Why did you-? (Tree Bros)

7

Zoe stands abruptly from her seat. "Can I talk to Evan and Connor? Alone?"

I'm about to stand up when Connor knocks his knee against mine under the table. "Can't it wait until after dinner Zoe?" He asks through gritted teeth.

"No, I just remembered something really important," she answers. Connor stands up so I take that as a sign that I can stand too.

"Fine, but let's make it quick," Connor snaps. He grabs my wrist and drags me behind him. We go to me room and Connor lets go so I can shut my door.

"What the hell are you two playing at?" Zoe asks with anger and aggression lacing her voice.

"What-What do you mean?" I ask, fiddling with the hem of my shirt.

"Connor's obviously paying you to do something, our parents are just too thankful that you guys finally have friends that they don't care to realize it!" She turns to Connor, "You're being extremely forceful with what Evan can do," she turns to me, "and you're too nervous to stand up for yourself!"

"I-I can't stand up fo-"

"Shut up," Connor says, disinterested.

"Okay," I mutter.

"That's what I mean!" Zoe says, a bit louder.

Connor shushes her with wide eyes. "Fine, there is something going on that we can't really talk about." I start chewing on my lip. "It's a surp-"

"Connor and I aren't really friends and w-", Connor cuts me off.

"We're not friends because we're dating!" Connor lies through his teeth.

Zoe stops for a minute. "You're gay?" She directs the question towards Connor.

"Yeah, couldn't you tell?" He answers.

"Well you don't exactly flaunt it. Dad's gonna be pissed."

"That's why we didn't tell anyone," Connor lies again.

"What about you Evan?" She turns to face me. "Does your mom know about this?"

"No-No. No one kn-knows that I'm-...I'm bi," I answer. That's the first time I've actually said that to someone. I've known for a tiny bit after that short-lived crush on Jared but I never actually said anything.

"Your mom would be supportive though right?"

"Of course. Yeah," I force out.

"Then why do you two tell her tonight? You can tell her not to tell our parents but you can get this off your chest, even just a little bit," Zoe says with a supportive smile.

"Uh..."

"Sure, okay," Connor shrugs. "It's okay with you, right babe?"

I stop for a moment at the name. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, of course."

"Do it when you're ready, I don't wanna force you to do anything you're uncomfortable with. Do you guys wanna discuss how?" Zoe asks.

"Yes, but we should talk about it alone," Connor says. Zoe nods before walking out of the room. Connor closes the door an turns to me, anger on his face. "What were you thinking? She would have told our parents!"

"I-I-I panicked, I'm s-sorry. But they-they wouldn't have reacted th-that negatively."

"But now my dad will badly to the new lie! Fuck!" He kicks the wall before leaning his head against it. I flinch.

"When and how do you want to do it?" Connor mumbles into the wall.

"Uh, what?"

"Telling your mom that we're 'dating'. When and how?"

"As soon as p-p-possible. In here. Away from th-the others. A-and just tell her, like-like dipping off a band-aid," I say, still trying to reassure myself.

"Okay. Let's go then." He walks to the door but I grab his arm to prevent him from opening it.

"Why are w-we going alo-along with this?"

"Because if we don't, Zoe's going to know something's up. Now let's go." He turns around and opens the door. We walk to the kitchen together.

"M-mom? Can we talk to you for a-for a minute?" I ask.

"Now you have me worried. What's wrong?" She asks.

"Nothing bad. I-I promise."

My mom stands up and follows me and Connor to my room. I close the door and make her sit on the bed. Connor grabs my hand and squeezes it lightly to keep it from shaking. This action doesn't go unnoticed by my mom though. She glances down at our hands before looking back at our faces.

"M-mom I-we-we're-"

"We're dating,"Connor says. "But my parents don't know yet, and it'd be great if you could not tell them just yet."

I look at my mom's face, waiting for a response. She looks surprised for a while before smiling a tiny bit.

"Congratulations! Is this what Zoe wanted to talk about?" I breathe a small sigh of relief.

"Yeah, we told her that we wanted to do it tonight and to convince us to do it if dinner was coming to a close of we didn't already," Connor answers.

"Y-yeah, I didn't-I didn't want to back down last minute," I smile, a bit of nervousness creeping in.

"I wish I knew you liked guys Evan, I would have stopped teasing you about girls a while ago," Mom laughs.

"N-no, I-I like girls too."

"Is this all you wanted to tell me?"

Connor nods and I go back to smiling. Smile and nod, smile and nod.

"Okay, but just remember, use pro-"

"Mom!"

She laughs, "I'm just kidding Honey." She ruffles my hair before walking back to the table. Connor and I follow her and take our seats.

Looks like I have a boyfriend now.