Olympus Drive Book 3: According to Plan

Chapter 36

Phoenix

I drive home, not really thinking about much of anything. Axel texts me a few times that he's had a fight with his dad and is sitting on the roof being dramatic. I tell him to get down before he breaks his neck. He tells me he's invincible. I say don't fucking test that.

Then I walk inside my house. The lights are on, which is abnormal, my parents should be in bed, or at least getting ready for the night. Instead every light is on. Odd.

Less odd. They are waiting for me. My mother is sitting at the table, looking like she's been crying. My father is standing there when I get in the door.

"What is it? Did someone die?" I'm thinking one of my grandparents? My grandmother is in a care home.

"What is this?" my father asks, holding out a picture. A picture of me and Axel, of course. It's from the photo booth at the mall. We're just laughing. He kept tickling my ribs and making me laugh, whispering stupid words in my ear, like 'cornbread' or 'street car' in a weird voice. Anyway we're laughing. His face is bent into mine, his forehead against my cheek, and I'm almost covering my face like I do whenever I laugh.

But the thing is that that photo, I kept it in my copy of Troilus and Cressida, well in the bottom of my bookshelf, hidden in the back of it. We were reading the play for school back when we took the photo. So I hid it there. Hid it.

"You went through my room?" I ask, choking on the words. He went through my room. My entire room. Flipping through books. Looking for damning gay evidence. I actually have to put my hands over my face. Because my mother sitting there, actually crying, him standing there like I murdered the president, when he actually thought he had to rifle my whole entire room to find gay shit.

I present a history of Gay, from birth to present.

Birth-Age 3: I don't remember I'm sure it was very gay

Age 3: threw a tantrum because I found a pink dress at the store and wanted to wear it

Age 4: asked for violin lessons so that I could be like all the pretty men on television

Age 5: asked for a toy kitchen set

Age 6: played with a toy kitchen set for hours every single day

Age 7: gave valentines to only my boy classmates because I "didn't want the girls to talk to me"

Age 8: watched the Gerard Butler version of Phantom of the Opera on repeat until the DVD got scratched up because 'I love Gerard Butler' I said those words out loud to my father

Age 9-10: cried every single day I was driven to baseball practice because I was afraid of the ball coming flying at me

Age 11: lost ability to sit normally on furniture

Age 11: learned how to do laundry and asked for permission to vacuum my room

Age 11-13: stabbed somebody and went to prison and was gay there but not locally gay so that's a pass

Age 14: asked for subscription to Men's Health. When asked why I wanted it, I said to look at the pictures.

Age 14: said 'hot damn' upon seeing three sweaty shirtless men in the kitchen (they were fixing the roof; my mom gave them water)

Age 15: started bringing home Axel, only hanging out with Axel

Age 15: continued to be unable to use furniture correctly

Age 15: said "no I don't" when asked if I liked any of the girls in my class

Age 15: when told "you can always bring a girl over for dinner if you want" said "I don't want" (Axel was over for dinner at that point in time)