Elyse

VI

Chapter VI

"Yes" I was curious to hear this.

"I have a partner already. I know I am not supposed to but I do."

I hadn't heard anyone refer to someone they were courting as a partner. The only time I had ever heard anyone mention partner was when we discussed homosexuality in pre-career school.

"Wait-" I began to say before Ethan cut me off.

"Yes Elyse, I am gay. Or well as they would say in school, homosexual. But lets be honest, back in the early 2000s it was gay, lesbian, bisexual, straight, and plenty of others. It wasn't all this." He sighed and looked over to the two chaperoning women. They were busy talking and no longer paying much attention to us.

"Oh." I said quietly. I wasn't sure what to do with this information. But there were so many questions running through my head.

"I know this probably is shocking. I'm sorry we all have to grow up this way. I am gay though, there's no changing that. But I would prefer if you didn't tell anyone. I would rather not be thrown into the trench. Not that it doesn't look appealing." He laughed nervously.

"If you're gay, does that mean there are more people who are gay?" I asked softly.

Ethan grinned widely, "Oh yes, yes there are plenty of us. You must have only went to class today. If you walked into any of the bathrooms, you would see chicks and dudes banging all over the bathroom. Career school is very different than pre-career. But even in pre-career there is still some of that. It is rare, but it does happen."

I had no idea that all this went on in our schools. I really did think the government had completely destroyed it. But it seems I have just been blind to it for years.

We continued to talk until the time hit 7:40pm. The women walked over and told us it was time to go. Ethan had given me his number secretly which the women hadn't seemed to notice. Not that it was that big of a deal, but we weren't supposed to be alone together. Even with Ethan being gay. Granted, they had no idea.

A few minutes later and we were pulling up to a large white house, with a dog out front. This must be Ethan's house. It looked nice and simple. I didn't see his parents though. I waved to him as he got out of the car and he winked at me with his finger to his lips.

I watched him pet his dog, and walk all the way up to the door. It opened as soon as he hit the top stair, but I didn't see his parents.

The woman driving quickly pulled out of the driveway and sped down the road. It was already 8:01pm, and I had told my parents I would be back at 8:00pm. My parents were probably a bit worried and from the looks of it, so were the women.

Soon we pulled up to my house with both of my parents outside waiting for me. They did not seem to be too worried.

I got out of the car and waved to the women. They both waved slowly and pulled out of the driveway. I walked up to the porch as my mom waddled down the stairs of the porch to me.

She had a shimmer in her eye, "Hi honey! How was the meet? Was that Ethan boy nice?" She smiled and waited for my response.

I had no idea what to say because I had learned so much about everything it seemed my parents and the government hid from me and many of my classmates.

"It was really good. Ethan was very nice." I smiled at her and looked behind her to my father who looked at me with a curious grin.

She continued asking me what we talked about as we walked into the house and I tried my best to come up with things on the spot since we did not talk about a lot other than everything I did not know.

Before I knew it we had been talking in the living room while sipping on tea and it was already 10pm. The time had gone so fast I hadn't even realized it until my dad came back into the living room with his pajama pants and robe on. He looked at my mom with tired eyes.

She seemed to still be wide awake so excited about my night. It made me wonder how love struck she must have been when she met my father. Unfortunately for her, obviously Ethan was not going to be my one.

My dad cleared his throat, "why don't we let Elyse get some rest? She has school tomorrow after all."

My mom blushed and smiled. She stood up and rubbed her stomach as she waddled down the hallway.

"Goodnight Elyse, I love you." She said as she walked down the hallway.

My dad nodded to me, "good night kiddo, love you." He followed after my mother and I was left alone in the living room.

I watched Annabelle sleeping in the corner of the living room while I think about my day. I walked into the kitchen and turned off all the lights and walked up the stairs. I heard Annabelle follow after me to my room.

I took a quick shower and crawled into my bed as soon as I could, but it was already midnight. Annabelle was fast asleep on my bed. I closed my eyes and thought about the day again.

I opened my eyes and the time was two in the morning. I wasn't able to fall asleep like I had hoped. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. It was a nice night out, there was brightly shining stars and a full moon.

Before I knew what was happening I was walking towards my bedroom door and walking out into the hallway. The house was silent. There wasn't anything but the slow taps of the grandfather clock from down in the living room. I tiptoed down the stairs and turned on one of the lights in the living room.

I was going to be in for a long day at school today. I grabbed a glass and filled it with some water. I sipped on it slowly and walked towards the front door. I had never stuck out or left in the middle of the night. But tonight, I was thinking about it.

I opened the front door with a little creak at the bottom. I looked behind me to make sure my parents weren't up. Their bedroom was dark down the hallway. I stepped outside and took a deep breath of the fresh night air. It was crisp and chilly out.

I walked down the stairs of the porch and walked out into the middle of our front yard and sat down in the grass. It was so beautiful out.

I sat the glass of water down on the grass and laid my head down in the grass and felt the wet grass beneath me. My eyes began to get heavy. I closed my eyes and drifted off into sleep.

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A/N: Apologies for the late postings and skipping a week! I am a college student and I had a lot of assignments due so I did not have a chance to catch up with this book. Thanks for reading if you stuck around this long! 

- B