Angst

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not write about frank sexual situations, nor do I have any desire to.

This is a story about teen love and discovery. Still though, it is a gay work of fiction.

If such work offends you or you are not old enough to read in your area, then do not continue reading.

Please do not copy and paste onto another website without emailing me first. In most cases I'd be glad to let you post on another site, as long as you ask first!

Angst Episode 32 "The Dirtiest of Laundry"

"I'm running low on ammo here!" I said in a low tone as I hid behind a tree.

Alex was next to me reloading his own gun, taking occasional peeks behind him as he did.

"Where the hell did Adam go?" he asked.

Somewhere along the way, we'd lost him. A casualty of war, maybe? I didn't see him get shot.

Still though, I'd used up most of my paint balls and still hadn't managed to hit Chris. He was tricky. Then again, it was cold outside and I wasn't exactly and outdoors person like every other guy out here was. Alex and Adam were football players while Chris was a runner. Gino used to do tennis and Ryan used to do football.

I was the odd man out in a situation like this. Paintball was a brutal sport. Those little capsule things fucking hurt when they hit you!

"Chris and Ryan are still out there for sure," I replied. "I don't know about Gino."

Alex looked a little pissed off but I could tell it was a pissed off in way that he was about a game gone wrong not because he was actually too upset about something important.

"Damn, I wish we hadn't lost Adam," he said, cleaning his gun a little. "No offense B, but your targeting skills could use a little work."

"Yeah but I must be doing something right," I replied, wiping a bit of paint from my goggles."I'm still in, aren't I?"

Alex nodded methodically while looking back behind the tree again.

"What's the game plan?" I asked.

Alex looked back over to me, placing his own goggles back over his face.

"Well we have to find Adam," he replied. "We have to find him and get to their flag before they find us."

And I agreed. After playing capture the flag for well over an hour and a half in the cold, I was more than ready to get this all over with.

"Okay, we'll split up-"

"What?"

Alex flashed me an impatient glance.

"Brandon, come on-"

"Fine," I agreed, reluctantly.

So far, evading being hit more than my fair share of times by Chris and Ryan had come more or less from my ability to be able to keep up with super athlete Alex, who was like an entire army in one guy when it came to this.

"You go that way and I'll go this way," Alex said. "We'll meet back up at the pavilion."

Alex left no room for arguments, as he took off just as soon as the words had left his mouth, leaving me alone in the vast and spacious forest.

I looked around nervously before slowly walking along the back of the trees nearby towards the deep end.

There was just something so...nerve wrecking about being alone in a forest. I'd seen so many movies, and when you were alone like I was, your mind begins to wonder. The only reason why I wasn't going completely out of my mind was because I knew that there were a lot of other people out in the forest besides me, and some of them were my friends.

Friends that I was hoping to run into before my mind led me down an insane paranoid path.

In the distance, I could hear the sound of paintballs being shot. I knew there were other people out here, so I wasn't sure if it was one of my friends or not, but seeing anyone would be a lot better than talking to myself.

So I decided to rush over to the sounds to see what was going on. And it turned out, I was lucky.

The sounds I'd heard earlier, obviously had come from some other people, as evidence in the fact that I saw a group of teens running away in the other direction after each other. But it was something else I saw that got me excited.

Adam was laying on his back, partially propped up against a pile of large fallen trees, looking a little nervous. He hadn't seen me yet, and from where I was, it looked as if he was hiding or something.

I looked around before slowly creeping over to Adam and made sure to get on my own back to lay next to him.

I noticed right away that he looked relieved to see me, but also a little nervous.

And he was probably nervous for the same reason I was. It had been almost three weeks since the two of us had kissed in the car that night and almost two since I had accidentally blurted out in front of everyone that we had.

Neither of us had talked about either incident, and the tension between us had reached its most heated moment at the New Years party last week.

I guess you could say that Michelle's plea for a perfect year of non bad eventful parties wasn't meant to be because Vanessa confronted me at the party.

Now, of course, being the 'perfect' girl that she was, she made sure not to cause a scene directly. Oh no, instead she got me to cause the scene for her. Picture one of those movies where the music suddenly stops as everyone stares at two people having a 'party disrupting' argument. Only, I was the one who came out looking bad because I was yelling at her. The stupid bitch.

