Chapter ten

Honestly, words were not coming out of my mouth. I mean who would be able to talk when they walk in on their father kissing, especially another man. For two minutes I stood at the entrance of the kitchen trying to figure out what to say without anything being awkward, but instead I ended up choking on my own spit which caused my dad and his… “friend” to look over at me. My dad’s eyes went wide as he saw me and took a large step away from the other man. The other man kept looking from my father to me and once he made the connection that I was his daughter his eyes also went wide. So basically if anyone else walked in there would just think the three of us were having a staring contest. Finally, my dad broke eye contact with me and spoke.

“Aurora, I honestly don’t know what to say. This wasn’t how I was going to tell you about David and I…” He began to say, but I had some many questions were swirling inside my head.

“Who is David? Is he this guy? Why didn’t you tell me this before? Did you think I was going to accept you?” I asked. I could see my dad get nervous, but then he slowly calmed down. I looked down to see the guy, whom I assumed was David, holding my dad’s hand, slowly rubbing circles on the back of his hand. I was a little astonished. He calmed my dad down in less than a minute, and without even saying a word too.

“How about we sit at the table and talk about this?” David asked as he led my father to a seat at the dining table. The two of them sat side-by-side and I sat across from them. David had a small smile across his face as my dad looked at me intently.

“David has been my partner for the past five years. The reason your mom and I divorced is because we didn’t feel the connection, well mainly, I didn’t feel the connection. However, when I met David everything was different. It took me a while to come to terms with what I am, but I did and I am very happy. I wanted to tell you all along, but it’s hard to tell your own daughter that you’re gay and have had a partner for a while. I know it’s a lot to take in and I’m sorry it took me so long to come out to you, but I hope you can accept David and me.” He sighed as he stopped talking. My dad and David looked at me waiting for my response, but honestly I had no idea what to tell them. Never did I expect my dad to be gay. As I was thinking about what to say, I began to observe them. David looked at my dad the way Sammie looked at Josh, as though he did not need anyone else. It was as though no matter how many people were in the room, David would always end up looking at my dad. Then I thought what Theo would say. He would pull some romance crap and quote poetry, but in the end he would tell me love is love, no matter race, gender, or anything.

“David, just take care of my dad. He tends to burn down the kitchen when trying to cook. I know no one can love him as much as I can, but you. No one can be a better match for him than you.” I said as I looked at David. He got from his chair and walked around the table towards me. He extended his arms and I got up from my seat and embraced him. They were in love and I had no right to take that away from, plus gay romance novels are in now. I ended up eating dessert with them and got to know David. How he met my dad at a business convention and the two of them began talking and how they expressed their feelings for one another. I laughed and I listened to them go on and on about the weird quirks each other had. So by the time we had gone through every story it was late into the night.

“One last question. David lives here, right? Than why haven’t I seen him for the past two weeks?” I asked as stood up from the couch and began to gather my things. My dad looked at me nervously while he scratched his head and that’s when I understood.

“Don’t tell me you made him stay somewhere else until you told me?” My dad looked away as David laughed. Rolling my eyes, I made my way upstairs. After switching into short and an old band t-shirt, my hand went straight to my phone and dialed up Theo.

“Hello?” asked a rough voice from the other side. Was that really Theo’s voice? He could not possibly sound that sexy.

“Aurora, are you okay?” He said in the phone with worry in his tone. I felt a little jittery that he would worry if something was wrong with me.

“Oh sorry. Did I wake you up? I can call you-“

“No, no. I was awake.”

“What were you doing up so late?”

“Wow, it’s incredible how much you sound like my mother.”

“Okay, bye Theo.” I said in an annoyed tone.

“No, no! I was kidding. I was just thinking. Why did you call?”

“Well, I just found out my dad is gay and has a partner.”

“Oh, so he finally told you?” I stopped and thought about what Theo had just said.

“Wait, you knew about my dad being gay?” I asked unsure if I had comprehended correctly.

