Out Of The Closet - 4. Chapter 4: Coming Out To My Parents?!

April 21 2019

Cody walked up to me in the front yard of the Divine Conception Catholic Church in nearby Newton, about 10 miles from Aragon. “I’m glad you could make it,” I lightly pecked my boyfriend on the cheek, earning a rude glare from an elderly couple walking by. “And you look great,” I admired my boyfriend’s attire of khaki slacks and a short sleeve grey plaid shirt. I had on jeans and a bright pink buttoned up shirt with short sleeves.

“Well, it certainly took some convincing. My mom and her new girlfriend, Laura, aren’t too fond of the Catholic Church,” Cody stuffed his hands in his pockets and swooped his head to get the bangs out of his face.

“Wait, your mom’s girlfriend is here now?” I asked, my face doing a sweat drop animation. Cody nodded. My parents ain’t gonna like that... I mused.

“Olllliiiieeee!” Iris ran up and hugged me. “Happy Eeeeeeaster!”

“Hey, Iris,” I chuckled. Iris didn’t let go of me. “Uh, Iris?” I blushed.

“Get off him...” Cody pulled his little sister off of me.

“Let’s go meet the others,” I led Cody and Iris to the Church’s backyard where Easter Sunday service was being held on a nice warm sunny spring day. Logan and his parents were there, along with his younger brother and sisters, with Toby and my folks. There was a large picnic blanket set up with folding chairs out for the adults in the friend group. The makeshift stage had a band playing religious Christian songs for a while before the service began. Toby usually played drums for the church band, but someone else had volunteered to play for the Easter special service.

“Hey, Cody,” Logan greeted Cody and his sister.

“Logan! Hey,” Cody hugged the Hispanic teen, Logan gave an annoyed blush.

A minute later Samantha walked in holding Laura’s hand. “Hey, Melissa, Robert.” She had made some toffee for the Easter gathering and set the tray down.

Logan’s younger siblings quickly went for the treats, including Logan’s 13 year old brother, named Gabriel, aka Gabe. Iris began hanging out with the 7th grade boy. Finally, she won’t be attached to me all day, haha. I thought to myself and giggled.

“How nice of you to bring your friend, and these wonderful treats,” my mom said. She had a slight Filipino accent.

“Oh, Samantha and I are actually dating,” Laura said. “I’m Laura by the way.” The lesbian woman held out her hand and Melissa shook it.

“Oh... I’m sorry... I didn’t know... Samantha... that you were into... women. You did have a husband previously.”

“It’s ok. I’m bisexual. It’s unfortunate that Christopher, my husband, passed away in 2015, but I figured it was time to start dating again.” Samantha looked at her new partner and smiled.

“Congratulations,” Rosa Martinez, Logan’s mom, said with a smile. “I’m happy for you both.” Her husband, Bruno, simply rolled his eyes facing the stage instead of those around him. He was a bit more homophobic like my stupid parents were.

Iris and Gabe were down by the stage, hanging out with more of their 7th grade friends, and my friends and I began playing with a football. Logan’s two sisters, Josefina and Isabela, were coloring with crayons in their brightly colored Easter dresses.

“Thank you, Rosa,” Samantha smiled.

“You know what the bible says about same sex relationships, right?” Dad interrupted.

“Right,” Bruno piped in. “My son, Logan, here, is living in some fantasy land where he thinks he can date boys.”

“DAD!” Logan blushed.

“It’s true, mijo...”

“I’m not changing, so too bad,” Logan smirked.

“Guys… stop. Be cool or something,” I said, catching the football that Toby had tossed to me. Toby then nodded in agreement. I felt my face heating up.

“Oliver, you don’t know what the Bible says. Stay out of this, please,” Dad said.

“DAD, stop it!” I was fully blushing now, and my blood was boiling over. “Please! It’s Easter! Can we just get along?! I invited them because it was supposed to be a friendly gathering!” I huffed. I guess this is what I get for trying to have a nice Easter gathering!

“Gracias, Oliver,” Rosa said. “Please just... let’s talk about something... new.”

I wiped my forehead. Phew, crisis averted.

