Chapter Twenty-Two

Perry

"You okay?" Brax asks as I pace the living room, waiting for Theo to pick me up.

Because I'm going with him to the high desert.

Where he's from.

And where his family still lives.

I'm going to spend the night at my boyfriend's parents' house with his family.

I feel like I've lost my damn mind.

"No. I'm absolutely not okay at all. Not even a little bit. I'm freaking the fuck out." I collapse onto the chair, run my fingers through my hair and tug. "What was I thinking?"

"That you're feelin' Theo and would do anything to make him happy. It's a head fuck. Believe me, I get it. At least you didn't hate him before you realized you like him. It was even worse for me."

I turn my head slightly to look at him. "Daddy…I doubt you ever really hated Ty."

"First, stop calling me that. Second, maybe hate is a strong word, but I disliked him a whole fucking lot. He annoyed the shit out of me."

"He still annoys the shit out of you," I argue, and Brax chuckles.

"Yes, but he's mine. And I'd do anything to make him smile, which is exactly why you've broken all your rules for Theo. Love is a bitch, huh?"

My heart stops beating…just dies in my chest, making me wonder how I haven't keeled over. I don't love Theo. I've known him for, like, five minutes. I like him a lot. He makes me happy, and I like making him happy, but I don't love him. "We're not the same as you and Ty."

Brax laughs. Hard and deep. The asshole. He pushes to his feet. "Whatever you say, man. I gotta go to work." He looks out the front window and nods. "Your boy just showed up."

I stand up so fast, I worry I'm going to throw a hip. Jesus, I need to chill the fuck out. "I'm not in love with him," I say again, and Brax just shrugs in that I-don't-give-a-fuck way he's so good at.

We go outside together, and I smile as I head over to Theo's car and climb into the passenger seat, throwing my bag in the back. "So, like…I'm about to meet your parents," I say because I always try to be honest with him, and that statement will show him I'm a lot nervous.

"I know. What the fuck. I'm trippin' out."

"You and me both." But it helps that he's stressed about it too. Misery loves company, I guess.

"You don't have to go."

I snap my head up so our eyes meet. "You don't want me to go?" My lungs tighten, and it's suddenly hard to breathe. Did he change his mind? He's already over this? Over me?

"What? No! I want you to go. I just don't want you to do something you don't want to do."

"I wanna go," I admit, and holy fuck, I want to meet Theo's family. He's totally fucking changed me.

Theo grins.

I grin.

"We're ridiculous." I shake my head, but the stupid smile is still on my face.

We take the I-15, and it's about two and a half hours to Victorville. I settle in comfortably while Theo drives, still trying to wrap my head around what in the hell is happening. "What are we telling your parents?"

"I think I want to keep with the same plan…say we're friends and play it by ear. It's not that I don't want them to know, but—"

"Hey." I reach over and put my hand on his thigh. "You don't have to explain. Like I said before, telling your truth is always on your terms."

He groans, a frustrated kind of groan.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Seriously, what? That was sweet as fuck."

"I know. You're annoyingly perfect. I don't want to talk about it."

I chuckle because it's not every day someone tells me I'm perfect. It couldn't be further from the truth, but it still feels good. "Passenger gets to pick the music." I figure a change in subject might help us both relax.

Theo doesn't argue while I plug my phone in and turn on the weird indie stuff I know he likes.

Theo groans again, and damn, for such a grumpy sound, it sure does make me feel good.

"The house isn'tmuch," Theo says two hours and twenty-three minutes later when we pull down a residential street. It's filled with one-story, stucco homes, all different shades of brown, beige, and cream. Most of the yards have a desert theme, with a lot of rock and pavers, the latter probably due to the heat and lack of rain.

"What makes you think I'm the kinda guy who would care about that? I didn't have much growing up. Montgomery gave my mom money, yeah, but it wasn't enough to have us living a life of luxury. I feel a million times more comfortable in a small, lived-in house than I ever would in a home like where Ty grew up."

"I know. I'm just nervous about this…us…and also, we had a fucking pop quiz yesterday, and I know I bombed it. I haven't braved looking at my grade yet."

