"Micah!" My dad says, partially amounted and partially amused. "Are you still asleep?"

    I blinked, lifting my head up from the pillow. I mumble something incoherent and grope around for my glasses. I blink as I pull them on and squint at my alarm clock.

    It's only about eleven in the morning or so.

    "It's Saturday." I reasoned, squint/frowning up at him and taking in the full glory of the afternoon sun.

    "We're invited to a lunch out of town. Besides it's your spring break, you can sleep in all week. I heard some of the bigger publishing companies are gonna be there too." He explained ripping the covers away from me.

    I screeched. "Definition of we?"

    "You and I, both of us. I heard some kids from your school will be there, so it's not like you won't have anything to do."

    "Ehhh...fine." I sighed in utter defeat, even though I would have more readily went if there weren't kids there I already knew.

    "Good, now we have to leave in like ten minutes."

    That got me up at at 'em. I actually prefer last minute scrambles like this because this way I don't have hours and hours to worry about it. I fit half a day of anxiety into  ten minutes and promptly threw myself out the door. Miraculously clothed and somewhat tidy. I was hungry to but I figured if this event was called a lunch, then it would have food.

    "So what exactly's going on?"  I asked on the car ride over.

    "Some fancy luncheon thing. Some important people read my book and want to talk to me about it. I think some of the richer familiar will be there too, do you know the Smiths? They're hosting it."

    My heart skipped a beat. Smith. It was a common last last name. I hoped and dreaded it was Greg's family. Hope, because anytime I got to see my boyfriend was a good time. Dread, because of his awful, crooked, family.

    I must have looked off because my Dad glanced at me several times. "Do you know them? Is their kid some punk at school or something?"

    "I've heard of them." I managed to get out. "I have mixed feelings."

    He frowned. "Well, you don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to."

    I had to stop to take in that information. My dad...was actually not setting off my anxiety for once. What a concept.

    "Do you think your boyfriend will be there?" He asked after a few minutes.

    I blushed. "Dad."

    He grinned. "I know I know, I was embarrassed too when I first had to introduce my parents to my first girlfriend, he's your soulmate, Micah. I can't wait to meet him."

     I bit my lip. "Maybe, okay? That doesn't mean you'll meet him."

    It felt a bit weird. This was a first time I had talked to him about it since he called me, but he just seemed so happy about it. It was hard to believe he was the same man.

    "On the topic of your boyfriend, I kinda feel like we should go over The Talk, you know-"

    "Dad no!" I screeched. "I swear to God I will throw myself out of this car."

    He cackled in that Dad way and went back to focusing most of his energy on driving. I took the opportunity to text Greg and see what was up.

    I frowned as I clicked off my phone. That didn't sound good. I didn't like the thought of him feeling down on himself.

    A few minutes later I was starving when we pulled up to this house with a big giant lawn. There was easy ups and tables. I went to the tables first and grabbed a fancy looking egg sandwich and promptly started inhaling it while I looked around for Greg.

    The Smith house, was a very nice house. It wasn't very big, it was just...nice. It was white, as white as white houses could be. I stood there dumbly admiring it before a girl came up and tapped my shoulder.

    "Are you Micah?" She asked, I recognized her as Lucy from that party a long time ago.

    I nodded, quickly swallowing my sandwich. "Yeah."

    "I'm Lucy, come with me." She grabbed my hand and started tugging me along.

    "Wh-whoa." I stammered, before I out two and two together and guessed this was Greg's sister. "Are you taking me too..."

    I trailed off suddenly I remembered Greg was out as trans. I had no idea what to call him. I but you a million dollars Lucy didn't know him as Gregory.

    "My sister? Yeah. I can't believe she managed to get a boyfriend. Everyone was positive she was a lesbian after she chopped all her hair off, thank goodness though right?" Lucy rolled her eyes as she brought me around the house to a large crowd of people.

    I grimaced at her rough language. I wanted to yank my hand away and get angry, but I knew better. That's when I noticed Greg.

    He was standing next to a tall man who was chatting with some other adults. The man was slightly overweight, and spoke with a bit of accent, I assumed he was Greg's dad. I wasn't really focused on that though, I was more distracted by the fact he was wearing a dress.

