no one said it would be easy

Chapter 9 - izzie's call

Casey

I just can't stop grinning. That has to be the best day ever.

My little surprise I had for Izzie was a big success. Not only for her, but for me too. I didn't know I needed this evening so much.

I love you.

That's what we told us at the lake. And gosh, I swear I love her, I never loved anybody as much as her. Nothing can describe the feeling I get, when she kisses me and nothing can describe the feeling I have just thinking about her.

She's constantly on my mind and when we say goodbye for the day I already start to miss her. I want to spend every day, every hour and every second with her.

I dropped her off at her house and now I'm driving home. Gotta admit I'm very nervous talking to dad now. He probably won't have a problem with it, but still... I'm a bit afraid how he'll act around Izzie in the future.

I pull into our driveway, turn off the engine and open our door.

Dad's sitting on the sofa in the living room, watching football and drinking a beer. Sam's next to him, his laptop on his lap.

„Hey, I'm back", I say.

„Hey sweetie!", mom shouts from the kitchen. Telling by the smell she's baking something. Hopefully chocolate muffins, I haven't had one in forever. But I have to stop with all the junk food, Coach said I should be on a special diet.

„Hey", Dad and Sam both say in unision.

I drop my backback in the next corner and flop myself on the armchair.

I pull out my phone and type in a quick message, letting Izzie know I got home safe.

She answers immediately: ‚Good! Thank you again for this. You're the absolute best, I love you"

I can't help but smile. My heart melts reading those lines.

„Why are you smiling so much?", Dad asks. He must've watched me.

„Izzie", I tell him my short answer.

„Did you two have fun?", he starts trying to have smalltalk.

‚If you knew how much fun I had', I think to myself.

I notice Elsa stopped whatever she was doing in the kitchen, because there are no sounds coming from the kitchen anymore. She's probably listening to us.

„Yeah, a lot", I say shortly.

„What did you wanted to tell me earlier?", dad is getting straight to the point. He wants to know about what I tried not to talk about.

I lean forwards, placing my elbows on my knees and folding my hands. I don't know why I'm being so nervous, there's no real need to worry about it, dad's never said anything against gays.

Sam stops looking at his laptop screen and locks eyes with me. I don't think he's able to read my face right now. Even a neurotypical would have a hard time trying to figure out what's going on inside my head. Honestly I don't know either.

I take a deep breath and look at dad again. I put up all my courage and start speaking:

„You know Izzie, right?"

„Sure, just seen her a few hours ago, when you guys rushed out after I got home actually", he starts chuckling a bit and takes a sip of his beer.

„Yeah, I forgot. Well... I don't know how to tell you this.... I'm just gonna say it I guess. Okay, Uhm...", why am I stuttering so much, I'm not the type of person that starts to stutter when they're nervous. Get your shit together!!

„We're dating. I mean, we're in a relationship", I put my knees to my face, trying to hide behind them.

Dad says nothing, he just takes another sip of his beer.

„I like Izzie, she's good with tortoises and you're a lot nicer around her. You've made a good choice in dating her", Sam surprisingly says. This boy and his fucking tortoise. But I'm thankful he said this, it's relaxing me a tiny bit.

Dad looks at me again, tapping his bottle of beer with his fingers. He smiles a bit, so I figure he's not mad.

„Oh Case, you really think your mom didn't tell me about this?", he starts laughing and gets up to give me a hug.

„You're still my beautiful daughter. Nothing has changed. Well, maybe the fact I won't have to worry about you getting pregnant", he taps my back.

I am happy he's so cool with it, but I can't believe Elsa told him without my permission and that dad made me go through this hell of an emotional ride. Now I know why they get along so well.

„You guys are awful", I murmur and hug dad again.

Mom's coming out of the kitchen to join our hug.

„I'm sorry Casey, but to defend myself: He knew what you two where up to and asked me about it. What should I do, deny it? Pretend I don't know it?", Elsa says.

„For example", I say a bit too harsh, so I try to laugh it off. I really don't want to make a scene here, I am surrounded with a supportive family and that's more I could wish for. They are not perfect and they are weird, but they love me.

I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, so I pull it out and see Izzie is calling.

I peel myself out of mom and dads embracement and tell them: „Izzie's calling, I got to go", and sprint up the stairs in my room.

„Hey Iz!", I say in excitement. She will be super happy hearing this news.

„Hey Casey...", Izzie says. She's clearly sobbing and the fact she's calling me „Casey" doesn't make it any better. I feel my muscles tensing up and I begin to sweat because of nervousness.

„Can I.. uhm... Can I stay the night? I got kicked out. Mom saw us."

Shit.