Peaked in High School

Bonus Chapter + Thanks :)

"You've got the pick of the litter, son," my dad had said to me. "Any female you want, you can get. Make sure you choose wisely, though, otherwise you'll taint the family name."

This was incredibly ironic of my dad to say, unbeknownst to him, considering how my future would turn out. He echoed similar sentiments to me years later, but under different circumstances relating to the aforementioned irony.

"Thank God I have another boy who can make good of the family name," he told me when I begrudgingly visited him while he was dying in his ice cold cell. Of course, this statement was brought on by him discovering that I had been in a relationship with another man at the time.

Another fact about narcissistic parents that I quickly learned was that they could tear you down a lot easier than they could build you up. Even in my case where my father spent years attempting to manipulate me into becoming the perfect son for him despite my obvious and consistent failures.

From my vague recollection of the events that followed his hate-filled declaration, I believe I said something along the lines of, "Eat shit and die, I'll piss on your grave, I hope my boyfriend one day takes our family name because then it will actually mean something to me again, et cetera."

"You didn't," Everett says in utter disbelief. His lips are parted in shock and his eyes are blown wide as he peers up at his husband through his reading glasses. He is sat at Beau's office desk in their condo, gazing up at the man who is attempting to muffle his laughter at Everett's surprise.

Beau's arms are crossed over his broad chest and he shrugs nonchalantly at the contradiction. "I might have."

Putting down the rough draft of the memoir he has been skimming through per Beau's request, he readjusts his glasses and looks back at the man standing over him. "You told him you'd piss on his grave and that you wanted to marry me someday?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Well you checked at least one of those things off your list," Everett huffs out a light, breath of laughter.

Tilting his head to the side while maintaining his devious smirk, Beau says, "We also got married, snook."

Shaking his head at his husband's dumb attempt at a joke, Everett smiles as he asks, "Did you actually piss on his grave?"

Beau sighs in a dramatic manner before pulling at Everett's arms so he stands up out of the comfortable leather, maroon chair at the desk. Smoothly sliding in behind him, Beau takes a seat and tugs at Everett to sit on his lap.

"I went there with the intentions to, but it felt a little fucked up," he reveals, placing his arms firmly around Everett's waist.

"It's a relief to hear that your conscious took control for once," Everett responds. He leans over and grabs for the unfinished memoir once more.

Flicking through the pages, he rests his head against Beau's chest. "Would he really be pissed if he knew I took your last name?"

"Oh, Rett," Beau chuckles. "He'd be livid. I've never known a more intolerant man in my life."

Everett finds the page again that talks about Beau visiting his dad in jail and rereads it. Although the topic of this particular section of the book is heavy, he still gets butterflies thinking about his then-boyfriend telling off his asshole father about their relationship. Declaring that he wanted to eventually marry Everett that early into their relationship nearly causes his cheeks and ears to flush red.

"I'm happy that my name would give him a heart attack," he states matter-of-factly.

Laughing softly at this, Beau says, "If he ever resurrects from the dead, just reintroduce yourself as Everett Coleman and he'll go into cardiac arrest."