Questions

“Jordan, come on love, wake up!” I coo quietly, in his ear. Poor thing has yet to get over jet lag. He rolls over away from me, hiding under the comforter. “Come on Jordan, it’s seven! Come on, you need to get up! Your breakfast is going to be cold otherwise.”

He mumbles incoherencies, twisting back into my direction. His eyes are droopy and he makes a face. He shakes his head, "Why did I stay up so late. Terrible decision."

I chuckle, grabbing soon out reaching hands and pulling him into me. His face is against my chest and I can feel his breathing tickle me. I walk out of the room in front of him, leading him towards the kitchen. I set a plate of food at his spot. I repeat, putting mine across from his sitting down. I look over to him, seeing that he dragged several blankets with him.

He blushes and digs into his food. I follow suit. I was hoping he liked the vegetarian alternatives I had made.

"This is really good," he mumbles, munching on a piece of facon. "You guys have better tasting vegetarian food out here."

"Yeah, it was hard being a 'veg head' in Joplin." I reply, "Are you thinking of becoming one?" I ask.

He nods, "yeah, I thought it'll be the most logical decision. It's healthier for you and it'll make cooking less strenuous."

I nod my head in agreement. I turn my head as my phone buzzes. I sigh, getting up from my seat. Grabbing my phone, I grimace at the called I.D. Frowning I turn to Jordan, "it's my parents, shh."

I press the button, "hey Mom, how are you?"

"I'm okay Christofer. Why did it take you seven rings to pick up? Do you not want to talk to me?" she asks. She was so eccentric.

"I was eating breakfast mom. So how are things going? Do you have a lot of snow? There's like two and a half feet, maybe more. It snowed again last night."

"We have a couple inches. That queer you used to hang out with left for the break, to hang out with his boyfriend. Disgusting. He has lovely parents though. I can’t believe they let him leave. They should enter him in the-"

"Mom, leave the kid alone. He's nice, being gay is only a small part of him. Everyone's different. He's just being himself."

I can just imagine her glaring on the other side of the line. "Homosexuality is a sin, Christofer. It's disgusting."

"Hatred is also a sin, Mom." I respond, turning to look at Jordan. He's frowning. Ne obviously knows what were talking about. I walk out of the kitchen, into the laundry room.

"Leviticus 18:22 - "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."" my mom quotes.

"Detestable a synonym for hate." I respond bitterly. I hated having this one conversation with my mom. She was always trying to make Jordan out to be the bad guy.

"Leviticus 20:13 - "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blo-'" I cut her off.

"Mom, stop quoting the bible. I know all these verses. You drilled them into my head for 18 years."

She let's out an upset sigh, "what happened to you Christofer? Are you still going to church? Is that what's wrong?"

"Mom I still go to church, every Sunday. You know, Cali is very different then Joplin, right? You have to be more tolerable here."

"I'll keep that in my mind." she mumbles. "By the way, your father and I are flying out to see you the day after Christmas. We'll be there for three days."

Fuck. That was the day Grant came back. Where was I supposed to keep Jordan when they were here? If they saw him they'd flip on me.

"I- um, okay?" I respond. I'd had to find a way around this.

"Is there a problem with that?" she asks.

"Just a little one," I lie. "I'm going to be out that day, some friends and I are throwing a surprise birthday party for this one girl. She's turning twenty-one so we want to give her a good time."

"That’s understandable. Okay, we'll fly out the day after that, is that better?"

"Yeah, thanks mom. I got to go. I think someone's at the door. Bye."

"Bye, Christofer."

I hang up and lean against the wall. This. Was. Going. To. Be. Hell.

I walk back out to the kitchen, Jordan's not there. I proceed to the living room. There he is. My heart breaks at the site. He's in the fetal position, sobs softly racking his body.

"Jor, what's the matter, love?"

"You're parents hate me. They'll hate you. They'll hate us."

"Don’t worry about them. It doesn't matter. I don't need their approval. You're perfect. I love you and I'll never be able to love anyone else as much as I love you."

He smiles, "thanks Chris, I needed that. So what's up, you're kind of pale."

I bite my lip. "My parents are coming up two days after Christmas. You can't be here the first day their up... I'm so sorry."

Jordan sighs, "Okay, I guess I can go to the mall... or maybe that zoo. Why only the first day?"

"Well, we'll tell them that we heard you were in Cali, grant and I, and invited you over for some call of duty and harvest moon..."

"Okay, so they're only here for two days?"

"Three, but they'll want to spend the third looking around town and probably want me to go out to dinner with them."

He nods. "gotcha."

-

"Chris, Chris! Christofer fucking Ingle Drew get the fuck up, it's Christmas." Jordan squeals, pulling on my arm, dragging my half sleep, filled form to the living room. I stare at him for a second before backtracking to the kitchen to make coffee. I glance at the clock while waiting for the coffee to brew. My eyes widen.

"Jordan, it's five in the morning. Why did you wake me?"

He pouts, entering the room. "... Cuz its Christmas?"

I roll my eyes, "right, no presents before I get my coffee."

Jordan whines and I ignore him. I wait for my coffee to finish. He keeps giving me his puppy dog eyes. I pour my self a glass, trailing behind him as we file into the living room. I sit on the love seat and watch Jordan separate the gifts. He hands me a box, grinning sheepishly at me.

I carefully unwrap the box, grinning ear to ear at the contents. “Awww Jordan you didn’t have to!” I remove the ukulele from the box. “I haven’t played since my parents made me sell mine.”

“I know. I missed hearing you play it, and now since they cant make you get rid of it again, I thought it would be the best gift for you.”

I place my coffee on the side table, opening my arms, “Come here, you!” I wrap my arms tightly around him, laying kisses on his head. “You’re so great. You’re turn,” I respond, letting him loose and picking up some of his gifts. I hide the promise ring in my sweatpants. He unwraps the presents he squeals at the clothing. He sits on my lap and kisses my cheek, “Thank you!”

“There’s more,” I mumble in his ear. I slide him off my lap and look in his eyes. “Jordan, will you be my boyfriend?” I ask revealing the ring. “And promise that we’ll see each other until you move out here next year?”

Jordan grins at me, “Yes, yes, fucking yes, Chris. This is all I really wanted for Christmas. You’re wonderful. I love you!”