Chapter 48: The Moment of Truth

Both Nick and Warlo were out --something about trying to get girlfriends-- leaving me with the perfect opportunity to make a phone call I had been worrying over for months.

It was long overdue and I felt like a terrible person for waiting for this long. But I had been scared immensely. Pushing it off had just felt like the best idea. Now, though, I just wanted it over with.

I wanted to be able to call them and tell them about what was going on with me and Dean and not feel like I was lying to them about my whole who I am. I wanted to be able to tell them about my life, all of it.

I was not only going to come out to my parents, but I was going to tell them that I had started dating Dean. The main reason I hadn’t told them about my relationship was that I was still scared of how they would react to the fact that I liked guys.

I knew my parents well. They were kind and good-hearted but also raised in a society far more traditional and conservative than the one I grew up in.

They had never been hateful per se --definitely not the types to be violent or yell about these things-- but the silent disgust and confusion were enough to put me off about ever telling them.

Now, having a mate and knowing I would be with him for the rest of my life if possible, I felt as if I couldn’t hide it from them any longer.

But boy did I try. Stalling this has been one of my greatest accomplishments. It could have been a talent but the guilt caught up to me. And now I was here on my bed, phone in hand, preparing myself to call my parents.

“I can do this. I can do this.” I muttered nervously, somewhat hoping that I would feel more confident by saying that.

It worked just a little bit but that was enough to have me tapping on my mom’s number. Judging by the time on the clock, a bit after 6 in the evening, both of my parents should be home.

The phone started ringing and my heart began to pound loudly in my chest. A new rush of nerves came abruptly, replacing the previous ones with a new fervour. I seriously considered hanging up but my mother’s voice came through before I got the chance.

“Sebastian! How are you?! It has been too long since you last called!” My mother greeted me loudly through the phone. The volume of it had me wincing and pulling the phone away from my ear to compensate. I quickly realized that speaker was a better idea and laid the phone down on the blankets.

“Mom, I called you last week. We were talking about my change of career choice, remember?” I reminded her, amused at how dramatic she was acting.

“But that is so long!” She said, her voice dramatic and sad as if something had actually happened to me. “I used to speak to you every day when you lived at home. A week is like five years!”

I shook my head but didn’t try to argue with her about it. At this point, it was probably pointless.

“So, what has been going on with you and dad?” I asked her, knowing that I would get a lengthy reply as a response.

As my mother went on and on about what happened in the last several days, I listened while also preparing myself for what I was going to say. My mother finally finished and hit me with the deciding phrase.

“So, how is everything with you, Sebastian?” She asked kindly. Her calmness was a startling contrast to how loud and upset she was earlier. But I knew it was just because she had finally calmed down and was able to rant.

I nibbled at my bottom lip, giving myself some mental encouragement before I spoke again.

“Oh, you know, the usual. Doing well in my classes, made some new friends, got myself a boyfriend- nothing big.” I said quickly and smoothly, folding the confession in with everything else.

“Oh, that’s nice. Glad that you are doing well and classes and got-” My mother paused and I assumed that she had just processed my words. “Terranova!”

I winced despite having the phone away from my ear when my mom called for my father by his last name. I faintly heard the sound of him thundering into whatever room my mother was in, alarmed by my mother’s yell.

“Rani, what is it?” He asked, slightly panicked and alarmed. I heard the huffing and puffing from my mother before she yelled again.

“Come and speak to your son, he is saying some gibberish now.” She told him, presumably handing her phone over to my father as she spoke. My stomach sank at her telling response. Oh fuck.

“Orlando?” My father asked hesitantly into the phone.

“No! Your other son!” My mother responded, her voice a bit quieter as she was further from the phone.

“Oh, Sebastian! What happened? What gibberish are you speaking?” He asked me kindly, somehow ignoring my mother’s hostile tone.

“It wasn’t gibberish, dad.” I said firstly, rolling my eyes at my mother’s odd way of putting it.

“Yes! Yes, it was! Why else would he say something like that?! It doesn’t make sense! He mixed up his genders!” My mother protested from the other end, her words righteous in their tone.

“Mom-”

“My son would never make such a grammar mistake, right? So it must be gibberish.” She reasoned voice rushed yet satisfied with her new deduction. “Yes, gibberish it was!”

“Sebastian, can you please explain what she is talking about?” My jaw was set tight from the frustration I had towards my mother, and my nails currently dug into my palms. But I tried to calm down enough in order to finally confess to my father.

“I have a boyfriend, dad. I’m gay.” The words came out easily, almost effortlessly. I wonder if that was because I was already getting such a bad answer from my mother, the anger stopped me from fearing how my father would react too.

My father was silent, but my mother began to scream.

“Oh, Lord, my son has become confused.” I heard my mother pray, muttering her words out of fear and hope that one of her many gods would help me. “He has been influenced by the modern world and their thoughts and now believes that he is a hom- a homosexual-”

“Mom!” I yelled, interrupting her before she continued on. “I wasn’t influenced. I just prefer guys. It was my own decision!”

“You think you made the decision but you are really just copying your friends.” She shot back, voice rising in volume either because she was getting closer to the phone or because she was getting more upset. “Those college friends of yours must be pushing you the wrong way.”

“None of my friends are gay, mom!” I blurted out, sitting up angrily with my fists clenched.

