Something more; phan

8

I stood outside the door to my house, anxious to go in. What would I say to mum? I didn't want to lie to her but I knew I'd have to. I was composing the perfect lie in my head, about how I'd gone out with a friend and that he'd had too much to drink to drive and that I didn't like getting on trains late at night on my own so I crashed at his place.

I walked in, trying to act as normal as possible, when mum came up to me with a stern look on her face.
"Where were you last night, young man?"
I then went on to tell my story and added 'I'm sorry' a few times. I thought she believed it but then she asked
"Which friend was it?"
My mind sorted through all the names in my head "Joe" I replied
"Which ones Joe?" She asked
"You know Joe, I went to uni with him" this was technically the truth
"Oh okay then" and that was the end of the conversation.

Later that day, mum and dad had gone to Tesco to get the weekly shop. I was sat in my room, texting Dan when my brother came in.
"You weren't with Joe last night, were you?"
"What do you mean? Yes I was"
"Joe moved down to London 6 months ago"
"Yeah well he was visiting family"
"Stop lying Phil, where were you?"
"It... It doesn't matter"
"Yes it does"
"I was with someone called Dan, okay. Can we leave it now?"
"Why didn't you just tell mum that?"
"I said can we leave it" I paused and realised he wasn't going to stop "It's a long story"
"Phil, tell me or I'm going to have to force it out of you"
"It was a date, okay..."
"Oh" he replied, shocked "So you're gay then?"
"I don't know, I don't think so. I've been questioning my sexuality for a while. Please don't tell anyone" I pleaded
"Don't worry, I won't" he smiled "Is Dan nice?"
"Yeah, he's really nice. And he's funny too"
"How did you meet him?"
"When I went to that party a few weeks ago"
"Is he the person you slept with? The one who gave you a hickey?"
I went bright red as I looked down and nodded
"I KNEW there was something you weren't telling me" He laughed and give me a slight nudge "Look, you be with whoever makes you happy. And forget about all them homophobic jerks out there. And you know what, if you ever want to go anywhere with Dan -or any guy for that matter, I'll cover for you with mum and dad"
"Thanks" I smiled "I couldn't ask for a better brother"