Black Star Cross - 22. Shawn Adams and the Chamber of Secrets

Black Star Cross

Chapter 22: Shawn Adams and the Chamber of Secrets

“What?! What do you mean?” I demanded. There was no way that I was letting him back down and call off the relationship now.

“My mom’s right in the other room!” he whispered loudly. “If she saw me kiss you, I’m dead!”

“So?” I asked, bewildered. “You said that she knew about us.”

“When did I say that?!”

“Oh hello, Shawn!” came the cheery voice of Anthony’s mom. She must’ve come out of nowhere. “Anthony, don’t block the door for our guest. Come in, Shawn. Dinner will be ready shortly.” She turned around and left for the kitchen. “It’s been so long since Anthony’s had any friends over for dinner.” she said, not looking back at us, as she continued towards the kitchen.

Anthony and I looked at each other, both apparently confused at her overly delighted demeanor. I tried to start our conversation over again.

“You said that you talked to...” I began.

“Oh boys!” shouted his mom from the kitchen. “Come on into the kitchen! I want to see your faces sometime before the night is over!”

We looked at each other again.

“You do know that your mom is faking being the “perfect mom,” right?” I asked.

“Yeah, I know, dude. She’s not normally like this.”

“She better not be.”

“Boys!”

“Coming,” we grunted together.

I looked at Anthony, amazed that we had done the same thing at the same time again, and grinned. I was even more amazed to see that Anthony was fighting, and losing, a battle to restrain a small smile on his face as he looked at me, too. I grinned wider, started to blush, and gently brushed my hand against his. He lost his battle, bowed his head as he started to blush as well, widening his own smile, before locking up again in fear of discovery and made his way for the kitchen. I just sighed in annoyance. Just when is he going to be comfortable enough to be affectionate with me? I mean, aren’t we dating or something? I’m not going to be in a relationship with a closeted boyfriend…I don’t think.

We both entered the kitchen to find her slaving away at the stove, salads and bread already on the table. It felt like I had stepped into an Olive Garden. Wasn’t she overdoing it just a little bit?

“You two just sit at that table and I’ll be right over. Can I get you anything to drink, Shawn?”

“Um, no thank you ma’am.”

We sat down at the table while Anthony’s mom continued to barrage me with personal question that I didn’t feel too comfortable answering. Anthony could tell that I was getting uncomfortable, so he must’ve decided to help me out.

“Mom!” he whined. “Stop with the interrogation. You’re making him uncomfortable.”

“Oh don’t be silly. Am I making you uncomfortable, Shawn?”

Shit. I couldn’t say no now, could I? I looked at Anthony for help, but he couldn’t seem to come up with anything.

“No, ma’am,” I said, with a twinge of regret in my voice.

And so continued her questions. I tried my best to stick with one-word answers. Luckily, dinner was ready in a few, short, agonizing minutes, and I was able to stuff my mouth full of food to keep from talking much. Sad to say, it seemed to me that Anthony didn’t exist to her the entire time. She seemed to direct all her focus on me. I could tell that Anthony was feeling left out. But then again, with all the questions that she was asking me, I wouldn’t have minded trading places with him. After dinner, Anthony begged his mom to let us have our free time.

“He didn’t come over to hear you ask every question under the sun. Let us spend some time together. Alone.”

I liked the sound of that. Especially the “alone” part. She miraculously relented and let us escape up to his room.

“Dude, I’m so sorry about my mom,” Anthony said as he shut the door.

“It’s okay, man. I understa-”

I couldn’t get the last word out because Anthony’s lips were suddenly on mine, and his tongue was searching for a nest inside my mouth. Then I couldn’t remember what I was trying to say, as I was also thrusting my tongue into Anthony’s mouth to probe for cavities. But it didn’t stop there. Anthony picked me up, he freaking picked me up, and practically dashed towards his bed, throwing both of us down upon it. Once there, our tongue civil war continued, both trying to dominate the other. We sealed off any spaces between our bodies and grasped the other’s mane with one hand, in a desperate attempt to mash each other’s face closer to our own, and used our other hand to further explore the other’s body. This went on for the next several minutes. Several glorious minutes. Eventually, though, we both had to come up for air and were pretty worn out. We just rested on his bed, side by side, trying to get some air into our lungs.

“I...really...missed you,” Anthony said between breathes.

