Freshman Year - 7. Getting To Know You

Wesley and Seamus

By: Wesley Lewis

Chapter 7: Getting to Know You

SEAMUS’ POV

When I got back home I ran to my room so I could get some rest before dinner. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be. The very second my eyes closed my phone began to ring. When I looked, I saw it was Wesley calling me I began to panic. I answered immediately asking what was wrong when I heard him beginning to laugh.

“Seamus there’s nothing wrong, I just wanted to invite you and your family over for dinner tonight, that is if you like pizza?”

“Wesley I’m a teenage male of course I love pizza. Mum will be glad not to cook tonight, but I got to know why so suddenly. I just left your house and you didn’t even say anything then. But give me a few minutes to talk to mum and dad.”

After hanging up the phone I ran down the stairs two at a time to get to my parents. It’s a good thing I did because it looked like Mum was just about to start cooking. I stopped her and explained what Wesley had asked and she readily agreed to the dinner as both her and Dad were looking forward to meeting Wesley. She told me to go upstairs to get my sisters ready.

I have two sisters who happen to be identical twins. Brianna and Fenna were like two peas in a pod. Wherever one was you can always count on the other being there. My parents named them traditional Irish names. Fenna meant fair-haired while Brianna meant strong and virtuous. My name was also Irish and it meant conqueror. Both of my sisters have red hair like I do, however, their hair is straight whereas mine is curly. My sisters were born four years after I was.

We did have an older sister, Erin, but she died of leukemia when I was eight. I can barely remember what she looked like before the chemo treatments, but what little I did remember was her always looking so cheerful before each treatment. She was as beautiful as Mum was in some of her photos from childhood. They said they named her Erin after Ireland itself (it was also called Eire). They did this to remind them of their roots and remind us where we came from. After about two months of treatment with chemotherapy the doctors told us there was nothing they could do but make her as comfortable as she could be. She made it to her sixteenth birthday. We had a party for her and everything with all her friends coming. When we went to her room to tell her goodnight it was the last time we spoke. She had died peacefully and with a smile on her face. When we had the funeral both sets of grandparents came to the states. It was one of the few times I remember meeting them. It wasn’t a sad event because Erin never dwelt on the fact she was going to die and she didn’t want us to either.

Erin was my best friend I had she was the first person I told about being gay. She never judged me or made me feel bad about it. We held each other and cried about it. When she was diagnosed with leukemia I took it the hardest, I wouldn’t eat or go outside. I felt like maybe god was punishing me for being gay by taking away my best friend. That little idea didn’t go over well with Erin. She told me right then and there that it was I no way my fault or anyone else’s. She always had a way of showing me a new way of seeing something. When we buried her I didn’t shed a tear because I promised her I would be strong for Mum, Dad, and the twins. She told me it was my duty to look out for everyone and she would be there watching me every time I feel alone.

Before I went in their room, I went into the room that had belonged to Erin. Mum and Dad had turned it into a guest room but I hid a small picture of Erin in a drawer so when I felt alone I could talk to the picture and feel like she was talking to me. I stayed there for a half hour or so talking to her picture and telling her about Wesley before finally deciding it was time for the twins to get ready.

As I was walking into their room, I was trying to figure out how I was going to tell my little sisters we were going to my boyfriend’s house. Fortunately, my sisters were smarter than I give them credit for. When I went into the room to tell them we were going to Wesley’s house for dinner Fenna asked me point blank “Is Wesley your boyfriend?’

Not wanting to lie to them I said “Yes, he is my boyfriend, does it bother you that I’m gay?”

Brianna got up and took my hand saying “No it doesn’t bother us we want you to be happy. As much as you talk about him he must make you happy.” Fenna was nodding her head in agreement.

It made me feel so much better knowing that my family loved me even if I was gay. The only people I was worried about accepting me would be my grandparents. But if I’m being honest with myself, I’m not as worried as much because I never see them anyway. They are practically strangers to me and my sister. It’s not like Mum and Dad never tried to reach out to them. My grandparents were set in their ways and wanted to act like stubborn fools.

So after about thirty minutes we were standing on the front porch about to ring the doorbell.

WESLEY’S POV

I was on pins and needles waiting for Seamus and his family to come to our house. Daddy just shook his head laughing as I nervously tapped the arms of the chair I was in. Just when I was about to call Seamus the doorbell rang. I got up so quick I forgot about my crutches and fell flat on my face. Instead of being a normal father daddy didn’t even help me off the floor he was too busy laughing at me to be of any use. After giving him a death stare he finally quit laughing like a jackass and helped me to the door. I was so worked up that I had no idea what to do when I open the door. Luckily though when I opened the door I was immediately wrapped in Mrs. Finnegan’s arms. It felt so good to have someone hold me like this, like a mother is supposed to hold their child. As she hugged me I felt the tears running down my face. This is what was missing from my life it was something I had been wanting from my own mother but never got.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Finnegan I shouldn’t have cried like a baby like that.” I tried to apologize profusely.

“First off Wesley I am not Mrs. Finnegan, you either call me Mum or Shelley. And as for the giant of a man you can call him Rory. We are family now so no ore of this Mrs. or Mr. stuff, got that.”

“Yes, Mum I understand and I’m sorry for crying earlier, it’s just that I’ve never had a woman to hold me like that in a long time.”

She took me back in her arms telling me “well you better get used to it because I have plenty of love to give.”

After a few minutes of this we heard a slight cough from behind us and I heard Seamus say “Excuse me Mum, but could you please let my boyfriend go so I can give him a kiss?”

We started laughing as Seamus began pouting. Before he could get his kiss though, I was wrapped in arms on two sides by the twins. Seamus said they were completely identical but there was one difference between the two. Fenna always wore her hair in a single braid while Brianna liked her hair in a bun. The two girls looked at me in astonishment when I correctly guessed which twin was which. After being hounded for like twenty minutes I finally gave up and told them that Seamus had told me how to differentiate between them, which promptly earned him two swats beside the head.

Finally, after what felt like hours I was in Seamus’ arms and we shared just a simple kiss. That was all we needed to say how we felt about each other. We held hands and sat as Daddy got to know Mum and Rory. They were talking about the differences between Ireland and the US and other things. I was in a debate with the twins over who was cuter me or Seamus. After thirty minutes the pizza arrived and we began to eat.

After we finished eating we all sat in the living room and talked. I learned that Rory had started a successful coffee shop that had about five other locations around the state. Mum was a social studies teacher who would be starting at our school the next semester. Between all the talking I learned they had moved to here shortly before Erin died for a fresh start. Every time Erin’s name was mentioned I could see Seamus looking sad. I decided that I would ask about that later tonight.

After about two hours Mum told everyone that it was time to go. I could see the disappointment in Seamus’ face when it was time to go, but his mother had different plans. She went to their car and pulled out a bag and told Seamus to have fun and she would see him on Sunday.

When they had left me and Seamus headed up to my room where we held each other for a while. I finally got the nerve up and asked “Erin meant a lot to you, didn’t she?”

“She was my best friend Wesley. I looked up to her, she was so brave even when she knew she was going to die she had a brave look on her face. She as always smiling when she died she was smiling. I wish you could’ve have met her I think she would have liked you.” That was all it took for the dam to break. Seamus just began crying as I held him. After an hour, he had calmed down and we went to sleep in the warm embrace.