Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
The Last Out - 15. Chapter 15
I couldn’t really believe that I was doing this. In all my life, I had never run away from home. Certainly never just to go see someone that I was in a relationship with, but now here I was, running silently down the street at night, knowing that it was going to take half an hour to get to Alex’s house and not caring about how much trouble I could get in once I got there. All I knew was that right now I needed to see Alex and make sure that he was okay and that he wasn’t too freaked out from how dad reacted tonight.
I still didn’t really know how dad felt about things, and I suppose that I probably should have talked to him and gotten that all figured out before I left. I know he was mad that I was hiding things from him, especially all the big shit that’s been happening lately, but he didn’t really tell me what he was thinking about me and Alex. On the other hand, he did throw Alex out today, so I guess that’s my answer… he’s not going to accept us and he’s not going to be there for me now that I’m in all sorts of trouble.
That made it all the more important that I make sure that Alex was okay and that he was still on my side, I couldn’t really handle losing dad and Alex as people I could turn to both in the same day, and since it looked like dad was done, I’d just have to rely on Alex even more than I had before.
It was hard to believe that I had to rely on this fourteen-year-old kid to keep me from falling apart. Here I am, a high school senior, and I’m letting someone three years younger than me watch out for me. Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Aren’t I supposed to be the one that protects him, instead of always having to rely on him to keep myself from doing something stupid?
I kept running. I was getting tired from the long distance run, but I had to keep going if I was going to make it to Alex’s place at a sane hour of the day, and I didn’t want him or myself to get into any more trouble than we were already in. While I hadn’t actually gone to Alex’s house before, he had told me the address and it wasn’t too hard to figure out where that would be; it was a small town after all, and I recognized most of the streets, even if I didn’t know the exact house numbers yet.
I stopped to look around and catch my breath when I got to the right street. The houses were huge! I had no idea that Alex lived in one of the big houses in town, makes me wonder what other surprises he has in store for me. Or maybe these were just things that I never bothered asking him about because I was always focused on myself when we were together.
I kept up my run through the neighbourhood and found his house. As I thought, he lived in one of those two story mini mansions at the other edge of town. I stopped outside again, first to catch my breath and then also to figure out how I should do this. I couldn’t just walk up to the front door and knock could I? But then I wasn’t exactly in the mood to sneak around, particularly since I didn’t know which room was his or even how to get there once I did find it. For all I knew, he was in the upstairs part of the house anyways.
I decided that knocking on the door was probably the only way I was going to get to see Alex. If worse came to worse I’d be sent home and have to deal with my dad, but at least this way I had a chance to see Alex and talk to him a bit before I dealt with whatever else was going to happen tonight.
When I rang the doorbell I was surprised to see that Alex was the one who opened the door. Alex pulled me in quickly and after getting my shoes off, we both walked up to his room. Another lucky guess, he was upstairs near the back of the house; I wouldn’t have ever gotten up there if I hadn’t gone through the front door.
Alex closed the door behind us, and then turned to face me.
”Why are you here Devin? What’s going on?”
“I left because I wanted to make sure you were okay. That was a hell of an awkward way to leave my house thanks to dad, and I thought it’d be safer to chill out here for awhile before really dealing with him.”
Alex sighed, the way he always does when I’m being an idiot.
“You know you just made it worse right? Whatever else your dad thinks about you being gay or bi or whatever you are, and whatever else he thinks about you and me being together, he’s going to be way madder about the fact that you just ran away from home. That, my boy, is going to make him go right through the roof again. So while I’m really happy you came to check in on me, you need to get the hell out of here before your dad decides to vaporize you or chain you to a radiator or something truly awful.”
Alex was smiling as he said all that, and I realized he was absolutely right, but I still didn’t want to leave quite yet. With Alex following behind me and holding my hand, I went back downstairs, put my shoes back on and started running back to my place as fast as I could. I could see him standing in the doorway, watching me go.
I could see him standing in the doorway, watching me come back home. So much for a sneaky return. I couldn’t tell how he was feeling; dad just had this blank look on his face.
“You’re back. Have a good trip out” he asked without any emotion in his voice.
