Bad Romance - 26. Chapter 22

One of my character is about to reveal some shocking secrets about themselves - and this is purely for the story and does not convey my personal opinion! If it hurts you in any respect, I apologize but please dont take it personally, it's not meant that way.
Thanks to SarahSezLove(close friend) and Lisa(my editor) for the help and support. Love you so much!!

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Luke pushed his half-filled shopping cart to the next aisle, trying to find the washing detergent. He re-checked the list and found that Noah didn’t write many on the list. He took a glance at his cart and saw that he grabbed more food than was necessary.

He hoped Noah would understand. He was hungry,and all these things put up on display tempted him, and he ended up filling up his cart.

It was Noah’s first day at the institute where he was going to serve as a teacher. He was teaching poor kids, and it was a low paying job. So, Luke offered to go grocery shopping in his place. He was going to get bored anyway being alone at home, so he thought he would do something productive. Noah hesitated at first but Luke had said, “I can do it. Trust me.” So he gave him his credit card and handed over the shopping list. Luke asked him if that was it, and Noah had confirmed, “Yup, that’s all we need for the week.”

By the time he was finished shopping for the items on the list, his shopping cart was full. Not what he had expected when he entered the store.

Getting antsy over how Noah was going to react over it, he still rolled his cart to the payment counter. He smiled at the young guy who looked almost his age as he put the items on the conveyor belt. The guy looked up at him with disinterest and began to scan the numerous items back to back.

Luke looked at him amazed of how fast he was working. “WOW! Your hand works like a machine.” He said wanting to make a small talk. “You must really enjoy this work don’t you?”

The guy stopped his hand and looked up at Luke with a raised brow. His deep grey eyes penetrated his as he spoke, “If you think doing the same work every day, looking at so many ugly faces one after another, hearing that damn annoying beeping voice of this machine every second is enjoyable...” he calmed almost in a jiffy to continue, “then yes I enjoy it.”

He went back to doing what he was in his normal composure and Luke was left amused. “Okayy ... I get it, it’s no fun. Sorry for hurting your feelings.” He was so controlling his laughter. “But then, why do you do it?”

“Well, I am a crazy dude who likes to do things that doesn’t interest him at all.” He rolled his eyes at him, his hands continuing scanning the items. “What do you think? I need money, and this is the only way I could earn some to fund my needs.”

“Do you always talk like that to every customer?” Luke asked curious. “Someone might get really offended you know?”

The guy shrugged. “I don’t give a damn. I am not related to anyone who comes here, so why should I fucking care?”

“But it could get you fired if someone complained to the manager.”

The guy smirked. “That would not really be unusual after having nineteen jobs in last two months.”

That made Luke chuckle. “You gotta be kidding me.” He looked at him in incredulity but the serious face confirmed all.

“Seventy-three fifty-six.” He said tearing the bill from the cash register and Luke was shocked. Noah had told him the bill would be around twenty dollars or so, but this was way more. He dithered as he took out the card and handed it to the grey-eyed guy. ‘I am so dead.’ The guy noticed the edginess and inquired. “Any problem?”

“No – No problem at all.” He forced a smile back on his face. After taking the card back and lifting all his shopping bags, he said, “It was nice talking to you. I am Luke by the way.” The guy nodded and stared.

He saw Luke staring with a questioning look and asked, “What? You are not expecting me to tell you my name, are you?”

Luke chuckled. “I won’t leave this place unless you tell me.” The lady behind him in the line groaned and the guy rolled his grey eyes.

“Maxi... and I really am not looking forward to seeing a gasbag like you again.”

“Things don’t always seem to go as you want, you know Mister Maxi?” Luke just said, and left with a smug look. This boy was interesting in a weird way, and he found it amusing enough to keep him entertained.

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“Let me ...” Candes shyly said and stepped up to Matt as she began to button up his shirt. He moved closer with a small smile playing on his face. This girl was adorable and he was undoubtedly head over heels in love with her. Matt slowly took a chance and snaked his free hands around her slender waist. Candes gasped when he gave her a pull closer to his body and she slapped his arm. “Behave!”

Matt groaned. “How can I behave when you are looking so beautiful?”

It made her blush, and Candes looked down at the button smiling to herself. “You look too good in this shirt. The white outfits are just what you need.”

“Uh-huh. Now I have a fashion adviser as my girlfriend. Great!” He smirked.

“Shut up.” She buttoned the last button of his white button up shirt and looked up into his eyes, smiling widely. “Done... and I think I deserve a kiss for that.” Candes said lovingly and leaned for a kiss.

A coughing startled them, and they broke apart, distancing themselves from one another. “Hey Gust! What’s up?” Candes asked, even though she was red from embarrassment.

