Bailey looks up at me through his long lashes. “Tell them what?”
“About us … that we’re together,” I say. He frowns, and it feels like my stomach’s dropped right out of me. “We are, aren’t we?”
Ever since we kissed in the woods six months ago and Bailey moved in, this thing between us has grown bigger. We’re even more inseparable, especially once all the lights are out, and he ignores the air mattress to climb straight into bed, draping his body over mine like a hot blanket. It’s the best part of my day.
“Boyfriends?” he asks quietly.
“If you want,” I say.
He bites his lip and dips his head, muttering, “I want.”
A grin takes over my face. “And you’ll come to Scotland with me when I leave in the summer … as boyfriends?”
“Yeah, I’ll go wherever you go, Teddy.” He smiles back at me sweetly.
Without thinking, I launch myself onto him. He screams as the beanbag explodes and thousands of tiny polystyrene balls go flying everywhere.
Shoving my chest, trying to crawl out from under me, he huffs, “Can I take it back?”
“Nope,” I say, bending down, giving him a dozen kisses all over his face.
We spend way too long cleaning up the mess I made before heading downstairs for breakfast—or lunch, I guess. I grab somemeat from the fridge and make us both sandwiches before heading out to the garden, where Ma is reading a book on her sun lounger and Da is weeding the garden.
We sit on the picnic table and eat but my food feels like cement to swallow. My parents have never spoken badly about people being gay or bisexual, but it’s also never been a topic of conversation in the house. They’ve never pressured me into dating or asked why I never brought anyone home. But I don’t like not knowing how they’re going to react.
Bailey gives me a small smile, his hand slipping under the table to squeeze my thigh.Fuck, okay.“Um … Ma, Da, I want to tell you something.”
Da stands up, leaning on his spade, and Ma closes her book, both giving me their full attention.
“I’m … I’m bisexual, and Bailey and I are kinda together.” I look from one to the other trying to see any anger or disappointment in their faces, but they’re both neutral.
“Kinda together?” Da asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Aretogether,” I correct.
“Well we’re glad you felt you could tell us, son,” he says, before bending back down to the weeds.
I look at Ma, who’s unnervingly silent. “Ma?”
“Are you being safe?” she says, narrowing her eyes.
I frown. “Safe?” After a second it clicks, and my cheeks burn in an instant. I stand up quickly and grab Bailey's arm. “Come on, Bay. We’re leaving.” That was not what I’d been expecting.
“Stop, stop, stop.” Ma gets up off her lounger and rushes over before we can escape. “I’m very happy you’re together, and that you told us,” she says, grabbing Bailey’s face so she can kiss his cheek and hug him. “Welcome to the family, love.”
“Come on,we haven’t gone this way before,” I say, pulling Bailey along.
“How? You’ve been dragging me through these woods for a year and a half, we must have seen everything by now, Teddy. Come on, I just want to hang out by the tree.” He tugs my arm back.
He’s lived with me long enough to know I don’t like to stay in one place for too long. Besides, I’m sure I’ve never been this way before. I turn around to find him pouting, his plump bottom lip sticking out slightly. “That doesn’t work on me, Bay.” I grab his thighs, lifting him over my shoulder.
“Teddy!” he yelps.
Ignoring him, I walk through the trees until we come to a clearing, where I set him down, only to be met with a scowl.
“Happy now? You found another clearing. More trees, more grass, more moss,” he says, picking some off of a nearby rock.
“Anyone would think you hate being outside,” I smirk, knowing that’s not the reason he’s grumpy. He doesn’t like when I make him walk around for hours, because he’d rather be lying under the oak tree making out.
