Love Song

When Tommy got back to the hospital, he mother wasn’t there any longer. He asked the nurse if his mother mentioned anything to her in case my dad woke up.
“I think she said that she was going home,” said the nurse.
Tommy left the hospital and drove back home. When he walked into the house, he found his mom decorating the Christmas tree. He slowly walked over to her to help her. They carefully placed the lights and the tinsel on each branch. Once that was done it was time for the ornaments. He picked two ornaments out of box and held them in his hand. One was a boy elf and the other, a girl elf.
“Mom, which one would look better?” Tommy asked.
“I don’t know, Tommy. Pick one.”
“But what if you don’t like the one I pick?”
“Tommy! Just—“She realized that he was holding a boy and girl ornament. She took a deep breath. “Choose which ever is right for you,” she said softly.
Tommy slowly held up the boy elf and hung it on the tree.
“Mom, I know this isn’t what you pictured for me; it’s not even what I pictured for myself, but I’m in love and I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life.”
This immense sad feeling was evident in his mother. She had a face on that was extremely depressing.
“I just—I can’t handle this right now, Thomas.” She put the ornaments that were in her hand down and left to go inside her room. She shut the door.
Just then, the phone rang. It was the call that Tommy was hoping that it wasn’t. His father passed away in his sleep and it was hospital calling. Tommy dropped the phone to the floor.

* * *

“I can’t go,” said Tommy. “I won’t be able to handle it. Can’t I just go see you in the festival?”
Matthew was fixing Tommy’s tie. “It’s your father’s funeral, Tommy. If you don’t go, you’ll regret it forever.”
Tommy hugged Matthew. “What would I do without you?”
Matthew giggled. “Probably lose your head.”
They stayed close after the hugged and pecked each other on the lips.
“Anyway, I thought you weren’t ready to come out,” said Matthew. “If you come to the festival, everyone will know that you’re there for me.”
Tommy sighed, “What if I’m sick of hiding already? We’re in love. Why shouldn’t we be able to show that?”
“You know how people in this town can be. They’re close minded idiots. You don’t know what they’ll do. Those were your exact words.”
Tommy sighed again. “Right…”
“Now go. You’re going to be late and your mom will kill me if you’re late.”

* * *

The Brooks house was full of people; family he did know and family he didn’t know. He sat on his couch in the middle of all of it. Then, two of his aunts sat next to him and started to gossip without acknowledging him at all. He didn’t have to endure it for long because June walked in. He got up from the couch to greet her. She wrapped her arms around him.
“I’m so sorry, Tommy.”
Tommy let a tear fall from his face. He couldn’t hold his emotions any longer. That one tear broke the seal. He just let all of his sadness out on June’s shoulder. She patted his back.
“It’s okay, Tommy. Let it out.”
He only cried for a few more seconds until he pulled himself together again.
“I can’t take it being here anymore, June. I just can’t handle it.” Then, he thought about the fact that she was actually there. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the festival with August Band?”
“Yes, that’s why I came. You should be at the festival,” said June. “I know this is your dad’s funeral, but your dad wanted you to be happy more than anything else.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“The night that you and your mom had that fight about her seeing Matthew, he heard that. I didn’t want to lie to him so I explained it all.”
“What? He never said anything,” said Tommy, confused.
“That’s because the fact that you were in love with a boy didn’t matter to him. What mattered to him was that you were happy. I remember it well. He said ‘He’s in love’ with a smile and then fell asleep.”
“Let’s go,” said Tommy.
Tommy took his jacket off, but left his tie and quickly left his father’s funeral. June sped them to the festival before August Band played their last song.
Once they got to the square, Tommy fought through a crowd of people to get to a spot where Matthew could see him, but Matthew never did. They started to play the song that Matthew wrote for him.
“This is our new song,” said Matthew into the mike as the band started to play the soft melody. “It’s called ‘Love Song’.”
Once Matthew started to sing the lyrics that were so sweetly written for him, Tommy found himself put to tears again. Once the song was done, it was the end of August Band’s set. They took all of their equipment off the stage and Tommy waited impatiently for them to come from backstage.
He finally spotted the group on the other side of the stage and fought through the crowd to get to them. When he got to the other side, they had already passed him. He called out.
“Matthew!”
Matthew turned around in the middle of a laugh. The group stopped with him. When he saw Tommy, Matthew smiled and walked to him.
“Hey you. I thought you were with your family.”
“I was for a while. I couldn’t handle it anymore. It was way too sad. Before my dad started to drink so much, he was a very fun guy. He always told jokes and made light of a lot of situations. I don’t think he would’ve wanted everyone being so sad over his death. So, I came to you to be happy.”
Matthew smiled and Tommy couldn’t resist. He reached out for him, pulled him closer and pressed their lips together. They smiled at each other after their brief kiss and then took each other’s hands.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Tommy.
The rest of the August band smiled at them and then kept walking. Matthew and Tommy walked behind them. Their hands never came apart. Matthew wasn’t lonely anymore and for the first time since Tanya disappeared, Tommy was happy.