Chapter 27

 

        At Alex's house, Alex's mother was pulling the laundry out of the dryer. As she did so, her thoughts wandered towards what happened last night. Alex had never yelled at her like that and it greatly concerned her. There must have been something wrong if her son was that upset, but what?

        She soon went up to Alex's room with his clothes. Once she put them away in the dresser and closet, she slowly walked towards the bed and sat at the edge of it. Her brown hues took a slow sweeping gaze of the room as she continued to wonder about what might have made Alex so upset the previous night. Was he maybe being bullied? That was one of the first possibilities that came to her mind. Why would the bullying start now though?

        A light sigh escaped her mouth as she continued to look aimlessly around the room, as if asking for some kind of sign. Her eyes then went to the nightstand beside the bed and they rested on it for a couple seconds. A hand slowly reached out to pull open the drawer to see a bunch of miscellaneous items.

        One in particular caught her eye though. There was a strip of what looked to be pictures buried underneath all the other objects. She reached into the drawer and pulled it out to get a better look at them. Out of the five pictures that were there on the strip, it was the last one that first caught her interest. It was a picture of Sean and Alex kissing.

        Her eyes widened a bit and her jaw dropped a tad in surprise. She continued to stare at the picture as if her eyes were maybe playing tricks on her and it would show the real picture. The picture never changed though, but instead continued to show the two boys kissing.

        Alex's mother slowly dropped the picture in the drawer and shut it. She couldn't believe it at first. Never once had she ever really considered the possibility that her son was gay. However, the more her mind reflected over recent events, it kind of made sense. Perhaps that was why Alex acted so annoyed whenever his father brought up a conversation about having a future family?

        She slowly picked herself up off the bed and left the room. The thoughts about her son being gay continued to swim around in her mind. They didn't leave her alone once while she did the rest of the things she needed to get done before Alex and her husband came home.

 

        Alex arrived home about a couple hours later. He grabbed his backpack from the backseat before getting out of the car, closing the door behind him. After walking up the porch steps he entered his large home. His mother was standing there in the archway of the kitchen.

        “Hey,” he greeted her like he usually did.

        “Hi,” she said, her voice a bit quiet as she stared at him.

        Alex noticed the unusual tone of voice she used when greeting him, but he didn't pay much of any mind to it. After saying he was going to go do his homework, he climbed up the stairs and went into his bedroom.

        Several minutes later, Alex was called down to eat dinner. He walked down to the dining room and took a seat in the usual chair. His mother and father talked a little as they all piled their plates with food. It wasn't too long until Alex's father decided to bring up a conversation about his business.

        “Make sure you pay attention to all of this,” his father advised to the boy a few seconds later. “If you're going to take over my business when you get older, you're going to need to know all of this.”

        Alex just nodded, hiding the annoyance of being told this for the thousandth time.

        “Your wife will sure be lucky to have someone who will be in charge of a successful business,” his father said.

        “Walter, maybe we shouldn't talk about this right now,” his mother suggested.

        “Your kids will be lucky too,” his father added, ignoring his wife.

        A sigh escaped Alex's mouth. He figured it would just be best if he told them the truth now.

        “I won't be having a wife, or kids,” Alex said. “I'm gay.”

        A shocked expression came on his father's face. He looked at Alex as if he was a ghost. His mouth opened and closed a few times, not quite sure what to say. He shuffled in his chair a little too before he tried to take another bite of his food.

        “You shouldn't joke about that kind of stuff,” he told the boy.

        “I'm not joking. I'm gay.”

        The discomfort became even more clear now as it showed in his father's eyes. He cleared his throat before setting his silverware down.

        “I guess I'm not as hungry as I thought I was,” his father said.

        His father threw the rest of the food in the trash and put the dishes into the sink before walking away, not saying another word. Both Alex and his mother watched him silently. A nearly inaudible sigh escaped the teen's parted lips.

        “Guess I'm not really that hungry either,”Alex said a few seconds later before getting up from the table.

        After putting the dishes into the sink, he went up to his room. A sigh escaped his mouth as he let himself fall backwards on the bed with his limbs spread out. His eyes were fixed on the blank ceiling as he thought about how his father took the news.

        A few minutes passed and his mother walked in. She slowly crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

        “He hates me, doesn't he?” Alex asked a little quietly as his gaze remained glued to the ceiling.

        “I wouldn't say that,” his mother replied.

        “Why'd he up and leave like that then?”

        “He's probably just surprised. Give him some time and he'll come around. He just needs to think things through.”

        “Maybe.”

        There was a couple moments of silence.

        “Why weren't you surprised like him?” Alex then asked curiously as he slowly looked over at her.

        “I already knew.”

        Alex looked at her in a slightly surprised and questioning manner, but didn't say anything. She sighed.

        “I found the pictures of you and Sean,” she told him.

        “What?” Alex said a wee bit angrily as he sat up. “Mom, why'd you look through my stuff?”

        “You weren't yourself yesterday and I was worried,” she explained.

        Alex sighed, but didn't say anything else. His mother slowly stood up from the bed and quietly left the room, figuring it would be best to leave Alex alone for a little while.

        When it came time for their usual show to come on, Alex headed downstairs, figuring he would try to watch television with them. However, his father wasn't down there. He never came down during the show. This upset Alex a little more. His mother was wrong; his father did hate him. It wouldn't even really surprise Alex if his father never even spoke to him again.

        Once the show was over, his mother stood up. Saying something about how she should head to bed, she climbed the stairs, leaving Alex down there by himself. Alex just remained down there to watch a little more television, not quite ready to go to bed yet.

        After about thirty minutes, Alex decided he would head to bed now. He climbed the stairs and when he reached the top of them, he could hear his mother and father talking in their bedroom. Curious, Alex slowly walked over so he could hear better. He stopped just to the side of the door so he wouldn't be seen by them.

        “Come on Walter, he's our son,” his mother said.

        “I know, but this is just wrong,” his father replied. “It's sick and disgusting. Why did he want to choose to be like this?”

        “Does it really matter though?” his mother questioned. “He's our son and we need to support him regardless of the decisions he makes.”

        A sigh could be heard; it was probably Alex's father. There was a few seconds of silence.

        “Where did we go wrong?” his father muttered.

        Not wanting to hear anymore of this, Alex turned and walked to his room. He quietly shut the door behind him before walking over to his bed and laying down. His eyes stared up at the ceiling as he thought about what he heard. It was no doubt to him now that his father probably hated him. This saddened the youth some. He heaved forth a sigh, hoping that nothing bad would happen because of this.

Reviews

[Amund Schofield]

Like in my last review, I said both Sean and Alex need someone else besides each other. They need some sort of group where they can be themselves, without ridicule. A few friends, or something.

[Amy]

Ok, I didn't think he would come out in such a fast way. I thought he'd hint about it and then tell his perants. But you still wrote it well.
Great Chapter!!