“Yeah. I...missed you...too,” I replied back.

Then we just cuddled up together, still facing each other, and continued to rest. I really hope that we get better at doing this. I don’t want our sex to be thirty seconds long and have us both completely wiped out. We lay there, unmoving, for the next several minutes. I think. Actually, when I opened my eyes again, I looked around and found a clock, which said that we had been lying there for the past half an hour. I panicked a little, thinking that Anthony’s mom might have came in while we were sleeping, and woke Anthony up.

“Hmm? What is it?” he asked in his groggy state.

“We’ve been out for the past half an hour,” I said, fear strung into my voice. “What if your mom came in and found us like this?”

“No prob. I locked the door,” he answered, grinning slightly and looking quite proud of his solution.

But then his face did its usual, turning from one emotion to another, in this case, from happy to scared.

“But dude, we do have to be careful around her. I don’t want her finding out about anything.”

“Yeah, that reminds me. You said that you told her about us when we were talking on the phone.”

“I never said anything like that!”

“I asked you if your mom was okay with us being together and you said yes!”

“You never asked that!”

“You said that you two talked about it and that you even brought it up with her! You said that she seemed okay with it!”

“I was talking about the idea of inviting you over for dinner! Not about a relationship!”

That brought me down a peg or two. I was thinking that he already told his mom about everything, and he was thinking something entirely different. So his mom doesn’t know about us. That would make his comment at the front door seem clear now.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I thought that you meant that you told her. About us,” I mumbled.

“Shawn, there’s NO WAY that I could do that. She couldn’t handle that. I mean, I’m her only son, her very masculine son. She expects so much out of me, like getting a wife and starting a family. Not until well after graduation, of course, but still. I can’t crush all her hopes and dreams of me. I don’t want her hating me.”

Anthony was practically pleading with me at this point. I could see where he was coming from, kind of. I never really cared too much about living up to my mom’s expectations, but I could see him not wanting to be kicked out of his house. I wouldn’t doubt him not wanting to wind up like me. I guess I could live with a closeted boyfriend for a little while, at least until he grows more comfortable with himself. Maybe he should talk to Keith, or even Emmy. Both seem like they know about us already.

“Fine,” I sighed. “I won’t blow it in front of your mom.”

He looked physically relieved. I inwardly sighed again. At least I have Anthony. Better than nothing. We settled back down into his bed and made small talk with each other. It reminded me of the time I was in the hospital. We were slowly opening up to each other. It wasn’t something that I was used to, but I was willing to give it a shot, for him. I was surprised at what I learned about him; I was surprised at what topics we got into as well. I didn’t know that his favorite pizza topping was pineapple. I don’t know how I could’ve known about it before, but it was still very interesting to me. He busted out laughing when I admitted that my favorite topping was four or five different kinds of cheese on it, with more cheese stuffed into the crust, and that I called myself a “cheese-aholic.” He said "cheese whore" sounded more appropriate. A pillow magically threw itself at his head.

Throughout our little chat, we would periodically stop so that we could peck each other on the lips and stare into each other’s eyes. I know that sounds incredibly sappy, but that’s what we did. We really couldn’t help ourselves; it was the only way we could really express what we were feeling. His mom came in once, asking if we wanted anything, and was promptly ushered away.

“So how are your panic attacks?” he asked a little while later.

It hadn’t occurred to me, but I then realized that I hadn’t had one in quite awhile. Probably since that incident at school a couple weeks back.

“Great, actually. I haven’t had one since that time in school.”

“That’s really cool, dude. You know, I was really worried about you when you had that. Scared the living shit out of me. I didn’t know what was going on. I panicked.” Then he looked down at me again. “But I’m glad that you’re alright now.”

It must’ve been time for another kiss, because he was leaning down to me again.

After we had kissed for about ten minutes, he lifted his face from mine and stared into my eyes again. Did I mention that he had the most awesome emerald green eyes ever? But he surprised me again by speaking up in a concerned voice.

“Hey, Shawn? Um, I kinda need to tell you something. There’s a reason why I invited you over for dinner tonight. And it’s not entirely because I wanted to see you again.”

That caught my attention.

“It wasn’t? Then why?”

He remained silent for a few moments. I didn’t like where this was going.

“Um, and I don’t want you to freak out or anything, but remember when you first had that nightmare?”

