The Beauty Of Will

7

Taylor's point of veiw
        I was at Terence's house. He went to go pick up Annabelle so that she wouldn't be at home alone when she got out of school. I was sitting at the kitchen table with Andy.
        "You must be excited." I said.
        "I'm mostly nervous actually." She told me. She had her left hand resting gently on her stomach, her right was used to eat the meatball sub she had in front of her.
         "I'm sure you'll make an excellent mother."
        "Well thank you. Do you plan on having kids?"
        "Not unless I adopt."
        "Do you not plan on getting married?" It was a strange question for her to ask.
        "I would love to be married."
        "Then why don't you want kids of your own?" I was getting more confused.
        "You don't know do you?" It suddenly occurred to me that Andy and I were nit as close as I thought.
        "Know what?"
        "This is kind of weird, I thought you knew. Andy I'm gay." Andy's eyes widened.
        "Ah. Well I'm sure you'll find someone you want to marry. And I'm sure who ever it is would love to be the father of a child with you." I smiled at her. She was obviously trying to be polite and open minded. I appreciated that.
        I was however, hurt that Terence didn't tell her. Even Annabelle knew and she was only 10. Andy and Terence had been together for 2 years and had a child on the way, I had known Andy since before they were married and she had no clue I was gay. I felt as though Terence was ashamed of me.
         "Do you like the boy you were telling me about?" She asked.
        "Will? Yeah, he's pretty cool. I'm just glad he accepted me as a freind."
        "Do you think he likes you too."
         "I suppose it's a possibility."
        "Is it one that you hope for?" I thought for a little bit.
        "Yeah." Andy smiled and took a sip of the chocolate milkshake that she had gotten to go with her sandwich.
        Not to long after that, Terence waljed through the door with Annabelle. She ran in excitedly and hugged Andy then me, then she sat down at the table with Andy and I.
        "Hey Terence, can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked just before he sat down.
        "Yeah." He replied. I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the sitting room so we were out of earshot of Andy and Annabelle.
        "What's up?" He asked.
        "I just had a conversation with Andy." I said.
        "So...?"
        "Why didn't you tell her I was gay?"
        "What do you mean?"
        "I've known Andy since you were fresh out of high school. She was just asking me why, if I got married, I wouldn't want to have kids of my own. She thought I was streight. 5 years since I met her, and she finds out today that I like men."
        "Oh. That." He looked nervous.
        "Are you ashamed of me?"
        "Of course not. Just Andy comes from a very religious and traditional family."
        "Traditional?"
        "Yeah you know. Her entire family is made of streight people. I didn't think she would approve."
        "So you just neglected to tell her a highly important peice of information about me?"
        "Why is this so important to you?"
        "Because I thought her and I got along pretty well. I thought she knew I was gay and was ok with it."
        "Look I'm sorry."
        "Why didn't you tell her?"
       "It just never came up."
        "Well it came up today?"
        "Which I don't think was the best idea."
        "Why not?"
        "Because mow she's going to be afraid that our kid will be gay too."
        "Ok. Yeah." I immediately and quickly made my way outside. I understood that Terence could have just made a poor choice of words, but it still upset me. I didn't understand how he could say such things.
        I began to walk around the block at a quick pace, while crying slightly. A little while before that, I thought he was proud of me, I felt as though he would brag to others about me. It turned out that he was so ashamed of me, that he didn't even tell his own wife that I was gay.
        I came to rest at a park. It was basically deserted. There were a few kids around my age sitting under a tree and talking. I walked over and sat on a swing. I slowly walked back and forth. I considered texting Will.
        Then, to my utter relief, he sat down on the swing beside me. I looked at him a little shocked at first. He looked at me with joy and concern all in one. His eye no longer looked incredibly bruised under his glasses.
        "Hey." I said. I could here the shock in my voice.
        "Hi." Will smiled his perfect smile at me. I didn't blush a whole lot as I smiled back.
        "What are you doing here?"
        "I live around here."
        "You do?"
        "Yeah. I saw you walk by my house. So I followed you."
