Pride of the 90's

29

It's nice, having more than one person who actually cares about you. I don't feel so alone anymore, but I guess I never should have. What else is family for, right? Speaking of family, Sarah kept coming by every so often to come check in on me. She kept bringing my stuff one at a time, but I thought I should get my own stuff. I don't want to go back to that house, but I have to.

Luckily we went on a day Mom and Dad were out, so we have time.

Maybe one day, they'll be willing to sit down and talk and they can accept me for who I am. Until then, I don't even think it's a good idea to be in the same state as them. I'm planning on leaving after graduation, just me and Brandon. We're between Seattle and San Francisco. One is a haven for people like us, the other is the home of grunge.

I don't think we'll be going to Seattle.

Since I'll be seventeen for two months, though, Brandon's parents offered to let me stay in their basement. It's not really a basement, though. It's an underground room, which...is still a basement. Okay, well, it was meant to be used as a theater room or something, since the walls are dry wall and floors are carpeted, instead of it all being cement, but they never had the time to finish it. Sarah offered to move me in with her after she gets the apartment she's looking at, but I can barely stand being around her when she's not here.

Here's to my first big step into my own life.

It's weird being back here. I'm having a hard time walking through the living room without thinking of that night. Walking through the front door was worse. I kept flashing back to when I walked out. It felt freeing, but it also hurt, having to hear my own father tell me he didn't have a son. I don't know what happened after I left. Sarah said they fought with Dad a lot, but I don't know what that led to, if it led to anything at all.

It's in the past now. I'm moving on and I'm never looking back.

"Aw, Danny, look what I found," Sarah said, holding up the white and rainbow blanket I slept with until I was five. "I remember when mom bought this ugly thing. She was so happy to be having a boy. And dad was happy there was another man in the family."
"Yeah, and then they kicked me out after I wasn't what they wanted." I replied, gently stacking comic books into a box. I don't have all day, but I'm not risking them getting bent and ripped. "Besides, I though I threw that away."
"You did, but I dug it out of the trash."
"Why?"
"I thought it would be cute if you ever had kids and gave it to them. Like an heirloom. One that still smells like baby food."

I can barely even be responsible for myself and she wants to be an aunt?

She threw it in the keep box. I didn't really have much I wanted to keep. There wasn't much reason for me to keep it. It either reminded me of them or it just didn't have any real value. I went to throw an old hard drive in the trash box when I saw my Backstreet Boys CD in the box.

"Who put this in here?" I said, digging it out.
"I did," Brandon said, confidently.
"Why? This still works."
"Because it's Backstreet boys. Why do you need a boy band CD? They're all the same flashy jacket singing the same trashy song."
"Oh, and grunge isn't all the same?."
"No, it's not."
"Well, neither is this! I'm keeping it," I said, throwing it in the keep box.

I remember fixing Sarah's stupid radio and I Want It That Way came on, just before it blew up. I was so mad, but it was the first time Brandon was ever in my room. He was so nervous and his defense was up, so he wouldn't even look at me. It took me checking him out for him to finally look up. When he did, I was scared he would find out I had a crush on him. He fought with me most of the night, which was all my fault. It's hard to think that there was a point when he and I didn't even talk, et alone al over each other.