temptation: part two

"Mom! I'm home," Mitch called out. He heard the faint sound of a motorcycle speeding off as he kicked off his shoes and shrugged off his jacket. He put the jacket into the closet near the entrance before continuing through the house. Right before he walked into the kitchen, which was where he knew his mom was, he remembered to reach up and fix his messy hair.

"There you are, honey," his mother said once Mitch finally came into view. "I was getting a bit worried."

"I'm okay, Mom," he answered dismissively. Mitch went towards the fridge then and opened it up to search for something to drink.

"You're late again. You've been late for a while now." His grip on the door handle tightened.

"I think I new kid was added to our bus route." He finally grabbed a bottle of water, then turned back towards her. "We have to go a couple minutes out of our way now."

"I wish they would've given us a bit of a warning though." Mitch simply shrugged his shoulders before beginning to walk away. "Before you go..." his mom started again. He reluctantly turned around, suddenly nervous at what she was about to say. "Tonight's the night your friend is coming over, right?"

"Yeah. At 6."

"And what's his name again?"

"Scott."

"Just wanted to make sure." All Mitch could do was nod his head and continue towards his room. He shut the door behind himself, threw his backpack on the floor, then laid down on his bed. He reached into his pocket for his phone and was about to go into his messages before he stopped himself. Just a couple hours, he thought. He could wait that long to talk to the blonde again.

And even though Mitch struggled to keep himself busy, six o'clock was suddenly just a handful of minutes away. He only realized it when he received a quick 'headed over' text from Scott. He could feel his heartbeat pick up, and it only got worse as another text came through a bit later.

you might wanna be the one to answer the door

Mitch immediately got up from his bed and headed back through the house. He ignored the looks he got from his parents as he went towards the front door. He didn't bother waiting for the doorbell to ring, and instead opened it as much as he could.

He instantly smiled when he saw the blonde, already halfway to the door from his motorcycle on the side of the road. Scott jogged the last few steps, then wasted no time gathering Mitch in his arms. He squeezed the boy tight and even managed to peck his cheek before pulling back. Mitch closed the front door, then began leading Scott to where his parents were. He was half tempted to reach for Scott's hand to relieve some of his and maybe Scott's nervousness, but his parent's eyes were already on them before he could.

"Mom and Dad," Mitch started. "This is Scott." His mom and dad both gave the blonde a smile, and Scott did the same.

"Pleasure to meet you two."

"Its good to meet you too. We haven't met one of Mitch's friends in a long time."

"Well I'm happy to change that." Scott's smile grew as he said those words and he couldn't help but steal a glance at Mitch. A silence fell over the four of them, and Mitch grabbed the opportunity to get him and Scott away from his parents.

"We'll be in my room," he said, excusing the two of them. He once again was tempted to grab Scott's hand, but luckily Scott followed without much prompting. Once the two made it to his bedroom, Mitch was quick to close the door behind them.

"Well they weren't completely terrible," Scott said a second later. Mitch turned to face him with an eyebrow raised.

"You agreed to have dinner with them, so I'd hold your tongue on that one."

"Hold my tongue, huh?" Mitch rolled his eyes before grabbing onto Scott's shirt and pulling him down lower. Mitch stopped for a brief moment, so Scott ended up being the one to surge forward and connect their lips.

"I missed you," Scott muttered when they pulled away.

"You always do."

"Its hard not to." Mitch couldn't help but smile and lean in to kiss Scott again. The couple kept it up for a few more minutes until they were interrupted far too soon.

"Boys! Dinner!"

Scott immediately pulled away, but Mitch stole one last kiss from him before they headed back towards the main room.

The dinner was long, a fact that neither boy could deny. The sky was already turning dark by the time conversions even began to wrap up. During the meal, a few things slipped out on Scott's end, but Mitch internally thanked his parents for not making any remarks.

His mom was soon getting up from her chair and reached for some of the plates on the table. It wasn't overly surprising to see Scott quickly try to help out.

"Let me help you with those, Mrs. Grassi," he said as he grabbed the other plates.

"Oh, thank you!" A wide smile took over her face as the two headed back towards the kitchen. Once they were in the clear, Mitch turned to look at his dad. However, once he took in the stern expression on his face, he immediately regretted it.

"That's his motorcycle out front, isn't it?" Mitch struggled to find an answer that would please him, but after a few seconds ticked by, all he could utter was a small 'yeah'. His father barely nodded his head. "He seemed rather rude when we talked about his parents."

"All he said was that they weren't close."

"Wonder what happened there."

"I don't think its any of our business." His dad raised an eyebrow at the remark, but didn't say anything about the remark.

"What are his grades like in school?"

"B's and C's. More B's than anything else though." There was a moment of silence before another question was asked.

"How long have you been hanging out with with him?"

"A month."

"Let me rephrase that, why are you hanging out with him?"

"He's a good guy. He works really hard on school and at his job. He's very kind to me and his other friends. He was really nice to you guys too. Wait, what's that supposed to mean anyway?"

"He hates his parents, he gets bad grades, he rides a motorcycle, for God sakes."

"And?"

"And I think he's a bad influence."

"Dad! He's not a bad influence!"

"I just don't want you to be with the wrong people, Mitch."

"I'm 17, Dad. I can make some of my own decisions about who I want to date and--"

Mitch was cut off by a loud gasp.

