Trophy Fathers, Trophy Son

When we pulled out of the parking lot, my wrist was still in complete pain. I wouldn’t dare ask for pain killers though. I was used to it. I deserved it; I talked back to him after all. My dad on the other hand, already had a beer sitting open in the cup holder. This was going to be a long drive. I noticed my phone was still on ‘music only’ so I turned that off and my phone began vibrating like crazy. 16 messages, all from people who actually cared for me, my stomach dropped and I began to feel my eyes swell. I quickly pushed that away. I read them silently and my dad must have noticed my concentration, he took a swig of beer and snapped,

“Who the fuck, are you talking to?”

I glanced over at him, scared to say the wrong thing “Oh, I um - just some friends back home.” I spoke softly with a shrug.

My dad smirked “Friends? Ha. You didn’t have friend your little faggot. Nobody fucking cares about you. You little shit.”

I honestly didn’t know what to say back, so I just sat in silence, put my head phones back in and turned ‘music only’ back on and gazed out the car window. I saw a few birds flying; I wonder what it was like to fly. Sometimes I wish I was a bird so I could just fly away. I must have dozed off because next thing I know my dad is snatching my head phones out of my ear, snapping me out of my daze.

“I fucking called you twice boy!” I know you could hear me.” Through my sleepy eyes I could see we were parked in front of an amazingly, beautiful house. It could have almost been a fairy tale house. I guess I still wasn’t paying attention to my dad because he snatched me by my shirt collar bringing my nose to his and hissing, “Next time I call you; you better listen and acknowledge me Kellin. Do you understand?” I nodded quickly and muttered a ‘yes sir, I’m sorry’ before he let me go.

I jumped out of the car quickly fixing my shirt while scanning my surroundings. We were in a suburban neighborhood. All the houses were really big and extremely beautiful, but also quite close to each other. I wonder if my dad realized how loud he actually was when he would go on a screaming, drunk rampage. I was surprised my dad could afford this place though, being jobless and all. My dad snapped me out of my thoughts and back to reality – “No fairy tale here” I signed softly.

“Kellin, come the fuck here and help me unload this shit. The moving truck will be here any minute” he snipped.

“Yes sir” I spoke softly.

“I swear to fucking God boy, you make me want to….” He trailed off with a few huffs and puffs, as he unlocked and walked through the front door.

I grabbed a few small boxes and headed towards the same entrance. I stopped dead in my tracks and I think I died for a few seconds, when I suddenly noticed the house walls. They were completely made of concrete… No sound from inside would escape to the outside. No father beating son screams would invade the neighbor’s windows. As I slowly stepped inside, I instantly noticed the new paint smell. Honestly, the house itself was quite gorgeous, amazing high ceilings and perfect trim work around each turn. Anxiety and panic shot through my chest when I noticed the stairs though. When my dad would hit me sometimes, it would make it really hard to climb steps. I silently made my way up the vicious stairs and found a room that was simply stunning. The windows had an splendid view of the entire neighborhood and a window seat inserted into the wall, sort of like a cubby hole. I know I’d spend most of my time here. My dad’s room, (thankfully) was down stairs at the other end of the house. I laid the boxes down and made my way into the hall to find the bathroom right across from my room. Then down a bit more was another room. A guest room I would have to assume, even though it’s doubtful we would have guests.

“Kellin! The movers are here. Get your ass down here.” My dad yelled from the bottom floor.”

“Be right there!” I said from over the banister. I wonder how much it would hurt if I fell over it? I shook the thoughts away, quickly.

When I tracked back down the stairs, I found my dad shaking hands with one of the two movers. He was short, older and chunky, he reminded me of a lawn elf. The other guy was much younger than him, a little older than me though, if I had to guess. Fuck, he was cute, tall and tan with shaggy brown hair and the most electric green eyes. He reminded me of a guy on ‘Magic Mike’. I instantly noticed he had been staring at me and I had accidentally locked eyes with him. I quickly looked down, feeling my face burn red. “Well if that wasn’t awkward Kellin” I spoke quietly to myself. I glanced back over to him and could see he too had a pinch of red in his cheeks, which made me have a small cheeky grin. We all made our way out to the truck, my dad and the older guy making small talk about some Dodgers game. I knew there was no way I could pick anything but some boxes up, so I tried not to get in the way. The cute mover guy, of course had to help me with my furniture. He picked my bed up like it was a piece of tissue and followed me up the stairs to my room.

“Ah, so where would you like this sir?” He spoke laying my bed down on the ground, breaking the silence.

