Byzantine Beaux
To The Park
His mother drives like a maniac back to the house because Aaron’s screaming that he has to do his ‘homework’. ‘I really hope I’m not this ‘homework.’’ But when we get home, he takes me to a motorbike. He sits down and I just stare. “Well get on.” I comply and he drives off to the city park. He parks under an enormous oak tree and spreads the blanket. “Okay, you want to know about Angélique? She was perfect. Her entire existence focused around being perfect. She thought I was perfect, but I’m not. I’m so screwed up in my head that it’s not even funny. I have daddy issues like a stripper and I hate myself to such an extreme it scares me. I can’t even look my mother in the face because I feel like I’m some sort of demon from hell and I hate algebra, a lot.” Even when he’s mad he makes me smile. “What are you smiling at?” He smiles and lies down next to me. “André, you make me feel…better.” I raise my eyebrows at the odd statement. “Like, I feel like I can really be me with you.”
“I feel the same, Aaron.” A breeze rustles the leaves overhead. “Tell me about your dad.”
“Joe? He left when I was five, said Mom and I weren’t worth his time. Mom didn’t marry Harold until I was ten, so I went without a dad when I needed one the most. I’ve never felt like I could go to Harold for stuff or to my mom, so I just kinda get along as best I can. It’s hard ‘cuz this is the third move in five years, but ya know.”
“Why do you hate yourself?”
“For what I am. I like boys, it’s not natural. If God wanted us to have butt sex, he would have made it like that.”
«Tu dois se rappeler que c’est des réactions qui n’étaient pas censé se passer qui sont les plus grand. » “You have to remember, the greatest reactions are the ones that weren’t supposed to happen.” He looks pensively in the distance. Pelicans fly overhead. I think of the city’s nickname, The City that Care Forgot. ‘It’s not fair that he’s so sad in this city. It’s almost a crime.’ I kiss him on his hand. He looks at me with a half smile on his beautiful lips and kisses me ever so softly on my lips. He chucks me under the chin and says we need to go home. ‘Today was a success!’
“I feel the same, Aaron.” A breeze rustles the leaves overhead. “Tell me about your dad.”
“Joe? He left when I was five, said Mom and I weren’t worth his time. Mom didn’t marry Harold until I was ten, so I went without a dad when I needed one the most. I’ve never felt like I could go to Harold for stuff or to my mom, so I just kinda get along as best I can. It’s hard ‘cuz this is the third move in five years, but ya know.”
“Why do you hate yourself?”
“For what I am. I like boys, it’s not natural. If God wanted us to have butt sex, he would have made it like that.”
«Tu dois se rappeler que c’est des réactions qui n’étaient pas censé se passer qui sont les plus grand. » “You have to remember, the greatest reactions are the ones that weren’t supposed to happen.” He looks pensively in the distance. Pelicans fly overhead. I think of the city’s nickname, The City that Care Forgot. ‘It’s not fair that he’s so sad in this city. It’s almost a crime.’ I kiss him on his hand. He looks at me with a half smile on his beautiful lips and kisses me ever so softly on my lips. He chucks me under the chin and says we need to go home. ‘Today was a success!’