“Of course,” he responded, his jaw clenching his teeth together. “I’m not an animal.”
“Then I guess we don’t have a problem, do we?”
“We do,” he corrected me flatly. Before he could verbalize what that problem might be, I cut ahead of him and started talking.
“Look, you were ready to cancel your trip and throw away a big opportunity for more exposure because of something dumb. I solved it. You should be happy.”
He opened his mouth like he was ready to argue more, but then closed it, looking thoughtful for a few moments before scowling and heaving a huge sigh. I felt like I’d just watched him work through all the stages of grief and finally end up at acceptance.
“Fine. Whatever. Just make sure you’re packed and ready to go tomorrow morning.”
Trying not to let the light of victory shine on my face and only reveal the genuine excitement I felt at the idea of going on a trip with just the two of us, I hopped up and down a little bit, suppressing a squeal.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun, okay? Don’t look so grumpy,” I suggested, latching on to his arm and pressing into his side. He stared down at where I was clutching at him, before lightly groaning.
“I need to get ready for work.”
“Okay,” I said agreeably, stepping out of the way of the bathroom to let him in. I’d already gotten what I wanted, so there was no need for me to push it any further. Even if I really wanted to. I headed back downstairs to let him have his privacy, the rest of the morning passing with relative normalcy. Another brilliant plan executed flawlessly by yours truly.
As Mom was leaving for work, my dad kissed her at the door before taking a seat next to me in the kitchen.
“Sounds like you’re all packed up and prepared,” he commented.
“Yep,” I answered lightly, knowing where the conversation was likely to be headed. He’d be worried until I reassured him I wasn’t going to be doing any spontaneous skydiving or infiltrating any underground crime syndicates while I wasn’t under his watchful eye. My dad was very predictable.
“So did you plan out your whole weekend?” He questioned.
“No, not really,” I answered, suppressing my grin at his attempt to be subtle. “I have some pre-course reading I can do on my laptop in the room while Kieran’s out working, and then when he’s not working we’ll probably check out the beach and the city. It’ll be nice getting a feel for the area around the school.”
My other plan, which involved getting Kieran to finally give up his scandalous secret and then convince him it wasn’t a big deal so he’d finally just give in and de-virginize me, didn’t seem like the kind of thing he’d want to hear about.
Looking visibly relieved by the lack of dangerous, life-threatening behavior in my future, he nodded eagerly at my explanation.
“And you’ll remember to take your insulin?”
“Yes, Dad.”
“And don’t skip meals just because you’re out having fun.”
“You know I won’t,” I assured him, which he seemed to accept.
“Well, it sure was nice of Kieran to invite you to come along,” he said. “Make sure you thank him.”
“I will.” I had some very creative ways in mind that I would utilize in thanking him.
I was hoping that once Kieran got over all his weirdness, he’d end up being grateful to me for inviting myself along. I was pretty sure getting laid would help alleviate a lot of the built-up stress that radiated off him on a regular basis.
“It’s nice you boys get along so well,” he commented. “At first, Crystal and I weren’t so sure it would be like that.Especially because of, you know…” He peeked over to the other side of the kitchen, where the staircase was, presumably to be sure Kieran wasn’t silently loitering there and listening to our conversation. “Everything they went through,” he finished.
“Right,” I said, before tilting my head. “So, um… Do you remember when they first moved in and Mom tried to make Kieran do those, uh… Classes or whatever?”
“Oh, you mean the counseling?”
“Yeah, that.”
Truthfully, I didn’t remember exactly what it was. Back then, my dad had kind of shielded me from the whole situation and I’d only learned little bits and pieces over the years. I knew Kieran’s dad was an abusive alcoholic, and that he’d done a lot of terrible stuff to them, but that was about it. I wondered if maybe that had something to do with Kieran being so distrustful of guys around me. He wasn’t great at seeing the good in people. Especially himself.
“Well, you know, with everything that happened at the end there, Crystal really wanted him to talk to someone,” Dad mused, frowning a bit. “But he wasn’t too keen on that idea. We were worried for… A long time,” he remembered. “But after a while, it seemed like he was okay. I hope we did the right thing.”