Both he and his father turned towards the sound of it. Mitch's eyes went wide at the sight of his mom and Scott now just a couple feet away. His mom's eyes were just as wide, and Scott's jaw had just barely dropped. And that's when Mitch realized that he messed up.

"Wait. You're dating him?" Mitch's dad asked, pointing a finger at Scott.

"I..." All eyes went towards Scott. "I should go." His eyes flitted across the room before settling on Mitch for a brief moment. After that moment, Scott turned on his heels and headed towards the front door. Only when they heard the door shut did Mitch's dad turn back to him.

"You're gay? And you're dating this guy who--"

"Yes."

"Mitchell--" He wasn't sure what exactly snapped inside of him, but suddenly, Mitch couldn't stand any more of what he knew was to come.

"No. I'm done with this," he said, suddenly standing up from his seat.

"Sit back down."

"I'm tired of you guys trying to shelter me like I'm still a baby. You have to let me grow up sometime. So what if I'm gay, so what if I'm dating a guy, and so what if he's a bad influence? I'm tired of constantly trying to follow your rules. So for once, I'm going to do something on my own."

And with that, Mitch ran out of the house. The second he was out the front door, his eyes met Scott's. His eyes went wide at the sight of the boy, but his arms were out wide by the time Mitch reached him.

"Mitchy, woah--" Scott was cut off as Mitch wrapped his arms around him. Mitch squeezed him tight as he buried his head into Scott's chest.

"Can we go?"

"What? Where?"

"Anywhere. I need to go."

Scott reached for Mitch's chin, then lifted his head upwards to look in his eyes. Before Scott could even begin to wonder what happened, the front door opened once again.

"Mitchell!" He heard his mother call. He could only imagine how furious they both were, but he couldn't look anywhere else but Scott.

"Please?"

Scott's eyes flickered to Mitch's parents and stayed there for a moment before Scott was tugging on Mitch's waist.

"Come on, babe," he said, bringing Mitch with him towards the motorcycle. And when the two finally left the house, Mitch didn't even spare a glance back at his parents.

-

Come back home, Mitch
I know you are reading these
We need to talk

Mitch sighed heavily before turning off his phone and shoving it back into his pants pocket. He glanced back up at the sky and let his hands run through the grass before letting his brain run wild. His mind and heart were so muddled with thoughts and feelings that he couldn't even begin to decide what to do. However, the guilt was beginning to pool up in his stomach, and he decided he couldn't ignore it anymore. He slowly sat up, but the arm around his waist quickly tightened.

"Hey," Scott muttered before burying his head back into the jacket he had previously laid down. Mitch knew that he must have been still half asleep.

"I need to go home." With those words, Scott instantly woke up. He stared up at Mitch for a few seconds before answering.

"That's not a good idea."

"I know its not, but..." Mitch trailed off as Scott sat up. "I need to."

"Did you forget that I've been in your shoes too?"

"Scott, I can--"

"I don't want you to go back home."

"You don't know every single detail about my family and I."

"You're right. And you don't know every thing about mine either. To me, this just screams deja vu. And I don't want anyone to deal with that. I know things might be different for you guys, but from what I've seen and heard, and what I've gone through..." Scott let his head fall and he quickly shook it once. When he looked back up to Mitch a moment later, he immediately noticed the tears in his eyes.

"Shit," Scott swore. He pushed himself closed to Mitch, then threw an arm around the boy to bring him closer. "I'm sorry."

"Its fine," Mitch said, his words muffled by Scott's shirt. Neither one of them was sure how much time passed between then and when Mitch finally pulled back. Scott was quick to take Mitch's face in his hands and wipe the tears off his cheeks before leaning in and placing his lips on Mitch's forehead.

"Take me home?" Mitch whispered.

And as much as Scott didn't want to, as much as he wanted to stick to his gut, the duo was headed back towards Mitch's home within a few minutes. The second the motorcycle turned off and was parked in front of the house, Scott had his arm around the other's waist. Mitch made an attempt to move away, but Scott only tightened his grip, then pulled Mitch back towards him.

"I'm staying right here, okay? If they try anything, you come right back out."

"You worry too much."

"I have every right to." Mitch gave the blonde a small smile. Scott leaned down to kiss him, but before he could get too close, the front door of the house opened, and Mitch's parents stepped outside.

The second Scott's eyes landed on them, he moved his arm from around his waist and threw it over Mitch's shoulders, an action that normally would've gotten a laugh out of Mitch. However, now that he was face-to-face with his parents, he couldn't do anything.

"Can we talk alone?" His mom spoke up first. Scott's arm seemed to get heavier on Mitch's shoulders. But before he could answer, his dad spoke up.

"Then again, we do have some things to say to you too." Mitch opened his mouth to defend Scott, but he was already speaking up.

"Whatever you may be mad about... just know that none of it was his fault. I started this mess. I'm the one to blame. Just don't be mad at him." His parents shared a look.

"The only thing we're truly mad about is that you didn't tell us what's been going on." Mitch's eyes widened and his jaw nearly dropped.

"What?" He exclaimed. "You were livid just a few hours ago."

"Superficially. A lot of things were said spur of the moment, yes?" It took all of Mitch's power to close his mouth.

"We just want to talk," his mom said. "Come back inside and let's have an adult conversation."

It was Scott and Mitch's turn to share a look. Mitch could still see the worry in Scott's eyes. But instead, Scott squeezed Mitch's shoulder, then let his hand fall off it.

"And Scott?" He looked back to the couple. "You're welcome to be a part of this too."