Thicker Than Water - 17. Chapter 17

Diego pulled into the driveway around six in the evening. He had managed to leave before the dinner rush really kicked off. It wasn't like he would've been much help in the end. His mind was too preoccupied with how he was going to approach Bryan about the phone without causing a mountain of drama. He didn't miss being a teenager, with the constant flooding of hormones, which made every discussion a battle of supremacy. He always marveled at how his parents raised five boys without at least one murder charge. He was dealing with two boys in puberty and counted himself lucky that there hadn't been any major drama...yet.

“How was work?” Steve asked, as he hugged his boyfriend.

“Way too long,” Diego said. “How were the boys?”

“Fine, as usual. Bryan has been acting shady, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he sent Terra to distract me, while he went back to the school for something, was on his phone the entire time, and has been in his room since we got home, even refusing to come out to help with dinner."

Diego wondered if Bryan and Kenny were fighting. Another thing he didn't miss from being a teen was that everything had to be drama, no matter how small it was. Diego considered waiting another day to get the phone, especially if Bryan and Kenny were trying to work things out, but Diego needed to make sure that Calvin wasn't trying to contact Bryan. Diego was certain that Calvin wouldn't be dumb enough to use his actual Facebook account, so Diego would have to look at all of Bryan's friends and messages to see if Calvin was disguised as one.

Bryan was laying on his bed, with his phone on his chest when he heard a soft knock on his bedroom door. “Come in,” he called out.

“Hey Chico,” Diego said, as he closed the door. “How was your day?”

Bryan felt the urge to roll his eyes. “Sucky as always.”

Diego sat next to his son. “You and Kenny fighting?”

“Yep.”

“What about?”

Bryan froze. It never occurred to him that Diego would ask that question. He assumed his father would give some kind of advice and let it go. “The school found out that we're dating.” Bryan hoped it would throw his father off the scent of the truth.

“How'd that happen?”

“Kenny was talking too loud and it slipped out.”

Diego was getting annoyed. Bryan had inherited Calvin's annoying evasive answering. They never directly answered a question when they were trying to hide something else. Calvin was a master of it and would turn things around and accuse the person questioning him of attacking his character. Diego often had Calvin doing this only to find out that Calvin was pulling some shady shit behind Diego's back.

“Alright,” Diego said, having had enough. “I'm going to ask this question again, one time! If you don't actually answer my question, you'll be grounded. Got it?”

“I didn't do anything wrong!”

“Yeah, you're hiding something, and you know better than to do that. We tell each other everything that's important, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

The Padilla Family prided themselves on open, honest communication...but only with each other. Outsiders could fuck themselves, though Diego taught his boys that they still had to be open and honest with those in their lives who weren't family.

“Alright: What exactly did you and Kenny fight about? And you better be honest with me this time.”

Fuck, Bryan thought to himself. Bryan's heart raced just as quickly as his mind flew through possible wordings to keep his father from losing it. The longer Bryan stalled the more annoyed and expectant Diego looked. After Diego uttered a very harsh, “Well?,” Bryan said, “We fought about Calvin.”

“Bryan Edward Padilla,” Diego said, in a long and bitter tone. “Tell me everything, and you better not leave anything out!”

Bryan was afraid. Diego hardly ever got that angry. The last was when Bryan accidentally broke Caleb's arm, when he was eight and Caleb was five, and Bryan wouldn't say how it happened. Diego learned it from his mother who was also the family disciplinarian. One growl from Abuela was enough to bring a crowded room to complete silence.

Not seeing any other option that wouldn't result in Diego blowing his top, Bryan opted for the truth. He told Diego about Calvin messaging him after they got home from the funeral, and how he kept telling Calvin to stop but his former father wouldn't.

“So,” Diego said, with a calm but firm voice that didn't hide his rage-filled shaking, “before we get into you keeping this from me, how does Kenny play into it?”

“Kenny found out today, I swear. I got a text in math. Mr. Marx took my phone. Kenny told me he had sent me a message, and I thought it might have been Calvin. Terra let it slip—“

“Wait! Terra knows about this?”

“Yes,” Bryan said in a small voice. “I told her when I got back to school.”

“Wow!” Diego began to pace. “Not only did you not tell me, but you told Terra. Who else knows, Bryan?”

“Nobody else, I swear,” Bryan pleaded. “It's just you, me, Calvin, Terra and Kenny.”

Diego took a few calming breaths. He needed to hear the full story before he could decide an appropriate punishment. “Alright, so was the message you got in math from Calvin?”

“No,” Bryan lied. He had already deleted the message, and he felt confessing to its existence now would only make things worse. It's not like he'd find out, anyway, Bryan rationalized. “It was spam.”

“Give me your phone.” Diego held out his hand and waited. Bryan didn't hesitate and handed it right over. Diego checked the passwords and found they were as he left them from when he set up the device. “Why are you telling me all this now?”

Bryan dropped his head in shame. “Terra said I should tell you before Kenny does.”

“Okay, Bryan. I'm going to give you only one chance to come clean here. Is there anything you're leaving out or not wanting to tell me?”

Yes, Bryan cried out in his head, but said, “No, Sir.”

