Accept Me or Except Me

I was sitting in a booth with Matt, Laurence and my boyfriend. That word still makes me tingle inside. I looked over at him. Was it just me, or did he start wearing tighter underwear since we first… got intimate? It seems so. His bulge is more than obvious.

Hazel’s Bagels is one of my favorite places to eat. It’s a deli that specializes in bagels, obviously. I was finishing the last bite of one bagel and spinning my next on my finger before my phone rang, which made me jump and almost drop my bagel. I caught it in time and answered.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE PLAYING AT!?” screamed my father from the other end of the phone.

I slapped my hand to my face. Duh! My parents didn’t know where I was. “Uh, I couldn’t get home yesterday…”

“I COULD FREAKING WELL SEE THAT!” Wow. It takes a lot for a priest to say something like that.

“Dad, I was t-taken by Josh because he doesn’t like the idea of Danny and me being together, and…”

“Who’s Danny?” asked Dad, genuinely confused.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuckety shit fuck. Ahh! How could I be so fucking stupid! This was all meant to come out in time and now everything’s ruined. Danny could see I was upset so he put his arm around my shoulders. In the current situation, it didn’t reassure me, but I didn’t pull away. I banged my head against the table.

“D-Danny’s my… boyfriend…” I stammered. This wasn’t the way this was supposed to happen at all!

“What!? You didn’t even bother asking me before you start messing around with other men? Isn’t the guy at least meant to ask me? Where the fuck has tradition gone!?”

Dad didn’t even pick up on the fact that I was taken. I was feeling strangely unshaken by the whole experience. It was more than scary when it happened. They just left me on the god damn floor! It was fine when Matt got me. He seemed excited and he wanted to tell me all about Laurence. He is such a girl.

I quickly hung up. Quite rudely, looking back on it, but I needed to stop and think before confronting my dad.

“What happened?” asked Laurence seriously from across the table.

“I… it was meant to be a secret!” I started, almost crying. “It just slipped out! I’m sorry Danny, but you know what my dad’s like. He- I haven’t had enough time!”

“Shh, baby,” Danny soothed me, “’sgonna be OK. I’ll come with you, eh? Then he can get to know me.”

“I don’t know about that…”

“Emotional support, remember?”

* * *

‘We meet again, Jesus,’ I think to myself as I silently pray a second time before entering my home sheepishly, with Danny at my side.

Dad was sitting, tapping his foot aggressively before noticing the two of us. We were clothed, thank god. We had both grabbed clothes at Matt’s house before coming here. Good impressions are vital here. He stood up and eyed Danny up and down. He sighed, waiting for an introduction.

“Dad, I, uh, wanted to tell you when I was a bit more ready, but, uh…” I looked at Danny. “This is Danny, my boyfriend.”

Danny stood where he was, looking confident yet not cocky. A trick he’d mastered since I first met him. Dad didn’t look too unimpressed, but he still looked livid. Danny put out his hand for Dad to shake. Dad wasn’t too reluctant to touch it, but it was there. He finally did.

“Good handshake.” Dad said bluntly before sitting down and motioning for us to join him. “Now, what happened yesterday?”

I was about to answer, but Danny jumped in, saving my butt.

“I was escorting your son home yesterday after he visited Matt, when we were attacked. My friend Josh – well he used to be my friend – kidnapped us with a couple of his friends and tied us up in the forest. He’s really homophobic and he beats up people he doesn’t understand. I can’t believe I used to be like that.”

Oh my god. Danny, what the fuck is wrong with you? I was screaming internally. That was the slip up of the goddamn century. He quickly realized what he’d said, but Dad did quicker. He stood up.

“You used to hurt people who were different? Like Lee?”

“N-no, sir… never Lee…”

He was so perfect at so many things… What were the chances that the one thing he was bad at was lying? My dad got closer to Danny and poked his finger on his chest.

“You,” he said, “are going to stay away from my son. I don’t want my son getting hurt by people like you. Scram!”

Danny looked like he wanted to stay more than anything else, but he knew better. He stood up and left with an apologetic smile. Dad turned to me.

“I don’t want you hanging ‘round with people like him. If they wound you once, they’ll get close to you, so they can turn the wound into a scar.”

Dad was so poetic when he was fuming.