I could tell that Adam didn't really blame me. After all, we had kissed each other, so he was as in just as much trouble with Vanessa as I was. And I knew that at least a part of him actually enjoyed the kiss. Everyone else, however, seemed to be particularly upset that I had kissed Adam. Jade was upset, because even though she'd rather I were with Adam than Vanessa, the way she saw it, I was still the 'other person' coming between a couple. And of course Krystal was upset because Vanessa was her cousin. She wasn't mad at me too much, but she had to sympathize with her own cousin. Alex was probably neutral, as he really hadn't mentioned it at all. He probably didn't care either way.

Then there was everyone else. The moody people in my life. Ryan was upset with me because he didn't want me to make his mistake and start a relationship with Adam while he was with Vanessa. I took that to mean that Ryan must really have changed, considering that those were big words coming from him.

And Gino and Chris. Probably the two most temperamental people ever. Granted, they'd been acting strangely for quite some time now, but them hearing about the kiss, made it even worse. For one thing, they had all but stopped talking to me. And that would be upsetting to me if I didn't know that it was because they weren't sure what to say to me. And then there were the looks they gave each other that could say a thousand different things. I just, I wasn't sure what the deal was with them. You'd think they were upset because they were in love with me or something, but I knew that wasn't the case.

Well at least, I liked to think it wasn't the case.

Needless to say however, being the guys that we were, none of us really brought it up after the party. We basically just pretended to be getting along, for my sake anyway, and to take our mind off of everything and get out and do something fun before school started again on Monday, Alex planned the whole paintball outing. And so far, it hadn't really been that bad of an idea.

Of course, that was something I could have easily said....before I found myself alone with Adam.

"Hey," I said, once I was seated firmly next to him.

"Hey," he replied.

"So Alex and I've been looking for you," I replied.

"Yeah...I ran into Chris a while ago," Adam replied. "That guys a fucking perfect ass shot."

"I guess he practices," I replied.

Adam smiled before looking over his shoulder.

"So, you're just chilling out here......." I let my words waver in the hope that Adam would finish the sentence for me.

"I'm not sure why, but I just....I had a feeling you'd find me here," Adam replied, flashing me a sheepish grin.

And I knew he was telling the truth because I also had the same feeling. Like I was connected to Adam somehow and found myself eternally drawn to him.

"Funny how we still have that connection huh?" I said.

"You feel it too huh?" he asked.

Truthfully, I think I'd felt it ever since I'd awoken from my coma. And I think that's what initially turned me off from Adam. Because I was afraid of the connection and maybe repulsed by it. But I was starting to realize that I couldn't fight it, which was making me want Adam even more every day.

"I don't think it's ever gonna go away," I replied.

"Yeah. I....felt it when we kissed," Adam replied, nervously.

"About that," I started, turning on my side for comfort. "I'm sorry that I told everyone about what happened between us."

Adam sighed and turned on his side to face me.

"It was an accident. For all I know, Chris forced you to-"

"Adam!"

"I'm sorry, but I just don't understand why you have to be friends with him," Adam replied. "There's a lot of things about him that you don't know."

"Funny how he was telling me the same thing before you guys came along," I replied, trying to keep my cool.

"He was?" Adam asked, sounding a little skeptical.

"Yeah. He told me there were a few things that I should be asking Alex and Gino. And you."

For a while, Adam said nothing and the only sounds that could be heard came from the shouting of kids in the distance and the barrage of paintballs being shot at some other unlucky kids.

But eventually Adam turned back to me.

"Well, I don't know what to say," Adam replied.

"I don't either," I replied, before hesitantly reaching into my pocket to give Adam what I'd been meaning to for a few days now.

Adam watched me as I fished around in my pocket for what I wanted to give him.

"What's this?" he asked, taking the note from my hand.

"It's everything I want to say to you," I replied. "There's so much...and with everything that's been going on, I don't think were gonna have time to just....sit down and talk."

"Yeah...you're probably right," Adam replied.

"Just promise me you'll read it," I said.

