IN TIME~Vinnie x Kio

IV

I would be lying if I said anything super special happened that night.  Not really. 

Other than the fact that I had actually (unintentionally) come out to somebody, it wasn't all that crazy. 

I wish I could say it was, so I could have an ending like one of those highly unrealistic coming of age movies. 

In reality, I dropped him off at his house at the end of our long conversation about the movie Call Me By Your Name.

Embarrassingly enough, I told him how I was an emotional mess for three days after I'd watched it.  I didn't know if it was my raging crush on Timothée Chalamet or the fact of the matter.

Ironically he had done the same thing and had actually painted a few scenes from the movie.  He hinted that he wanted to show them to me at some point. 

I never saw Kio as a painter, but I'm glad he put me in that imaginary state.

After dropping off Kio, I came home, exhausted as one would be after revealing who they were to a person they'd met that day.

I saw my mom reading on the couch and my dad cooking dinner in the kitchen.

"You hungry, Vin?"  My dad asked, showing the spaghetti in the pot that looked annoyingly good.  I was more than stuffed from the diner.

"I'm okay, dad.  I went out to eat with some friends." I told him honestly.

My mom closed her book, not before ensuring her place was marked, and hugged me tightly.  She gave me that warm, motherly smile they give when they haven't seen you in a while.  Giving me a gentle kiss on the forehead she said,

"You should still sit with us for dinner,"  I nod and put my backpack down.  

As my dad called Reggie to the table we all got settled in, and before Reggie could sit down, I grabbed him to give him the daily noogie. 

Boy did he hate those.

I did it to him once before a date and he had to go back and do his hair again.  We have a picture of him hung up on the wall of him scowling at the camera with his previously gelled hair all messed up and me and his date just losing it behind him.

Reggie grabbed my wrist and tried twisting it,

"Hey, hey, hey!"  My mom interjected seeing the grimace on my face when I felt a joint pop in my wrist. 

My mom was chill and everything, but when it came to the possibility of me or my brother getting hurt, she shot that down real quick.  Same with my dad, but if he knew we were just play fighting, he would pick a side and cheer one of us on, acting like the ref. 

That was my dad, he turned into a total baby when mom was around.

He could be watching the game he'd been waiting to see all day and when mom would ask him to wash the dishes, he'd do it right away.  I suppose I'd gotten his genes in a way, I'd like to think I was rather giving and helpful.

"Soo, how was the hangout?"  Mom asked looking in my direction.

I cleared my throat as not to seem suspicious that I nearly choked on my water.

"It was good!  Yeah not anything new."  Way to make it obvious. 

Thank God she didn't take anything from that odd sentence, saying a quick, "That's good, how are Maeve's parents?"  I almost laugh, my mom absolutely despises Maeve's parents from the first time they met.  Mom never holds grudges, those two are an exception.

"Assholes, as usual."  I tell her laughing.  She takes that as a good answer and nods laughing. 

"So, tonight I was thinking we could go see a movie?"  Dad offered.  Reggie and mom agreed, truly, I wasn't in the mood,

"I've got a ton of English homework."  I nod, trying to seem somewhat convincing.  My dad nodded and had a good laugh,

"Do you still have that Popeye teacher?"  Dad met Ms. Taker earlier this year at parent teacher conferences, and came home crying laughing that my teacher had kept eating her raw spinach every off chance she had. 

My dad loves pinpointing certain things he could laugh about in people.

Not in a mean way of course, he would never want to hurt anyone's feelings.

"Yep," I laugh.  "Still got Popeye."

The rest of dinner went on until everyone left to the movies.  When the door closed, signifying the last person was out of the house, I inhaled deeply and took in the silence.  Today has been nothing short of chaos.  I didn't know what I was to say to Kio the next day.  Frankly I didn't want to think about that right now, but my thoughts are playing whack a mole.

You shoot one thought down and more come up, like a never ending game. 

I decided to put my thoughts on hold, or try to ease them, by watching a movie.  Funny.  The universe is trying to trick me.

The first DVD I pulled out of the box;

Call Me By Your Name.