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Ginny’s eyes swivel down to where our bodies are connected and her eyebrows rise.
“Holden. Well…nice to meet you,” she says thrusting a hand out toward me, and I shake it awkwardly, not quite sure what to do with myself.
“Nice to meet you too. Chase has told me so much about you,” I rasp, finding my voice.
“Has he?” Ginny asks, her eyebrow quirking at her brother. “What did you say?”
“Just the normal shit. You’re a pain in my ass…you nag me…”
She swats at his chest just as airport security comes over and barks at us to move. So we do. We slide into the car, Chase insisting I take the front seat. And who am I to deny him? I just sit there awkwardly, trying not to panic as his sister drives us to their parents’ house.
Oh, what the fuck was I thinking? I’ve never met anyone’s parents. Anytime I was with a fuck buddy, I snuck in and out of their rooms, usually using a window. I didn’t actually stick around and meet anyone important to them.
What if I am awful at this? What if his parents blame me for making him gay? He was so insistent that he was straight when I met him.
I’m not gay.
I swallow and drum my hands on my thighs as we drive farther and farther away from the city.
And when we arrive at a large plot of land with a white farmhouse situated right in the middle, I let out a shaky breath.
“Home sweet home,” Chase mutters and reaches around the passenger seat and squeezes my shoulders. It does nothing to quell my stampeding heart.
“Listen, there is nothing to be worried about, okay? Mom has been so excited to see you and Dad is happy in his own way. Put on a new shirt this morning,” Ginny explains. “Things have been a little too…quiet without you here.”
Chase nods and then gets out of the car, pulling the passenger door open and dislodging me from my seat. He seems somewhat nervous too. He’s not holding my hand anymore as we walk up to the front of the house. I shove them into my pockets so as not to feel the absence of him. Because no matter the brave face he put on in front of his sister, coming out to one’s parents is hard. And it seems like he’s not as ready for this as he thought he was moments ago.
Before we can even knock, the front door opens and a young guy our age barrels out and tackles Chase.
“What the hell, Dixon!” Chase shouts as they fall into the porch railing with a thud. Ginny rolls her eyes and nudges me with her elbow.
“Best friends since they were little. They’re always like this.”
“Heard you were coming back. Didn’t think to tell me?” Dixon mutters, leaning back, his chest heaving, a goofy smile on his handsome face.
Chase grasps on to the side of his neck and their foreheads touch. “Sorry, man. Was preoccupied.”
They move away from each other, and Dixon’s eyes swivel to mine just as Chase’s mom moves into the doorway. She looks so much like him—those eyes, the shape of her face. For a moment, I’m transfixed.
“Ah, see you brought your distraction,” Dixon teases, and Chase flushes darkly.
“Hi, Mama,” Chase says softly and moves toward his mother, pulling her into a long, crushing hug. When they finally part, his mom is swiping at her eyes.
“So good to have you back. You said you’re here a week?”
Chase nods and then sweeps his hand back toward me. “I brought a friend. This is Holden.”
That word makes my heart sink even as Ginny snorts. So it’s going to be like that, I guess. A dirty little secret. I shouldn’t have come.
Oh fuck, why did I come?
My heart races, and I feel a tingling begin in my fingers.
Oh shit.
“Well…that’s actually not the truth of it,” Chase sighs and I almost don’t hear it past the roar in my ears. “Holden is my boyfriend.”
Everyone is silent except for Ginny who is slow-clapping in the background. He’s shocked me, complete and utter confusion. Never thought I’d have a boyfriend from South Dakota, never thought that I’d be there for his coming out.
