Chapter 47

Dinner with the Enemy

My mother beamed at me as she read my first trimester report card. I sat on the kitchen stool, feeling pretty giddy myself. I passed. I passed everything, including math with solid B’s. It might have been with an 81, but it still was a B.

“I’m proud of you.” She pressed the piece of paper to her chest.

“Thanks.”

“Comrade even mentioned you’re getting the new material quicker than usual.”

“I’m getting there, slowly,” I said with a sigh.

“Well, we are celebrating.” She grabbed her purse and drug around. Taking out her cell, she dialed a number. “We’re going out tonight.”

“Awesome,” I sang, jumping off the stool and going to the stairs.

“Call Titus and invite him.”

I stopped and gripped the handrail. “What?” I turned.

“Call Titus.” She waved her hand at me. “Hello honey.”

I sat down on the step as I heard my father’s deep voice.

“Aden passed all his classes. Even manage a couple A’s.” She nodded. “Yes, I want to take him out to celebrate.” She smiled. “Alright, hurry home so we can leave before seven. Oh, and Titus’s is coming as well. I love you, bye.” She ended it with my father still struggling to come up with an argument.

“Mom,” I breathed. “If dad doesn’t want Titus to come, he doesn’t have to.”

“Do you want him to come?” She folded her arms.

I licked my lips and nodded. “Yes, but not if they’re just going to fight the whole time.”

“I’ll handle your father, Aden. Run upstairs and give Titus a call.”

“‘kay.” I hurried up the stairs to my room. Grabbing my cell phone, I pressed on Titus’s name. He didn’t answer. I waited a few minutes and tried again.

“Hello?”

I froze. “Um… this is Aden. Is Titus there?”

“He’s finishing up his chores,” said the alpha. “You can talk to him later tonight.”

“Wait,” I said quickly, before he hung up.

“Yes?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I-I wanted to know if he could come to dinner.”

“Not tonight,” said the alpha.

“We’re going to out. I passed my classes in school, and we’re celebrating,” I said softly. “My mom wants him to come.”

The alpha sighed. “I’ll have her calling me next, if I say no then?”

“Probably, sir.”

“Fine, what time?” he muttered.

“She wants to leave before seven.”

“I’ll let him know.”

The line went dead. I smiled. My mom really was amazing. She even had the alpha conquered, and she didn’t even know it.

***

I opened the door and smiled. Titus looked nice in black formal jacket and collared shirt.

“Hey.” He hugged me and kissed my cheek. “I’m supposed to thank your mom for getting me off patrol duty tonight,” he whispered in my ear.

I laughed. “I don’t know how she does it.”

A truck was coming down the road. I glanced past Titus and watched it pass. Chris and Katy were inside. I really hated that she lived nearby. I saw them pass by way too often.

Titus glanced between them and me. “Has he done anything since that day?”

I shook my head. “Hasn’t said a word.”

“Good.” He tilted up my chin and gave me a kiss. “I should have beat him up sooner.” He entered and walked to the kitchen.

After shutting the door, I followed him.

“Titus,” my mother hurried around the counter and hugged him. “So glad you could come.” She gave me a grin. “Aden passed all his classes.”

“I heard.”

“We’ll be leave in a moment. I’ll go see if Quint is ready.” She marched toward her bedroom, calling for my father.

Titus put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his chest. “You’re smarter than me now,” he laughed.

“Was your school like mine?” I glanced up at him.

He shook his head. “Darius and I went the full twelve years. Most stop at seventh grade, though. We should have. We just messed around and didn’t learn much. My dad won’t let us drop out,” he stood up tall, “because as future leaders we needed to be well educated.”

I rolled my eyes. “I can tell you two were a pain in the ass.”

He laughed. “Darius was worse.”

“That makes no difference,” I said plainly. My eyes met his and stood on my toes to kiss him. The jerk wouldn’t lean down to meet me. Raising my eyebrow, I sunk back down.

“I’m teasing, Aden. It’s cute when you do that.” With a smirk, he gave me a proper kiss.

My father cleared his throat. I pulled back and turned away.

“Are you ready?” he eyed Titus.

My boyfriend smiled and squeezed me against his side. “Yep.”

“Everyone get in the car,” said my mother as she weaved her way through us. She grabbed the car keys and waved them over her head as she went to the garage.

