Page 78 of A Minute More
Simon looks horrified, but I don’t let him ruminate on that for too long. My mom is happy to accommodate him. The way she’s eyeing me, I know that she wants to talk to me about this, but that will have to wait. All of it will have to wait until Simon and I figure out what this is.
“I have two cousins who are strict vegans. Don’t worry about this, okay?” I tell him.
Simon bobs his head and then glances around.
“I’d offer you a drink, but…”
“I’ll have one,” he blurts and my eyebrows lift in surprise.
“You sure?”
“Yes,” he says. “Just one. I need to…this is too much. I need to calm down a bit.”
“Shit. Do you want to leave?”
“No. No, I want to stay, I just need something to help me relax.”
Grabbing him a beer from the cooler and one for myself, I pop off the tops.
Simon takes it and guzzles some down, his throat working furiously against the fizz.
“Slow down, baby,” I say with a smile, and my mom hears the term of endearment because she croons over it.
Simon’s cheeks darken as he presses the cold glass to his neck, attempting to cool himself down.
“Why don’t you guys go outside and relax? We have a pool and even some cornhole,” my mom suggests.
“I don’t know if I can relax,” Simon replies, and my mom laughs, thinking he’s being funny, but I know he’s so out of his element here. I don’t know how to help him other than just staying by his side.
So stay by his side. Throughout the entire afternoon and evening I stay with him, even pulling him onto my lap at one point when Uncle Harlan stared a little too long.
I flipped him off and Uncle Harlan chuckled, saluting me with his beer can.
They might not fully understand, but none of them are assholes. And all of them know to keep their opinions to themselves. I’m sure some of them have those too, but they respect my mom and me enough to talk about it elsewhere.
“How much longer?” Simon asks, his ass on my lap, my hands around his waist. We both stopped drinking after that first beer, our cups now filled with soda instead. It’s late, the sun departing hours ago. My aunts and uncles with little kids have left, but Jimmy and Paulie are still here, both with glassy eyes from drinking too much. My sister’s in bed, my mom put her there an hour ago, though she fought it.
“I’m not tired,” she griped, despite being grumpy and breaking down in tears.
Yeah, that little bug can’t lie well enough yet.
So now it’s just the four of us and Uncle Gary who is passed out on the lawn.
“Should we move him?” Paulie asks us, throwing a thumb over to where Uncle Gary lies.
Jimmy just snorts and rubs his beard. “No. Asshole needs to learn when to cut it off.”
Simon leans back against me, his head tilted up to the dark night sky. Out here, the stars are easy to see, so unlike in the city where they’re hidden behind the smog and light pollution. Will he like it in the big city? Will he find someone else there?
“I think we can make an escape now, if you wanna?” I tell Simon who immediately stands up.
“We’re going to go to sleep,” I tell my mom and she lets us know that she’s made up the bed. Simon’s cheeks are flushed as we make our way inside the house, and when I finally make it to my room, Simon announces that there is no way we’re fucking, not with my sister and mom just across the hall.
“We’ll see about that,” I reply but don’t push it, knowing that Simon needs to feel comfortable, especially after dealing with my family all day.
It was a lot, but the fact that he stayed makes my heart swell. I swear it’s not normal, but fuck, I really like this guy.
I don’t want him to go off to college this summer and for us to end up long-distance. Or worse, end up nothing at all.