Transitioning

Social Media

"Oookay?" Michael replies to Ezra. "Ez, you do know that it is okay to be gay? It's nothing to cry over. And plus, I'm gay, so I understand."

"Yea," I add as I close the door behind me. "There's nothing wrong with being gay."

Ezra pulls away from his father and attempts to control his breathing as he wipes his face. "It's not okay," he says as he looks away.

Michael crosses his arms, "and why is that?"

"I didn't mean it like that dad," Ezra rolls his eyes and heads into the next room. He sits down on the sofa in front of the window. Michael and I follow and sit on the other sofa.

"Then..." Michael says.

"It's the kids at school," Ezra mumbles.

"Fuck them," I tell him.

Michael and Ezra shoot me glares.

"Not literally," I tell them. "Well if you want to, I guess. But on-"

"I got this Mika," Michael stops me. I thankfully see a smile escape from Ezra.

"They already make fun of me because you're gay," Ezra tells his father.

"They're still doing that?" Michael asks angrily.

Ezra nods.

"I'm sorry Ez, but that's life. Not everyone is going to accept it and be okay with it. There are a lot of assholes in this world. You just have to, as Mika said, say 'fuck them.'" Michael tells Ezra.

Ezra smiles, "I'm sorry for ruining your date dad."

"It's okay," Michael and I say at the same time.

"Sorry," I tell Michael.

"We'd rather hang out here anyways," Michael tells Ezra. "But, it is time for bed for you."

Michael gets up and starts to shoo Ezra away. "But it's only nine!" Ezra whines.

"Yea and what?" Michael says as he continues to playfully push Ezra to the stairs.

"Dick," Ezra mumbles quite loudly as he goes up the stairs.

"Excuse me?" Michael asks from the bottom of the stairs.

"I said I love you!" Ezra shouts before slamming a door.

Michael shakes his head and heads back to the living room. I try to hide my laughter, but I can't. He smiles at me and pushes me so that I'm sitting all the way back on the sofa. Both of his hands are on either side of my head.

"And what's so funny?" Michael asks as he leans in really close to me.

My smile fades as his face gets closer to mine. Next thing I know I'm pulling him onto my lap. Our foreheads rest against each others as our lips are centimeters apart.

"Get a room," Ezra says as he walks by the living room.

Michael quickly jumps off of me. I straighten myself out as he heads out of the room after Ezra. "Like I said, you're grounded." Michael says as he and Ezra walk towards the stairs a couple minutes later.

"But I didn't-"

"You called me a dick Ezra. That's unacceptable," Michael tells him.

"I was just joking..." Ezra replies sadly.

I can't help but feel for him. I just wanna tell Michael to lighten up, but then my phone rings.

"Hello," I answer.

"Mikaaa...where are you..." a very drunk ex-boyfriend of mine, Andy, slurs into the phone.

Why didn't I check the caller ID???

"Andy, go to end." I tell him.

"Can't I just come over," he cries into the phone.

I sigh and run my hand through my hair.

"Please just go to bed. If you even remember this you can call me in the morning and we can talk then, but I just can't do this right now. I'm sorry, but bye." I tell him before hanging-up.

"Ex-boyfriend?" Michael questions from beside me causing me to jump.

"Holy shit Michael! What the hell?!" I ask him.

He just laughs at me. "I'm sorry," he smiles as he grabs my hand and pulls it to his lap in his. He intertwined our fingers and stares down at our now laced hands.

"He's trashed," I sigh. "He hasn't even called me once in almost four months. You have nothing to worry about." I reassure him.

"How long are you in town for?" Michael asks sadly.

"At the moment I have no set time to go back to London. And I don't have anything scheduled. I'm basically taking a hiatus the rest of the year. If that means staying here to get to know you better, then that's what that means."

At that, he kisses me. He lunges for my lips. I don't deny him. I return the kiss as I lean back on the sofa. His body is now pressed tightly against mine as our lips move in unison.

My hands are lost in his hair as he grinds against me. A moan escapes my lips as I feel him grab me with his left hand. Just as things start to get interesting Ezra bursts into the room, again.

"Dad!" Ezra cries. "Look," he says as he hands Michael his phone.

I snoop over Michael's shoulder. And there is Ezra's Facebook page. It is covered with hundreds of posts; fag, just kill yourself, people like you are what's wrong with the world, jump off a bridge, cut your wrists, etc.

"Take your page down Ezra. Now," Michael demands.

With tears still rushing down his face Ezra disables his page and then hands his phone back to his father. "I don't want it anymore," he cries.

"Ezra..."

"No dad!"Ezra shouts. "Why do I need it? So people can just text me to kill myself?"

As if on cue, texts start flooding in on Ezra's phone. Then snapchats, and tweets, and tags in hate pictures. Michael didn't let Ezra see them. And I'm glad he didn't.

"I'll get you a new phone and a new number. And for now, no social media. Just go to bed Ez. We'll talk about this in the morning," Michael says as he pulls Ezra in for a hug. He kisses the side of Ezra's head. "I love you," he says before letting Ezra leave to his room.