“Um ... I –uh ...I just came to let you know that your doctor called me up to schedule your appointment for tomorrow. I made a morning appointment so you can go with Matt before his noon shift at Java.” He said it in one breath.

Candes and Matt were dumbfounded. They kept looking at Gust with funny faces before Matt asked, “Bro ... you ... you want me to go with her?”

Gust nodded slowly. “Yes, I think I just said that.”

“But didn’t you ...”

“Look, I am sorry for yelling at you the other day. I know I over-reacted, but you can’t blame me being possessive over my baby, can you?”

Candes felt good and so did Matt. He smiled at his brother and walked over to him to give him a hug. “Thank you. It means a lot. I promise I won’t let you regret this decision.” Matt assured pulling away. “And hey, it’s your baby and he or she will always be yours.”

“Yeah...” he whispered, and shrugged off the sadness to say, “come on, let’s head out. We have to get to Joe’s place soon.”

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“What the heck is this?” Noah yelled, taking out items from the grocery bags that Luke brought home. “Dozens of chocolate bars, frozen pudding, Lemon squash, orange squash, apple squash ...” He exhaled frustratingly. “We don’t need these things Luke.”

Luke looked timidly at Noah, who was pretty angry, and then he looked down at his shoes like a small kid being told off. “I thought ...” He trailed off not knowing what to say.

“What? Dammit what did you think?” Noah angered. “Come on, Luke, you know this is just waste of money.”

“But Noah, we might need this stuff some other time.” Luke countered.

“These?” He held up the bottles of squash. “You think we need these? All different flavours of squash ... and these chocolates? Are you really going to eat all of these?”

“Um ... yeah, I love chocolate.”

Noah sighed looking at Luke’s innocent face. “How much did you pay for all this shit?” He asked calmly, although there was still a bit of anger present in his tone.

“Seventy-three dollars,” Luke said as low as a whisper. He knew he shouldn’t have bought so much but there was no turning back.

“Seventy three? Se-seventy three dollars?” Noah almost had a heart attack. “F-” He began loudly but kept his anger in check. “Do you have any idea Luke what you have done?”

Luke’s eyes got teary and his voice cracked when he whispered out, “I am sorry, Noah.”

Noah couldn’t hold his anger for long watching Luke like that, and he went over to him. He cupped his face and made him look in the eye. Noah’s kind blue eyes warmed Luke up and he sniffed. “Luke, you should understand that I don’t have a steady job yet, and if you keep making unnecessary purchases like this, it would drain out all my savings too. We have to live with what we have... can you do that for me? Please?”

Luke sniffed again and nodded. “I promise I won’t do it again.”

“Good.” Noah smiled and reached for a chocolate over the counter. “Here. Eat it.” He held it up near Luke’s mouth for him to savour it.

Luke smiled back through his tears, graciously eating the chocolate and cuddled into Noah’s embrace.

“How was your first day at work?” He asked backing away.

“Pretty good.” Noah said. “Actually, things got better when a lady working there as a counsellor asked me to tutor her son. He is home-schooled and that made me think of you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, Luke. You!” Noah grinned excitedly. “Since you didn’t finish your schooling at Oakdale High, I thought we could finish it here by home-schooling you too.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “And I was thinking I finally got rid of studies and homework.”

Noah gave a rich laugh. “Well, you can’t get a rid of it. No way! Especially not when your boyfriend is your teacher.”

Luke perked up. Noah never defined their relationship ever before, and today he did, which made Luke feel like flying. “Noah?” He asked shyly. “Do you mean what you said?”

“You can’t get rid of your studies...” Noah repeated in confusion. “Of course I meant what I said.”

“Not that ...” Luke hesitates to mention. “I mean when you said that you were my ...”

Noah got it and he smiled warmly. “Boyfriend?” He asked and Luke gave a nod. “Yes, Luke we are boyfriends.”

At that moment, Luke was the happiest person in the world.

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“Really nice place you have got here, Mr. Brannan.” Ben – Gust’s dad – said looking around the place as they descended the stairs. Dafna was beside him impressively smiling as well, while Mr. Cedric Brannan followed right behind them after giving them a tour of his home.

“Thank you. And please call me Cedric.” Joe’s dad suggested with a smile.

Ben nodded and they came back down in the living room. Marie came out of the kitchen with an apron tied around her waist and smiled at them. “I hope you liked our little place here.”

“It’s beautiful, Mrs. Brannan. It seems you have decorated every corner with much care and attention.” Dafna gushed. She really meant what she said.

“Every woman likes to make her home worth living.” Marie admitted. “I guess you would agree to that Mrs. Rivera.”

“Absolutely.”

At that moment, the kids came in, laughing and chatting. “Mrs. Brannan, you have a beautiful lawn out there.” Candes complimented. “Joe told us you love gardening.”

