My Desert Haven (BOYXBOY)

Chapter 9

I wondered if Grandma Alice would let me move back in with her now that I’d made a complete mess of things. I figured that she’d have to. She owed it to me. After all, this was all her fault. Yep, that’s right. It made perfect sense to pass all blame to her. After all, she wasn’t there to defend herself, and even if she was, I was pretty sure that she’d just give some annoying know-it-all speech and walk away. Besides, it was easy to blame her because the way I saw it, if she had followed my mother’s instructions and told me the whole truth in the first place, then I wouldn’t have moved to Ari-frikin-zona and turned my apparently homosexual father’s life upside-down to the point that his... boyfriend--or whatever Jase was--was about to leave him.

So... maybe it wasn’t all Grandma Alice’s fault. She never would have approved of me snooping around someone’s bedroom, no matter what kind of life-altering stress I happened to be under, not that I really cared what Grandma Alice would or would not approve of at this point.

I turned and looked up the stairs again. Not because of the shouting, this time. It was because of the silence. I guess Luke had made it up there to interrupt Eddie and Jase’s argument. I wondered what was being said. I wondered if the three of them would figure out what really happened before they came back down. It wouldn’t be that difficult to figure out, really. A simple process of elimination. If they figured out that none of them left that photograph out, then that left me.

At some point as I stood there blankly, waiting for something--anything--to happen, I heard the doorbell ring and wondered if anyone from upstairs was going to come answer it. For some reason I felt incredibly put out when I realized I’d have to do it by myself. I went slowly, the back of my neck prickling. I think I half expected to hear another eruption of shouting from behind, and I was worried that when it happened, it would take me off guard. I didn’t need to be off guard right now.

When I opened the front door, it was to find Dave standing there. He was smiling at me. Something I found a little out of place, considering the circumstances.

"Hey, Rory," he said. "Is Luke around? He said I should stop by for dinner, and since my mom’s working late..."

"I don’t know if we’re still having dinner tonight," I replied, opening the door wider so he could come in. Dave regarded me curiously as he stepped inside, obviously having no idea what I was talking about.

"Um... okay. So, where’s Luke?"

"Upstairs."

"Is he busy?"

I shrugged. "Eddie and Jase are fighting."

Dave looked alarmed by this announcement. I wondered if that meant Eddie and Jase didn’t fight often.

"Seriously?" he asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Don’t worry about it. They’re probably just trying to figure out whether or not they’re going to tell me they’re gay," I explained indifferently. And then I walked away.

Needless to say, when I reached the living room and tiredly seated myself of the sofa, Dave was right behind me looking wide-eyed as he plopped into a chair across from me and stared. I stared back. I really didn’t have anything to say. I was pretty much positive that he already knew what the situation was. It would only make sense, being close to Luke. But, while it didn’t surprise me, it did annoy me--the fact that everyone seemed to have known the truth but me.