“Uh right over there is fine. Thanks” I said gesturing towards the back wall. “And it’s Kellin.” I said with a shy smile.

“Tyler” He spoke in a silky tone with a smile. “And it’s no problem at all, Kellin.”

He laid my bed down exactly where I asked, arm muscles flexing perfectly in the process, and proceeded to walk back downstairs for more of my furniture.

“Damnit Kellin, keep your mind out of the gutter! You’re not gay. You’re not gay.” I protested silently to myself. I figured if I told myself that enough, I would actually believe it.

We continued to move boxes until every last item was out of the truck. I swear if I ever see another box again, I might die. Literally die. My arms felt like pure jelly. Not that I had much muscle to begin with. But still! We finally finished and the movers got into their empty truck and were gone.

Now that they were gone I attempted to sneak upstairs, hoping to avoid my father. But of course, that didn’t even come close to happening.

“Kellin! Where do you think you’re going boy?” He slurred his words a bit. I knew he had been drinking pretty much all day, but he wasn’t at his peak of drunk yet.

“I um – I uh was going to go upstairs and finish unpacking” I said with a bit of fright to my tone.

“Don’t think I didn’t see you staring at the boy! What was his name, Oh Tyler was it?” He said with an evil smirk.

“No sir. I was um – I was just being nice, that’s all. I promise” I pleaded, beginning to climb the steps slowly.

“Now you wouldn’t be calling me a liar would you?” He hissed. “You know what happens if you call me a liar Kellin!” Deepening his tone, making slower movements towards me.

“No sir I was just – “But was cut off by a knock at the door. My dad’s head jerked up and looked at the door with a confused look – until another knock came. He strolled to the front door, fixing himself before opening it.

“Oh thank god” I said quietly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I said looking up at the ceiling, not sure who I was exactly talking to.

I stood there for a few moments before I heard voices coming from outside, my dad talking to these unknown people. It sounded like a woman though, with maybe a hint of Spanish in her tone. My father looked at me, with a completely soft and sober face as he let the people in our house.

“Kellin, these are our neighbors” my dad spoke cheerfully as he gestured towards the two people whom had just saved me. “This is Mrs. Fuentes and her son Mike” he spoke with a smile as he shut the door behind him. God he was good at faking the sober, caring father.

“Uh hello” I spoke softly, moving from my spot on the steps to these Fuentes people, holding my hand out to shake their hands. Mrs. Fuentes was quite short and round. They defiantly look to be some sort of Mexican. Mike, her son I’m guessing, was taller and had dark black hair and he wore camouflage pants that came way above his ankles. But he had high socks on? Wired fashion they have in San Diego.

“He man, I’m Mike, nice to meet you” This Mike person said with a giant grin, as he shook my hand. He was like big ball full of joy.

“Kellin, nice to meet you both” I said with a shy smile.

“Well we won’t keep you long, we just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood” Mrs. Fuentes said as she handed my dad a baked good. “Oh Kellin, sweety, Mike has offered to show you around the high school if you’d like” She said with a sweet smile. She seemed genuinely nice.

“Oh uh- I uh, thanks. I - I’d really appreciate that” I finally got the words out of my mouth. I had almost forgotten about school. Shit. School.

“Hey it’s no problem. We can pick you up tomorrow morning, if you’d like. Since we live right there, you can just car pool” Mike said glancing at my father for approval. I quickly glanced at my dad; I know he would say no.

“Well, I don’t want him imposing on your family, he can walk” My dad said with a twitch in his eye.

Mike quick to protest “Oh no! Not at all. I mean Vic, my brother drives every morning. We have plenty of room. It’s no worry at all. Vic won’t mind one bit.” He finished with a big cheeky grin after he said the part about his brother. I wondered why that was. I shrugged it off.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Mrs. Fuentes chimed in with her big smile “Well it’s settled, Kellin honey school starts at 8:00 and the boys usually leave at around 7:45” and with that they both headed towards the door, waved ‘good byes’ and were gone. My father slowly shut the door, glared at me and walked into the kitchen obviously forgetting what he was going to do before the Fuentes saved me! God, not that I minded at all. I quickly ran upstairs, shut and locked my door so I could lie down on my bed peacefully. I didn’t want to think about school. I didn’t want to go to school. All those people staring at me, asking the same questions “Are you new?” “Where are you from?” “Are you gay?” I sighed, rolled over and closed my eyes. Tomorrow is going to be long. But at least Mike was nice and I guess his brother Vic was too. Vic. His name seemed to invade my head all night for some odd reason.