    It made me want to throw up.

    "Hey Georgia, I found your boyfriend." Lucy taunted him playfully, tapping him on the shoulder.

    He whipped around and locked eyes with me for a second. I noticed they were red, he had been crying. I wanted to hug him really badly but he didn't make a move so I didn't either.

    "He's not my boyfriend." Greg forced out, he looked like he wanted to burn a hole in her head with his eyes.

    Lucy shrugged. "Sure." Then walked off.

    Greg look miserable and humiliated when he looked up at me again. He couldn't even hold my gaze for that long.

    "I hate this." He mumbled, grabbing the fabric of his clothes in his fists.

    "I hate whoever forced you to do this." I muttered back, feeling royally pissed off.

    I reached for his hand but he maneuvered away. "Not here."

    "But-"

    He looked like he was near tears. "Not here."

    It hurt me to do so, but I refrained myself to standing next to him. All of a sudden the man who I had assumed was Greg's dad realized I was there and turned to address me.

    "Micah is it? I've been waiting forever to meet the boy my daughter been keeping a secret from us, isn't that right Georgia?"

    Gregory nodded, though I could tell he was seething.

    His dad eyed me up and down. "You get good grades Micah?"

    I suddenly felt put on the spotlight, which made me feel anxious. "Uh...yeah I guess."

    "Are you going to college?"

    What kind of questions were these? "Yeah, I've got a good number of colleges that I'm looking at. They're mostly art colleges that specialize in theatre though."

    His dad raised and hmphed, lightly. The he put his hand on Greg's shoulder.

    "You can go run off now, I just wanted to meet him." He sighed, and turned back to the adults he was talking too.

    Greg's eyes widened and he grabbed my hand, running for the house.

    "Geeze!" I gasped. "You're family sure has a habit of yanking me around."

    "I can't believe he's letting me go!" Greg grinned. "I'm going to burn this dress!"

    He opened the door and pulled me inside, then it was up a flight of stairs, down a hallway, and into what I assumed was his room. He slammed the door shut behind me.

    I barely had time to think before he started pulling clothes out of drawers.

    "I'm going to be fairly honest with you, when he told me I was going to wear that horrid thing all day, I almost did it again, it was even worse once I put it on." He sighed as he pulled it off, right in front of me, he was wearing underclothes but I still blushed.

    "Oh." I said dumbly, swallowing.

    "Yeah and apparently the dumb fricken thing showed off my binder too much, so I couldn't even wear it." He spat, opened a closet and pulling a few boxes out until he got to the bottom and revealed what I assumed could only be his binder.

    Oh I get it, he kept it in the closet, ha.

    He disappeared for a few seconds behind a bathroom door, assuredly changing. Then reappeared in a regular t-shirt and jeans.

    "Now I'm me again." He sighed, walking toward me and wrapping his arms around my neck and hung there, a short advantage.

    I calmed down a bit and let myself enjoy the soothing waves of peace as our hearts started glowing again. Then I leaned in for a kiss and Greg sighed into my mouth. Then we broken apart and let his head fall against my chest.

    "I guess you know my birth name now. My deadname." He frowned.

    "Yeah but I don't care about that. You'll always be Gregory to me." I assured. "I honestly couldn't imagine you going by anything else."

    "It's such a relief to hear that again." He admitted.

    "Gregory." I cooed.

    He blushed and giggled. "Okay stop it you little charmer."

    He let go, and then stared at the dress tossed dangerously to the floor. He picked it up, then opened a clothes drawer and rummaged around until he pulled out a lighter.

    "Oh, you're serious." I blinked.

    "I'm dead serious. My parents might think they have two well mannered daughters but I'm sure as hell not either of those. It's their fault for spending money on crap like this." He explained. "They're not making an effort, so neither am I."

    "Alright then." I agreed.

    He raised an eyebrow. "You're not gonna tell me this is a bad idea?"

    "I think it's a great idea, where are we gonna go?"

    He smiled softly. "There's like a forest out behind the house, nobody will find us there."

    "Alright then, let's go on a walk!"