“Something I get to do in my free time.” Marie nodded. “And Joe helps me most of the time. Even Gust did once when he was here.”

“Yeah,” Joe laughed remembering it. “He was watering the plants and ended up watering himself.”

The group laughed and the blonde boy blushed in embarrassment. “Hey you were the one who drenched me.”

“Don’t blame me baby. You loved putting on a wet show in front of me.” Gust quickly hushed him and Matt let out a laugh.

“Joe!” Marie sternly called out and he cleared his throat before apologizing. “The dinner is ready. Shall we eat?” She asked directing the question to Gust’s parents who nodded in reply.

“Do you need any help, Mrs. Brannan?”

“I could do with some, thank you!”

The two ladies disappeared into the kitchen while Cedric and Joe led the others to the dining room. Soon, they were all settled around the table and food was served. As they relished in the delicious dinner, they would occasionally make small talk - Cedric and Ben talking business, Marie and Dafna discussing random things while the kids went on about school and other activities.

“Gust told us you have a little one too; where is she?”

“She is upstairs. She was tired so I put her to bed early today.”

“Alright. Mrs. Brannan, I ...”

“It’s Marie, please. Mrs. Brannan sounds too formal and we are way past that.” Marie said.

Dafna laughed. “Okay, but only if you call me Dafna” she suggested.

Marie was surprised. “Dafna?”

“What?”

“Your name is quiet ... different.”

Dafna giggled. “That’s really new to hear because there are many Dafnas that I know around town.”

“No, I mean, I bet they are all ... Jewish?”

“Y-yeah ... and so am I.” Dafna looked at her sceptically. The way she said the word ‘Jewish’ it didn’t seem to be in right tone of voice.

The table went quiet as Cedric and Marie stared at Dafna emotionlessly... like she was a stranger in the group. Some kind of a dread showed up on Joe’s face and he looked between his shocked parents and the confused Riveras.

Gust looked questioningly at his boyfriend but the fear on his face only scared him more.

Cedric coughed and made a serious face. “I thought the Riveras were Catholic?” He wanted to know now.

“Well, we are Catholic, but Dafna comes from a Jewish family.” Ben replied frowning.

More uncomfortable silence prevailed amongst them before Marie faked a smile. “Um ... would you like to have something else?”

Nobody said a thing. But something was bugging each one of them. “Mr. and Mrs. Brannan, do you have a problem with my wife being Jewish?” Ben asked hesitatingly, ignoring Dafna who held his hand to stop him.

Marie smirked, “You don’t want us to answer that.” Joe shut his eyes losing all the hope that the conversation would just end.

But Ben got the hint and he clenched his jaws to control his emotions. How can someone be that anti-Semitic in today’s world? He couldn’t understand. “Well, then I guess ...” He began to stand firmly taking Dafna’s hand in his, “we don’t want you to be uncomfortable in our presence anymore. We shall take our leave.” Matt and Candes began to get up also, looking bewildered by the sudden turn of events.

“Mr. Riv-” Cedric began, but Ben cut him off.

“Please Mr. Brannan, if we stay here any longer, things would be really awkward. It’s better if we leave now before we all say things we will regret later.”

Marie watched them all get up except Gust, and they began to leave. Ben stopped and turned half-way looking at his son, still frozen in his seat. He understood what went through him, but he couldn’t stay there. He kept his face stern and ordered, “Didn’t you hear what I said, Gust?”

Gust looked at him slowly rising from his seat. “But dad ...”

“We are leaving!”

Joe freaked out as he watched his boyfriend give him a glance and did as he was asked. “No, wait-” He called behind them, but Gust’s dad held his son by his arm and took him with him.

In a minute, they were out of the house and Joe stood there helplessly. It wasn’t supposed to end up this way; it was supposed to bring him closer to Gust but –

He angrily turned to his mother, who still sat calmly in her seat. “Why did you have to do that?” He screamed at her.

“Is that how you talk to your mother?” Joe’s dad scolded him.

“And the way she treated our guests?” He was still yelling. “Was that right?”

“I didn’t say anything.” Marie coldly said and shrugged, “Those kinds of people have such ego ...”

“Stop it!” He looked at her in disbelief. He didn’t recognise her anymore. Where was the kind, loving lady he always saw in his mother? He couldn’t handle this. “I am going to go talk to Gust. He needs me right now.” He mumbled and began to leave.

“Joseph Cedric Brannan!” Joe closed his eyes hearing his mother’s stern voice and he stopped, not turning yet. “One step you take out of the house to go there, and you are never coming back.” She threatened. Joe turned to face her in astonishment. “You heard me right! You are never seeing that son of a Jewish bitch again.”

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---TBC---