Array
(
[text] =>
CHAPTER 8
I ended up spending the night at Aurora’s house. Her parents didn’t mind once they found out that I was gay. I wasn’t sure if my parents knew I was gay. I mean, there were obvious signs, but we had never talked about it. I’m sure they would be cool though. They weren’t like crazy religious or anything like that. Either way, they didn’t make a big deal about me sleeping at Aurora’s house.
Brooke came over too! We mostly watched movies and ate junk food. Bliss! We pulled an all nighter since it was a Friday night and we didn’t have to go to school the next day. I hadn’t had a night like that since I left Cali. It was nice. It definitely kept me from thinking about too much.
The next morning I went home and slept until like five in the afternoon, until Mom woke me up.
“Are you gonna sleep the day away?” She asked.
“If that’s okay,” I laughed.
“No sir, it’s not. We have company coming over.”
“What company? You and dad don’t have friends.” I joked.
“Our neighbors. The Cova…cova…” Mom stuttered with the name, but I knew exactly what she was going to say.
“Covarrubias,” I said.
“Yes! Your dad works with Mr. Covarrubias. You know them?”
“I’m friends with,” I paused, “his son goes to my school.”
“Well this should be nice,” Mom smiled.
If only she knew the half of it. My heart started racing. Gabriel in my house? Why mom?
I sat in my room debating whether or not I was going to jump out of my bedroom window and bail. It was tempting, but what kind of coward would I look like then? I needed to show Gabriel that I couldn’t care less about him. Even though that wasn’t true at all. I cared about him more than he could possibly know. But he needed to believe that he was the last thing on my mind.
I got dressed in a nice shirt and pressed jeans. I brushed my hair a bit and sprayed a little cologne. 7 o’clock rolled around and Gabriel and his dad weren’t at our house yet. Maybe they wouldn’t show up. As soon as I got my hopes up for them to not be there the doorbell rang. Damnit!
Mom went to the door after carefully checking herself in the mirror. She was big on first impressions. She opened the door and standing there was Gabriel and his dad with a dish. I couldn’t tell what it was. Mom invited them in and Dad introduced everyone.
“Bill, this is my wife Carol, my daughter Amanda, and my son Clay.”
Gabriel’s dad hugged Mom and handed her the dish. It was macaroni and cheese, Amanda’s favorite! He came over to give me a handshake. He smelled like alcohol. Crap! I remembered Gabriel telling me about his dad’s drinking problem. I’m sure my parents smelled it, but they were probably the least judgemental people on the planet so I’m sure neither one of them was going to say anything about it.
“Nice to meet you,” he said with a smile, “Tim has told me a lot of cool things about you all. This is my son Gabriel.”
Gabriel gave an awkward wave to everyone but didn’t really look my way. His dad had obviously been drinking but he seemed nice enough. He wasn’t sloppy drunk like Gabriel had described before, so that was a plus! We made our way into our freshly painted dining room. It had had just enough time to dry and Mom was excited to finally be able to use it. The adults made small talk and Amanda chimed in sometimes with her random thoughts. They thought it was cute. I just thought it was annoying. Gabriel sat silently, and so did I. I would catch him glance over at me from time to time, but I could see he was trying his hardest not to look at me. Mom poured the adults a glass of wine. Could she not see that Mr. Covarrubias should obviously not be drinking?
“So I understand that the boys go to school together,” said Dad.
“Really Gabe? You didn’t tell me,” said Mr. Covarrubias.
“Oh. Yeah.” Gabriel sounded unsure.
“Do you play any sports, Clay?” Mr. Covarrubias asked.
“Um, no sir,” I replied.
“That’s a shame. Gabe is your star quarterback at Glencrest! I’m sure you’ve heard about him. But he’s been kind of screwing up lately.”
“Okay Dad, not now,” said Gabriel.
“What? Everyone knows you haven’t been playing your best. And with your grades you’ll be lucky to even play in the playoff game.”
“Actually I got my grades up, so I will be playing in the game. But love the positive attitude asshole,” Gabriel replied sarcastically.
“Watch it you little dick!” His dad yelled. Gabriel didn’t say anything else.
A wave of uncomfortableness swept over the room. Noone spoke for a few moments.
“What’s a dick?” Amanda asked, breaking the awkward silence. Everyone laughed. In a way, I was kind of grateful that she opened her mouth for once.
“That’s a good question, sweetie,” Mom replied, “So yeah, I hope everyone likes apple pie because it should be done cooling off.” Mom always had a way of avoiding awkward questions that Amanda would ask.
