Finding Myself Abroad

Chapter V

"Hey guys," ma said as she opened the door and let herself in. Mike and I were working at the table, our notebooks contained dialogue ideas. Some were circled, others were crossed out. Those were our rejected ideas.

"Ma!" I exclaimed. "I had a fight!  I won!  I did well! Mike was there!"

"Yeah, it...it was something else. I mean first day of school, I meet this small, quiet, and peaceful kid. Then this afternoon, he transforms into a lean mean karate machine!  There were three guys, and he whipped two of them and the third ran off. Probably two towns over by now."

"You what?" Ma looked at me.

I explained everything. How we teamed up for the project, and were walking home when we were confronted. It ended with an uppercut that was absolutely glorious.

"Oh, by the way, ma, Mike. Mike, ma." I finished.

"Roen and I were just working on our Spanish project."

"Nice. Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"No thank you, I should get going. I'll take an Uber home."

Soon, Mike's phone chimed with the announcement that his Uber was outside. After saying we'd see each other later, he left, and I locked the door behind him. Ma was bent over the stove, stirring something. After a moment, she turned around.

"Roen?" She asked. "What happened to Finn?"

"Weak little Finn has been replaced by the stronger, faster, and better Roen. I forgot to tell you. With all the changes in my life, I'm going by Roen now. It seemed to fit."

"Nice," ma said as she ladled spaghetti into two bowls. I carried the sauce to the table.

"When your father walked out, we didn't have a name planned for you. In the hospital, I had to choose a name. I gave you my last name because I didn't want the stigma of him at all associated with you. I wanted something different than Adam, or Cole, or Derrick. Finn Roen Bauer seemed to fit you better."

"I like both names ma." We dug in and enjoyed our dinner.  We talked about the project Mike and I were working on them we moved onto the fight. To my relief, she never once berated me or made me feel bad.  Instead, she made me feel like a hero for finally standing up for myself. My self confidence was through the roof.  When I went to bed, I was quite happy. Things were much better for me.

A few days later, Mike and I were at his house. We were working on our Spanish conversation.  I could understand why he wanted to work my place. Being an only child, I never knew siblings could be so rambunctious. It was making it a little hard to focus. They were constantly running up and down the stairs. They didn't seem to get into trouble. If I had been doing that all the time where I live, I certainly would have been scolded.

"What do you think?" Mike asked as we finished writing a draft.

"Seems good to me." I said, skimming the written words for errors. It looked fine.

"Now its a matter of getting it typed up, and memorizing it."  Our teacher had asked that she have a typed copy of the conversation so she could grade that as well as our pronunciation.

"Got some time, Roen?  Might as well begin typing now."

Checking the alarm clock on the nightstand, I saw I still had some time before I needed to head out. I answered Mike in the affirmative and he went to the computer in the corner of the room. I sat on the bed next to him. When he turned it on, there was an image on the screen.

It was of two naked guys, kissing and touching each other. They seemed very into what they were doing. I hadn't considered the possibility of guy on guy loving, but realized that if it was possible guys could love guys, maybe girls could love girls. I could feel myself getting hard in my pants as I thought about the two naked guys which was seemingly seared into my mind.