Free Fall

: Chapter 29: Happy Accident

Chapter 29

Happy Accident

(Unedited)

If I had known what was going to pertain to what my next text was going to lead to, I would have never checked it. Or answered back. My mother had texted me, but she never sent me a text message. Usually, if she had felt like it, she would leave a voicemail.

Mom: Mail came for you.

Your father wants to talk to you.

Those words clung to my insides as I could only imagine what he would want to talk about, as I had doubted that he had accepted the fact I was the opposite of how he had wanted me to be. Or would it be something else entirely? I could only hope for the latter as I walked to my locker, Christian's newest playlist he had sent me plays in my earbuds. The dialogue I play in my head as I figure out what I want to say to my parents. Finally, I had something to work with.

Me: I'll have Chris drop me off after school.

Dryden says hey.

After hitting the send button, there were two things I wasn't sure about. One. I wasn't sure why I had used Christian's name as Chris, as I remembered why he hated the short version of his name, though I never asked him. Two. Why I told them Dryden had said hey when we hadn't spoken in a while and doubted that we would anytime soon.

As I shut my locker, hands covered my eyes, leading me to know exactly who it was, A smile creeping up my face, leaving me to remove his hands from his face, and giving him a quick hug in the hallway. "About your text?" he asks as I shut my locker. My mind was all set on what to say to him until my mother texted me, and at that moment, every point of anxiety I had pushed out of my body was brought back into my mind once again.

"My parents want me to go see them," I tell him, instead of telling him what he had hoped that I would say. His facial features show that he looks concerned about whether it's what I want. "My college letter came in," I add, for what was hopefully a good measure and some reassurance.

"I think you should see them," Christian tells me, as he lifts his hand to scratch the back of his head, something he does when he's in the thought process of something; his tattoo peeking out from under his folded sleeve. Before we can continue this conversation any further, the bell for class rings.

***

By the end of the day, more text messages from my mom came in. Instead of checking them, I ignored them. I figured since I would see her after school, what would be the point of answering them? Maybe I would be selfish, or maybe conceded. I didn't know which, being how our last conversation had gone down, I wasn't sure how this melodramatically could go. I overthink how I could get out of this. Somehow I knew that my future after I had weighed graduation down on whether I showed up.

"It's not only my college letter," I tell Christian as we sit in his jeep together. A song from one of his every-day changing playlists plays over the speakers. "It's about," I start and then stop. How did I want to word this? The never ending corrosion of the judgment of being gay, for being who they hadn't accepted me for. The anxiety takes over, as my thoughts become a labyrinth, losing me in it.

"You being who you are?" Christian's soft voice raises, as he lays his head on my shoulder. "I can come in with you‌," he offers as he takes my hand, turning his head to land a kiss on my cheek, as a smile arises on my face. This was the Christian Day I knew. The "if you got it, flaunt it" zero fucks given Christian. What I was worried about most was what if they had accepted me into the art school I applied for? What would happen next in our relationship? "You're overthinking again," he tells me softly as I stare out the window of his jeep.