Sunflowers and Tulips

It had been a week since I was allowed home, and to be honest, I was a little miserable. I couldn’t go back to school until this Monday, and even then it was pretty useless since Christmas break was coming up soon. Thank god I got my schoolwork while I was in the hospital or else I would have been totally screwed. Dad really saved my ass on that one.

The only disadvantage to being home was that James was put under house arrest for not being at home for a long period of time…even though he told his grandparents he would be in the hospital because of a leg injury and would not be able to come home. I guess that shows us how much they really hate him. In any case, I guess it’s good because he needs to take care of Liola. She was only ten, and since their grandparents hate her as much as they hate him, the past few weeks must have been rough. It actually makes me feel a little guilty…

“Braedon?” a voice whispered, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I sat up from my bed, feeling a little bit of a head rush, but got over it quickly. “Yeah? Who is it?”

“It’s me, dipshit.” I then recognized the silky smooth voice of James.

“Hey baby!” I exclaimed, flinging my arms in the air. “How did you get out of Prison?”

He chuckled, letting his shoulders rise up and down. “I apparated.”

“But you can’t apparate inside of Hogwarts!”

An annoyed look crossed over his face, but I saw in his eyes he was only joking. “We’re not in Hogwarts, you idiot. We’re in your trailer.”

I shot a look at him, “Insults seem to be your thing today.”

He shrugged, grinning. “What can I say? I’m in an extremely good mood.”

“Oh yeah,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “’Cause you insult everyone when you’re in a good mood. Mhmm. You’re only doing that to make me feel bad.” I pouted, making it look like I was hurt by what he said.

His dazzling green eyes widened in shock. “Wh-what? No! I would never make you feel bad on purpose.”

“Key words: ‘on purpose’.”

He threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. “You know what I mean!”

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. “Baby, I’m only messing around with you I know you’ wouldn’t do that. Your face was funny though.”

“Shuttup…” he mumbled, looking down and shuffling his feet.

Walking across the room, I took his face in my hands and lightly kissed him. That same, damn spark ignited, making me press further, wanting more. He eagerly responded, gripping my hair and slightly pulling. My tongue pressed against his bottom lip, begging for entrance, and he opened his mouth, making us be closer together. Heat was radiating both of our bodies, making me slightly moan. I wanted to go further, but there was still one thing that bugged me. So, I pulled away and took a step back.

James looked at me weirdly, his head tilting and giving me a questioning gaze. “What is it?”

I stayed silent, studying his face closely. Now that I got a good look, I could see his eyes were red and puffy, his face was a little off-colour, and he was skinnier than normal. He lied to me about being alright. “Why did you lie?”

“Lie about what?”

“Being fine.”

He sighed, putting his hands in his face in exhaustion. “Can we talk about this later, please?”

“No. We’re talking about this now,” I replied with an unexpected tone of authority.

Shaking his head, he walked over to the bed, and then sat down. I still looked at him, waiting for an answer. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke. “Babe…please just drop it. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“No,” I repeated. “Now.”

His head flew up, making his green orbs meet with my blue ones. “I said drop it. Please.” There was a little bit more forcefulness in his voice, but I didn’t want to back down just yet.

“I don’t care if you want to drop it! Something is bothering you and I want to know what, so tell me.”

“Fine.” He snapped, irritated. “You really want to know what’s bothering me? My grandparents called me a fag.”

It was a horrible word. To be called that was a big insult, even to gay people. Say you were in the flag core in band. You know, the people spinning the pretty flags during the half time performance? It’s just like calling them ‘flaggots’. It’s just a big no-no. They get extremely insulted by it, so make sure they do not have their flags in their hands while you are calling them that. That day was not the best day in the world…Anyways, James being called “fag” was a shock to me, even though he’s most likely called that on a daily basis.

Anger creeped over my skin like bugs, starting from my toes and slowly moved upwards until all that I saw was red. It was despicable, the way his grandparents treated James and Liola. Neither of them deserved it, especially Liola. She was only ten, after all.

A low growl escaped my lips. “Why,” I snarled, clenching my fists tightly. My knuckles were nearly white.

“…I told them about us,” James whispered, looking down.

Immediately, I calmed down. He told his grandparents—the most homophobic people in town—about us? He must really accept the fact he’s gay. I was truthfully impressed; if he had the balls to tell his grandparents, then why can’t I tell my family and friends? It would be easier to do that than look at your grandparents straight in the eye and tell them about your boyfriend like James did. “But baby…why?” I asked, curious as to what the answer could be.

Tears were now streaming down his face and I hugged him, trying to silently tell him that it was alright. His muscular arms snaked around me and his head lied on top of mine. I could feel his warm, salty tears hit my hair but I didn’t mind. “They were saying that gay people were f-faggots and wouldn’t sh-shutup. They were just being s-so mean, so I said
‘W-well your grandchild is a faggot, then.’ And th-screamed and screamed. I ran…”

The story brought me to tears too. How could two people deny such a wonderful person his feelings? It was cruel. “Baby…” I said, choking on my words a little. “You are a wonderful person, no matter what anyone says. You’re funny and clever and amazing. That’s why I love you so much. You’re just…you. And you should never change that, whether you’re gay or not. I care about who you truly are, not who people want you to be, alright? Nothing matters but how you feel about yourself and if you feel bad, you need to tell me so that I can help you. That’s what I’m here for…to help, okay? I won’t ever get mad at you and I will not ever judge you because you know what?”

“Wh-what?” he replied, whimpering.

“You are a beautiful person, both inside and out.”

He nodded, not bothering to reply.

“Now…let’s talk about Liola. Where is she?”

“In the living room with Daniel.”

Sure enough, the faint sounds of laughter and a little girl’s voice floated through the cracks of my door. She sounded so happy, despite what happened. I just wish I could make him that happy...“So do you want to put her to bed?”

James shook his head. “No…Daniel said he’d take care of her.”

I scoffed; knowing my dad, he would keep her up until all hours of the morning. “Alright, then. Well while they’re all mingling and everything, we shall go to sleep. I don’t know about you, but I’m extremely tired…and I didn’t even get yelled at like you did.”

He just nodded. “Alright…”

So, we crawled into my bed, his arms wrapped around my waist and I closed my eyes, falling into a dreamless sleep.