Three Words to Remember

Is This What It Feels Like? Finding Out That I've Got The Guts To Say Anything

Alex and I walked into the living room together; drinks in hand and nerves on hyper-drive. At least, for me anyway. He doesn't have as much to worried about as I do. I mean, I'm the one who fathered a child, and he's just the supportive boyfriend helping me raise her. So yeah, this is a lot more serious for me. We handed off the drinks and sat down next to each other on the unoccupied love seat.

Peter took a drink of his tea and then spoke; relieving some of the tension that only I most likely felt, "It's nice to see you again Jack, you boys have been gone for so long."

I smiled as well as I could manage, "Yeah, I still can't believe Matt booked us eight months of consecutive touring... It feels kind of weird to be back home actually."

"Oh I bet," he responded, "But it's got to be nice to have some down time."

I nodded in response. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Isobel looking at me with a concerned look on her face. Obviously still worried about me from when I called yesterday in the beginning stages of a panic attack. It looked like she wanted to ask about it, but didn't know how.

We sat in an awkward-for me-silence for a couple of minutes before Alex broke it, "So, um, Jack and I have some news for you guys. It's kind of unexpected so keep an open mind and bare with us."

"Honey, you're not pregnant, are you?" Isobel asked him, tone completely serious I might add.

"What? Mom! No!" he stammered, his face turning the color of a cherry tomato, "That's not even possible! And hey, what makes you think I'm a bottom?"

She giggled and answered, "I'm sorry sweetie, but it's pretty obvious... When you were little and used to play fight with your friends you always ended up on the bottom..."

His face grew even redder but he didn't comment on it again, "No one's pregnant mom, god!"

Now it was my mom's turn to embarrass Alex, "Well I don't see a ring on Alex's finger, so they're not engaged..."

His face was still red from before, "What makes you think I'd be the one to be proposed to?"

"Babe, I'm sorry," I chuckled, "But you're so the girl in this relationship..."

"What? How?" he exclaimed, "I'm just as manly as you are!"

"Let's see," I began, "You're the little spoon, the bottom as your mother pointed out earlier, you said 'I love you' first and, not to mention, have you seen how tight your jeans are?"

This had both of our moms giggling together in the background.

"Your jeans are just as bad." he pointed out.

I shrugged, "Yeah but you have legs that any teenage girl would kill for."

He rolled his eyes, "Ok fine, I'm topping tonight! I'll see how you like it!" he exclaimed.

I chuckled, "Good luck with that..."

Obviously, both of our fathers were a little weirded out by this conversation. But it just happened to be my dad that spoke up first, "Ok," he said uncomfortably, "Let's stop talking about our son's sex lives and get to whatever they had to tell us..."

Dammit dad. I honestly think I'd rather stab my eyeballs out with a toothpick than have this conversation. I wonder if we have any in the kitchen...

It's an unspoken rule that Alex does all of the talking in awkward/uncomfortable situations. If I'm ever expected to, I'm likely to either offend someone, make an ass out myself, say something stupid or all three... Sometimes at the same time.

"Ok so, this goes all the way back to the... Err, situation with a certain terrible person that we don't speak about unless necessary," Alex said, shifting uncomfortably.