Like Gods

[39] family dinners at Christmas

Later in the evening, they all sat down around the dining table with a plethora of food evenly divided around the table. His mom and grandmother, with the help of him and Riley, of course, had been cooking all day to get all of the food done in time for the traditional meal. 

"I have been waiting all day-" his grandfather started, earning a short laugh from his mom.

"I think we've all been waiting for this since we didn't eat any lunch," she remarked, passing the mashed potatoes over the Riley.

"No, I mean- yes, but that wasn't what I was aiming for. As I was saying, Dylan, I have been saving this question all day but now we have to know where you have decided to go to college. Have you looked at the South Carolina colleges? To get closer to your old grandpops and grammy?" 

Dylan cringed inward. "Uh, I- have looked at a lot of colleges, really." 

"Yeah, but which do you really want?" 

"That's actually one in Florida..." he waited for the inevitable negative comments but to his surprise, there were none.

"Oh, but that is closer! Not as close as we'd hoped but we'll take what we can get," his grandmother exclaimed after a moment of silence. "We'll be visiting every weekend to make sure you don't do anything you shouldn't." 

"She's joking," his grandfather laughed, probably because he caught Dylan's panicked expression. "As long as you don't go and become Jewish." 

There was a tense silence from Dylan but neither his grandparents nor his mom for that matter seemed to notice and laughed it off.

"Anyway, let's pray before we eat." 

Riley met Dylan's eyes, shooting him a subtle eye roll to which he nodded. They never prayed before food, that was just something tedious that got them to wait longer to eat. Nevertheless, he took a hold of both the hands that were extended to him and he closed his eyes.

Did he pray, though? No. He thought about what Chris was doing. It was kind of sad that he was celebrating Christmas alone, but he couldn't exactly invite him over. Especially now that his grandparents were over. At least he was going over there in just a few days. There was a New Year's Eve party that they'd been invited to and he kind of wanted to stay at Chris's until then. 

"Amen," his mom said and Dylan opened his eyes. "Let's eat!"

For about an hour, they chatted and ate all they could fit, including Dylan. By seven-fifteen he felt as though he was going to burst at the seams if he consumed any more turkey or anything else for that matter. Not even water made it down without making him want to hurl.

"I have something to tell you all," Riley spoke up after a few minutes of munch-filled silence. Dylan's eyes snapped up at his sister, who was already looking at him. He raised a brow and she responded with a- barely noticeable- nod.

Was she going to-? That was a feat of bravery that he didn't have, especially with his mom's parents around as well. The room filled with a tension that made the hair in the back of his neck stand and all eyes turned to his sister.

"What is it, sweetcheeks?" Their grandmother asked but she got no response for a moment. Riley fastened her eyes on their parents.

"I... I like hmms," she mumbled, lowering her head.

"What was that? Speak up we can't hear you," their grandfather snapped playfully.

"I said I like girls," she repeated, her voice loud and steady, "I think I'm gay."

"Nonsense," their grandmother snapped, not at all playfully, "what is this? Some kind of joke?" 

"What are you talking about, Riley?" Their mom asked. There was a long silence, the tension only growing in intensity until it was almost suffocating. Riley didn't say anything else.