“Yeah. The whole neighborhood knows. Aurora, you’ve been gone for six years, less I remind you. So when you did come back, your dad didn’t want anyone to tell you he was gay because he wanted to tell you himself.” I had a feeling that I was supposed to be mad at my dad, but Theo was right. I would have wanted to hear it from my father and no one else.

“Oh. Well why do you think he waited so long to tell me?” I was curious to know what Theo had to say. I wanted to make sure what I had thought earlier would match up to what he would say now.

“Well I mean you were out of the house most of the time.” And I was wrong.

“I mean Theo we almost always had dinner together and talked frequently. Why couldn’t he have told me one of those times?”

“Aurora, coming out isn’t as easy as you think. There is a right time for everything, and well maybe none of those times was right for him. Being in love is hard, but being in love with something that is controversial is even harder. I mean I don’t get why it’s so hard either, I mean Shakespeare was bisexual and people were still cool with him.” I laughed. I was right about Theo. Guess I knew him better than I thought.

“Hey, before I forget my mom invited you over for lunch tomorrow.” He said. I sat up a bit straighter in my bed.

“Oh. Yeah, I’ll be there. Your mom doesn’t really have to do this.” I say in a rather awkward tone. I felt bad for Mrs. Simmons having to make me lunch.

“She is more than willing to, trust me. Plus she has been non-stop nagging me about getting you to come over.” I sighed and Theo took that as a yes.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Aurora. Good night.” He said in a small whisper. His voice was soothing and I began to rub my eyes.

“Good night, Theo.” I yawned and then my eyes closed.

*

The smell of something burning is what awoke me the next morning. I threw the covers off ran down the stairs, almost dying on the way down. I slide across the wood floor in my socks to the kitchen to find my dad and David waving their hands over a hot pan. I rubbed my eyes to get rid of the sleepiness and to actually make sure what was happening before me was real. Taking the fire extinguisher from the corner, I set the smoke out.

“So we have two bad cooks.” I said looking at the two of them.

“I’m sorry! David and I were trying to make breakfast and then well… things went downhill from there.” My dad said looking over at the now burnt eggs.

“But hey, it got you up, right?” David said as he slightly nudged me with his elbow. I laughed and took the pan and placed it in the sink.

“I think that’s enough near death experiences for today. I think you should go to work before dad sets of the fire alarm.” My dad smiled slyly as he picked up his briefcase and coat as David did the same. When my dad went to pull out the car, David stayed back in the kitchen.

“Hey, Aurora?”

“Yeah?”

“I was wondering if you were free tonight we could go out to town. You know like get to know your dad’s partner thing?” he said scratching the back of his neck, just like my dad did when he was nervous.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be home.” I was eager to get to know David. He smiled wide and gave me a side hug and left. I placed my chin in my hand as I rested against the counter top. I had quite a while until Theo’s lunch, so I went back upstairs and sat Indian style on my bed with my journal open to a new page. I looked at the page for the longest time. There were so many things that I wanted to write. In fear that I might forget something or hold something back, I immediately put pen to paper. I wrote down every little detail of yesterday from the color of Theo’s shirt to the wrinkles that appeared on both my dad and David’s hands when they held hands. I put down the things I feared to tell Sammie and Theo about, how I still don’t trust Josh and how I still don’t understand what love is and I have only a month left. By the time I was done writing my hand was about to fall off and there was only six pages left in my journal. I looked over at my clock to find it was almost noon. In a hurry, I put on some decent clothes and brought my journal and my bag and was off to Theo’s house.

*

It was the same as I remember it. The same tire swing in the front yard and the wrap around porch. I rang the doorbell and patiently waited. I heard a bunch of chattering and then two people running to the door. When it opened I found Ashley standing there.

“Hey, Aurora! Before I get rudely pulled away by my brother, I just wanted to tell you that he is madly-“ She was cut off by Theo pulling her away from the door. His hair was a little bit messy, but he still gave me that boyish smile.

“I’m madly in love with that cherry pie that you’re holding.” He said in a breathless manner. Theo opened up the wider and let me through.