"Okay. I promise," Adam replied, putting the note in his own pocket.

It was weird how giving him the note made me feel so much better. And I felt so much more relaxed. That is until I heard the sound of someone rushing towards us.

"Oh god, it's probably Chris," Adam replied, clutching his paintball gun harder.

I picked my own gun back up and straightened up a little.

Adam peeked his head up slightly from behind the trees to see who was coming towards us.

"It's Alex," Adam replied, sounding completely surprised. "And he has their flag."

"What?" I asked, sitting up to see myself.

Sure enough, Alex did have their flag. But he was also being chased by Chris, Ryan, and Gino.

Adam slowly stood up and I did the same.

"Run! Run!" Alex shouted, as he got closer.

Adam and I exchanged glances.

"Run dammit!" Alex exclaimed as he headed past us.

Adam and I didn't wait to be told again as we took off and caught up with Alex, running as fast as we could.

"How in the hell?"

"Just run!" Alex replied.

I could hear and see paint ball's being shot behind me. I even felt some of them hitting me and looking down at the electronic life bar attached to my paintball suit, I could clearly see that within a few more shots, I'd be 'dead' and useless to the team.

Then again, Alex did have their flag. If I could just hold out until we got back to the base....

And then the balls kept hitting me.

"Guys, I'm gonna be out soon," I said, seriously feeling out of breath.

Already my life bar was beeping, alerting anyone with ears that I was low on 'health'.

"Split up!" Alex shouted.

There was a pass coming up that split into three separate paths. Alex took the middle path, which we all knew led towards our base. Adam took the one to the left of it while I took the right path.

As expected, Chris, Gino, and Ryan had all chosen to follow each of us, Gino being the one following me.

All they had to do was take me and Adam out and Alex wouldn't have any backup to cover him once he reached the base, which was set up like an obstacle course so that it would be harder to put the flag in place, effectively making it harder to actually win.

Right now, we were six guys at war. There was no friendship out here. It was survival of the fittest, and save for looking out for your team members whenever you could, if you weren't on a team with your friends, they were as good as your enemy.

Which Gino was proving to be true as I saw the paintballs flying ahead of me. He was really trying to 'kill' me!

I had to dodge a few trees and felt like I was about to pass out, but about five minutes later, I found myself entering the obstacle course, where I saw Alex, Ryan, Chris, and Adam all crashed out on the ground trying to catch their breath, and the flag Alex had taken, resting snugly into it's designated spot.

We'd won, and once Gino caught site of the flag, he dropped his gun and fell to the ground to catch his own breath.

I didn't even care where I landed. I just fell to the ground and started trying to catch my own breath.

None of us said anything at all for what seemed like forever. But eventually my breathing returned to normal as did my body temperature, as I was beginning to feel the chill of the winter air once again.

And as it got colder, I sat up.

"Okay, I'm freezing my ass off, let's go," I said.

"No one wants to go at it again?" Alex asked, sitting up as well.

"Alex are you crazy?" Gino spoke. "I'll die two minutes into it."

"Yeah, you were pretty slow," Alex replied. "And I guess it is getting kinda cold."

It had always been cold. We just never noticed it being so involved in the game.

"Come on, " I said, reaching down to help Adam up. "Let's go drink something that'll burn our tongues off."

"Ugh, I need a massage," Ryan said, as he joined my side.

"Yeah, among other things you need," Adam mumbled.

Ryan flashed me a look but didn't say much else in favor of not wanting to start an argument with Adam, as all of us headed back to the front to go.

Now that we weren't playing war with each other, old feelings soon resurfaced, and we were back to hating each other. Or at least, my friends were back to hating each other.

Alex and Adam stuck close to me and tried to make me walk faster so that the three of us were a bit away from Chris and Ryan, who were walking next to each other while Gino lagged a bit behind.

Things were pretty much silent between all of us as we headed back to the front. I had a lot to think about myself, as I'm sure the rest of them did as well.

It wasn't until we were actually back at the front, did things start to pick back up among us.

"Okay so I need to seriously take one long very hot shower," Adam said, as he took off his paintball outfit.

"Yeah, I can tell," I replied.

