Mama Mia

Don't Tell Mum.

“Don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep, I don't want to miss a thinggg!” he finished dramatically in a false soprano voice, the ending music to one of his secretly favourite songs slowly fading as he turned the wheel to enter the main street.

“Ahh the privacy of your own car,” he smiled. “Ha ha,” he laughed at the fact that he had just been singing to himself and was now proceeding to talk to himself.

“All this time alone is sending me-” His head snapped around, cramping as he tried to look back at the two boys he had just drove past.

“I swear that looked like… Ryan…” he doubled back for a second look. He slowed as he came closer to the two boys for the second time, the tinted windows hiding his identity.

“Shit!” he swore as the taller of the two boys faces came into view, “Ryan.” One last glance at the way his sons hand was clamped firmly around his best friend Brendon’s waist and he was gone, speeding up and turning the next corner sharply. He pulled over and fumbled with his cell phone until he heard the dial tone ringing.

“Hello?” Ryan’s unsure voice from the other end.

“Hey son, where are you?”

“I’m at school of course. It’s almost the end of-”

“No you’re not,” he replied offering his son a chance to tell the truth.

“I… uh... Where are you?”

“About one hundred meters away, I just drove past you… and Brendon,” he replied the unprecedented emphasis on the last word displaying his knowledge of their- until this point, secret relationship.

“…Oh,” he finally replied, not knowing what to say next.

“Look, I won’t embarrass you in front of your… Brendon, just… I’ll talk to you when I get home, okay?”

“Um… yeah… and thanks dad.”

“Okay, bye.”

“And… please don’t tell mum,” his father nodded from the other end of the line but the only reply Ryan received was the dial tone. Gripping Brendon’s waist tighter he put his phone away, “let’s go in the mall, someone might see us here.”

**

As soon as his father walked through the door, Ryan was next to him, a determined look on his face.

“Dad I don’t care what you say it was worth it,” he gushed, the last few words slurring together. “Nothing can say will change that.”

His father raised his eyebrows, unsure of this sudden defiance in his sons grim eyes. He could see the fear mixed in with the determination. “I… oh… um, okay, don’t skip again,” his awkward and somewhat shocked father replied.

“Don’t tell mum,” he whispered. “Please don’t tell mum.”