Chapter 32

 

       The following week went by quickly for the two boys. During that time though, Alex started to tell Sean that he should come out to Aunt Kathy. He said it wasn't really right to keep it a secret from her any longer. Sean always tried to avoid the conversation about it though by trying to change the topic. He didn't want to think about doing something like that right now. The possibility of Aunt Kathy disliking him for being gay was pretty slim, and Sean realized that, but he just didn't feel comfortable telling her at the moment.

       It was Saturday, which meant Sean and Alex would be going to the fair that was just a ways away from the town. When it came time for them to start going, Sean told his aunt he would be back later before heading outside to get into Alex's car.

       “Hey,” Alex greeted.

       “Hey,” Sean said back as he buckled his seatbelt.

       “Ready?”

       “Yep.”

       Alex started to drive. There was a moment of silence between the two.

       “It's going to be a lot of fun,” Alex said. “I went there a few times before with Vincent and my other friends before they moved.”

       “Cool,” Sean said, excitement starting to show in his voice.

       They turned on the radio and continued to talk a little, mainly about what was at the fair. It wasn't too much longer until they finally came to it. After parking somewhere, they got out of the car before walking into the fair hand in hand.

       As they walked, Sean looked around almost the same way a kid would. His eyes lit up a wee bit as he looked around at all the rides and games that were there. They weaved their way through the crowds and Alex glanced towards Sean every few seconds, unable to refrain from smiling at the other male's excitement.

       “Let's ride some rides,” Alex said. “Which one do you want to ride first?”

       “I don't know,” Sean replied. “Can't decide.”

       Alex laughed a little before saying, “We'll ride some easier ones first so you can get used to them.”

       “Okay.”

       The two walked a little until they came to the bumper cars. They decided to go on that first. Both of them got in a car; Sean drove while Alex sat next to him. They both laughed as they drove around and ran into the other people. When it was over, they got off and started to walk around a little more.

       After walking around for about a minute or two, they reached the Ferris Wheel. Figuring they would ride it, they got in line and about two minutes later they got on. Alex wrapped his arm around Sean's shoulders while Sean wrapped his arm around Alex's lower back. They sat there at the top of the ride as they waited for everyone else to get on.

       “You can see the entire fairground from up here,” Sean stated as he looked around.

       “Yeah,” Alex said as he peered down at everything too. “You can even see the sun setting too.”

       They both softly smiled as they now stared out at the setting sun. Sean rested his head on Alex's shoulder and Alex rested his head on Sean's head.

       “It feels great to be up here,” Sean said a few seconds later as he smiled some, “especially with you.”

       “I like being up here with you too,” Alex said.

       They now lifted their heads so they could look at each other. The two smiled at each other for a moment before kissing each other on the lips. After breaking it, the ride started going. They both smiled as their arms remained around each other. When the ride did end, they climbed out of the car when it reached the ground and started to walk around again.

       “Let's ride that one,” Alex said about a minute later, pointing to their right.

       Sean looked in that direction to see the Round Up ride. The screams from the people riding it filled the air around it as the ride spun around with great speed. It made Sean a little nervous and dizzy just looking at it.

       “I don't know . . .” Sean muttered.

       “Come on, it'll be fun,” Alex said.

       Sean still didn't respond as he stared at the ride in an unsure manner. Alex smirked some.

       “You aren't chicken, are you?” he teased.

       Alex imitated a chicken before laughing some.

       “O-of course not,” Sean replied. “Let's go.”

       The brown-haired boy laughed a little more as he let Sean take his hand and lead him into the queue. When the ride that was currently going ended, they got on. Sean gripped tightly onto the handles that were on either side of him. His heartbeat picked up a little as nervousness started to fill him.

       The ride started shortly after. It went slowly as it rose in the air a little ways before picking up speed. Some people started to scream and Sean almost wanted to join them in doing so. However, as the ride reached its maximum speed, Sean started to enjoy the ride. The dark-haired boy laughed some as the ride continued to spin. His grip loosened around the handles as his body pressed up against the wall of the ride due to the speed at which it was going.

       About a minute later, the ride slowed down and lowered back down to the platform. It slowed to a stop before everyone started to get off of the ride. Sean stumbled a little here and there as the world spun around him. He fell forward towards Alex, who was already at the exit of the ride, and the taller male caught him.

       “Don't fall,” Alex advised as he looked down towards the shorter boy, who unburied his face from his shoulder.

       “That was fun,” laughed Sean.

       “I told you it would be,” Alex said, chuckling some.

       They started to walk around a little more, Sean's fingers interlaced with Alex's.

 

       “Don't you just remember all the wonderful times we had here when we were young, Muriel?” Aunt Kathy asked a woman next to her that was about the same age as her in a nostalgic fashion.

       “Oh yes, it was absolutely splendid,” the woman replied, speaking in the same nostalgic way as Aunt Kathy.

       “I can remember when Henry took me on the Ferris Wheel,” recalled Aunt Kathy. “It was so romantic.”

       “I'm sure it was,” responded Muriel. “Oh dear, my feet are getting awfully tired. Let us sit down for a while and take a break.”

       “That sounds like a good idea,” agreed Aunt Kathy.

       The two women took a seat somewhere nearby. Their conversation continued for a few more minutes. Muriel was soon peering behind Aunt Kathy, who had a questioning look on her face.

       “What is it Muriel?” she asked before turning her head to look behind her.

       “I could've sworn I just saw your nephew – oh what's his name – Sean with another boy,” Muriel replied in a concerned way, a look of slight disgust on her face.

       “Oh yes, he came here with a friend of his,” Aunt Kathy explained.

       “They were kissing,” stated Muriel.

