Maybe It Was You All Along

Bringing Tony home wasn’t what I wanted to happen tonight, but it had to be done. I couldn’t risk my job and my sanity just for some student of mine. No, it wasn’t right and he really couldn’t be that hurt over what happened. It’s not like I was some superstar hottie. I was a 24 year old music teacher living in San Diego, for christs' sake. Besides, my parents were coming here for the weekend and I didn't feel like trying to explain having one of my students with me on a Friday evening.
​On the way home, Tony didn’t try anything. He stared out the window with a blank expression on his face. It killed me that I didn’t know what he was thinking, but I was still mad. Not at him, at myself, for giving into temptation. I couldn’t lose everything over something like this. I just couldn’t.
​I got to Tony’s house and pulled into the driveway. “Here,” I muttured, not really caring if I was being rude or not.
​“Thanks,” I heard him say under his breath as he stood. I put the car in drive, but Tony turned around and stopped me. “By the way, I’m sorry.” He closed the door and walked into his house as confusion washed over me. It was my fault, he didn’t need to be sorry for anything. 
I started to drive back home to get ready for Mom and Dad and make sure Mike at least looked sober before they got here. It had been a while since they had visited and I was looking forward to seeing them. I let my thoughts run away to memories of the food my mom always made and the soccer games Mike and I played with Dad, taking my mind off of Tony for a little while. I knew I couldn’t avoid the issue forever, but I could pretend it didn’t exist for a night. Or try, at the very least.
​I got home and pulled into the driveway, a little surprised that my family was here already. I thought we said 6 o’clock? I turned my head and was shocked to see that it was almost 7.
​“Ah!” I squeaked. How long was Tony at my house?! Whatever, it didn’t matter, all that mattered was Mom and Dad were here and we were going to have a fun evening without any drama to worry about. I got out of the car, opened the front door of my house and was greeted by three smiling faces.
​“Victor!” my mother called, a slight Spanish accent seeping into her voice.
​“Hey, mom, papa,” I greeted them as they squeezed the life out of me with hugs. “H-How are you?” I asked when they let go.
​“Excellent! But we’re here to see you! And cook you a nice dinner, of course. Do you want tacos or enchiladas?” Mom asked me.
​“Both!” Mike shouted from behind them. I could tell he was still stoned a bit, although by this point he was probably sobering up. “I’m hungry.” He whined.
​“Okay, Michael, we’ll make both.” Dad piped up and walked with Mom to the kitchen.
​“You know where everything is, right? Do you want some help?” I called and walked into the kitchen. They already had half the pans out and were turning on burners left and right.
​“We’ll manage!” Mom said. I laughed and turned back, bumping into Mike.
​“Vicky!” He giggled and I sighed.
​“Mike, can you at least try to act sober?” I said under my breath. He just chuckled some more.
​“Vicky, we have to taaalk.” He said and grabbed my wrist. I didn’t object as he pulled me upstairs into his room. I already knew what he was going to ask me, and I was going to have to come up with a really good lie to make him think nothing was going on.
​“Mike, can we make this quick? Mom and Dad are gonna know we’re missing.” I told him before he flopped down on his bed.
"Vic, what's goin' on? With Tooonnnyyy." He smiled when he said his name and I scowled. I didn't want to think about that. I would deal with everything Monday. 
"Mike, Nothing's going on. I told you. He didn't have his keys with him, and he needed somewhere to go. Besides, from what I assume you guys had some fun on your own," I said, gesturing to the bong and the empty baggies scattered on his floor.
"Yeaaahhh... I didn't know he still liked to have a good time," Mike said and bit his lip. 
"I'm going downstairs." I groaned and walked out of his room. "And put your shit away." I said, quiet enough so my parents couldn't hear. 
Eventually we all sat down for dinner. As promised, mom made both dishes and everyone dug in. Eventually the platters lost the heaps of food they once held and we were all stuffing our faces. 
"Victor," my mother said and I looked up to her, pieces of lettuce dangling from my mouth. "Vic, you couldn't eat a little nicer, could you?" She asked and I smiled. "How have your first weeks of teaching been?" She said.
I finished chewing the bite in my mouth and started to answer.
"Well uh, they've been weird. Everything's good. A lot of paperwork. And sometimes the kids are idiots," I thought of Craig and his group of friends. "But there are some interesting people." I finished, smiling a little to myself. And it was true, there definitely were some interesting people. A lot of my fellow teachers were really nice and cool, even though they were much older than me. I definitely liked the school I was at. 
My father spoke before my thoughts could get away from me.
"So Victor, have you found that 'lucky lady' yet? Or man, you know I won't judge." He said with a wink. 
