Page 365 of His Hungry Wolf

“Mother, Father.”

My mother winced. “You know I hate it when you call us that.”

I did know it. That was why I said it.

“Sorry. Frank, Martha.”

I also knew that Martha liked to hear her name first.

“Would it have killed you to be on time for once in your life?” my mother groaned.

“I don’t know. Would it?”

Martha turned to Frank.

“I can’t deal with him if he is going to be like this. I can’t do it. Not today.”

“Louis, respect your mother,” Frank muttered.

“He speaks,” I said genuinely surprised that he did.

“Do you see what I mean,” my mother told him.

“Louis!” my father said raising his voice.

“Alright!” I said throwing up my hands in defeat.

He hadn’t spoken loudly. But any display of emotion from him was unnerving.

“Must you do this every time?” my mother continued.

“Do what? All I’ve done is say hello. You’re the one who’s been criticizing me since the moment I got here.”

Frank spoke up again. “Lou, we’ve been waiting here for thirty minutes.”

He was right. I had been late. I was giving Sey as much time as I could to get back to me.

But it wasn’t like they hadn’t ever kept me waiting. For example, I’m still waiting on my gift from my thirteenth birthday. There had to be a $0.99 Store around here somewhere.

“You didn’t touch your croissant,” I said looking at the prop in front of them. “Are you going to eat it? I didn’t have lunch.”

Martha huffed in disgust and pushed it in front of me. I know it was a small thing, but this was the first thing they had given me in years. Maybe they did love me.

Tearing into it, flakes from it fell onto my plate and the table around it. Both of my parents watched me like it was feeding time at the zoo.

“So, how is school?” my father asked.

I almost choked. Neither of them had ever asked me that before. I didn’t know what was happening. And as much as I wanted to reply with something snide, I didn’t dare. What if the concern they were showing me was real? What if, despite a lifetime of evidence to the contrary, they actually did care about me? I couldn’t risk ruining that.

“It’s okay,” I said sincerely. “Umm, classes are going well. I have a really cool roommate… Quin. Umm, I have a boyfriend,” I said suddenly desperately wanting their approval.

“I see,” Frank said lowering his eyes.

Had I ruined the moment by reminding him I was gay? I had, hadn’t I? If I would have kept my mouth shut and just said things were fine, he wouldn’t have looked away. I always do this. I always keep talking when I should be shutting up.

“And here he is right now,” I said seeing him open the door.

Sey had come. He was here! I could have cried seeing him. And behind him were five of his football teammates. What was going on?