The Church Boys ➸ Peterick/Brentrick

6: My Crush With (G)uyliner

Patrick didn't know how to tell his parents he had a date with a boy.

He didn't know how to tell them that he had a date, period. They'd no doubt be freaking out if he had a date with a boy, and if he had a date, they'd want to meet the "lucky girl" and that would be the real adventure. Still, Patrick figured that if he talked to Brendon about it, he'd be able to help.

They'd confirmed Thursday, which wasn't too far away, and Patrick still had time to figure out what to do if they wanted to meet her after. Slowly descending the stairs, he approached his mother in the kitchen to start, sitting on the counter and ruffling his hair.

"Hey...um, I'm not gonna be home too much on Thursday," he told her, watching her turn around and look at him.

"Why not? Band?"

"No, I've...well, I've got a date."

She went from looking fairly concerned to actually smiling. "That's great! Are we going to get to meet her?"

"We'll see how it goes, then maybe," he said, finding himself just talking without thinking and smiling. "You'd like her."

"What's going on now?" Aaron had poked his head in the kitchen, probably hoping on getting chips or something before dinner but observed the scene and decided he wanted to know too. "Is someone dying?"

"No, your brother's got a date."

He actually seemed shocked. "With who?"

"She's pretty cool" was all Patrick said, shrugging it off as remembering he wasn't out to any of his family made things complicated. "You'll get to meet her eventually."

Aaron paused but nodded, while Patrick went up to his room to text Brendon and ask if he knew any lesbians that would be interested in pretending to date him. Specifically lesbians just to make sure they wouldn't out him. Lesbians were surprisingly chill, even more so than the other gay guys he'd encountered, and most of them understood the whole issue of "coming out to your parents"- especially at the school that they went to, where parents expected them to carry on the family lineage with the prettiest children and the best husbands. He knew two lesbians at that school, and though he wasn't out to either of them, they both enjoyed his company at least.

nerdnob: yeah i know a few lesbians. if you need me to find one for you at some point, lemme know xoxo

pdiddy: thnks

pdiddy: what even happened to the vowel

nerdnob: idk bro but i'm never using a vowel in an nglsh ssy gn

pdiddy: wat

nerdnob: english essay again ;)

pdiddy: oh my god i've doomed you

"Patrick! Dinner!" His mom's voice rang from downstairs, telling him that he should actually make his family aware that he was alive.

nerdnob: i was doomed from the start, bitch

pdiddy: rip i'm doomed now. i'll be back later if i don't die.

He didn't respond, just left his phone on his bed and headed downstairs after ruffling his hair. He sat at his usual spot at the table, which clearly shocked everyone present. Mostly just due to the fact that he'd been taking it upstairs for so long, and now Patrick was sitting at the table with them.

"Wow, look, somebody got off the throne of nar-"

"Shut up." Aaron had looked right at Chelsea, who looked up from her phone halfway in shock. More surprising was the fact that their father didn't bother saying any form of stupid dadism that went along the basic lines of "don't fight with your siblings".