Call It What You Want To

Chapter 22: Kyler

Taya and I had calculated all the potentials of how this conversation could go down to almost a literary science, but there was one pretty major thing that neither of us had accounted for, and that was the potential that my mom was homophobic.

My mom's voice played on repeat in my head like a busted record for what seemed like forever, nobody actually saying anything at the table. My heart was racing while dropping to the bottom of my stomach at the same time. I kept trying to find anything to say, but it was like all the words had escaped my brain and mouth. Mom was the one to keep the silence full.

"I mean, this is a fucking joke right? You're kidding?"

My hand started to slip from Taya's, feeling overly sweating from my mom's fiery stare. Her eyes shot daggers at me, shifting every few seconds to Taya. "Someone say something!" she demanded.

"Mom- " Milana started before being quickly silenced by my mom's stare.

"Stay out of this Milana! I wanna hear what your sister has to say," my mom snapped before turning back to me and crossing her arms. When my mouth was still hanging with enough room to attract flies, she spat out, "Well?"

I started stuttering over my words, my mind reeling with a million thoughts a minute. Most of them had to do with the question of What the fuck did I just get myself into? "Mom, I- I'm... I'm gay!" I finally pulled out.

"I gathered that," she gritted out. "I was more wondering when you decided to become a dyke!"

The word crawled under my skin and felt like a million ants biting my skin. My face burned red. If I thought being called a bitch by my mom was a slap in the face, then being called a dyke was more comparable to a punch in the stomach. The chicken I had just eaten started to disagree with me and I thought I'd be throwing up across the dining room table. My eyes shot back and forth around the table. Milana was glancing back and forth too, clearly also not knowing about our mother's secret hatred. My dad sat at the end of the table, just staring at my mother with a tight lipped face that showed almost no expression. Even Declan had picked up on that something was wrong as he quietly fiddled with his hands.

Then I turned to Taya, but I almost wished I hadn't. I couldn't even describe the look of pain on her face. Her eyes that were normally sparkling like the sea had gotten dull as her shoulders slumped and her body seemed to almost recede into itself.

This was not part of the plan.

"Answer me, Kyler."

My attention went back to my mom, her eyes completely locked in on me like a viper. None of the niceties I did for my mom for the past weeks mattered anymore, because I didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that this was about to get bad. I had seen my mom mad at me before, but this wasn't anger, it was malice and disgust.

"Taya, leave," I quietly demanded. This was gonna be ugly, and Taya didn't need to see any of this.

"No."

It was the firmest I'd ever heard Taya speak. There wasn't a twinge or a waver in her voice, and she said "no" with the confidence of a lawyer who was about to shut down a case. I turned to her and saw that she was now as locked in as my mom was, arms crossed and eyes that had gone from dull to daggers. I'd never seen Taya mad before, but I had a feeling there was about to be a first hand account of it.

"No, I think I'd actually like to hear from the bitch who turned my daughter into a lesbian!" my mom yelled, getting that angry laugh in her voice like a super villain

That crossed the line.

"Do not call her that," I snapped, pushing myself up to stand, towering over my mom. Even after she pushed her chair back to stand against me, I had about four inches on her. "Do not call her that," I repeated, my fear being replaced with a confident anger. It's one thing for her to call me a bitch, but I was not about to let her do it to Taya. "Taya, leave!" I pleaded one more time. "Milana, Declan, get out."