We filed out. Titus opened the back door for me. I climbed inside and slid to the other side. My father’s was already staring at us through the rearview mirror. Titus didn’t seem bothered at all and reached across to grab my hand. My father’s face reddened, but before he could say anything, my mother came to my rescue. She started talking literature, and I knew I was safe for awhile.

My dad backed out of the garage and pulled out onto the road. Titus rubbed his thumb on my hand. I glanced at him. I scooted a little closer to him.

“Seatbelt, boys,” stated my father through my mother’s monologue.

I thought about scooting back over, but Titus tugged on my hand. I moved to the middle and put the lap belt on. He went from holding my hand to having his arm around my shoulder. My father was bright red, but my mother was enough of an obstacle to keep him from saying anything.

Titus leaned over. “Where are we going?”

“It’s an Italian place. My dad’s cousin owns it.”

“Do they know about us?”

“My extended family?” I nodded. “Yeah, my mom told them soon after I came out. They’re all happy I figure it out.”

“Good.” He kissed the side of my head.

My father cleared his throat.

“Quint, they’re fine,” she flipped down the visor and took out her lipstick, “so leave them be.”

“Hmmm….” He gripped the steering wheel tightly.

The rest of the car ride was okay. Titus didn’t try to go any further than having his arm around me. My mother kept my father driving straight ahead. His eyes never stopped flicking back and forth from the road to us, though.

We arrived and filtered out of the car.

“Mmmmm….” Titus smelt the air. “I love this place already.” He snatched my hand and started for the front door.

My mother kept my father at her side, but they were walking faster than their usual pace. Titus opened the door and ushered me inside. He held it for my parents.

“Thank you, Titus,” said my mother.

My father only grunted.

The hostess smiled at us. I recognized her as one of my distant relatives. My nerves started acting up as Titus’s grabbed my hand. I really did hope that everyone was okay that I was gay.

“Right this way.” She grabbed some menus and led us to a corner circular booth.

I slid in first. Titus followed. My dad took the other end and stared across the table at Titus. My mother and I huddled together in the middle. All I could do was pray we’d make it out of here without them fighting it out in the aisle.

“You’re waiter will be here shortly.” The hostess passed out the menu and left us to look through them.

“What’s good?” asked Titus, looking over my shoulder.

“I like this one,” I pointed to the spaghetti, “but the chicken is good too.”

“Red meat, Aden,” he said softly to me.

I flipped the page to the steak menu. “There.” I handed it to him. I already knew what I wanted.

A young man walked up to the table. He introduced himself and prepared to take out orders. We each took our turn. I went with the chicken, while Titus asked for a rare steak.

“What would you like to drink?”

“Lemonade for me,” said my mother.

I nodded. “I want one to.”

“Coke,” said my father.

“Just water.” Titus piled his menu on top of ours.

“You can get a drink if you want Titus,” my mother offered.

He shook his head. “Don’t like pop much. The carbonation gets to me,” he scrunched up his face. “I’m fine with water.”

My mother smiled and patted her husband’s arm. “We should drink less pop.”

His expression remained blank. “I’d rather enjoy my coke.”

An awkward silence fell over the table. Titus had my hand tightly clasped in his as he peered at my father, who was returning the gesture. Nothing was said until the drink arrived. I quickly grabbed mine and put in a straw. I needed a distraction, because these two were killing the mood. My night to celebrating survive school had turned into a dominance match.

After taking a few sips of her drink, my mother sat up straight and started a very one side conversation with my father. I listened, smiling to myself. She was trying hard to make this a good night for me.

The food arrived and finally the tension was starting to ease. I stirred my noodle around in the sauce and looked at the bloody mess on Titus’s plate.

“How can you eat it that red?”

He took a bit and hummed. “So good. Just like nature intended it.”

I laughed shaking my head. “You’re so weird.”

“Try some.” He cut a piece for me and held out his fork.

“You have to try some of mine too.” I twirled my fork and put a piece of chicken on the end.

We traded. Titus quickly ate his, while I stared at the red chunk. I nibbled on the corner. It wasn’t horrible, but a little more well done would have been preferred. I ate the rest and went to give him back his fork, but he was already using mine to cut up his steak. I guess we had traded without him letting me know.

The mood lightened little by little. Titus and my mom chatted about day to day things. I added a little here and there. My father was mostly silent. Hopefully one day, he would grow to like Titus even slightly, because dealing with this for the rest of my life was going to be draining.

