No Fur No Fun PT. 15 Night
He had such a smug look on his face, it was amazing how in the span of only a couple of days he went from being a life line to being a nuisance. If my mom or dad saw him it would ruin Christmas for sure, but there was no telling what he'd done in the time it took me to pull him away from everyone else.
Brad- You were gonna have a party and not invite me
Josh- you know why I didn't invite you , you shouldn't be here
Brad- are you still on this whole idea of me being the bad guy
Josh- I don't care what you are I just need you to leave
Before I could continue my bedroom door was opened from the outside. It was Betty.
Betty- Josh you said you would take over the D.D watch
Josh- Betty I'm a little busy right now
Betty- oh no we had a deal , I've been dealing with an argument over fur politics since you left and I need a break
Josh- but I
Betty- and who is this
Josh- he is no one
Brad- my name is Brad , and yours
Betty- Betty
Brad- thats a beautiful name
They started to meet to do a hand shake but I quickly stepped between them stopping it.
Josh- Brad was just leaving
Betty- Josh why are you being so rude to your friend
Josh- he isn't my friend
Betty- but he's in your room alone with you, is he more than a friend
Josh- Betty
Betty- Josh you should really go handle D.D watch
Josh- but
Betty- but nothing, Ill keep your "not" friend company while your gone
Josh- but, but
She all but banished me from my own room , and I could feel Brad laughing as he watched. I thought to myself what could be the worst possible thing to happen. He was in my room away from the party , but would he stay that way. He knew a lot of things that I had yet to tell my family, but he was still on some cloud that made him believe we were on good terms. And he was with Betty so they had to be talking about something. Honestly there was no telling what he might say or do.
It was hard to focus on D.D watch with the knowledge of several bombs possibly being dropped. Dresden and Doris were discussing furs and what they might do for Christmas. On the surface it might have seemed like a harmless conversation but in reality nothing is ever a harmless conversation with D.D. They were both always so political and in high school they were on rivaling debate teams. Every word between the two was a calculated move with the potential to shift a battle of words into a battle of thrown food and furniture. They were far from abusive with one another but to say things got physical between them would be a great understatement. You could almost compare them to preschoolers with vocabularies big enough to match Webster. All of their back and forth was nothing but background ringing in my ears as the room was silent with pressure. My body was on autopilot speaking and saying what it needed to as my true self was clawing to run back upstairs.
In the midst of my division and through the back and forth of D.D I heard my dad in game room . He was speaking to Wendy and her boyfriend. I had to listen in , how could I not , I was trying to date a lion.
Wendy- yes this is my new boyfriend Venice, say hi Vince
Vince- nice to meet you sir
My dad gave a grunt in reply.
Wendy- we met while I was at School Vince is my lab partner, hes so smart, aren't you Vince
Vince- you are too Wendy
The contrast between Wendy's high energy and speed and Vince being almost sluggishly slow and low energy was almost comical. My dad didn't say much during the conversation but his usual grunts and sounds filled the need for words.
I wanted to listen to them talk more but in my leaving the living room to listen in on my dads take on a fox I left my post. D.D were beginning to get loud. The other guest were beginning to migrate away from them in waves.
Dresden- have we learned nothing from the Philippines, you cant steal a turkey and then call it chicken
Doris- it wasn't Turkey it was Lamb, and your mother loved it
I was gone for too long to even begin to follow what the conversation was about.
Dresden- no one in the right mind would call that Lamb, at best its fish
Doris- you know nothing
Dresden- I know more than you, and that is enough
Doris- you always get like this , you just have to right
Dresden- oh and you don't
Doris- I don't have to be, but I am
I tried to cut in but there back and forth was so locked in nothing I could have said would have any effect.
Josh- hey you guys maybe we should all go check out my dads new obstacle course he made this year
Dresden- your just like your mother
Doris- and your just like your father
Josh- or maybe we could hit the kitchen, my mom put out plenty of food
Dresden- it doesn't matter what the name is , Turkey is not pork thus it can not be bacon and in the same sense a turkey
Doris- it was lamb
Dresden- lamb, pig, fish, whatever it was it wasn't chicken
Josh- You guys
They only got louder and seemed to be nowhere near ending.
Doris- you and your mother both ate enough of it to feed two families
Dresden- just because it was good does not mean it was chicken
Josh- you guys please
Doris- but you admit that it was good
Josh- please can you just
Dresden- that is besides the point
I had enough, i said the one thing in my mind that I was sure would stop their conversation. Though I wish I chosen to say something else.
Josh- I'm bi
They quickly stopped mid speech and turned to me . As they stared at me I could feel a great deal of eyes burning holes in the back if my neck as well. Before I could say another word Dresden and Doris were getting out their wallets. They passed each other ten dollars before putting their wallets away.
Dresden- I told you he was gay
Doris- I told he was straight
Josh- you have to be kidding me
Dresden- hes bi not straight
Doris- its closer to straight than gay
I walked away before I lost control and smacked them both. I was unaware of the fact that my outburst had shifted the attention of the party from Mandy and her fox to me. I wanted to get back upstairs to Brad and Betty it seemed like my every footstep brought me in front of family needing to ask me the same questions. by the time I made it to the stairs I was certain my entire family were ether bigoted or naive, I preferred the second choice.
I made my way up the stairs and to my bedroom only to find Brad was gone , but Betty was still there.
Josh- where did he go
Betty- who
Josh- Brad , the guy I left you with , where did he go
Betty- Josh calm down he's just downstairs, he went to grab us some food
I started to run back out of my room , but Betty said something on my way out that stopped me in my tracks.