"Shut up," Adam replied, playfully nudging me.

"Awww, what would your mother say to see you now?" Chris asked, sarcastically.

"Nothing you jackass, I'm straight remember?" Adam replied. "Besides, there's nothing going on between us."

"If that's what you need to believe," Chris replied, taking off his own suit.

"Hey, come on, the war was out there remember?" Ryan spoke. "It's completely over now."

"With those two, it'll never be over," Gino mumbled, walking past Adam and I to take his suit up to the front.

Adam and I exchanged glances. Our lives were like never ending sagas. I just hoped that we could overcome what we had to endure in the past so that this year wouldn't turn out like the last one had.

"Adam, is that you dear?"

Adam walked from the front door over to where his mother had gotten off the couch and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah. Uh, I got the mail," Adam replied, sifting through it.

"I see you had fun," his mother spoke. "Maybe a little too much."

"What makes you say that?" Adam asked, not really paying attention as he continued to sift through the mail.

"It looks like you managed to get a little paint on you're pants," she replied, looking over Adam's lower left leg, where a few spots of paint were sitting.

Adam looked down.

"Man.....I liked these pants!" Adam exclaimed, looking himself over.

"Oh well it's okay. It looks like the paint hasn't completely dried yet. I'll be able to get it out," Adam's mom replied. "Here take off your pants."

"No, mom-"

"Adam, honey, no arguments. I can save the pants so take em off," his mom smiled.

Adam put down the mail and reluctantly agreed, taking off his pants without further thought.

"I'm gonna go take a nice looooong shower," Adam replied, heading up to his room.

His mother smiled before heading into the laundry room to start on Adam's pants.

Adam meanwhile was about to get into the shower when his phone rang.

For a moment, he considered not answering it but he gave in and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey there sexy," came the sensual female voice of Vanessa.

"Hey baby," Adam replied, plopping himself down on his bed. "What's up?"

"Oh nothing. Just wanted to see how everything went today," Vanessa replied.

Adam's mother turned the light on in the laundry room and set Adam's pants down while she looked around for some Oxy cleaner to get the paint out before it set.

"Oh, almost forget," she mumbled, reaching into the pockets of the pants.

She took out Adam's wallet and a folded piece of paper and set them down. She tended to Adam's pants before picking up the wallet and the paper and headed back into the living room where she took a seat on the couch.

Looking at the note in her hand, curiosity was beginning to get the better of her. She didn't want to invade Adam's privacy, but he rarely spoke to her about his romantic life anymore. Or his life in general. It occurred to her that she didn't even know if Adam was dating anyone anymore.

Looking upstairs a moment, she turned her attention back to the note. Deciding to go against her better judgment, she opened the note and began to look over it.

"So, you went out and got shot...how many times did you get hit and lose?" my ultra annoying older sister Jaime asked as soon as I walked in.

She was home for the break and would be going back later next week.

Which couldn't happen soon enough, as far as I was concerned.

"You know, I begged mom for a brother," I started.

"But I was already born before you come along," Jaime replied.

"I guess you haven't had the adoption talk yet have you?" I asked, walking over to the fridge to grab a soda.

"What are you talking about? I wasn't adopted," Jaime objected.

I looked over at her as I opened my soda.

"Sure you weren't," I replied, with a coy smirk.

And I didn't stick around to debate it more as I headed up the stairs to my room.

"I wasn't adopted......was I?" Jaime asked herself.

I took a swig of my soda as I loaded up my computer to check my email.

But as soon as I did that, my phone started to ring.

I jumped from my computer chair on to my bed and rolled over to get the phone.

"Hello this is Funky Chicken, home of the funky fly ridden generic chicken strips. How can I take your order?" I playfully announced.

"What if there really was a Funky Chicken?" Gino asked. "You'd SO be good as their phone operator."

"Yeah, if I actually had a job," I replied.

"Don't worry. We can both be unemployed," Gino replied.

"Hm. So what's up?" I asked, sitting up to get more comfortable a bit.

"Well I don't know. I just....well I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier," Gino replied. "I guess being around Chris and Ryan brings the worst out of me."

"It's okay," I replied. "I completely understand."