“You can go straight in. Mom’s in the kitchen.” He said and then turned to his sister. The two began bickering in a low tone and the only thing I was able to pick up was that Theo wasn’t just madly in love with the pie I had brought. Walking into the kitchen I found Mrs. Simmons standing by the stove and Mr. Simmons standing on one leg. Wait, one leg? I took another look and saw the pant leg for his left leg loose and well there wasn’t a foot at the end of the pant. I stood there shocked. Theo never told me his dad, a part of the Army, had lost his leg. I turned around to ask Theo and I found his right behind me. He looked me in the eyes and then sighed.

“I’ll tell you about it later.”

Theo’s parents greeted me and we all sat down and had lunch. Mrs. Simmons brought up the times Theo and I used to hang out in the tree house and how I once pushed him so hard on the tire swing he fell off and broke his arm. Mr. Simmons pitched in about our summer lemonade stands and how making five dollars was a miracle for us, but every time Mr. Simmons spoke I felt sad. I know I wasn’t supposed to pity him, but how couldn’t I? Lunch was over in a flash and I offered to help clean up, but Theo had other plans.

“Hey mom, Aurora and I are going out to the tree house.” He said as he grabbed my hand and dragged me to his backyard. We walked in silence to the big tree and climbed the ladder. Once we got up there we just sat and looked at the view. I remembered why I loved this tree house. It gave me a sense of invincibility, like I could do anything and be anything I wanted up here. I don’t know how long we sat in silence, but I felt Theo’s hand slip into mine and I didn’t reject. The both of us needed something to hold onto.

“It happened two years ago. He was going to come home in a few weeks, healthy and alive. It was going to be a surprise for mom. But things didn’t go as planned. He was out in a village when others opened fire.” He stopped and I knew what happened from there. I didn’t say thing because I knew had nothing to say.

“It’s funny though. I thought mom would cry because dad had to get his leg amputated, but she didn’t. The first thing she did after the surgery was kiss him. From that day on she has been by his side and never heard a complaint from one another. I guess that’s the thing with love, no matter if they are disabled or ill you will stick by their side because there is that bond that’s unbreakable.” Theo had been rubbing circles on the back of my hand the entire time and I knew it wasn’t to sooth me. I leaned my head against his shoulder and I knew he was smiling. The best part of being with Theo was that we could be silent for hours and it would be okay or we could be loud for hours and that would be fine as well.

“So do tell me how it went with your dad.” He said looking at me with a new found eagerness.

“It went well. David wants to spend some time with me this evening.” I said shrugging.

“Well I know where he is taking you.” Theo said with a laugh.

“Wait, where?”

“I can’t tell you! You’ll find out and trust me you will definitely like it. Your dad and David took their friends there when they came out to us.”

“Theo! Please tell me!” I say as I began to playfully hit him.

“Never!” He exclaimed and he ran down the tree house ladder. I climbed down the ladder as fast as I could, but my foot caught and I began free falling. Oh god, if I die I hope no one finds that journal. But before I could cry out from pain or pray to the heavenly beings above I landed in some sort of cradle and since I was still breathing it meant I wasn’t dead. I opened one of my eyes find myself in Theo’s arms as he looked down at me with a cheeky smile.

“My bad?” I said.  He laughed and put me down.

“Because I saved your life now I don’t have to tell you where you’re going with David.”

“Fine, but how about we race inside, you know, for old times’ sake?” I say. Theo got in his running stance and I began to count.

“On the count of three. Ready? One, two,” I began to run without finishing.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” Theo said as he ran behind me. As I got to the patio door, I stopped and Theo almost crashed into me. In the kitchen were Mr. and Mrs. Simmons dancing. Mrs. Simmons was laughing as her husband hopped around trying to dip her. It was also then that I realized what Theo was talking about. They were inseparable. 

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Hey guys,

I hoped you liked the chapter with Aurora and Theo's cute banter and Theo's parents as well. Next chapter will be really adorable so yeah. Sorry for the late updates on this book, but since im out satan's womb, whoops my bad I mean school, updates will be more frequent.

love,

Alex :)