We finished and started packing up. My mom ordered me a chocolate fudge ice cream cone to go which the waiter handed me as my father signed the receipt. We filed out to the waiting area.

“I need to use the restroom before we leave,” said my mother. “Be back in a moment.” She headed for the back of the restaurant with my father right behind her.

Titus wrapped his arm around my waist. “That wasn’t too bad.”

“It went pretty good.” I offered him my ice cream cone. “Want some?”

He shook his head. “Too sweet for me.” He gave me a quick kiss. “Mmmm… You taste good, though.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I’m going going to run to the bathroom too.”

“‘kay.”

Titus left, and I went to lean against the door frame to one of the dining areas.

A group of guys were laughing amongst themselves. I glanced over at them. The middle one looked straight at me and shook his head. I shifted my weight. Taking one of the napkins wrapped around my sugar cone, I wiped my face. The stifled laughing continued. I was starting to feel really out of place. My parents needed to hurry up, so we could leave.

Titus jogged toward me with a smile on his face. “Parents aren’t back yet?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

“What’s wrong?” He leaned down to get a good look at me.

“Nothing, I’m just tired.”

Titus hugged me to his side.

“Guess we know who the woman of the relationships is,” chuckled one of the men.

My body seized at the comment. Everyone around was staring. My face was burning, Clasping my forehead, I hurried toward the door.

“Yeah, it’s me,” stated Titus.

I froze and glanced back at him. Titus was unphased. He stared at the group, who were silent. They seemed just as shocked as me by his straightforward comment.

My mother appeared at my side and led me outside. My dad was right behind us with Titus. We got into the car and started back home.

I laid my head against Titus’s shoulder. My parents were quiet as well, just listening to the news report on the radio. They heard. The look on my mom’s face when she led me out of there, told me so.

“Thank you,” I said softly. “You didn’t have to say that.”

Titus gave me a smile, before kissing my forehead and putting his arm around me.

I licked the rest of my ice cream down to the cone. “Do you want it?”

He shook his head. “You finish it.”

“I don’t want anymore.”

Titus took it and started munching down the cone.

I remained curled into his side for the rest of the ride home. Once the car was parked in the garage, we climbed out and went inside.

“Well I guess you have to go?” I hugged Titus. “I call you tomorrow.”

“‘kay.” He gave me a peck on the lips. “Keep up the good grades, so we can do this again.”

“I’ll try,” I breathed.

We parted, and my mother pulled me to the side.

“Don’t let what that man said get to you, alright?” she said softly. “Bigotry will always be apart of this world. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I know.” I glanced over my shoulder to see my father take Titus into the living room.

I went to follow but my mother grabbed my hand. She pulled me up the stairs. She sat down halfway up, and I positioned myself between her legs. She hugged me back to her as the two talked by the fireplace. I couldn’t hear much, but I think that was a good thing. They weren’t yelling at each other at least.

My mom laid her head against mine with her arms wrapped around my shoulders. “It was really nice of him to stand up for you. It really impressed your father.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yeah, he really is something right.”

Brushing back my hair, she kissed the side of my forehead. “You caught yourself a good one. He has a couple quirks, but I think we will keep him.”

There was a yelp, and Demon run up the stairs. I picked up the dog and set him down in my lap.

My mother reached down at scratched his head. “Poor thing. We woke him up.”

“He sleeps all day,” I laughed. “He’ll be fine.”

“He’s still in a puppy, Aden. Practically a baby.”

I shook my head. The dog could be a hundred, and she’d still think he was a puppy. Titus and my father made their way back to the entryway.

Titus waved at us as he opened the door. “I better be going. Talk to you soon, Aden.”

I nodded. “Bye.”

“Bye.” He slipped outside and shut the door.

I remained sitting there, petting Demon as Titus started his car and his tail light disappeared down the road.

She stood and took Demon from me. “Come on,” she held the dog up. “Let’s go see what’s on TV tonight.”

My father joined her in the living room. I laid my head against the railing, running through the night’s events. Maybe now they would get along. I bit my fingernail, praying that’s what it meant.

“Aden,” called my mother. “Come and watch TV with us for a bit.”

“‘kay.” I stood and went to the living room.

My mom held up the blanket she had draped over her. I sat down next to her and leaned into her side. Demon was curled up on her lap. My father was flipping through his morning newspaper. He seemed more relaxed.

This was a good sign. Better yet, this was a great sign.