Your Guardian Angel (BxB)

Chapter 15: Lucky People, You and Me

When Dad asked me to bring Tommy over so the two of them could meet, every worst possible scenario began playing in my head. He wouldn't like him and we'd be forced to keep our relationship a secret, he'd force us to break up, and several other things like that came to mind. Of course, my dad's not the type of person to do something like that, so it was just my anxiety fucking with me as usual. It's New Year's Eve now, and the meeting is going...

Well, honestly? It's hard to say. When Tommy got here, Dad greeted him like he would any other person, but that's the only real communication they've had so far. I'm struggling to figure out if it's going bad or going good. Still, I'm not sensing any hostility from either side, so I'll take that as a good sign.

"You know, I had a feeling this was gonna be really awkward, but...I think this is worse than what I was expecting." Tommy eventually breaks the very uncomfortable silence between us. I let out a small laugh in response.

"Honestly? I'd say it's going better than what I was expecting." I say, turning to look in the direction of the living room. The two of us are sitting in the kitchen, away from everyone else. The adults are gathered, drinking and watching some New Year's Eve special. Jamie's sitting on the couch with them, playing something on his DS, and Joey left a little bit ago, said he was meeting up with some of his buddies from high school for a few hours. If I had to take a guess, they're probably all getting drunk or stoned. Nothing like a hangover to kick off the new year. Whatever, what he does isn't my business. Although, him being here would probably help to get rid of some of the tension currently filling the house. Ever since Tommy got here, everyone's seemed...on edge.

The source of the tension is, unsurprisingly, Uncle Andrew. I overheard him and Dad talking several nights ago, the same night I came out to Joey, and he's...uncomfortable (and that's putting it lightly) with the thought of his nephew being gay and dating a guy. He hasn't really said anything to me since that night, and he didn't say anything to Tommy since he got here. I haven't even seen him come out of the living room once tonight. Out of all the ways I thought winter break was going to go, discovering that my uncle is homophobic definitely wasn't one of them. Damn...

Thankfully, everyone else doesn't seem to have a problem with it. I don't think Jamie fully understands, but he hasn't said anything about it. Aunt Taylor hasn't really said a lot to us either, but I did overhear her lecturing Uncle Andrew about how he 'shouldn't be so close-minded'. Surprisingly enough, Audrey's been the most accepting one. She's the only one besides Dad who's made any attempt to talk with Tommy, and I can tell it helped him to relax a little. Even before tonight, the two of us talked, and she made it pretty clear through those conversations that she's willing to listen if I need to talk about anything. If there's one person here that I hope would be cool with me being gay, it's my dad's girlfriend. It definitely helped me feel a lot better.

Dad walks into the kitchen, whistling to himself. "You boys doing okay? You know you're welcome to join us if you want."

"Thanks, but we're fine here. Andrew's being weird, I'd rather not go in there and have him try to start some shit." I reply. I have my boundaries, I'm not going to spend the rest of the night sitting in a room with an unsupportive family member and have to listen to an argument break out.

"Yeah, I had a feeling you'd say that. I'm sorry about him, I really am, but I doubt there's going to be any way we can get him to..." Dad trails off, clearly struggling to find anything to say about his brother that wouldn't make himself sound like a dick.

"Not be a jackass about this?" I say, motioning between me and Tommy. I can't think of any other way to say it, so I might as well just be honest. Tommy bites back a smirk and Dad chuckles.

"Yeah, I suppose that's the only way you can really put it." He pulls out one of the chairs and takes a seat across from us. "Well, I guess we should finally get it out of the way and talk about you two."