On Thin Ice

09

I slept in later than usual on Saturday morning. Trevor didn't drop me off at home until late the night before and I felt guilty since my Dad had waited up for me.

After rolling over on my bed and checking my phone for the time, I realized it was past twelve. I groaned and pushed myself up off of the bed before heading downstairs. When I got there, I saw that my Dad was the only one home. It was oddly quiet without Mindy and Ava arguing in the kitchen.

"Morning, or should I say, afternoon," Dad joked when he saw me enter the kitchen.

"Hey," I rasped, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "I'm sorry I came home so late last night."

Dad just waved me off as if saying "no big deal."

"I'm just glad you're finally going out with your friends," he told me with a smile.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that they weren't really my friends, so I stayed quiet and gave him a tight lipped smile before making my way over to the fridge to get a bottle of water and some milk for a bowl of cereal.

"Did you have fun?" Dad asked as I poured myself some cereal.

When I saw him waiting for me last night, we didn't speak much. I told him I was tired and he told me we would talk in the morning and now it was that time and I still didn't want to talk to him about it.

"Yeah, it was fun," I told him, taking a bit of cheerios I was eating over at the counter. I wasn't lying. I actually did have a good time out with the GSA kids after I stopped obsessing over Fox and Claudia.

"That's good," Dad replies cheerfully. "Where'd you go?"

"Just some restaurant," I stretched the truth. I didn't know how he would feel about me going to a club, no matter how subdued it was.

"What one?" he asked curiously.

"Um," I stammered, looking everywhere but him. "You've probably never been there."

"Oh. Is it some new place?" he asked me. "Maybe we can go some time."

My face flushed and I took a long sip of water before glancing at his curious expression.

"It's actually, it's uh," I stumbled on my words. "It's an LGBT place."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Oh," was all he said.

I looked awkwardly down at my bowl as I nodded in confirmation.

"That's great, Elijah," he added a few moments later, causing me to look up at him. "I'm glad you're hanging out with people you can relate to."

I nodded. "Me too."

"If only there were other LGBT hockey players in the area," Dad joked. "Then you could really relate to each other."

If only. I mentally rolled my eyes.

"By the way, great game last night. I'm really proud of you," Dad said, standing up from his seat and patting me on the shoulder.

"Thanks." Then a thought dawned on me. "Where is everyone?"

"Mindy is shopping with her friend, Ava's at a birthday party, and Joshua stayed at Ryan's," Dad answered. "Which reminds me, since we're alone, I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Your mother," he told me with a grimace clear on his face.

It was clear neither of us wanted to discuss her, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious about why she called the other day.