"Puppy…no stressing out this weekend. You're seeing your family, and that's what matters. And maybe you'll find the time to talk to them about the pressure you're under, and you guys can come up with a plan together. As for the test…we'll study extra hard when we get home to make up for it. Every orgasm I give you will have to be earned."

"I don't know if we should go that far." He chuckles nervously.

"I do."

Theo pulls up at one of the cream houses. It has one of those barred screen doors on front, with lots of rock around and a few palm trees.

"You ready to do this? I'm about to be the best friend-visitor guy ever. Your parents are going to love me."

"I don't doubt it," Theo says seriously, making me shift uncomfortably. It was supposed to be a joke, but he didn't respond like it was one.

"That's 'cause I'm fucking awesome." I wink, and then I'm the first to get out of the car.

I open the back door to grab my bag, and Theo does the same.

I make sure I'm walking with enough space between us so we don't look too close. Don't call him puppy, don't call him puppy, don't call him puppy. That might be a little difficult to explain, which is maybe a sign that everyone who said I was different about Theo from the start is right, but I already have too much chaos in my head to contemplate that right now.

Theo opens the screen door, then the main one. As soon as he does, there's barking and a chocolate Lab jumping all over him.

Theo drops his bag and kneels, giving him scritches while crooning, "Hey, boy. Did you miss me? I missed you too."

"What? You didn't tell me there's a dog. I might never want to leave." I join Theo in giving him love. "What's his name?"

"Cooper."

"Theo's home!" a woman says, and I look over at her just as Theo stands, rushes over, and hugs her.

"Hey, Mama."

I stand too. She has the same sandy-colored hair as Theo, strands of it falling out of her ponytail.

"I know it hasn't been long," Theo says, "but I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," she tells him. Seeing the two of them together makes me ache for my own mom. This is the longest stretch I've gone without seeing her my whole life.

"You must be Perry!" his mom says, walking over.

"Yes, ma'am. Nice to meet you."

She waves me off. "Just Carrie. No ma'am needed."

She pulls me into a hug too.

"Ew! Theo's home," another voice breaks in, a teenage girl coming in out of the hallway, followed closely by another.

"Be nice, brat." Theo pulls her into a headlock and gives her a noogie, and the two of them start to wrestle around.

"That's enough, you two," Carrie scolds, but there's no heat behind it. You can tell she's just happy to see her kids together.

"Who's the hot guy?" the older of his sisters asks.

"What the hell, Katie?" Theo snaps.

"What? I'm just asking." She grins.

He turns to me. "She turned eighteen, and now she thinks she's a grown-up."

"I'm Perry. Theo's friend." I shake Katie's hand before turning to his other sister.

"Sorry," she says. "We're not real civilized around here. I'm Sara."

"Nice to meet you too," I reply, but I think they're great. I used to dream about growing up with siblings, not knowing that on the other side of town, I had Ty. God, I wish we could have grown up together. And now as an adult, I have my little sister, Ainsley.

"Where's Dad?" Theo asks.

"They offered him overtime today. It's not a full shift. I know he's excited to see you, but it's not like he could turn down the extra money." Carrie squeezes Theo's shoulder.

"I know. I get it." Something about his voice tells me he's feeling guilty, like somehow this is his fault or he's contributing to it. Part of it I assume is because they help him with his expenses. But with school already being difficult, could he handle a job too?

My fingers twitch to reach out and comfort him in some way, but that will scream boyfriend, so I have to fight myself not to do it.

"Perry, are you thirsty?" Carrie asks. "Please have a seat. Tell me a little about yourself. Did you two meet at FU?"

I sit down like she asked, while Theo says he'll get me a drink. "No, I don't go to college. I'm from Massachusetts. My brother goes to FU, and I moved to San Luco to get to know him. We have different moms and didn't know about each other growing up. I met Theo at a party."

He sits beside me and hands me a glass of water. "We hit it off right away. We hung out the whole night, and I took him out to lunch the next day." Theo gives me a big, toothy smile that looks a little too proud boyfriend for us to pull off this friend thing.

"Yeah, he's a good buddy." The last word tastes wrong on my tongue, and from the frown on Theo's face, I think hearing it feels wrong for him too.

This is going to be interesting.