        "I can't decide if that's creepy or great." Will chucked at my comment.
        "Maybe a bit of both." He smirked at me and I tried my best attractive smile.
       "Something like that."
       "Are you ok? You look like you've been crying."
        "Oh I'm fine. Just family stuff. No need to worry."
        "Is that why you came here?"
        "Yeah. I just wanted to cool down."
        "I get that."
        "You must be Taylor." I girls voice sounded from behind me. I turned around and saw what looked like a vibrant, female copy of Will. Will stood up and faced her, I did the same.
        "Taylor, this is Manny, my twin." Will stated. I held my hand out and Manny shook it. She did look a lot like Will. It was small things though, like the shape of her nose or how far apart her eyes were. She had the same glasses as him and I couldn't help but think they did that on purpose.
        I didn't talk to Manny a lot. I mainly watched her and Will interact, grateful that Will forgot about the subject of me crying.
        After a while of hanging out with the Oak twins, I heard thumping feet in the distance, then Terence ran into veiw. Will looked at him and held his hand up in greeting. I grabbed his arm and pushed it down. Will looked at me shocked at first, but then his expression softened into understanding.
        I still had my arm on Will's when Terence walked over to us, and I was kind of unwilling to take it off, but I did. Terence looked at me, relived.
        "I thought you'd be walking around the block or in the front yard. I freaked out when I couldn't find you." He told me.
        "Well I kinda didn't want to be found." I stated, not really caring the the twins were watching Terence and I with intent.
        "Look, what I said, I shouldn't have said it. I'm sorry."
        "But is it true? Did Andy express her concerns?"
        "Yeah."
        "And?"
        "I know her well."
        "That's what I thought."
        "Look, you need to come back. You can't stay out here all night."
        "He can come to my our house." Manny stated. We all turned and looked at her, surprised. Terence seemed to know that she was definitely Will's sister. It was quite obvious.
         "I can't let him go to a strangers house. I'm not that irresponsible." Terence replied.
        "I'm not a stranger. You met me earlier today and if Taylor and I are as alike as I think we are, he would have talked to you about me." Will said. I looked at him, surprised. I found it great and astonishing that he told, most likely, his sister about me.
        We all looked at Terence. He looked worried and defeated.
        "Just come back home with me, please." He begged me.
        "I wouldn't want to be a bad influence on your unborn child and our 5 year old sister." I stated firmly. It dawned on me that I may have been being a little harsh, but Terence really hurt me with what he said.
        "Please."
        "No, I'll just go home. I can take a shower and deal with mom."
        "Taylor. Come on, this is embarrassing."
        "Yeah well, apparently I'm already too embarrassing for you to talk about to your wife, so I should probably just embrace it."
        "Taylor." I got up and began to walk away. I heard 2 sets of footsteps behind me, then Will appeared on my left side with Manny next to him. I didn't hear Terence's footsteps, witch told me that he wasn't following us.
        "Let's loop around and we can go to my house." Will told me.
        "Thank you," I nodded. "I'm sorry you guys had to see that."
        "Don't worry about it. Manny and I have family drama too." I looked up at Will. He gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled sincerely back.
        We walked to the corner of the block and turned down it. The walk definitely helped me calm down. I looked at all the tree's and watched birds fly over head. I saw a few squirrels and some neighborhood cats. I guess Will noticed me watching the world pass by.
        "You like watching things don't you?" He asked.
        "Yeah I guess. I find it relaxing." I replied as I watched a patch of flowers as we walked by it.
        "What do you like watching more, people or animals?"
        "Animals."
        "Why?"
        "Because I like how much they take advantage of. As humans we cut down trees to build houses in order to stay apart from the world around us. Animals like squirrels, take those trees and live in them so they can be a bigger part of the world around them." Will and Manny just kind of looked at me, then the environment, then back to me.
        Will smiled attractively and nodded his approval. I was in utter shock. Not only with the Oak twins responses, but also the fact that I managed to say that much to Will.
        We walked some more and I was no longer the only one who seemed to soak up the world. Sooner than I would have liked, we reached a bright grey house with a large lawn. Will's house.