And I did understand. I knew there was some tension there. From what I was told, Ryan had once used Gino to do something bad. For what I'm not sure of all the details. And then of course, there was the tension between him and Chris that I already knew about. And again, in that situation I still wasn't sure why there was tension there.

"I know I keep saying that I'm gonna try and get along with them, but it's just hard when they're both just...always there....and it makes me upset that they...just keep getting to me," Gino replied.

"It's not always just your fault," I said. "They make things harder for you and me too. Especially Chris."

I heard Gino groan into the phone before he said anything.

"It's guys like him that make it hard for guys like you."

"What?"

"Well I just meant the way he plays with your feelings. It's already hard enough being gay......."

There was a pause.

"I mean...not that I'd not much about that...I just meant for you. It's hard for you when only so many people know," Gino clarified. "Your support system only goes so far."

I'd actually been thinking a lot about that. I was beginning to think that maybe my memory loss might have been somewhat of a chance. A chance for me to do right what I'd obviously been doing wrong last year. And now that it was a new year, 2005, I was starting to think that it was time for me to prioritize my life.

Right now, only my closest friends knew that I was gay. And that was because, to the best of my knowledge, I had been basically forced to admit it to Alex way back when. And I only knew now because of it.

But I realized now that none of my family members knew. And they were the people that I saw every day. The people I was connected to through blood. And the ones that I should have been able to tell that I was gay.

And maybe it was about time that I did.

"You know, you have a point," I said after a long silence between us.

"About what?" Gino asked.

"It's just...all this time I've been keeping a large part of my life a secret from my own family," I replied. "And for what?"

"Well, I mean....you have to be entirely sure they'll know how to handle it," Gino replied. "Not everyone takes news like that as well as we did."

"Yeah but they're my family," I replied. "That shouldn't matter to them."

"Brandon, I don't wanna tell you that they'll be able to handle it. But-"

"There's always the possibility that they won't," I finished.

And I knew that. And had thought about it plenty. But I was really beginning to feel stronger about the whole thing. This was just something I knew I had to do. And with Jaime here, I'd be able to tell my entire family in one sitting.

I just needed to figure out how and when I wanted to do it.

"Well...I mean, if you're sure you really wanna do it..." Gino said.

"I do," I replied.

I was really really sure that I wanted to do this.

"Okay. I'm here for you, you know that right?"

"Yeah. I know."

"And you'll call me after you...."

"Sure," I replied. "Talk to you later."

"Bye."

The talk with Gino left me feeling completely enlightened. Maybe I'd do it tonight.

Meanwhile, Gino himself was feeling enlightened himself. The object of his desire was more brave then he was. He decided that if he couldn't tell him that he was gay, then a least he could take a page out of his book and inform his own family of his sexuality. Brandon was right, they did deserve as much.

Even if he was scared out of his mind to give it to them. ***********************************************************************

Adam was exhausted. After taking his shower, he spent a few hours on the phone with Vanessa.

Part of him was happy that things were going so well with them, especially after she'd heard about his kiss with Brandon. At the same time though, he really didn't feel like spending so much time with her on the phone talking about silly this and that's. But it didn't matter anymore because he knew he was in a good place with Brandon. He even had the.........

It suddenly hit him that he had yet to read the note from Brandon. And when he reached into his pants pockets to get it, he also realized that he had given the pants with the note in it to his mother to wash. Which meant that it had been washed, along with the pants, and that he'd never get to read what it had to say.

"Here are your pants Adam. And your wallet," Adam's mother spoke, entering his room.

Adam couldn't be sure, but it was almost like his mom was agitated about something.

She put his wallet on a nearby dresser before folding the pants and putting them in one of his drawers.

"Uh, thanks," Adam replied.

"Dinner's ready," she replied, not even looking at him.

Adam waited for her to leave before opening the drawer and looking for the note in his pants pocket.

He checked and double checked them but came up with nothing. That was about when he panicked and several things ran through his mind.

If Brandon had mentioned anything about their past together in the note and his mother had found it......but there was always a chance that she hadn't read it or even seen it. Still, he had to be careful. The last thing he wanted was for his parents to know that he was once and still was in love with a guy.

