Suited

Forty Six

Lucas Alberici's Point of View

My father called on Sunday morning while I was perusing the menu for room service, so I moved from the comfortable restraint of Lawrence becoming the big spoon in the middle of the night to the desk chair. I didn't want to wake him, and clearly my family didn't care if I was disturbed. At least the sun was up. I couldn't say the same about yesterday, so I was the slightest bit grateful for that and that it was my father and not his counterpart.

"Good morning," he chirped. So today was an English day. Fine. I'd slow down. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept." Better than the night before but I missed my bed. This one was too soft.

"Good. How is Lawrence."

I looked over at him and he was "Still asleep. Why do you ask?"

"Did you discuss mass?"

Briefly. He said he would go if I asked him to. I repeated myself. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, your mother wanted to ask last night but I said to let you rest. Will you be there? It would mean a lot to your mother and me."

"You aren't who I have an issue with, but you aren't the only one that will be there, so I'm rather torn." He didn't respond, so I elaborated, "It isn't just Madre. You know how people get. I shouldn't have to refrain from holding my boyfriend's hand or even looking at him too politely. I don't want people to talk about him."

"No one will talk. It's impolite."

"You have so much faith in humanity."

I decided to weigh the pros and cons again while he laughed. If we went, we would have to deal with my mother but there is only so much she could do in a church pew, especially if she's on one side of my father and Lawrence is as far away from her as possible. As for other attendees, Lawrence knew how to be polite and, to my knowledge, he had been to an Easter service before so there shouldn't be any real culture shock. As long as he didn't do too much with his hair, dressed in the suit I picked for him, and looked like he was paying attention, while I was doing the exact same things, all should go well. Service was less than two hours and brunch was always good too.

I sighed. I hated being only a phone call away sometimes. At least with an ocean between us, I had more freedom to avoid saying "Alright. We'll be there."

"Great! Service is at nine but—"

"But arrive fifteen minutes early? I remember." I went every year for the first twenty six years of my life and I'd never been late.

Today was no different save for the fact that Lawrence stepped out of the cab after me in a simple black suit that matched mine with his hair pulled back from his face with a rubber band rather than his normal clips. I allowed him his opal collar in lieu of a tie and hoped to God, if he was even listening, to not make someone say anything about it. So far, in the five minutes we'd been on the sidewalk, standing close but not possible-homosexually so, no one said anything other than "good morning" and "happy Easter." We didn't burst into flames as we passed the threshold, crossed ourselves with holy water, or genuflected by the tabernacle so I gave Jesus and his parents a silent prayer of thanks.

I didn't thank my parents for saving a spot in the pew for us though. I would have preferred to sit in the back but we were right up front. There was nothing that could be done, so I tipped my head politely and kept Lawrence on my left while I stood next to my father. Mother was closest to the aisle and didn't give me more than a passing glance. Lawrence received the same treatment but he actually greeted her. I'm pretty sure ignoring people falls under the category of sin but I didn't say anything to her about it.