to tell. I mean, I could tell you about how Daniel and I headed upstairs afterward and put on some music and danced and painted. I could also tell you how we ended up testing out my new bed, rolling around on the plastic covering.
But as for the rest, who knows? Who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow, or the day after … or in a week or ten days. What will my life be like when school starts up? Or when Daniel has to leave for the year to go back to New York?
I can’t tell you that, because I honestly don’t know the answers to those questions. And I kind of like it that way, you know? I’m just going to focus on enjoying each day.
And you may think the end to my story is optimistic … even cliché. You don’t think I know that? After everything, I found true love. Everything worked out for me. I have great friends, a wonderful mother figure in Aunt Nellie (and maybe a future Mr. Aunt Nellie?). I found where I belong.
So yeah, you could say that’s a clichéd happy ending. But I made this happily-ever-after for myself. And if there’s one thing you could take away from my story, it’s that we all have the power to make the change in our own lives. Well, there’s also all the stuff about love and friendship and self-acceptance and forgiveness. Those are important lessons too.
But seriously, if you’re not happy … do something about it. Talk to the new kid at school, take up a hobby, or share a secret. Take the first step, because you never know where it’ll lead you. In my experience, I found that sometimes the very best place to start is by making a list. Because you never know … you just might make it to the end.
22. In the end, be happy!
Acknowledgements
Mom, thank you for being an editor extraordinaire, a manager when there was a deadline to meet and a mother when it was time for a pizza break. I should also thank you on behalf of Aunt Nellie, for your wizardry with a takeout menu and the PJs you can rock like haute couture. Thank you for letting go of being a soccer mom so you could become a theatre mom, and for having more fun at the Pride parade than I did.
Dad, thank you so much for your support throughout this whole journey, and every endeavor I’ve ever set out on. You’ve been my eager audience from every horror story around the campfire (complete with pine-needle pyrotechnics) to my first novel, and I’m so grateful for everything you’ve done for me. Thank you for a treasure box full of amazing memories, with space left for those to come.
Bubby and Zaidie, thank you for always being a second set of parents to me, my lawyers and my Broadway gurus. Thank you for your encouragement and support over the years. Though your little Jameleh isn’t so little anymore—and even though I’m not going to have an “MD” after my name—thank you for the gift of more love than I know what to do with, and know that I return it many times over.
All my love to my family and friends! Thank you for providing me with an overflowing abundance of material for future books. Every family vacation and holiday dinner, every trip to the mall and conversation in the school hallways adds richness to my life. I love you, forever and always.
Special thanks go to the teachers who inspired my love for the written word. Mrs. Krespil and Mrs. Berger, thank you so much!
I am tremendously grateful to Dr. Karine Igartua for providing the foreword to this book. Her work with the LGBTQIA+ community is exceptionally important, and inspires me personally as I pursue a career in psychology. Thank you for everything that you do.
Thanks to the organizers of NaNoWriMo for putting together a crazy/stressful/insane/exhausting writing program that somehow churned out 50,000 words of my first draft in 30 days! Shout out to the lovely people of my Montreal write-in!
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Thank you to everyone at iUniverse who was involved with my book; you’ve helped make my dream of being a published author come true!
I’m eternally grateful to each and every person who reads this book. The privilege of having people read my work is one that I can’t begin to describe!
Support for LGBTQ Youth
Canada:
Egale Canada:
Egale Canada Human Rights Trust (ECHRT) is Canada’s only national charity promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) human rights through research, education and community engagement. ECHRT is committed to creating more inclusive school communities through the Safer & Accepting Schools program and the national LGBTQ education resource MyGSA.ca, and by leading the way on LGBTQ youth suicide prevention. Find out more at egale.ca and mygsa.ca or contact us at 1-888-204-7777
U.S.:
(GLBT) National Youth Talkline:
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Youth Talkline, a program of the GLBT National Help Center
Toll-free phone: 1-800-246-PRIDE (1-800-246-7743)
Website: www.GLBThotline.org
(GLSEN) Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network:
GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, is a United States-based organization that champions LGBT issues in K-12 education and works to ensure safe schools for all students, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Learn more at www.glsen.org or contact us at (212) 727-0135 or glsen@glsen.org.
PFLAG National:
PFLAG National is the United States’ largest organization for parents, families, friends and straight allies united with people who are LGBT to move equality forward. Visit us on the web at pflag.org or call us at (202) 467-8180.
Trevor Lifeline:
If you’re LGBTQ and struggling or thinking about suicide, call the Trevor Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386. It’s free, confidential, and available across the U.S., 24/7.
International:
TrevorSpace.org
TrevorSpace.org
About the Author
Jamie B. Laurie is a young writer and poet whose work has been published in numerous collections. He lives in Montreal, Canada, where he enjoys spending time with the people he loves, reading as many books as possible, and performing in community theatre. Jamie is currently pursuing a degree in Psychology at McGill University. This is his first novel.