"Adam get the hell downstairs so I can eat dammit!" Adam heard his father call from downstairs.

What he didn't hear was his mother's usual chastising behind her father's cursing. Something was definitely up. He just wasn't quite sure what.

Carefully, Adam stood up and nervously swallowed before heading downstairs and into the kitchen.

His father looked grumpy as usual and had just arrived home from work while his mother worked to finish setting the table.

"Uh....smells great mom," Adam said, carefully taking a seat at the table.

"Yeah, I just wish I could EAT it," his father said, looking back at his mom.

"Oh settle down, everything's almost set," she spoke.

"All day at home yet dinner's not even done by time I get here," his dad mumbled. "I'm still trying to figure out what the hell you do all day."

"Housework," his mom replied. "Like washing clothes."

Adam noticed that his mother flashed him a weird look before setting herself down at the table, across from Adam.

"Speaking of which, I never seem to have any clean socks anymore," Adam's father spoke, cutting up his steak.

"Um...maybe you can have some of mine...dad," Adam replied.

"It figures you would have a lot of socks," his father replied. "Even though with everything going on in your little life, you probably spend more time taking them off than putting them on."

"Carlos."

"He's a guy Ellen. And a teenager. You can't expect him not to be having sex, sheesh," Adam's father replied.

Adam looked up at his mother.

"You're not....I mean....well who are you seeing these days? I haven't heard anything since you broke up with Michelle," she said.

Adam was feeling really nervous, especially with his father in the room.

"It's not that black girl with the long hair is it?" his father asked. "Because she's smart yeah, and cute enough, but she'll talk your head off."

"No dad, it's not Jade," Adam replied, feeling like his cheeks were on fire.

"Well then who?" his mom asked. "I'm just curious. I mean, you used to spend all your time with that Brandon boy but after his unfortunate accident, it was like....you turned into one big secret."

"Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell are you trying to say Ellen? Huh? So what, the boy has friends, he doesn't...spend all his time with some guy," Adam's father replied. "He's not some fag."

"You know what. I think I'm gonna eat this in my room," Adam said grabbing his plate.

His mother and father watched him as he did and walked back up to his room.

"See what you did? Why can't you learn how to talk about stuff people are actually interested in?" Adam's father spoke, getting up.

"Well, where are you going then?" his mom asked.

"To catch the news before I watch the game," his father replied.

Adam's mother sat at the table, staring off into space thinking about her son.

"So......what's this little impromptu meeting about?" Jaime asked. "Because if I'm missing Desperate Housewives for some stupid little problem of yours-"

"Jaime, I'm sure whatever you're brother has to say is very important," my mom spoke.

It was. And now that this was actually happening, I had to say, I was seriously having my second thoughts about the whole situation. But there was no turning back now. That is, if I really wanted to do this.

"Go ahead son," my father said firmly.

It was a bit intimidating to have six pairs of eyes staring with all the attention in the world on me, but I knew that it was my own doing that this was happening now.

I just wish I knew where to start.

"So....um.....I guess I should start with how I feel...I mean, since I woke up from the coma," I started.

I was aware that I was being a bit random. Just as long as I knew where this was all going to lead, then I could say all I wanted, even if it didn't make sense.

"And honey, I'm so glad that you did," my mother replied, sounding on the verge of tears. "We prayed for you every single day. And then God brought you back to us."

I was glad that I woke up as well. You hear every day about some poor soul that falls into a coma, some of whom never wake up. I was lucky to. Of course, I also woke up not remembering much of anything, but that in itself could be considered better than not being able to think or remember things at all.

"Yeah," I said. "And I appreciate how well you've all been taking care of me."

"Were your family," my dad replied. "Of course were gonna take car of you after something like that."

And I knew that, I really I did. I knew they loved me. Which is why I was hoping that when I told them what I wanted to tell them, they'd totally understand and not judge me too badly.

"It's just that...I've been starting to remember stuff. Like from before the accident," I continued.

My mom and dad exchanged thrilled looks before my mother walked from across the sofa she was on and sat next to me.