I didn’t say anything, I just walked back over to where he was standing and stood there, waiting for him to say something more than he’d already said.
“You keep doing things behind my back Devin. I thought I made it pretty clear that I’m on your side, so why did you leave?”
“I thought you were mad at me, I thought you hated the idea that I was gay. I saw how you threw Alex out and figured I’d be next once you figured out how to make that happen.”
“Devin. You’re my son. Of course I’m disappointed and worried about how this will affect your future, I just spent the last few days in a hospital. From what you’ve told me, it was because you were gay that you got beat. How can I not worry and think bad things? But I’m your father, and you’re my son. I’m not going anywhere, but you have to help me help you. Do you understand?”
“Yeah…”
“Alright. Get yourself ready for bed, you have school tomorrow. I’ll be taking you, I want a few words with this principal of yours.”
I trudged off to my room and threw myself down on the bed. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I laid down, and I quickly went to sleep.
************************************************************************
The next morning I woke up and got myself ready for school. When I first came down to the kitchen I was surprised to see dad there, then I remembered that he was going to take me in today. After eating a big breakfast, dad and I got in the truck and he parked in the lot. I walked off to my first class and dad went into the principal’s office.
I didn’t really think too much about it, and classes were keeping me busy. When lunch break happened, I got called down to the office, probably to deal with whatever dad had done. When I got into the office the secretary sent me directly to Principal Barrett’s office.
She didn’t waste any time before she got to her business with me.
“We have a problem Mr. Williams, and I need you to explain to me why it’s become this much of an issue that your father is coming into my office and making my day especially miserable.”
“I don’t understand what you mean ma’am. I wasn’t here when my dad was here, I don’t know what he talked to you about.” I replied.
“Stow it. I’m talking about the fact that you claim that Parker Xie and members of your baseball team attacked you in the locker room four days ago, and that you subsequently spent time in the Spokane hospital recovering from your injuries. Apparently this has been escalating, and at no point you did anything to inform me or any other staff members here about the abuse. Explain why this is Mr. Williams.”
She glared down at me, which was a bit of a miracle considering I was almost a foot taller than her. She just had this talent for making everyone look and feel tiny, which probably made this whole conversation about a thousand times more difficult than it had to be.
“It hasn’t been happening long, it’s only been a couple of weeks now, right before Sean Cobb passed away. People like Parker seem to think that I’m responsible for his death, and that people also think that it’s because he and I had a sexual relationship.”
“Did you?”
”Ummm…” I blushed hard at that question. “He sort of blackmailed me into doing sexual things with him, and then he photographed it. That’s how everyone knows, because those photos got leaked and everyone just assumes I killed him for that. But I swear I didn’t do anything!”
Principal Barrett gave me a hard look, and then pointed me towards the door. Before I left, she softened her voice and let me know a few things.
“I’ll be watching how things are going very carefully over the next little while. Keep your nose clean Devin, and this will all be over soon. Once you graduate, things should be better. I understand that you’re going to be leaving for university, that will be good for you.”
I nodded once at her, then left. There were only a few minutes left in lunch, so I quickly went to go visit Alex. I let him know exactly what had happened, and then it was time to get back to my next class.
When I got home that afternoon, dad was there waiting for me again. I told him exactly what had happened, and that Principal Barrett called me in at lunch. He seemed to accept that there were going to be some positive changes, or that it at least sounded like it. I had a lot of homework to catch up on, so I went to my room, locked the door and got to work.
I didn’t know it yet, but I had to believe that things were going to get a lot better soon, and that this was going to be the end of all the troubles I had to deal with. Dad still cared about me, Alex still likes me, and it even seems like Principal Barrett is going to look out for me. With that thought in mind, I started in on my homework, eager to make sure that I got the top grades I would need to get out of here and into a good university, away from all the crap I’d had to deal with this year.
- 12
- 2
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Recommended Comments
Chapter Comments
-
Newsletter
Sign Up and get an occasional Newsletter. Fill out your profile with favorite genres and say yes to genre news to get the monthly update for your favorite genres.