“Then it was the internet and those social media’s! I knew that I shouldn’t have given you your phone so young!” My mother cried, pausing to say another prayer. “Let him receive clarity and the power of your light-”

“I was sixteen, mom! It wasn’t even two years ago!” I argued in frustration, almost laughing at how ridiculous her arguments were getting.

“Well, there must be something!”

“Mom, please!”

“Enough!”

Both my mother and I stopped when we heard the booming voice of my father. He never yelled, not like this. He was such a gentle guy and hearing him raise his voice stunned us both to silence.

“Rani, may I please speak to my son without interruption?” He asked gently, voice back to its calm and soothing tone. I didn’t hear anything from my mother on the other side so I assumed she agreed when my father began to speak again.

“Sebastian, you are being honest when you say that you are gay?” He asked me softly, causing my shoulders to tense up slightly. I had already told them, yet it felt like the clock had reversed and I was telling them about it for the first time again.

“I am being 100% honest with you dad.” I said to him slowly and clearly. I tried to put as much honesty and conviction into my voice as I could. I had already given up on my mother, and now, I need my father to believe me. “I . . . I have known that I was attracted to guys since I started feeling attraction. I have accepted myself for being gay since I was fifteen.”

I was biting my lip harshly, gnawing on the skin and tearing through the dead layers. The silence from my father had my antsy, and I twitched and toyed with anything near me to distract from the situation at hand.

What would he say?

“Sebastian, I can’t lie and say that I am okay with this.” Began my father, hesitating and pausing between his words. I held my breath, squeezing my eyes shut to brace for his next words. “But I will try to adjust and accept you and your new . . . boyfriend.”

My eyes snapped open, and I found myself staring at the phone in front of me with wide eyes.

“Wait, are you being serious, dad?” I asked him loudly, my voice rising along with my excitement. “You really mean that?”

“Yes, I do.” My father said, chuckling at my yell/squeal of happiness. “But it will take some time to adjust so this won’t mean that I will always be the #1 dad of a gay person of the year, or something like that now.”

“Dad, I really don’t care. At least not now.” I admitted to him, the tears that had started to fall being heard through my voice. “Just the fact that you want to accept me means the world.”

“Well, I love you, Sebastian. I will always choose you and your siblings well being because you are my babies, no matter what.” There was never a moment where I wished I could hug my father more and my hands clenched longingly at the idea.

“I love you too, dad.” I whispered, smiling through the tears rolling down my cheeks.

“I’ll try to talk to your mother as well.” I went to say thank you to my father’s kindness when my mother’s voice came through the phone.

“Talk to me about what?! You will not change my mind, Terranova.” She insisted, her voice a bit of a shock after the emotional conversation that my father and I had had. My dad sighed, kissing his teeth while my muttering “this wife of mine” in Italian. I chuckled at his response now feeling more at ease with the entire situation.

“That boy needs help! You cannot encourage this behaviour!” She yelled, nearly as angry at before, but now aiming that anger at my father.

“It is who he likes, Rani. What are we supposed to do about it? He doesn’t live in this house and we can’t keep watch of him. He will do whatever he wants.” My father tried to reason, aiming to appeal to her logic. It did not seem to work.

“We can do something! There must be a way to help him-”

“I don’t need any help, mom. I am perfectly happy.” I told her honestly, somehow smiling despite the harsh words from my mother. Simply having my father’s support made me feel far more at ease, and I was now hopeful that talking to my mom about this would not be crazy forever.

“Being with a man cannot make you happy!” She argued, the words falling out as if second nature to make that assumption. I almost wanted to send her a, “wanna bet?” but I decided against it.

“Mom, I am dating a man named Dean McCain. He is older than me, smarter than me, and one of the most patient and kind people I have ever met. Along with being one of the most amazing friends I could ever want, he is also my teacher and a famous immortal, as well as my mate. You don’t have to accept us, but now I can tell you about us because I have told you about me. I plan to spend the rest of my life with him, so you have the rest of your life to get used to it.” I told my mother all of this in a rant. I decided to take this opportunity to tell her about the man I had wanted to talk about for the longest time and have her know of him before she possibly stops talking to me for years.

“Your teacher?! You began to date your teacher?! Your teacher is your mate?! I cannot believe it, he must have manipulated you into believing such lies. How could he manipulate my poor son?”

I zoned out as my mother rattled on and on, deciding that it was about time I hung up.

“I love you dad and I miss you a ton. I’ll talk to you later.” I said, over my mother’s continuous ranting and complaining.

“Goodbye, son. I love you too.”

“Don’t ignore me!”

Hearing the break in her words, I quickly tacked it on. “I love you, mom!”

She paused, taken aback by my words. I expected many things, but what I hadn’t expected was for her to become quiet and gentle and tell me that she loved me too. When I went to hang up the phone, I heard her begin to speak to my father about this again, but I didn’t really care.

My father accepted me. And, while my mother didn’t, I at least knew she still considered me her son and part of the family. And that is all I could have asked for.

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WHAT?!

I’M BACK?!

Yes, guys, it is really happening. I finally updated this book.

Look, you don’t have to tell me twice. This was long overdue.

I had planned on this being a lot more couple centered. But I wanted a resolution for this bit and it kind of became the entire chapter.

No question because I am at school and actually have to go outside with my classmates