"Really?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"See, I knew that doctor was wrong. He wanted you to go talk to someone about what had happened to you but I knew that if we gave you enough time, you'd remember things on your own."

"Mom...i didn't say that I actually remembered anything," I replied. "What I meant was that I was starting to feel like I'm remembering things."

"Want me to hit you on the head with something heavy?" Jaime suddenly asked.

"Jaime!" my mother gasped.

"What? It always works in the movies," Jaime replied.

"Look, my memory isn't really what I wanted to talk to all of you about," I continued.

I paused and took a deep breath before I said anything else.

"Well son.....if you don't wanna talk to us about that...then what do you want to talk about?" my mom asked.

It made me feel a little bad to hear her sounding so confused. I could tell that she was preparing herself for something horrible. And I hated to have to think that they'd take what I had to tell to be a bad thing.

"It's about me and....my life really. About my love life," I continued.

I wasn't sure why I was so reluctant to just come right out and say it. Maybe because I felt that just blurting it out would be a little abrupt. And unfair to my family. They deserved to be braced for news like this. After all they'd been trough with me the past year, it was the least I could do for them.

"You don't have to explain that to us," Jaime replied. "Because it's pretty much non existent, right Brandon?"

"Jaime let your brother speak," my mom said, firmly.

"No I....well I mean there's a reason why you haven't really seen me with...well any girlfriends at all," I started, hoping that with those words, maybe they'd at least start to see what I was trying to tell them here.

My mom and dad both looked pretty much unreadable while Jaime had a slightly confused look on her face, but not completely shocked or off guard look.

"So...what are you trying tell us here son? I mean, are you trying to say that......." my dad started.

"What I'm trying to say dad is that......is that I'm gay."

Complete silence came over the room as no one said anything or moved at all.

I tried to read the faces of my family members but they were all unreadable, even Jaime's now. Apparently, hearing that I was gay wasn't what she was expecting me to say after all.

What seemed like minutes passed by where no one said anything at all. And it was beginning to make me even more uncomfortable than I had already been.

"Somebody...say something," I said, my voice suddenly feeling like it was in another universe.

I was desperate for someone to give me some kind of reaction. Hell, at this point, I was hoping for someone to start screaming and yelling. Or at least for someone to start crying. SOMETHING!

"Well......I gotta say....I always had a feeling," Jaime started.

For once in my life I actually was glad to hear Jaime open her big mouth.

"What?" my mom spoke up next, sounding completely thrown. "How have you always had a feeling....I...."

"Are you sure son? I mean....how do you actually know?" my dad asked.

He didn't sound upset, just confused. I guess that was a good thing.

"Believe me dad, I'm sure," I replied. "And I have been for a while now."

"Is this a coma thing? Did that hit to the head make you think-"

"Actually I think he was gay before the accident, dad," Jaime finished for him.

My dad glanced at her before looking back over at me.

"Are you....angry with me?" I asked.

"Angry?" my mom asked. "Son....maybe before your accident I might have saw something like this a bit differently, and believe me, it's still quite a shock. But, if I've learned anything from what happened to you it's that my children mean more to me than anything else on this planet. I can't get upset that you are more interested in guys than you are girls when I'm thanking God every day that you're actually alive."

"Wait so, you don't wanna throw me out or anything or-"

"You're our son no matter what," my mom replied. "Gay or not."

"Yeah but are you absolutely sure?" my dad asked, yet again.

"He's sure," my mom and Jaime spoke in unison.

"Well, guy, girl, what difference does it make just as long as you're around to pick em, huh?" my dad spoke getting up to hug me.

And when he was done my mom hugged me as well.

This entire talk with my family had gone a lot smoother than I originally thought it would. I knew that there was always a chance that they wouldn't accept me and that they'd kick me out onto the street and that I'd have to go live with Gino or someone.

But knowing that I had the support of my mother and my father...and even my sister, made me feel much better about deciding to tell them.

Of course, I knew that I couldn't tell them about my past with Adam. For one thing, there was no need to now that he was straight and we weren't together anymore. But I also didn't think it was my place to out Adam to my family when it was clear Adam hadn't even told his own family about his past.

Then again, it was all in the past, which meant there was no reason to be bringing any of it up now.

