Gloria's Revelation

5

Allen made it a point to be home in time for dinner, early in fact. He wanted to see if Gloria was still in that same good mood. She was. When he walked into his house, for the first time in a long time, there was music playing and he could hear his wife singing along. The music was so loud Gloria didn't hear him come in. His figure standing in the doorway startled her.
"Jesus Christ, Allen!" She shouted. She turned the sound system off with the remote.
"Sorry." He said leaning on the wall. "Something smells good."
"Pot roast." Gloria answered. "How was work?"
"Same ol same ol." He said. "Hey is everything alright?" He asked.
Gloria looked up from the tea she was stirring. "Excuse me?" She asked. She wasn't sure how to answer that. Everything was not alright. It hadn't been for months. What was that supposed to even mean?
"Well you were in a mood earlier. I was just making sure you were okay." Allen said.
"I'm fine." She snapped.
"Dad?" Jackson called out while running downstairs.
"Hey buddy!" Allen squeezed his son who ran to be by his side. "How was school?"
"So lame, but guess what!" Jackson said excitedly.
"What?" Allen humored him.
"Next week we're dissecting baby pigs." Jackson was ecstatic. It had been all he could think about since his teacher announced it to the class.
"Pigs??" Allen asked in horror. "What happened to frogs?"
"Pigs are cooler dad." Jackson took the permission slip from his pocket and handed it over. "You guys have to sign this so I can do it."
Allen looked over the piece of paper. Everything seemed pretty standard. "Do we agree to this?" Allen asked his wife.
Gloria shrugged. "Sure."
Allen signed the paper and gave it back to Jackson.
"Sweeeeet." He grabbed the note and scrambled back up stairs.
"Where's our daughter?" Allen asked.
"Upstairs with Monica." Gloria answered. She sipped her tea and flipped the next page of the magazine.
"I'm going to say hi." Allen said. He still thought Gloria's nonchalant and relaxed demeanor was odd but he'd leave it alone for now. It was nice to enjoy the peace while he was home.
He knocked on Tiffany's door.
"Jackson. Go away." Tiffany yelled from the other side of the door.
Allen chuckled. "Wrong guy, honey."
Tiffany opened the door and smiled. "Sorry Dad."
Monica had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the sight of Mr. Cole.
Allen hugged his daughter and peeked in to wave to Monica. "Hey Mo."
"Hi Mr Cole. How are you?" She asked, indifferent to the answer.
"I'm well, thank you. Are you staying for dinner?" Allen asked.
Monica shook her head. "No."
"What?" Tiffany asked. "You just said you were."
Monica blinked. "Right. Sorry. I guess I am."
Allen chuckled. "Good. I like having you around."
That made Monica feel bad. Despite the way she felt about his marriage, Mr Cole had always been kind to her.
"Dinner is ready!" Gloria called from downstairs. She assumed Allen wouldn't be there so him showing up early was quite the surprise.
Everyone sat at the table ready to eat.
"Why don't we say grace?" Jackson asked. It's something his grandmother, Alice, always made them do when she was there.
"We're not religious." Allen said without missing a beat.
"Grandma Alice is religious." Jackson said.
"Grandma Alice is a freak." Tiffany said cutting into her roast. Monica laughed.
"Tiffany." Gloria said warningly. "She's not a freak." Gloria lied. She also thought Alice was a freak but she was Allen's mother so she tried to keep the peace.
"Are religious people bad?" Jackson inquired.
"Not all of them." Allen answered. "Some are just full of hate and bigotry. Some of them just want your money but there are good religious people."
"Mo, are you religious?" Jackson was full of questions tonight. They learned about different religions at school today and now he was curious.
"I'm not. My parents are." Monica answered.
"Are they catholic?" Jackson asked.
"Baptist."
"Dad," Jackson said.
Allen swallowed the carrot in his mouth. "Yes?" He was starting to grow weary of Jackson's many questions.
"What's a faggot?"
"Where did you hear that, son?" Allen asked.
"These boys at school called me and Trevor faggots."
"A faggot is... a word people use to describe gay people." Allen answered.
"Is it bad to be gay?" Jackson asked.
"No." Tiffany answered. "It's fine."
"Are you and Monica faggots together?"
Tiffany laughed. "Definitely." She kissed Monica on the cheek. Monica grimaced and wiped it off.
"Your father should have said faggot is a bad word to describe gay people. Stop using it." Gloria said.
"Your mom is right. You shouldn't use the word." Allen added. "I think Jackson has had the spotlight long enough. Tiffany, Monica, how was your school day?"
"Fine." Monica answered.
"Boring." Tiffany added.
"Sounds like it." Allen said. "How's Lance? Is he still around?"
"Yes." Tiffany said.
"I never liked him." Allen said before sipping his water.
"We're engaged." Tiffany said smirking.
Allen gagged on his water much to Tiffany and Monica's delight. They both started laughing. Gloria even chuckled a little.
"That's not funny." Allen said wiping his mouth.
"Tiffany, help me with dessert." Gloria said.
"I'll help you Mrs. Cole." Monica stood.
"You sure?" Tiffany asked.
"Yeah. No problem."
"Cool." Tiffany said. She didn't want to help anyway.
Monica followed Gloria into the kitchen out of view of the rest of the family. Monica wrapped her arms around her as she grabbed a few bowls from the cabinet.
"You get harder to resist by the second." Monica whispered into her ear.
Gloria shuddered. "Monica. Stop." She whispered. She loved the feel of her arms around her but this was extremely too risky. Anyone could walk in at any second.
Monica let go of her but not without kissing the nape of her neck first. "Ruin all my fun."
Gloria smiled. "Get the ice cream from the freezer please?"
Monica placed the tub of ice cream on the island and spooned a bite sized serving from the container. She airplaned it to Gloria's mouth. She giggled but allowed Monica to feed her the frozen treat. Monica did it again. This time purposefully getting a little on Gloria's chin so she can lick it off.
Gloria bit her lip and chuckled. "Okay. Thank you. Now take this to the table. Please."
Monica hesitated. She didn't want to but she knew they couldn't stay in the kitchen forever. "Fine."
Gloria sighed when she was alone. Monica was not the only one having trouble containing their desires and it was only getting harder.

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