Finding love - 11. Chapter 11

I was in the hospital for two more days. Liz was very worried about my anger towards Mark and wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to do anything stupid. The nice thing was Brody was there every day after his classes. He made sure to do whatever course work and talk with me while he visits. I found out later that Nathan had come to talk with me but when he saw Brody in there he left.

The drive home from the hospital was pretty boring. Route 50 leaving D.C. isn’t a scenic route and we took it the whole way home since we live right near the interchange with Route 3/301. We pulled into the driveway and Mom said we needed to talk first.

“There have been a few changes to the house since you’ve been gone.”

“Like what?”

“We added the great room and screened in porch off the kitchen and added an additional two bedrooms on the second story. The upstairs hall bathroom was moved and it is now a hallway to the new second story.”

“What about Noah’s room?”

“Well, we cleaned it out, but we saved everything to go through it with you. We’d like to move you into the room.”

“Really?”

“Yes, your father and I figure with you and Noah being so close it was only right.”

“Nathan and Nick don’t mind?”

“We designed the new bedrooms to be very large and that’s where your brother’s are. The old room that was split in two was converted back to one single room like Nathan’s old room. They will serve as a guest rooms and before you ask, we extended the downstairs area and made a room for Carly and Noah when they visit.”

Dad had parked mom’s Yukon outside the garage next to his truck. I noticed Nathan’s pick-up in the street and looked for Brody’s car but didn’t see it.

Dad opened the door and we walked into the living room.

“Surprise” rang out from my brothers, Uncles and Grandparents.

“Welcome home,” Uncle Tony said.

“Welcome home Matthew,” Grandma said. “I made your favorite, stuffed cabbage.”

“That is why it smells like a fart,” Dad said laughing.

“I told her to open a window,” Grandpa said chuckling.

I found out my paternal grandparents were delayed coming down due to my grandfather getting sick. Dad and Uncle Ron didn’t seem too worried about it but Mom and Uncle Tony did.

We were sitting down to eat when there was a knock on the door and I bolted from my seat to the door.

“Hey bro, welcome home,” Asher grinned.

“You’re back, where’s Brody?”

“I guess I’m chopped liver, he’s with mom and dad. I came with Carly hence this baby here; you may have met him before.”

I looked into Noah Jr’s eyes and he smiled really big and my heart melted. In the moment I didn’t care Brody wasn’t there.

“Here let me take him,” I said grabbing Noah from his arms. “Hi Nephew.”

Noah proceeded to make noises and smile at me. I took him into the kitchen while Asher went to the car to help Carly. Mom had a highchair at the table and took Noah and removed his jacket and placed him in the chair. I was getting impatient and wanted to see my man.

“Are you ok Matt,” Grandpa asked?

“Yeah, I just can’t wait for Brody to get here.”

“Young love,” Grandma said and smiled.

“Gross if you ask me,” Nathan said between bites.

“You’re just jealous.”

“Oh you and Brody; ha don’t flatter yourself. We talked and things are cool between us.”

“Really,” Dad said setting his fork down. “Then why haven’t I seen him here at the house?”

“It’s complicated.”

“It always is with you isn’t it?” I said getting angry at my brother.

Noah was making racket and had an intense glare at Nathan.

“I’ve never seen him get this worked up,” Carly said while taking a seat. “Um stuffed cabbage, I can’t wait to eat.”

“Well Noah knows garbage when he sees it.”

I felt something hit my face and it was cabbage.

:: side bar, stuffed cabbage is the American name of a Polish dish. It’s basically cabbage, ground beef and rice cooked in tomato soup. ::

The cabbage slid down my face and before I could say anything my father did.

“Nathaniel Anthony Jacobs, what the hell is your problem?”

“I would love to know that as well,” Mom said as she brought a towel to wipe my face.

“I said we talked and things were cool but not forgiven,” Nathan sneered.

Dad slammed his hand on the table as the rest of the Andrews family came through the door.

“Looks like we interrupted something,” Mr. Andrews said while coming into the kitchen.

“You did,” I said seething. “My brother was being an asshat.”

“I see,” Mr. Andrews said. “Nate, why don’t we go and have that chat with Nathan that we’ve been talking about?”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Dad said. “Let’s go into the office.”

I watched Dad, Mr. Andrews and Nathan walk away from the table.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into him,” Mom said.

“I do,” Brody said speaking up. “He was really mad that I was into Mattie and not him. He tried to get me to change my mind but I just wouldn’t budge.”

“I think I can fix this,” Asher said and went off towards the office.

We sat around the table and ate. Brody played footsie with me under the table while we stole glances at each other. We could occasionally hear yelling coming from the other room, mainly dad and Mr. Andrews.

“I’m going out on a limb but I think Nathan is conflicted about his sexuality,” Uncle Ron said. “I’ve seen it in the schools a lot with athletes who struggle with who they are. It’s why the GSA and its variations here in the county do recruit athletes to join. We want them to know it is ok to be different or it is ok to be an ally. It is not ok to be a bigot.”

“You’ve done tremendous work on that front,” Mrs. Andrews gushed. “I am proud to have you leading the county wide program. You’ve done so much with our sports programs and when you invited Justin and his coaching staff to come speak at the programs about supporting the LGTQIA+ I think it’s made a difference.”

“You know Ron even I’ve heard the community buzz about the work you and Tony have done,” Grandma said. “You turned the school around and made improvements everywhere.”

“Inclusion is very important,” Tony began. “We want our athletes or any student for that matter to know being different is ok. I think Nathan is jealous that you are mildly comfortable in your skin.”

“A very interesting point,” Mom said. “I’ll be right back.”

“More food for me,” Grandpa said and everyone laughed.

We sat in silence and ate while the talk in the office continues.

Everyone made their way back to the table except for Nathan.

“Nathan would like to speak with you in the office,” Mom said.