Caleb's point of view
after dinner, I literally had to drag Xavier away from my Diana and Luke, he absolutely adored them, especially Diana and she really liked him because she had spent hours bouncing on his lap and talking about her dolls and shit, let's just say the life of a seven year old is fucking boring. God, you'd think he was their boyfriend. boyfriend?. are we boyfriends?. I drag Xavier to my car and shove him inside. "stay" I tell him and turn around to get into the car.
"but they don't want me to go" he whines and reaches for the door handle.
"stay!" I repeat and reach over to help him with the seat belt before doing up mine.
"stop telling me to 'stay', I am not a freaking dog" he mutters softly. "and why are you trying to separate me from my true loves?"
"true loves? my siblings are not your true loves, I.." I trail off before I say it. I don't think he's listening because he's blowing kisses at my dads and siblings who are standing at the porch, in front of the door.
"by my loves! I'll never let this monster separate us!!" he screams out the window to them.
"Don't worry, Vee, we won't let him keep us apart, if he ever tries, we'll make papi kick him out, let's see how he separates us from the streets" Luke says to him.
"bye, honey, we'll see you Soon" Diana said sweetly. I'd never seen her be so sweet to anyone and I'd never even heard her call anyone honey before.
"byeeeeeeeeee!" Xavier says back as I starts driving off.
"seriously?" I ask.
"what?" he pick up my phone and unlocks it. I'd told him my password over the weekend, he'd made it a habit to pick it up and play games with it because he didn't have any on his phone. it didn't ever bother because I had nothing I was trying to hide from him.
"nothing" I tell him and focus on driving.
he was quiet as he played the game before he looks up at me. "you've got a text"
"from who?"
"Sophie, she says hi... I didn't mean t-"
"I know you didn't mean to read it, all my text are pop up, you couldn't help it and I really don't care, you can read them if you want to... it's you, so I trust you" I rush to tell him so he wouldn't feel bad about it. he tilts his head to the side and smiles. "text hey back to her"
"okay..." he trails off and texts back. "done, she asked if you're home"
"tell her, I am"
"but you're not"
"yeah, I know but I'll drop you off in two and I'll be back home in at least seven. Sophie's house is a fifteen minute drive from Mine, so I'll be home before she is" I explain to him.
"you're just gonna drop me off?"
"yeah?"
"no kisses for me?" he looks through my phone. "she says she's coming over, should she?"
"tell her she can and that she can have the left overs from dinner" I tell him and he starts typing. "there will be kisses if you want there to be" he smiles as he texted.
"so I texted to her, 'KK, there's some leftovers from dinner, so bring your appetite', is that okay?"
"it is" I park the car as we stop in front of his house. "kisses for my baby?" he drops my phone on the dashboard and reaches over and kiss me softly. I pull away and he whines. "I have to get back because I invited Sophie over, remember?"
"ugh, fine!" he gives me one last lip smacking kiss before he runs out of the car. "Bye, daddy"
"bye, baby" his face turn a bright red as he starts backing away towards his house, waving at me slowly.
it take everything in me to drive away and not get out of that car and kiss him again.
I drive home at the speed of lightening. I park my car in the driveway and go into the house and start taking off my shoes but literally 30 seconds after I shit the door, the door bell rings. I open the door and see Sophie Cheng standing outside.
"hey, Soph" I kiss her lightly on the cheek and turn to face the kitchen. "Dad! papi! I'mma go upstairs with Sophie" I yell towards the kitchen
papi pops his head out. "oh hi Sophie, how's your mom?"
"great, she's still at work so she asked me to stay here until she gets back, is that okay?" she asks even though she knows it already is
"of course it is, you're always welcome, Mija" he tells her and she smiles "did you drop off Xavier, dear?" he turns and asks me
"yeah, I did"
"and did you say hi to his mom?"
"no, I don't think she was home" I say even though I wasn't sure if she was or not.
"fine, come grab some food for Sophie and then you can head upstairs" I walk with him to the kitchen and watch as he fills up a plate. as he hands it to me, he asks: "should I be worried about keeping the door open?"
"God, no, I don't like Sophie that way" I reply quickly.
Papi smiles. "ahh, I see"
"what? I don't like the way you said that just now"
he chuckles "I'm just glad you've found your person"
it takes me a while to think up a reply but when I do, I say: "yeah... I'm glad too" I walk back into the hallway and Sophie is just standing their with a worried look on her face. I place a hand on her shoulder. "Sophie, are you alright?" i ask worriedly
"yeah, everything is fine" she says and she smiles, the worry leaving her face completely.
I want to say something more but I stop myself.
Sophie's point of view
I'd had some of the left overs his dads had given me and was absolutely stuffed. I looked up at him and he had his face in his phone, smiling ear to ear. "so, who are texting?"
he turns and looks at me, locking his phone and putting it down. "no one" he said.
"really?"
"yeah, no one"
"so, how was your trip to the beach house, with The Castor kid?" I'd asked feigning curiosity.
"oh, it was nice" a smile blooms across his face as he says this and my anger burns.
"that's good, as long as you had fun" I was going to do it. "so, have you thought about the game this weekend, who you're gonna pick as your girlfriend... or boyfriend?" I finally caught his attention, his postures stiffens and his eyes and attention are on me. Good
"I.. I ..." he clears his throat. "I'm not picking Xavier" he says and then. "I'm not picking anyone" that will not do.
"you Can't do that, you have to pick some one, you have to, those are the rules" I tell him. Caleb was not a hard person to shove towards a direction you wanted him to go. I had been doing it since we were kids and it had always worked because Caleb cared too much about what others thought. "is it because of Xavier?"
he looks up at me and something flashes in his eyes. "no, it's.. it's..."
"it is, isn't it?" I use an accusatory tone.
"yeah, so what?!" he snaps. "I'm bisexual and I like him" his words stung but they also helped me realize what I needed to do.
"okay, you like him, so why aren't you picking him?"
"because... becaus-" I cut him off
"because it would be easier to date him in secret, right?" he looks up from his hand and the looks at me before looking away again.
"I just-"
"you have to pick some one, Caleb, if you can't pick him, then you pick me" the words come out and i see them take effect as the gears in Caleb head start to turn. "it would be so much easier, you don't even have to date him in secret, you just have to date me"
"but I don't-" if I let him think it through now, he'd would make the wrong Choice.
"Caleb, you are bi. you have a choice here... don't you remember how it was for your dad?" I Scoot closer to him. "the hatred, the prejudice, the shit they had to go through for the sake of their sexuality, it wasn't easy for them and It won't be easy for you either"
"I know it won't be but-"
"but what?, sooner or later someone is going to figure out you're dating Vee, do you think everyone will still like you then?" his eyes water and I fight the urge to smile. "Remember what they did to Castors car? there will be nothing stopping them from doing it to you, Caleb" he was about to break down, so I say the thing that I know would push him in that direction. "what do you think every one will say after they find out your dads are gay?"
I see a tear slip and I know he's convinced. "they'll say, I'm gay because they're gay"
"no, Caleb, they'll say you're a faggot because they're faggots. they won't filters words, they will attack you and your dads and your siblings" I pick at his biggest fear. "you're not eighteen yet, Caleb. what's to stop them from taking you away, again?" his breathing becomes ragged and Shakey. and I reach over to hold his hand. "it's okay, nothing like that will happen"
"it.. it... won't?" he asks hopefully.
"yeah, as long as you pick me, it won't"
I place my hand on his cheek and turns his face to mine before planting a kiss on his lips. "everything will be okay, Caleb"
i wrap my arms around him and kiss him again. it's working.