Dirty Little Secret

I didn’t get a call from Zack until the next afternoon, so when he finally called I sighed in relief. “Hey, Zack.”

“Hey. Sorry I didn’t call yesterday. I was busy talking with my parents,” Zack said.

“That’s okay. How did that go? Did your dad admit to being an asshole?”

“Basically. He said he was sorry for calling me a faggot and being so rude about me being gay. He said that I probably needed support more than anything, and he’ll try to get used to the whole idea of me being gay and having a boyfriend,” he explained.

I smiled, “That’s good.”

“Yeah. After we got past the apologies and explanations was when it got awkward and embarrassing,” Zack groaned.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they decided to give me the sex talk. I’ve already had that discussion with them, so I don’t understand why that was necessary. They went on and on about how we still needed to use condoms and stuff like that,” he sighed.

“What, I’m going to get pregnant?” I joked, and Zack laughed a little.

“I guess so.”

I chuckled, “I’m glad your dad changed his mind. Sometimes people just need to realize they’re being stupid and then they come around.”

“Yeah... there’s one more thing,” Zack said hesitantly.

“Hmm?”

“My parents are demanding for me to invite you over to dinner tomorrow, on New Year’s Eve.”

“What? I don’t know,” I squeaked out.

Zack sighed, “My parents will probably find a way to make you come over either way, so you might as well show up.”

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On New Year’s Eve, Zack came by my house to pick me up and bring me back to his house. I was kind of nervous, even though I had already met his mom. His dad was the one that I was scared to meet.

“Everything will be fine, Jack. If my dad starts being a jerk to you for some reason, I’ll take you home,” Zack promised, pulling into his driveway.

“That doesn’t really calm my nerves at all.”

Zack rolled his eyes, leaning over and kissing me. “Come on. They’re waiting for us.”

“Okay,” I sighed.

I got out of the car and followed him into the house, staying behind him so I was slightly out of sight. We took our shoes off at the front door and Zack called out, “We’re home!”

“Come in the kitchen!” Zack’s mom called back. Zack led me into the kitchen, where both of his parents were. “Hello, Jack! Nice to see you again.”

“Hi, Mrs. Merrick,” I greeted with a smile. Zack’s dad stood up from the table and walked over to me, holding his hand out.

“Nice to meet you, Jack,” he said gruffly.

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Merrick,” I said, shaking his hand.

Mrs. Merrick smiled at me as she walked over to the table, putting a pan down, “I’m glad you could come over for dinner. It’ll give us a chance to get to know you a little better.”

Zack chuckled when my eyes widened, leading me over to the table. I sat down next to him quietly. Usually I was more outgoing with adults, but this was more nerve-wracking than usual. Zack’s parents got dinner on the table and sat down, telling us to grab our plates and get some food.

“So, Jack, you’re a senior also?” Mr. Merrick asked as we were eating.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“Do you know what college you want to go to yet?” Mrs. Merrick asked.

I shrugged, “I’m not sure yet. I don’t know what career I want to go into.”

“That’s okay, Zack doesn’t either. Even though I’ve been telling him to look into careers for a year now,” Mrs. Merrick said, and Zack rolled his eyes.

“Do you play any sports?” Mr. Merrick asked after a few minutes of silence.

I shook my head, “No, I’m a little too scrawny to play any sports. And I’m way too uncoordinated.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I love to watch football though. It’s my favorite sport,” I added quickly.

Mr. Merrick smiled at me for the first time all evening. “Really? What team?”

“The Ravens, of course.”

The awkward tension was broken after that, and all of us ended up talking about the Ravens for the rest of dinner. Even Zack’s mom knew all about the team. My mom doesn’t know anything about football.

“Would you like any help cleaning up dinner?” I offered after dinner, as Mrs. Merrick was cleaning up the dishes.

“Oh, that’s sweet of you! Zack never offers to help with the dishes,” she said, looking at her son.

“I do too!” Zack protested.

She smiled, “I don’t need any help, dear. Thank you for offering though. I’m glad Zack found a gentleman for a boyfriend.”

We both blushed, glancing at each other. Mr. Merrick added, “Jack, you can stay the night over here if you would like, it being New Year’s Eve and all. We’re going over to a friend’s house anyway.”

“Really?” Zack asked in surprise.

“Yes. Just don’t do anything stupid,” Mr. Merrick said sternly.

Zack nodded, “Got it. Thanks.”

“It was nice to meet you, Jack,” Mr. Merrick added as Zack started to tug me out of the kitchen.

“Nice to meet you too.”

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“You totally won over my dad as soon as you started talking about the Ravens,” Zack said happily. We were lying on his bed upstairs in his room, where we had been hanging out for the rest of the night.

“It didn’t even occur to me that he would like the Ravens, or I would have mentioned them sooner,” I chuckled.

Zack shrugged, “Either way, he likes you. I’m glad he approves of us.”

“Me too.”

“Hey, what time is it?” Zack asked, leaning over to look around me at his clock.

“Five minutes to midnight. Ooh, change the channel, I wanna watch the ball drop!” I said excitedly. He laughed at my enthusiasm, picking up the remote and changing the channel.

“You know, I never thought I’d be lying in bed with my boyfriend on New Year’s Eve,” Zack mused.

“Is that a good thing?” I asked.

Zack smiled, “Yeah. It definitely is.”

“You also probably didn’t think you’d be fully gay at this point,” I chuckled, and he nodded.

“True.”

I sighed, linking my hand with his, “You know, this freedom is only temporary. We’re going to have to go back to hiding our relationship when school starts in a few days.”

“You’re still okay with that, right?” Zack asked.

“Yeah, I don’t mind. I’m just saying; we’ll have less time together than we’ve had in the last two weeks. We got lucky,” I said.

Zack shrugged, “We’ll make it work.”

The people on TV began to count down the last minute before midnight, and Zack and I both joined in when it got to the last ten seconds. As soon as we got down to zero, the celebration started on the TV, but Zack and I both leaned in to kiss as the new year began.

Zack smirked when we pulled apart, “That was definitely cheesiest thing I’ve done.”

“Same here,” I giggled.

He smiled, squeezing my hand, “Here’s to what will be an interesting new year.”