I definitely was not liking where this was going. After not saying anything, Anthony took that as a cue to continue.

“Well, before that, while you were still asleep, I got up and called Aunt Emmy to tell her that you were staying over for the night. Well, before I hung up, she told me that your mom called her house.”

I froze up again. What was my mom doing, calling Emmy’s house? Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

“She told me that she called asking for you, but you weren’t there at the time. Aunt Emmy went on to say that your mom is apparently better now, and is trying to get both you and your sister to come back home.”

Fat chance of THAT happening!

“Well, at first, since I...um...yeah...did that to you,” he explained, clearly not wanting to say that he attacked me. “I really didn’t want your mom or Aunt Emmy to see whatever bruises or cuts I may have put on you, so I told Aunt Emmy that you weren’t ready, mentally-wise, to go back home to your mom. Then, the next morning, after you had that ‘nightmare’, to put it nicely, I really didn’t think that you were fit to go back home. After you started having those panic attacks, I convinced Aunt Emmy that you would be in worse shape if you were to go back home. I remembered how your mom treated you back in the hospital.”

I looked back up at him and smiled. He really was looking out for me, even way back then. He bought some more time for me to self-heal. And he was right; if I had gone back to Mom, who knows what I’d be like right now. Definitely not better than I was. Unfortunately, Anthony had to go and spoil the moment.

“BUT,” he warned. “There had to be an agreement somewhere down the line. I couldn’t just keep you from your own mom forever. I told Emmy that as soon as you were feeling better, and that the panic attacks had stopped, that I would call her and let her know that you were okay enough to go back to your own home.”

I could see where this was going now.

“So when did you call her?” I asked.

“I haven’t yet. I figured that you should know what was going on before I do call her.”

“I don’t want to go back with her.”

“Shawn, dude, she’s your mom.”

“She never was one to me!” I yelled.

“Dude! Chill! Why would you say that about your mom? I mean, I know that parents can be annoying, but...” he drifted off.

I REALLY didn’t want to have this conversation with him right now. Or ever.

“Look, it’s getting late. I need to get going soon. Emmy should be leaving right about now to come get me. And I’m sure that your mom wants to see me one more time before I go.”

“Hey look dude, I’ll just call Emmy up right now and say that you’re spending the night. I’m sure that she’d be okay with it.”

As much as I wanted to protest, I couldn’t not say “no” to the offer of sleeping with him.

“Yeah, whatever,” was what I said instead.

By the time he had left the room to make the call, I had suddenly remembered something. Didn’t Emmy tell me to call her in case a sleepover should happen? Did she know that this was going to happen? Oh Gawd, what if she already knows? This could cement the entire thing into her head.

I leaped out of the bed and ran out of the room, trying to see where Anthony went. Crap, his mom is downstairs. I can’t run, exactly, or she’ll know that something is up. I had to walk casually towards where Anthony was, which was in another room, I was guessing the master bedroom, which had a phone in it. But I seemed to be too late. He was already talking to Emmy. He looked at me with a puzzled face, not knowing that he was practically outing the both of us to her.

“Hold on a sec., Aunt Emmy. Shawn wants something,” he said, then covered up the receiving end. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Dude!” I exclaimed, borrowing his favorite word. “Emmy already told me to call her tonight if I wanted to sleep over. I think she already knows about us! She’s expecting for us to sleep together tonight!” I hissed so that she wouldn’t overhear.

I could visibly see all the color drain from his face.

“But...I already asked her if you could stay. She said yes.”

He stayed quiet for a moment.

“GODDAMMIT!” he yelled, but then remembered that Emmy was on the other line. He quieted down his voice after that. “What are we gonna to do?” he asked, pleadingly.

I had no answer to that. I couldn’t come up with anything brilliant with no moment’s notice. I was drawing a blank. Anthony had to put the phone back up to his ear.

“Yes, I’m still here, Aunt Emmy...Ummm...he wanted to know...where the bathroom was...Yeah, I guess I have a short attention span. Well, I guess we better get going. It is a school night and all...Yeah, we won’t be up too late...Okay, bye.”

Then he hung up. He looked defeated, and I could tell why.

“Why didn’t you tell her that I couldn’t stay over after all?”

“I couldn’t! I never found a place where I could tell her without her getting suspicious!”

We both sighed.

“So...I guess I’m sleeping over tonight.”