"Wait a second, does this mean that your obsession with watching Survivor was because you were checking out all the guys?" Jaime asked.

"Maybe that's what you were doing, you perv," I shot back.

"I'm glad you decided to tell us this son," my mother replied. "Now I don't have to worry about setting you up with Maybeleen's daughter Alice."

"Maybeleene's fat daughter Alice from church?" Jaime asked. "Oh yeah, that woulda worked out nicely. She probably would have eaten him before the second date!"

"Jaime, don't," my mother spoke.

"Oh, Brandon come on, let's go see if Jesse Metcalfe is taking his shirt off again on Desperate Housewives," Jaime spoke, grabbing my hand to stand me up.

Before I went though, I turned back to my parents.

"So we're okay then?"I asked.

"We're okay son," my dad replied.

"I love the both of you," I replied, before heading upstairs with Jaime.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to get you until the weekend?" Gino's father said, as he took a seat in the living room of the mansion. "What's going on?"

Gino had called his father over and had already told his mother that he needed to talk to the both of them as she was already in the living room when his father arrived.

"Yes, honey, I hope it's really important and worth having to endure being in the same room with your father," Gino's mom said bitterly.

Gino could see that the scars from their newly permanent divorce hadn't healed at all, as the both of them still couldn't stand each other.

"Oh that's right, make this about me and how terrible of a person I am to live with!" Gino's father exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I don't have to when I already know it in my heart!" Gino's mom hissed.

"Okay can you two not argue for like two seconds, please?" Gino asked.

Both Gino's parent's looked him over sympathetically.

"I'm sorry honey," his mother spoke. "Go ahead."

"Yeah, go ahead son," his father spoke.

Gino took a deep breath and looked down at the imported Italian rug that sat on the ground beneath his feet.

He'd already made up his mind about what he wanted to do. First he'd let his parents know that he was gay. And then he'd find some way to re-tell Brandon that he was gay so that they could be together, just like he always wanted.

"Well, I know you guys are....still going through some things," he started.

He looked over at his parents, who were glaring at each other.

"But there's something that I really need to tell you and I want you guys to listen."

"Okay son," his dad said. "What is it?"

"I've been...well, I've been keeping a really huge secret from you and I decided that I wanted to tell you guys about it now."

He noticed that both of his parents looked a little worried, but they said nothing as Gino took a deep breath and decided to just come right out and say it.

"Mom......Dad.........I'm gay."

Gino's mother's eyes widened and her head quickly turned to look at her son.

"No...Gino what did you say?" she asked.

"I'm gay mom...and I know that it's not something you ever wanted to hear but it's what I am and it can't be helped and-"

"I don't believe this is happening," Gino's mother mumbled.

"Look, I'm sorry mom, okay, but I'm just...well I'm just gay," Gino replied.

He wasn't really afraid to tell his parents, even with the reaction he was getting. But now he was just ready to get it all out so that he could think a bit more clearly about his life.

"This is your fault!" his mother shouted, pointing at his father

"What? No mom this isn't dads-"

"Oh sure...that's right blame me. How in the hell is this my fault?" his father spoke.

"He IS your son. Like father like son, I guess," his mother replied.

Gino looked over at his father.

"Wait a second, what the hell are you saying mom?" Gino asked.

Gino's mom returned to a more calm state as she looked into her sons eyes.

"Your father and I didn't get a divorce..primarily because of the fights," she started.

Gino looked over at his father.

"Dad....are you-"

"Your father is gay, Gino."

Gino stared at his father with wild amazement. All this time. All this time and he never.........

"What?" he asked.

"Son, I-"

"No, get off of me!" Gino exclaimed, getting up.

"Son we have to-"

"No.....no....I...."

Gino said nothing more as he rushed up to his room and locked the door.

That wasn't supposed to happen. That wasn't supposed to happen at all.

As always, if you'd like to more then check out my Yahoo Group located at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/, where episodes not yet available on Nifty can be found.

If you'd like to let me know what you thought, which I always appreciate, you can email me at crossingboi2004@yahoo.com. I always respond to any and all kinds of feedback.

Copyright 2005