The Last Time We Met

4

I awakened with my head on Cedric's chest. A door had slammed downstairs.

"You fell asleep," Cedric murmured, smiling.

Sitting up, I rubbed my face and tried to tamp down the panic rising in my chest. "Yeah." When I looked at Cedric, I saw Brent for a half second, then blinked him away. Purple hair, gray eyes.

"You're cute when you sleep," Cedric continued. His hand was still around my back, fingers playing with the back of my suspenders.

Downstairs, my mother tossed her keys on the table with a jangle, then started up the stairs at a jog.

"Um, my mom's home," I told him, standing up. I didn't know what to do with myself.

Cedric watched me from my bed. "And?"

That little word stopped me. Why was I panicking? My mother wouldn't care if I was gay. She'd probably love a reason to explain why I had never dated anyone.

My shoulders relaxed just as she poked her head into my room. "What do you want for dinner—oh." She saw Cedric on the bed, posed there with his arms behind his head, and her eyebrows shot up. "Hello. James, you didn't tell me you were having a friend over."

"Sorry," I said. "Mom, this is Cedric."

Mom brushed her hair out of her face – she always wore it up in a messy bun, which complimented the yoga pants she wore to work—and put on the smile she used for when she threw the parties she called company spritzers. "Nice to meet you. Do you go to Heritage with James?"

"Nah. I go to Freedom." Freedom High School was on the other side of town. Now I had to wonder where Cedric lived.

"Oh. And how did you two meet? Are you friends with Eli?"

I cleared my throat. "We just met today. At the antiques co-op."

Mom nodded slowly and began backing out of the room. "Of course, you do spend so much time there." I could read between her lines. Of course you met him there. He's just as strange as you are. Stranger, even. But she smiled a bit as she turned away. She was glad I had found someone like me. "What did you want for dinner? I was thinking Thai. Does your friend want to stay?"

Your friend. She had already forgotten his name.

I looked at him.

He shrugged. "Sure, Thai sounds great. Better than whatever Hello Fresh meal my dad has planned."

"Oh, are your parents divorced?" Mom circled back like a shark smelling blood.

"Nah, my mom works evenings at the hospital, so Dad does all the cooking. He's not very good at it. He likes having food sent to him with instructions." Cedric shrugged and pulled out his cell phone. "Guess I should let him know I won't be around."

"And are you an only child?"

"Mom," I complained.

She lifted her chin. "I'm just curious."

"I have an older sister in college and a little brother," Cedric said, with a smirk in my direction.

"That's great, a nice big family. Well, I'll let you boys get back to..." Here Mom paused, glancing at Cedric on the bed. "...whatever you were doing."

I had to press my lips together to keep from laughing, but Cedric laughed first.

"Sorry about the interrogation." I collapsed onto the bed and buried my face in my hands.

"No worries," Cedric said. He sat up only to wrap his arms around me and pull me down. His voice tickled in my ear. "I want you to know everything about me. I want to know everything about you." A kiss, and then, "Are your parents divorced? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Rolling over, I propped my chin on my hands. "Yeah, my parents got divorced when I was little. Dad lives up in Seattle. He works for Google."

"And your mom?"

I told him about the health and wellness company she worked for that mostly involved reviewing strange new types of yoga classes, drinking a variety of green smoothies, and Instagramming workout clothes. "Last week she did an aerobics class where she had to wear a bungee harness."

"Rad," said Cedric.

"She hates anything old," I said, closing my eyes. I wanted to smell him better. He smelled like coriander and lemongrass and gravity. "She hates that I go to the antiques store every weekend. I just... I don't know. I like old stuff. I like knowing that things have a history."

"What do you think she was like?" Cedric asked. "The girl in your picture."

I didn't have to look at the photograph for my answer. "She's pissed. In the picture, not in her whole life. She's mad about having to wear that stupid bow on her head."

Cedric laughed. "Damn straight she is. I bet once that bow comes off she's got a mouth like a sailor."

"She definitely has opinions."

"So tell me, James." Cedric paused, and I cracked my eyes open to peer at him. He was grinning slyly down at me. "You gay or bi or what?"

It wasn't the question I was expecting, although with Cedric I didn't think I had predicted anything from him yet. I glanced at the photograph.

"I..." The word hung there.

"Because I haven't kissed too many guys with photos of girls in their room. Whether they're Victorian or not."

"Yeah." It didn't make sense as an answer. I didn't know any guys with Victorian girls in their room. I didn't know any gay guys. Eli had movie posters from the theater where he worked. Big posters, and those standup cardboard movie ads that he liked to throw darts at.

"Did you, uh... How can I put this." Cedric scratched his face, looking around my room.

I knew what he was asking. "I never thought I was gay before this," I said.

"Huh." He just kept smiling at me. Then he said, "I turned you gay."

A laugh surged out of me, and I got up on my hands and knees until my face hovered over his. "I guess so," I said, and kissed him again.