Amanda cheered in excitement. Dad rubbed his belly. Gabriel’s dad poured himself another glass of wine. Mom went to get the pie and placed it onto the table. She cut everyone a slice. I would never admit it, but I was probably just as excited about the pie as Amanda was. We all started to eat. Gabriel just kind of picked at his though.
“So could Mrs. Covarrubias not be here? I was really hoping to make a new girlfriend,” said Mom naively. I dropped my head, anticipating the second awkward moment that was soon to follow after we had just gotten pass the first.
“Well..um…my wife passed away about 5 years ago, car accident,” said Mr. Covarrubias softly.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” replied Mom. I kept my head down.
“It’s totally fine. It was bound to come up eventually. She would have enjoyed this though. She was a social butterfly. That’s what I always loved about her. She had so much energy and life.”
“Well it’s always nice to think about the fond memories. I think it makes it easier,” said Dad.
“Ya know what makes it easier? My good old friend, Whiskey! He’s become my best friend since Shannon died,” he laughed. Mom managed to muster up a little awkward chuckle, but everyone else sat with an uncomfortable look on their face.
“Tough crowd! I’m kidding! But you know what I’m talking about right Tim?”
“Um…actually I really don’t, Bill.”
“Aw come on! Don’t tell me you haven’t knocked back a few drinks from time to time.”
“Well yes, but not to deal with pain,” replied Dad.
“Aw whatever!”
“I think we should be heading out,” interrupted Gabriel.
“But we’re having fun,” said his dad.
“No, noone else is having fun.”
“Oh so I’m embarrasing you now?”
“No, Dad, you’re embarrasing yourself.”
“What are you talking about? I’m the life of the party!”
“You’re making everyone uncomfortable! Can’t you go anywhere without getting totally hammered?”
Gabriel was yelling now and started to get up and leave. His dad looked confused. But soon his confusion turned into anger.
“Look, don’t think I won’t kick your fucking ass right here!” Gabriel’s dad was pointing a finger in his face. Amanda cringed at his words.
“Take your sister upstairs,” demanded Mom. I picked up Amanda and did as she said.
“What’s happening?” asked Amanda.
“Nothing. My friend is just getting yelled at by his dad, no big deal.”
Curiousity made me want to go back downstairs and see what was happening but I knew Mom would want me to stay with Amanda. So I listened from upstairs.
“You need to leave, Bill.” Dad said.
“The night is just getting started,” replied Mr. Covarrubias.
“Actually, I think it’s done. Please leave. My kids are here and I don’t want you acting like this around them.”
“So now everyone is turning on me, huh? I’m always the bad guy!”
“It’s not that, Bill. You’re just drunk. You need to go home and rest this off.”
“I’m fine!”
“No you’re not! Just go home, Bill. I mean it.”
“Fine. I don’t need to be around people like you anyway! Fuck you!”
Those were the last words Mr. Covarrubias said before I heard the door slam. I stayed upstairs for a little while to let everything calm down. I put Amanda in her bed and tucked her in, then went downstairs. Gabriel was still there. Mom was talking to him quietly.
“Do you wanna stay here for the night?” She asked.
“No thank you. I’ll just wait til he cools down. He’ll probably be passed out soon.”
Thank God! The last thing I needed was Gabriel sleeping at my house. He just sat there on our couch. I wanted to go over and talk to him, but I didn’t know if that would be a good idea. I hesitated, but I couldn’t stay away. I waited until the room was empty before I went up to him.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine. Thanks”
“Do you wanna talk?”
“No I really don’t. I think I’m gonna head home actually.”
“Gabriel, don’t be like this”
“Like what?”
“Like…not talking to me! We were friends dude!”
“Yep. Well things are different now, Oakley.”
“Well it doesn’t have to be! In case you’ve forgotten, you’re the one that kissed me!”
Gabriel froze. He looked around to see if anyone else was listening. Noone was.
“I’m trying to forget that, okay dude?”
“Well I can’t! It happened for a reason! You can’t just ignore that! You can’t just ignore me!”
“Watch me,” said Gabriel as he got up and walked out of my front door. I stood there in confusion. How could he be such a dick to me now? It hurt like hell. I tried to hold back tears, but they started coming. I wished I could stop caring, but it wasn’t that easy.
“Where did Gabriel go?” Mom asked walking into the room.
I kept my back turned to her as I wiped away tears.
“Um…he went home,” I replied.
“Is he gonna be okay?”
“I really don’t care anymore,” I lied.
I ran upstairs to my room and shut my door. I was glad that Mom didn’t follow me because I didn’t want to have to answer any questions. I just wanted to be alone and drown in my tears.
[text_hash] => 58b9cc4b
)