April 26 2019

I was so ready to leave school when the final bell rang. It was Friday and the weekend was looking great! I was gonna make a great dinner for my brother and my parents and come out to them. Well, I’m gonna come out to my parents. I already came out to Toby.

“Why are you so happy?” Toby asked me as we walked to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner.

“I’m gonna make the best dinner ever!”

“Yeah, that’s awesome, bro. But, why? What’s the occasion?”

“I’m coming out to mom & dad.” I said as I unlocked my bike from the bike rack.

“YOU’RE GONNA WHAT?!?” Toby’s eyes widened. “Bro… are you serious right now?! After their Easter freakout last Sunday?! Oliver, I love you but you’re not the smartest...”

“Dude, I know what I’m doing. I swear!”

“Okay, fine. It’s your choice when to come out. I’ll support you bro. Just be careful, okay?” Toby explained. I nodded.

At the store, we picked up some supplies for dinner. We already had shrimp at home. Dad goes on Spring Break fishing trips when we go visit family in California and freezes the seafood in the basement freezer. We picked up some extra rice and vegetables and some ingredients for potstickers. This is gonna be SO TASTY! Everyone loves potstickers!

Back at home, I began cooking. I made some shrimp teriyaki with rice and vegetables. On the side I made some potstickers from scratch. Toby entered the kitchen. “Woah you’re making pot stickers?!” he reached into the pot.

“No! Not yet!” I swatted his hand away. “Wait until dinner.”

“The house smells so good though… it’s makin’ me hungry…” Toby whined.

“Hey, dorks,” Logan entered the house.

“Hey,” I smiled. “Oh, it’s Logan…”

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing!” The little jerk said. “I smelled good food and came over.”

“No,” I said. “This is just for us. If anyone outside the family deserves to come it’s Cody since I’m coming out as gay to my parents.”

Logan cackled. “Seriously?! Oliver, you make a LOT of dumb choices, but this has to be the stupidest. Especially after that Easter fiasco.”

“Logan, if you don’t have anything nice to say, then get the hell out of here!” I growled. “It’s my choice. And I’d rather be surrounded by positive influences.”

“Fine, I’ll leave, but don’t be upset all weekend because your parents are homophobic idiots…”

“Logan…” Toby glared at him as he exited.

“Dinner’s ready,” Toby said to my parents when I had finished everything and got changed into some nicer clothes than the t-shirt and sweatpants I had been wearing.

Dinner was fairly peaceful, with the conversation being around how Toby’s and my school day was. When I cleared my plate, I leaned back and stretched from being full. “Do you boys want dessert?” Mom offered. Toby stood up and went to the pantry to get the bag of cookies he had baked earlier in the week.

While Toby was eating a cookie, I was working up the courage to come out. “You okay...?” Toby asked me. I nodded.

“Oliver?” Mom asked.

“Um, mom, dad?” I spoke up. “I have something to tell you guys.” I looked down at my feet.

“Sure, son,” dad began. “What’s up?”

“Well, uh,” I blushed. “Cody and I are together. Like, uh, dating together.” I smiled awkwardly.

Mom let out a sigh, and dad put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a comforting rub. “I was afraid of this...” Mom said.

“You knew??” Toby and I asked in unison.

“Yes...” mom said. “Oliver’s been acting much differently around Cody lately.” I blushed. I didn’t think I was making it obvious. “You act the same way around Cody as your father did when he was dating me 18 years ago in Guam.” This made my blush intensify even more. “I was hoping it wasn’t true, but I guess it is...”

“The fact that you never had a girlfriend, or any crushes on girls, was a pretty big clue too,” dad added.

Toby and I shared a glance at each other. I felt like my stomach had jumped up to my throat with anxiety. “It was obvious?” I asked, looking down at the table. My parents nodded.

“You always had a more... effeminate personality...” Dad explained. “We hoped you wouldn’t grow up to be gay.”

“I’m sorry I’m such a disappointment, then...” I sighed and stood up..

“Well, Oliver, luckily for you, your mom and I have already discussed some of this before, in case this happened. We won’t be kicking you out of our home. Since we still love you,” dad explained. Mom nodded. “We also appreciate the honesty from you.”