“If I find out you're hiding something or lying to me....”

“I'm not,” Bryan said half-heartedly.

“You're grounded,” Diego said. “I don't know how long you're grounded for, yet. I'll figure that out once I read the messages and talk to your friends.”

“They didn't do anything wrong,” Bryan protested.

“Oh, I know they didn't, especially Kenny, but right now, I don't know if I can trust your word. This is a very big problem, Bryan, more than you even know. When I gave you the phone, we had an agreement, and you violated that agreement, many times. You will need to earn my trust again.”

“How am I going to do that?”

“I don't know that, either. I wasn't prepared for this to happen when I came home tonight, but don't think for a second that it'll happen overnight or anytime soon. I love you so very much, but I'm incredibly disappointed in you, Bryan.” With that, Diego left the room, closing the door behind him.

Bryan cried. Ever since Donna died, he felt like his life was spiraling. He loved Kenny, but he didn't know if he could be with someone who wouldn't listen to him without getting upset. Bryan also felt like shit for hurting and upsetting Diego. For a long time, Bryan waited for the day Diego would be done being a father and send him and Caleb back into foster care. Although he acknowledged that it wasn't going to happen, he couldn't keep the scared, insecure, little boy inside of him from panicking.

...Then there was Calvin. It always came down to Calvin. As much as Bryan wanted to blame the man, he knew that had he been open and honest, he wouldn't be in this mess.

Dinner was somber. Diego refused to look at Bryan. He didn't give his son the complete cold shoulder, as he was polite and responded to his eldest child, but when he did, it was short with no small talk. Steve didn't think it was fair to treat Bryan that way. He didn't approve of Bryan keeping secrets, but he didn't feel that Bryan deserved being cut off emotionally. Steve wasn't Bryan's father, though, and didn't say anything about the punishment; however, he didn't ignore Bryan and did his best to include him in conversations, even if Bryan wasn't in the mood.

Bryan was sent to his room after dinner as part of his grounding. He wasn't allowed on any of his electronics and didn't dare defy his father, so he read a book which was part of his English assignment. A soft knock at his door came about an hour later.

“Can I come in?” Caleb asked, poking his head beyond the open door.

“Yeah,” Bryan replied, sitting up. Caleb closed the door and sat on the bed next to his brother. “What's up?” Bryan asked.

“I overheard you and Dad earlier. Did you really get messages from Calvin?”

'Yeah, I did.”

“Did he ever mention me?”

Bryan's heart broke. It didn't occur to him fully that Caleb might want his own questions answered. “Not really. I mostly called him names and told him to go away.”

“Oh.” Caleb looked down at his toes. Bryan wrapped his arm around his little brother and held him. Caleb laid his head against his brother's shoulder.

“Calvin didn't answer my questions, either,” Bryan continued. “He kept implying that Dad has been lying to us this entire time, but Calvin didn't say why he left or why he didn't come back.”

“Or why he didn't take us with him?”

“No. No, he didn't.” Bryan hugged his brother then asked, “Do you wish he had taken us with him?”

“No,” Caleb said. “I just want to know why he left us here. We were his kids, but he didn't seem to love us enough to want to take care of us.”

“Dad does, though.”

“Yeah.” Caleb hugged Bryan and said, “Dad loves us, even when we make him mad.”

“You mean when I make him mad.”

“True. I'm the good son.”

“Really?” Bryan said, tickling his brother, causing the 5^th grader to cry out in laughter. “I remember you taking money from his wallet and blaming me for it.”

“I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't said you wanted ice cream.”

“That's bullshit, because you got ice cream, too,” Diego said. Both boys jumped and sat up quickly. Bryan felt tense. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to have Caleb in his room, given that he was grounded; however, Diego's grin seemed to indicate they were fine. “Time for bed, you two.”

Caleb gave his brother another hug before giving their dad a hug on the way out of the room.

“I'm sorry,” Bryan said.

“I know, Chico. You get I'm just doing my job and trying to protect you, right?”

“I know.”

“Despite what Calvin has implied in his messages, I haven't lied to you about anything. This is how he manipulates people. I'm surprised he hadn't asked to meet in person.”

“He did, actually,” Bryan confessed. “I deleted the message right after I got it.”

“I know,” Diego said. Bryan looked shocked, and Diego answered, “He messaged back asking if you were going to meet him or not. I pretended to be you and got the information on the meeting, and he sent me a screenshot of the message he sent.” Bryan just sat on his bed waiting for another chewing out, but it never came. “You should've told me early, though, especially when I gave you several chances to, so you're grounded for a month. You're only allowed to go to school. You're to come home directly after school, you're not allowed to have anyone over, even Kenny, and you're not to watch TV, movies or play any games. Is that understood?”

“Yes Sir,” Bryan said.

“Good.” Diego walked over and hugged his son. “I love you, Bryan. It would kill me if I lost you and your brother.”

“I love you, too, Dad. Nothing Calvin says or does will change that.”

“Alright,” Diego said, breaking away from his son. “Get some sleep. You've got a lot of cleaning to do tomorrow.”

“Looking forward to it,” Bryan said, as Diego closed the door behind him.