Mom started talking too. "Yes, Vic, has anyone caught your eye yet?" She smiled.
Truth be told, there was. But I was never going to admit to them that I actually liked Tony. So, I lied my way through.
"No, mama, papa, I've already been so busy. I haven't had time to look for anyone like that." I picked up what was left of my taco and took a small bite. 
"Oh, that's too bad. Don't worry Victor, you're still young." Mom said and conversation ceased for the time being.
Once everyone was finished we all piled into the living room and watched some movies from when Mike and I were kids. It brought back memories that I had missed and sooner than expected, I was dosing off on my living room couch. My parents left around 12, Mike and I crawling up to bed almost immediately after. 
~~~
I woke up the next morning, around 8, and it felt like the entire world was resting on my shoulders. And I felt something else; regret. Yesterday was so much to handle, I just kind of shut my thoughts off, went on autopilot for a while. Now though, I could feel the guilt eating into my thoughts and screwing with my system. 
I figured I could eat some breakfast and try to ignore the little voice in my head, nagging me to go and fix things with Tony, or atleast do something besides avoid his existence. Food had never done anyone wrong. I settled on cereal, not really feeling like putting effort into making food, and sat on the couch, turning the tv on. Some morning talk show was on, so I changed it to Seinfeld reruns. 
Three hours later and I heard a thud coming from upstairs. Mike must be awake. I got up, stretched, put my bowl into the sink and laid back down on the couch. 
"Lazy day for moi," I murmured to myself. I hadn't even bothered on getting out of my pajamas and Mike had planned on taking our parents out for the day. I think they figured I had papers to grade or something, so they suggested I stay home. Truthfully, I didn't have anything to do, but that rarely happened and I was willing to take advantage of a free day. There was, however, one problem; my house was utterly boring. I didn't have the first foggiest clue what I was going to do.
"Vic, you downstairs?" I heard Mike call.
"Yeah, why?" I yelled back up to him.
"Get me my phone! It's on the kitchen counter!" He called down.
"Idiot," I mumbled. "Why don't you get it yourself?" I said as I got up to get Mike's phone.
"Cause I'm a lazy fucker and you're already down there!" I heard him laugh. I shook my head, picked his phone up and went upstairs to his room. 
Once up there, I walked into his bedroom, but Mike wasn't there.
"Mike?" 
The door slammed behind me and I jumped and turned around, finding Mike standing there, locking the door, with a smirk on his lips. 
"Mike, why are you locking the door?" I asked him.
"Cause I need to talk to you and I can't have mom and dad interrupting, now can I?" Mike raised his eyebrows and grinned.
"Ughhh," I groaned, "Okay, what do you need to talk about so bad?" I said and sat down on his bed. 
"You see, Vic," he started and sat next to me, putting his arm around my shoulders in the process, "there's something you aren't telling me, and I'm pretty sure it's about your little house guest from yesterday." 
Oh shit. Play it cool, Vic. "Mike, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, Vic. I'm not stupid. I see how you and Tony look at eachother." He smiled and I felt my cheeks heat up. We looked at eachother differently?
"Mike, seriously, there's nothing happening. I really don't know what you mean, cause there's nothing going on between me and Tony." I shrugged. And in reality, besides those stolen kisses in my bedroom, there really wasn't anything between us. Not yet, anyways. I stood up to leave, but Mike grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
"Victor." He glared at me and I glared back.
"Michael."
"Tell me."
"I already have. There's nothing going on between Tony and I."
"I don't believe you."
"Too bad, because that's the truth."
"I will find out if you're lying, Vic, and it's not going to be very fun."
"It's a good thing I'm not lying then." I finished and walked out of his room. I didn't realize I was shaking until I walked back into my warm bedroom, and I laid down on my bed and curled into a ball. I pulled the blankets over my head and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. 
I think I fell asleep because the next thing I knew I was looking at my clock, which read 2 pm.
"Ugh," I groaned and got out of bed to stretch. I went downstairs and into the living room to find mom, dad, and Mike watching a movie or something.
"Hey," I said to catch their attention.
"Oh, good morning Vic. How was your nap?" Papa said.
"Good. What's on the agenda for today?" 
It really wasn't very eventful. We played cards, a couple games of soccer, went out for dinner to get Mexican food, an average day with my family. The rest of the day flew by and I found myself stumbling into bed around 2 in the morning and ready to do it all again on Sunday.
And that's what happened, except we went out for Chinese instead. Once again I was falling asleep standing up, going into my room at about 1 in the morning, having completely forgotten to grade some papers and my little predicament with Tony. And it didn't hit me until the next morning, on Monday.