Uncaged

Chapter 6

"Hey mom!" I whispered to her as she laid in bed.

"Hey hon, how are you doing?" she whispered back. It hurt her to raise her voice, so we all kept it quiet and whispered around her, so nobody was uncomfortable with it.

"I'm good! School is easy, the kids are good. Work is good. We just need to get you up and running and life will be awesome!" I told her with a smile. The rule with mom was 'no bad news'. We didn't want her to worry about anything. Between my jobs and dad's jobs, we were making enough to scrape by as long as there were no unexpected expenses, so of course those were always popping up. We all knew it was a matter of time before one of the younger kids would need to get a job to pitch in, but mom didn't need to worry about that.

"That's good. You have anyone special in your life yet?" Mom always asked that. She didn't want to assume if I was straight, gay or unknown, and that was cool. I know several kids at school who had come out to mixed reactions at home, and here I had a mom who would be happy as long as I was happy too, I had to appreciate that.

"I don't know. I have a girl flirting with me, but I'm trying to learn more about her before I do anything. But I think I really like her a lot," I admitted, though leaving out quite a bit of the reality.

"Oh? Anyone we know?" she asked, coughing a little as she did. That was my cue to wrap it up, I didn't want to wear her out, and the kids should be ready for ice cream soon anyway.

"Nope, nobody that we know, she's new." That was close enough to the truth anyway since I didn't even know if she existed. "I'm going to take the kids for ice cream, we'll be back soon, okay? You get some rest."

"Okay honey, I love you." I leaned down to give her a kiss, and then hurried out before I started bawling. It was getting harder and harder to see her like this, and I hated leaving her.

As soon as I was out of her bedroom, I raced to the bathroom, hunching over the sink as I splashed cold water on my face until I was calmer. Once I was, I went out to the kitchen to wait for my siblings, who all seemed to think that a night at the local soft serve meant a night of flirting. They weren't wrong, a lot of teens were there on a Saturday night, so they would have that chance. Based on my lack of a dating life though, I didn't want them to get their hopes up.

Finally, though, they were ready.

"Shotgun!" Fran called out before we even made it to the garage, causing the boys to groan.

"Sorry guys, you have to be quicker!" I chuckled.

"Hey Lucas, didn't you say Ben and Jane were coming?" Sam asked. He had a major crush on Jane, though I didn't think she'd ever give him a chance since she was already 18. I wouldn't be 18 until around spring break, so I was a bit jealous of her. She had also told me that she was Bi last year, and was interested in a girl, so Sam might be out of luck. She never told me who it was, but I hoped she'd tell me when she was ready.

"Yeah, they're meeting us there," I assured him.

I led them out to the garage and grabbed the car cover, pulling it off the beast. It was the kind of car that you'd expect an old-time mafia kingpin to drive. Glossy black paint and blacked out windows with a chrome grille. It looked like a panther ready to pounce, which is why I'd always called it the beast, and it drove as good as it looked.

"Oh, shit bro! That looks awesome!" Leon said, almost panting. "You better let us use that for prom in a few years!"

"Ha, we'll see where things are in a few years, I'm not making promises." If we were really lucky, I'd help him make his own car, but that would take a lot of time and effort. Oh, and money of course.