“You’re also not allowed to hang out with Cody anymore in our house...”

“WHAT?!” I gasped. “That is SO unfair!”

“We’re also going to look into options for conversion therapy this summer.”

“This is absolute bullshit,” I swore. “This was a bad idea. There’s a reason I’ve waited nearly 6 months to come out to you! I can’t even trust my own parents with this, because you react like this! You’re, like, the last people in town who know.” My voice was bitter, angry, and filled with tears. I paused and took a deep breath, fighting the intense nausea in my throat. “I love Cody a lot. He makes me happy. And he’s always been a positive influence on me. I’m gay. And I know what you think about that. I’m different, but that doesn’t make me evil, or bad. I’m still just your son Oliver. If you hate me now, then so be it. I’m not going to change who I am to please you.” I didn’t wait for a reaction as I ran upstairs to my room, shut the door, and went into the bathroom to throw up. When several minutes passed, my stomach was empty and I felt helpless, alone, and scared once again as I sat on my bed, feeling shaky.

“Hey, are you... okay?” Toby asked, knocking on my door.

“No,” I rested my elbows on my knees. “I think they hate me,” I sighed.

“You wanna talk about it?” Toby sat next to me. He was shorter than me by nearly 3 inches. I shook my head and buried my face in Toby’s shoulder and continued crying. “Dude, I’m sure that’s not true.”

“Why do you think that?” I asked, my voice muffled by Toby’s shirt. “They want to send me to fucking conversion therapy this summer.”

“Because they’re probably just in shock,” Toby reasoned. “Have they ever done anything irrational...”

“Yes...” I moaned, interrupting my brother’s question.

“Or... I guess I’ll say... have they ever done anything that expensive and irrational? Especially for something that probably doesn’t even work? Conversion therapy has a very low success rate.”

I shook my head.

“I’m going to bed. I’m exhausted,” I said. “Thanks... for supporting me, bro. It... seriously means a lot,” I hugged Toby.

I was in bed by 8PM, texting with Cody on my pear phone about the events of the evening. At around 8:30, there was a knock at the bedroom door. “Who is it?” I sniffled.

“It’s your parents. Can we come in?”

“Yeh...” I huffed. I put my phone down on the nightstand and sat up. I was dressed in nothing but my red tartan plaid pajama pants. Mom and dad sat on the bed, at my feet.

“Hey, buddy,” dad said. I rolled my eyes. Dad hadn’t called me that since I was 13 years old. “I’m sorry about losing my temper.” He paused. “I am glad you felt at least somewhat comfortable enough to tell us the truth.”

“We decided that we’re not sending you to any gay conversion therapy,” mom said.

“Really?” My face lit up a little bit.

“It’s not really available in Colorado anymore,” dad explained. “There’s a law about to pass that will ban it for minors. Also, it’s not something we can afford, especially if we send you to Kansas or Oklahoma for it.”

“Also,” mom began. “We decided it would be unfair to prevent you from seeing Cody. We’re glad he makes you happy, and he’s always been a great friend to you and Toby.”

“Oh my god!” I smiled. “Seriously??”

“This doesn’t mean that we agree with your relationship,” dad said. “But we won’t be harsh on you about it.”

I frowned again. “I’m... sorry you feel that way,” I tapped my fingers on the soft material of my pajama pants. “I feel incredibly blessed by God to have Cody in my life, and I’m so much happier being myself instead of trying to restrict that side of me, like I had been doing for a while.” A couple tears dripped down my cheeks.

Mom hugged me. “We’re going to at least try to understand your point of view, ok, honey?” his mom dried my cheeks. “I know it’s important to you.” I yawned deeply. I guess having a panic attack and emptying my stomach really wore me out. “I can’t make any promises, other than that we will try.”

“Mmkay,” I nodded sleepily and flopped backwards, resting back on the pillow and pulling the blankets up to my bare chest.

“I guess that’s a good place to start,” dad shrugged at mom as they stood up. She nodded in agreement. “Goodnight, Oliver,” he turned off the light as he left the room.

“Goodnight, baby,” mom kissed my forehead before leaving.