Betty- he said you were stressed out I didn't realize you were going postal
Josh- he said what
Betty- that you've been stressed out
Josh - did he say anything else
Betty- he said you haven't been the best friend as of lately
Josh- Brad is not my friend, he shouldn't even be here
Betty- Josh how can you say something so mean about a friend who clearly cares about you
Josh- He is not my friend , look we can talk about this later but right now I need to find Brad
I returned downstairs and trudged through waves of guests blocking my path. I saw him standing in the kitchen talking to my mom . No matter how hard I tried to get through It seemed I was trapped in slow motion having to watch as Brad was undoubtedly unload a clip of bullets that would be secrets and lies on to my family. As I finally neared the kitchen he he looked in my direction and we locked eyes before he moved again and I lost him the crowd.
Once I was inside the kitchen My mom pulled me to the side.
Martha- we need to talk
Josh- can it wait mom I'm looking for someone
Martha- no we need to discuss this now
Josh- what did he tell you
Martha- it doesn't matter what does is that you invited him without telling me or your father
Josh- I didn't invite him
Martha- he seems better than I remember from when the two of you went to school together but this is a family party, its not for everyone
I had to do a double take to understand what my mom was trying to imply. She was serious.
Josh- mom , there are a lot of people who aren't family here
I motion to the big crowds of people standing in the living room and poring into the kitchen from all sides.
Martha- you still should have told me or your father that you would have a friend over
Josh- mom, I get it and I'm sorry but please I really need to find Brad
Martha- go ahead , but I better not catch the two of you smoking the devil's cloud in the backyard like when you were in high school
Josh- you wont I promise
I hurried along making my way outside to the back yard. There were a bunch of people running my dad's obstacle course which wasn't very safe since it was beginning to be dark out. It took me a moment but eventually I found Brad by the start of the obstacle course as my aunt Bullock and Maverick were preparing to start the race. They took off and I grabbed Brad by his arm pulling him away from everyone behind a shed we had in the back yard to the side of the house.
Josh- you need to leave
Brad- why , I'm not doing anything wrong Josh
Josh- you said it yourself, we are not friends or anything else , so I don't want you hear
Brad- Josh man , look I get it maybe I'm an ass hole
Josh- yea you are
Brad- but after you left the other day I realized I don't have many friends ... I don't have any friends, I'm a dick and its no secret but you were the closest thing to a friend that I had
Josh- I don't care right now
Brad- I don't know how to be friends but I cant just let you walk out
Josh- its not your decision to make
Brad- fuck Josh, I'm trying to be nice and shit and you.... you wont even listen
I could hear a crowd cheering as my aunt and Maverick were running the race , they had to be close to make there way to finish.
Josh- Brad , I cant believe anything you say , how do I know that your not just trying to win me over to have your pet back
Brad- you don't , but like I said man your the closet thing to a friend that I got so I'm not leaving you alone ether way
Josh- your crazy
Brad- maybe but not too long ago you liked that I was , were not done Josh and if you try to ice me out of your life again Ill blow the lid off of all your shit
Josh- what does that mean, are you threatening me
Brad- maybe I am , I would hate to hurt a friend but if you keep trying to kick me out I might slip up and mention a few things you've told me about while you were at school
Josh- you wouldn't
Brad- you know I would , why else would you want me gone from this party so bad
Josh- because we aren't friends
Brad- but we have to try to be Josh , trust me you'll look back on this in about a week and thank me, but I can see that you want to be alone with your family so Ill go
Josh- really, just like that
Brad- just like that , because I'm your friend ... or at the least I'm trying to be , so it would be nice for you to try to
Josh- this is blackmail, this is extortion,
He started to walk away still wearing that smug grin on his face.
Brad- don't be so dramatic Josh, I'm not even asking for money
The rest of the night was eventful but after dealing with brad it felt like nothing. My aunt Bullock and Maverick ran the obstacle course at least five times before my dad had to come along to stop them when it was too dark outside. I got to watch a video of my blurting out that I was bi from Mandy and Derek's laptop, apparently they captured the entire thing and put it on their Vlog. D.D were still arguing about something but it was late so we allowed them to get so loud that the none family members in the house were scared out. Betty and her boyfriend Rick weren't seen around the house as much as I had expected. When I went back up to my room I found that the door was locked with Betty and Rick still inside. There were plenty of moans to suggest what they were doing. It made since because I was questioning why Betty seemed to be in my room almost all day , they were probably waiting for the right moment. My dad pigged out on the left over food , for the rest of the night he was not seen without a plate in his hand. My mom finally was done cooking and I finished the night helping her clean up and put away food. I made it through Christmas eve but as I cleaned up with my mom the only thing that was on my mind was how Brad was now a problem hanging over my head.
I now see that something amazing and terrible had happened. I started that year focused on school and grades and making my mom and dad proud that I was doing better than I did in high school. Later, against my promise to focus on school, I let myself get involved with someone. Then Brad became a problem that I tried to cut out of my system but because I broke my promise to my parents he had something to hang over my head. But I wouldn't change the fact that I broke my oath , I loved Mason too much to make him a regret. It was a tangled web of interconnected reason and wants and I saw that the only way to free myself would be to tell the truth that was being held against me. I dropped the towel I had in my hand and turned to my mom as she was washing dishes.
Josh- mom
Martha- yes honey
Josh- I'm dating a guy
She dropped the dishes and turned her attention to me so eager to have me being open with her.
Martha- oh honey, tell me everything about him
I gulped and looked away for a moment, with all the strength I had I forced the words out of my mouth.
Josh- he's a lion