Remembering Her Name

Number Two

All of Seb's cousins crowded round him when Lachie told them about the girl. They congratulated him, patting him on the back, and laughed loudly. Seb didn't like the boisterous way they hustled together, too close for comfort. It was even closer than any couples he had seen. But he was proud to finally be able to tell his many cousins about this mystery girl, and brushed away his discomfort. Instead he zoned out on the conversation about cute girls, and turned his mind towards the actual apartment. There was decorations everywhere... wherever you looked there was at least one sparkly Christmas-related thing the caught your eye. Advent calendars were set up everywhere, all of them with twenty two slots gone, and three to go. From where he was Seb could see the buffet table, already up with a fancy table cloth and a punch bowl brimming with his Aunt Cassie's 'Sunset Surprise'. The so called sunset surprise was deep red, and looked more like blood than sunset. An appropriate drink for a Halloween party maybe, but not so much for Christmas! Right next to the punch bowl sat a crude looking plastic Mickey Mouse in a Santa hat. It had a massive smile on it's face, and one gloved hand was raised in the air. It's counterpart was residing on the other side of the room, lounging with Uncle George, who was busy trying to blu-tack up a banner that read 'A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS' in bold red letters. There was a wreath up on the inside and another on the outside of the door, and relatives bustled everywhere with more cheesy decals. Back at home, Seb's mother would let them all decorate the tree, while his father put a wreath on the front gate. Nothing else. Certainly not plastic Mickeys or 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' banners. They kept their Christmas simple, and that's how Seb liked it.

"Helllllooo? Earth to Sebastian?" One of his cousins shook his shoulder, and Seb snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh sorry, zoned out for a moment there." He smiled, and the cousin, David, rolled his eyes. "I was asking if I should bang this girl or not. We've gone out a couple of times. We've kissed. So should I ask her to Netflix and Chill, or do you think that's going to far?" David repeated. Seb shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I haven't had very many girl experiences." There were groans around the group. "Come on Sebby, you've got like forty million sisters! You must know!" David said. Seb shrugged again. Luckily, Lachie came to the rescue. "Hey, he lives in the country. Of course he doesn't have many girls come over. And he only had three sisters. Take it easy on him." Lachie managed to talk some sense into the boys, and Seb gratefully smiled at him to show that he appreciated it. This time he payed more attention to the conversation so something embarrassing like that would not happen again. It was the only red headed cousin of Seb's there, Oscar. "I met this girl a year ago. Absolute stunner, I have to say. Her golden hair was the most beautiful thing... anyway, her name was Gloria. I asked her out, and she said yes. But it turns out, she was only using me. I mean, you hear all these stories of guys using girls for sex only, but this was the other way around. She made me agree to have sex with her, coaxing me till I said yes. I got her back though, made her preggo! Ha, that shows her, right? "He looked around at the laughing faces of his cousins and beamed. "Last I heard was that the baby was retarted. Some disability. Her actual husband died in a car crash, and she was left. What was the baby's problem? Oh, yeah, it couldn't be in the sun. Like a vampire!" Everyone laughed, and Seb felt ill. How could they be talking about this stuff so lightly? He stood. "I'm going to go set up my bed, I'll see you guys later." Lachie jumped up also. "I'll come too."

Lachie showed Seb to where they were all sleeping, on the ground of the spare room. The smaller kids and the adults would be going back to where they all lived, but the older kids were staying on until Boxing Day. Seb was staying even longer, up until after New Year, and Lachie had offered to stay with him until he went back. Seb had accepted the invitation, and was pretty glad. He didn't like to admit it, but sleeping by himself in a room made him feel uneasy, especially one he didn't usually sleep in. Probably because he shared a room with his younger brothers back at home, so he was never alone in a room at night. Seb dumped his blankets on an unused mattress, as far away from the others as possible. Despite not wanting to sleep alone, his cousins would most probably stay up half the night talking about how they got laid by a prostitute or something gross. He sighed and sat down on the mattress that was his bed. Lachie sat next to him. "Seb, there's something I need to tell you." He sighed, and looked uncomfortable. "Y'know how everyone else talks about girls and having sex with them, and just y'know... stuff about girls? Yeah. I talk about that too. Like how I was telling them I lost my virginity to a hot bohemian girl just before.... well that's all lies. I've never kissed a celebrity, or made love to a French girl in a pool. I made those stories up to... to fit in y'know? And... actually those stories are hiding... hiding that..." Lachie stopped, and sighed. Seb was quiet, not wanting to cause any more discomfort to his cousin. Lachie took a deep breath, and kept going. "Y'know, I have lost my virginity. Just... not to a girl. Last year there was this guy I met at school, a new guy. And... we hit off pretty quickly. I... I lost my virginity to that guy, Seb, and we've been together ever since. I'm gay, Seb." Lachie looked over to Seb, tears sparkling in his eyes. "You promise not to tell?" He brushed the tears away. Seb nodded. "I understand how it feels to want to spend your life with someone that no one expects you to want to spend your life with. I mean, no one thought I'd be attracted to that girl on the train... I'm the nerdy type. So, I'll keep it a secret. It's hard to come out, I know that because a number of my friends have come out to me before. I guess I'm the guy that listens and respects secrets." He patted Lachie on the back. "Your secret is safe with me!"