"You are the finest, loveliest, tenderest, and most beautiful person I have ever know- and even that is an understatement"

~F. Scott Fitzgerald

Alex

I heard the loud knocking on my door, but I couldn't force my body to move. I was tired. The knocking kept on going and I pushed my face against my pillow and groaned. Without even warning my door flew open and my mother started yelling.

"Alex, what are you doing still in bed?!"

"As you can see I'm trying to sleep," I moaned back, not raising my head to face her.

"Trying to... Alex, I want you up and ready to go in ten minutes. And, oh Lord, your room's a mess!"

"Ready to go where?" I muttered exhausted. I felt her hand on my back as she now started waking me up by shaking me.

"Are you serious? It's Sunday morning. We're going to church. Even Chris showed up yesterday to come to church," she yelled back. "Seriously, your room... I'm not your maid, you know. I shouldn't have to clean up your messes!"

"I didn't ask you to clean it up," I murmured, turning my head to the side, but still not opening my eyes. I felt her come closer.

"What shirt is that? I've never seen it before... and you've never worn that cologne," she said, grabbing the shirt I was currently wearing. One of Hunter's shirts. My eyes snapped open and I rolled in my bed until my back hit the wall. As far away from her as possible.

"Can you please let me sleep?" I asked her, not answering the question about the shirt or the cologne.

"No, we're going to church and then we're going to volunteer to the soup kitchen. And you're coming along".

"Mom," I groaned, trying to get to understand that I could not move a muscle.

"Fine. But don't think you're done with it, even though you have missed it a couple of times," she finally gave in and headed out. "Going out on Saturday nights, doing God knows what with God knows who, and ending up exhausted the next morning," she muttered. As soon as I heard my door shut close I sighed.

Fuck. I needed coffee.

***

The three days before our anniversary passed rather quickly. Wednesday afternoon, we were both at Hunter's place, thinking about how we were going to spend the day.

"Since we spent last time at the Art Museum, now we should do something you want..." he said, sitting back and running his fingers through my hair. I was, currently, sitting on the floor, scratching my guitar strings, tuning it, but I was listening to him.

"Something I want?" I questioned, thinking about how I wanted to spend our anniversary.

"Yeah, is there something you've been meaning to do for a while, but haven't been able to?" he asked, his hands traveling from my hair to my chest. My eyes wandered to the little plush animal that rested on his desk. The one I had won at the carnival.

"Well, there's this one thing... but I don't know if you'd want to spend our day like that..." I told him, putting down my guitar and turning around to face him. "You see, every Sunday morning my family and I go to church..." I paused for a moment and his one eyebrow started going up.

"You want to take me to church?" he asked.

"No... um, after the service, we go and volunteer at the soup kitchen. And lately, I've been tired on Sundays and I haven't gone there for almost two months. So, I was thinking we could..." I didn't get to finish that sentence because his lips met mine.

"I love you, Alex," he muttered against my lips and a shiver run down my spine. I swallowed hard, feeling my insides turn into mush. "Let's go," he added and stood up.

Around a quarter later we were walking through the doors of the soup kitchen. As soon as we got in a woman came to greet us, Savannah, the one in charge here.

"Alexander!" she said giving me a hug. "How long has it been since I've seen you here? Your mother has been telling me how you're always so tired because of school," she went on and turned to Hunter. "And you are?"

"Yeah, this is Hunter, a friend of mine," I said, introducing them. He greeted her with a smile, but I could see how calling him my friend had hurt him.

"Well, we kind of need help in the kitchen right now. We're always short-staffed during the weekdays..." she said pointing us towards the room behind the food. I nodded and, with Hunter following me, we headed towards the kitchen.

The kitchen duty consisted of either heating up food, making new food or cleaning the dishes. Due to being short-staffed, today, we also had to bring the food out. With us were two other people, Taylor, one of my brother's old classmates, and Rebekah, a girl I had seen once before here. Taylor was currently cooking with Rebekah, both chatting about Taylor's new boyfriend.

"What about you Alex?" Taylor asked me with a smile, her blonde hair, bouncing as she turned to see me. Hunter gave me a sideways glance from where he was chopping up carrots, while I sunk my hands deeper into the soapy water to grab a spoon. "Are you currently dating anyone?" she went on.

"Eh, yeah... there's someone," I said, avoiding eye contact with all of them.

"And you, Hunter?" Rebekah asked him, giving him a once-over. At that, I frowned.

"Yes, and I'm really happy with my boyfriend," he replied, grinning like an idiot. Both girls seemed surprised but, not in a bad way. I gave him a glare.

"Boyfriend? You're gay?" Savannah asked, who just came in to hear that last part.

"Yes, I am," Hunter answered and smiled at her.

She nodded, not having anything to say about it, and then she told us that after finishing this soup we could leave. Hunter and I offered to stay a little longer to finish up washing, and Savannah seemed way too happy with that. After Taylor and Rebekah left, when we were alone in the kitchen, Hunter came up behind me and he hugged me.

"Today was great," he told me, breathing in my smell. "I've never done anything like this. I mean, we do occasionally donate clothes or toys but I've never worked in a soup kitchen".

"I'm glad you liked it," I replied, letting out a deep breath. "I remember we came here ever since I was ten. My mother doesn't work so she decided to spend her time volunteering for stuff and it became a hobby. I guess, after all the times we tagged along, it became a nice habit for everyone..." I replied turning around to give him a quick kiss. Then, I grabbed his hands and gently untangled them from around me.

"Well, it's nice that you're doing this," he went on and stretched himself. I dried off my hands and we started heading out since we had finished. We waved Savannah goodbye and got in Hunter's car. "What are you thinking?" he asked me as we reached his house.

"It's... my family, they're so hypocritical. Everyone has this image of the 'Richardson's' and yet it's just that, an image. Behind closed doors, though, my parents get homophobic and sexist. They judge people with colored hair and tattoos and piercings. They look down at unmarried couples and-and people who don't want families..." Hunter reached out to stop me.

"Most families aren't the same behind closed doors," he told me.

"Yours is," I snapped back.

"I got lucky," he said with a shrug and a sad smile.

"Why?" my voice cracked. "Why did you get lucky? Why couldn't I get lucky? Lucky enough to have a family that doesn't judge me because I have green hair and I wear ear studs. Lucky enough to have a family that supports my dreams and the future I want. Why couldn't I get lucky enough so that my family accepts me for who I am? For who I love..." I knew I sounded hysterical. I knew Hunter didn't have the answers to my questions. But I couldn't help myself. As soon as I started speaking, something in me broke and I couldn't stop.

I felt Hunter pull me to him and brush his lips over my left temple. He kept hugging me until I was the one who pulled away. Until I was calm enough.

"Do you want to come upstairs? Stay with me for a little longer?" he asked softly. I shook my head.

"I should get home," I said with an empty voice and started to get out of the car. As soon as I opened the door, though, I froze and turned to him. "I love you. I really do," I told him as a tear started running down my cheek. He reached forward and place a kiss on my lips.

"And I, you," he replied as he pulled away. I reached up to wipe away the tear and with that, I left.