What Are You Waiting For?

I sat up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep, Ian sound asleep besides me, only because he cried himself to sleep, thinking that I didn’t hear him. I pulled out my phone and called Riley.

“Mm, Nick?” He answered sleepily.

“Sorry for waking you up, but this is really important.” I said, feeling tears stinging the corners of my eyes.

“What is it?” He asked, yawning.

“I guess Ian’s mom has a boyfriend that none of us knew about, and they’ve been seeing each other for two months, and she wants to marry him, but if she wants to do that, they have to move. Not only is that totally unacceptable, but he doesn’t even approve of Ian being gay. We have to find some way of making Ian’s mom say no, because he can’t leave,” I sniffled, quickly wiping my eyes. “He just can’t.”

Riley said nothing at first, and I heard muffled voices in the background, presumably Ethan.

“We’re coming over. We’ll be there in a few minutes.” Riley said, hanging up before I had a chance to protest.

I flipped my phone down and set it on the nightstand, wiping my eyes again, getting out of bed, making sure not to wake Ian. I looked back at him, and he was out cold. I smiled at him, leaving our room so I could wait for Riley and Ethan to get here.

I heard a soft knock on the front door, and I rushed to answer it, letting Riley and Ethan in quickly, all three of us sitting on the couch.

“Now what is this all about? Riley didn’t say anything, he just woke me up and he had tears coming down his face.” Ethan said, yawning, still looking half asleep.

“Ian’s mom wants to marry this douche bag, and in order to do that, they have to move, and we have to stop that from happening, if not for our sakes, then solely for Nick’s. We can’t let them take him away from us.” Riley explained as more tears fell down my face.

“Well how are we gonna do that?” Ethan asked. “It’s not like we have any power over his mom.”

“We’re going to have to try everything we can do make her say no.” I said quietly.

“Where’s Ian?” Riley asked.

“Sleeping. He cried himself to sleep.” I mumbled, hanging my head.

I felt Ethan and Riley’s arm both go around me, squeezing me. “We’ll fix this, don’t worry. Ian’s not going anywhere.” Ethan said.

I sniffled, looking at the floor. “I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight. My mind is too busy racing.”

“We’ll stay with you.” Riley said, taking my hand and squeezing it.

I smiled at Riley, resting my head on his shoulder. “Thank you so much.”

I ended up falling asleep with Riley and Ethan two hours after they arrived, comforted by their presence. We all passed out on the floor, and I woke up extremely sore the next morning.

I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. I turned my head, seeing a groggy Ian standing there, looking slightly confused. “Why are you out here? And why are they here?”

I got up and went over to him, though stiff, and hugged him, kissing him. “I couldn’t fall asleep last night, so I called them and asked them to come over.”

Ian nodded, resting his head on my chest as our arms stayed around each other.

“Ian, what are Ethan and Riley doing here?” I heard his mom’s voice ask from behind us.

We turned towards Ethan and Riley, who were waking up, then to his mom, scowling at her.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe spending the last moments that we can with our best friend before you ship him away from us?” Ethan snapped, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

Ian’s mom said nothing, just sighing, going into the kitchen.

Ian and I walked to the couch and sat down, looking down at Riley and Ethan on the floor, all of us completely down in the dumps.

I heard Ian’s mom’s voice coming from in the kitchen. It sounds like she’s on the phone. I listened in and tried picking up what she’s saying.

“I know…yes, I completely agree, but just because that’s better for us doesn’t mean it’s better for everyone. We have to include everyone in this picture…mhm…have you thought about moving down here?…what’s the difference? We’d still be together, and you’d still have your money…”

I rolled my eyes. I have a feeling this has a lot more to do with money.

“Well I have to take Ian into consideration, too…yes, he’s really gay, why would I lie about…yes, he has a boyfriend whom he loves very much, and I would hate for hi-…it’s the same as if you and I got separated, Brian. I don’t want to make Ian leave him and his best friends, he’s happy here.” His mom seemed to be getting frustrated with this guy, Brian, I guess his name is. She’s starting to take our side, which made me smile.

I heard her sigh. “Okay, I’ll see you later today. Bye.” She hung up and slammed the phone on the counter.

Ian leaned into me, and I wrapped my arm around him, kissing his temple. “She made an effort, lets see if that effort is wasted.”

----------

He entered the house, and he earned glares from everyone in the room, except for Ian’s mom.

“Hey guys.” He said, trying to sound nice.

We all said nothing, just kept staring.

He looked awkward, then sighed. “Alright, I know why you all seem to hate me-”

“Seem? Oh, we do, we fucking do.” Ethan snapped.

“-but what I’m doing is for a good cause for the both of you, you and your mother-”

“Just shut up. Shut. Up. I don’t wanna hear your bullshit. Just because it’s good for the both of us doesn’t mean it’s good for me personally. What’s good for me is staying here and having you out of here, since you’re causing nothing but problems.” Ian argued.

Brian’s fist flew up and met Ian’s face, making him fall over onto me. “That’s what you get, you fucking homo freak, ruining all the plans.”

I automatically shot up off the couch, Riley and Ethan getting off the floor, all three of us getting in his face.

“You do not do that to Ian. He never did anything to you, and you’re trying to take him away from me, from us.” I spat, shaking my head. “That’s not going to fly. All three of us can and will beat you beyond recognition.”

I didn’t turn around when I heard Ian’s mom gasp and let out a little shriek when she saw her son. He probably had a line of blood running from his nose or lip. If I turned around, he would surely take advantage of it and hurt me next.

“Aww, the boyfriend sticking up for his man lover, how disgusting.” Brian said, breathing on me. I automatically smelled alcohol, as did everyone else.

Ethan grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall. I stood there in slight amazement; this guy isn’t small, and Ethan isn’t exactly huge.

“Shut the fuck up, you drunken piece of shit. You’re just jealous of what they have and what you could never have, whether it be with another guy or a chick. Get over yourself. You’re an alcoholic, and you want to make everyone else’s lives miserable so you feel good about yourself.” Ethan said, getting right in his face. “Now get the fuck out of here before I call the cops on your for child abuse. And don’t think I fucking won’t.” Ethan let him go, and Brian fled, staring his truck and racing down the street.

I turned to Ian’s mom, who was cleaning Ian’s face. “Did you know he’s an alcoholic? And that he hates gay people?”

She sniffled, and nodded. “He wouldn’t let me break up with him. He made me act like I was completely fine with everything he was doing, when I really wasn’t. When I snapped on the phone at him today, he was really mad, and he made me agree for him to come over today. I thought something like this was going to happen. I’m so sorry, all of you.”

I sat down next to her and rubbed her back. “We didn’t know he was doing all those things, so we automatically blamed you. We’re the ones that are sorry.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.” Ian said quietly, holding a tissue to his nose.

“It’s okay, sweetie.” She said, petting his hair.

“Mom, I want Nick.” He said.

“Of course.” She said, kissing his forehead before getting up so I could sit by him and he could cuddle into my for comfort. He kissed me softly, and his lips turned into a smile. We parted and he grabbed my hand, smile still on his face.

He smiled because he’s not leaving. He’s not going to go away. He’s staying here, and we’re staying together.