       A surprised look swept onto Aunt Kathy's face. She looked behind her again, but didn't see any signs of the two boys. Her blue eyes went back to look at the slightly wrinkled face of the woman before her.

       “Are you sure?” Aunt Kathy questioned. “It might have been two other boys.”

       “No, I am quite positive one of them was your nephew,” Muriel answered. “I saw him and the other one locking lips before walking away.”

       A little puzzled and surprised by this, Aunt Kathy pushed herself from the table they were sitting at. She walked in the direction Muriel saw them in, peering through the crowds of people for Sean and Alex. When she spotted them, her eyes widened as her jaw slightly dropped. The two of them were hugging before they kissed each other on the lips. Aunt Kathy stared at them in shock for a moment until they disappeared shortly after. Her eyes returning to their normal size and her mouth closing, she turned around to go back to where she left Muriel.

 

       Sean and Alex continued to walk around the fairground hand in hand. They both looked around at all the other rides they hadn't been on. None of them looked to be that interesting to them though. It was then when Sean got an idea as they came across one of the several game stands that was there at the fair.

       “I want to try to win you something,” Sean said.

       Alex chuckled some before saying, “Okay, knock yourself out.”

       They walked over to the game stand. The game that was being played there was ring toss. After paying the money needed for a few of the rings, Sean started to toss them, trying to get them to land on the glass bottles. Unfortunately, he failed every time. Not wanting to give up so easily though, Sean tried about three more times, but was still unable to succeed. He wanted to try a few more times, but he didn't have anymore money with him.

       “Sorry, guess I wasn't able to win you anything after all,” Sean apologized in a slightly disappointed manner as he looked down towards the ground a little.

       “Don't worry about it,” Alex said as he smiled some.

       One of the brown-haired boy's hands reached up to the side of Sean's face. He stroked it a little before his hand moved to his chin to lift it up a little so Sean would look up at him. The two smiled at each other before Alex kissed the younger male on the lips, who kissed back.

       The two boys walked around a little more. After staying there for about an hour longer, Alex and Sean headed back to the car so they could head back to their houses. When the car coasted to a slow stop in front of Sean's house, Sean unbuckled his seatbelt before looking at Sean.

       “Thanks for taking me,” Sean said. “I had a lot of fun tonight.”

       “No problem,” Alex replied.

       They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before leaning forward and kissing each other on the lips. Their eyes fluttered close as Sean reached a hand up to caress Alex's cheek. Alex slid his tongue into Sean's mouth where it met with Sean's. Both of their tongues danced for several seconds before Sean slowly pulled away.

       “Bye,” Sean said as he opened the car door.

       “See ya,” Alex said as Sean got out of the car.

       After closing the car door, Sean crossed the small front yard and climbed the porch steps. He gave one last look to Alex, who was now starting to drive down the street, before entering the house.

       “Hello,” greeted Aunt Kathy. “Did you have fun?”

       “Yeah,” Sean said, a large smile on his face.

       The smile slowly faded though when he looked towards his aunt, who seemed to have a look on her face as though she knew something. It scared Sean a little as he started to get a bad feeling about it. He gave a barely noticeable shake of his head to clear his mind of the thoughts that were trying to rush into it before slowly climbing the stairs.

       Sean let himself fall onto his bed with his limbs sprawled out. The happiness that once filled him was completely gone. Now all that was left was nervousness. The questions that he tried to expel from his mind kept pestering him like gnats. Did Aunt Kathy somehow find out? No, it couldn't be. He was quite sure that if she was there, he would have spotted her before she would be able to notice that him and Alex were in love. Maybe it was something else? But if that was the case, then what was it?

       The sound of someone knocking on the frame of his doorway soon reached his ears. He turned his head to see Aunt Kathy standing there with her side pressed up against the door frame, a rather serious look on her face.

       “I went to the fair earlier,” she began.

       Sean mentally cursed at this. There was no doubt now that she found out. Nervousness completely took over his body as all he could do was stare at his aunt.

       “Muriel and I went together and we saw you and Alex there,” Aunt Kathy continued. “Both of us saw you two – kissing.”

       She paused and just looked at Sean, who was now sitting up on his bed. A sigh escaped his mouth before he looked towards the carpeted floor for a moment or two.

       “Do you hate me?” Sean asked with a shaky voice a few seconds later before slowly looking at his aunt.

       “No, I don't hate you!” she quickly replied as she now crossed the room and sat down at the edge of the bed next to Sean. “I could never hate you. In fact, I love you just like a mother could love her son. So you're gay. Who cares? I will love you no matter what.”

       Sean nodded and cracked a faint smile. Relief slowly started to wash over him now.

       “Although I am a bit disappointed in you,” Aunt Kathy continued. “You know it's not right to hide things from people. Why didn't you ever tell me?”

       “I didn't know how well you would take it,” explained Sean. “I was afraid that if I did tell you, you might not like me anymore for it and kick me out of the house or something.”

       “You should know darn well I would never do something like that to you Sean. I'm not a mean person.”

       “I know.”

       “Just don't hide things from me from now on, all right?”

       “Okay. Thanks.”

       Aunt Kathy gave the youth a warm smile, who smiled back a little. She slowly pushed herself from the bed before leaving the room. Sean sighed a sigh of relief before laying back down on his bed, really glad that his aunt didn't take it badly.

Reviews

[Amund Schofield]

If you have them coming in and seeing all the lights going off, you assume it would be night. However the sun is setting, make it so you know right away that it is late afternoon, approaching dusk.

I would like a bit more humor in this. Have Aunt Kathy say something like "So how do you like your boyfriend?"

It's a bit mean, but also funny.

[Amy]

Once again, Aunt Kathy rocks!! Anyway, great chapter I like the fact that it was pretty long.
Good job!