TEN
He had to go pick his daughter up?
The words echoed through his head, and Ken could hardly believe what he’d heard. Of course, Justin was probably just making an excuse, because Ken, better than anyone else, knew just how overbearing his mother could be. Justin could be forgiven for saying pretty much anything to get out of it.
So was that what was going on? Ken’s mind reeled, trying to find a way to encompass this. It seemed strange to him that Justin would pick that if it wasn’t true, and he’d never actually known the guy to be a liar.
Thinking about it took up most of his mental attention, and that was a blessing in disguise because his mother was in fine form. As the wedding got closer, she got more and more snippy and anxious. Luna was going to be her first child who was getting married, and he supposed that made sense, but she seemed to be taking it a bit far.
Luna, actually, seemed to be taking the whole thing much more calmly than their mother was. She was there at dinner, too, with her soon to be husband, and there was an edge to her voice and a sort of tension in her shoulders, but mostly only when their mother was chattering on about this or that minute detail.
All in all, Ken didn’t pay a lot of attention. Should he ask Justin if it was true, the whole kid thing? Was it really any of his business? Sure, they’d made out once, but that hardly constituted a lasting commitment. He wasn’t Justin’s boyfriend.
But could he be? Would Justin even be interested in that? Ken shook his head as he thought about it. There was no way for him even to know, he didn’t have enough information, but it didn’t seem as impossible as he would have thought.
Just when he was getting up to go, Luna grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him to a corner of the restaurant that was relatively quiet. She was a small, slender woman, with vivid dark eyes and long black hair, so she had to stand on her tiptoes to whisper directly into his ear.
“Are you going to be bringing someone to my wedding or not, Ken?”
It was a reasonable question. He’d gotten his invitation months ago, after all. Two faces flashed through his mind. Aaron, remote and beautiful, or Justin who was, well, also remote and beautiful. It seemed that Ken had a type.
Oddly, it was Justin who tended to stick in his mind, and he had to make an effort even to call Aaron’s face to mind. For the first time, he found himself wondering not about what Aaron would say if he invited him, but if Justin would be willing to go.
Justin had implied that he was an idiot, flitting around from crush to crush, getting his heart broken and then learning nothing. Was Justin right? Was Ken just moving on from Aaron to the next guy?
Only the difference was, Aaron had never turned him down. Ken hadn’t even been brave enough to go for it. No, it really did feel like something different was happening here, and that was almost more terrifying.
“I don’t know,” Ken admitted, which earned him an annoyed look from his sister.
“Kinda leaving it until the last minute, aren’t we?” She commented, punching his shoulder lightly and not without affection. “Look, just try to let me know by the weekend, okay?”
Ken nodded and did his best to make his escape, especially when he saw his mother rising to her feet and coming toward them, her face set in lines of pure, horrifying determination. But it was too late, and he and Luna shot each other looks that screamed of panic, but they were caught, and they both knew it. The most they could do was graciously accept that.
“Ken, sweetheart,” she said, and Luna shot him an infuriatingly smug smirk as she slipped away, obviously glad not to be the focus of their mother’s somewhat terrifying attention. “Do you have a nice girl picked out for your sister’s wedding?”
“… Mom,” Ken tried, though he knew that it was pointless. It didn’t seem to matter how many times he attempted to make it clear to her that he was completely, totally, and utterly gay, she was in willful denial about the whole thing. “I don’t want to go with a girl.”
“I met this lovely couple staying at our hotel,” she continued blithely on like he hadn’t spoken at all, just as he had known that she would. “They have a daughter just a few years younger than you. I’m sure I could put in a good word …”
“Not gonna happen,” Ken told her, bluntly honest because there was absolutely no point in beating around the bush when it came to her. Not that it was particularly his style to start with, but with her, there was no point in even trying.
“Ken, darling.” She had her hands clenched tightly together and was looking at him, her eyes imploring him not to do this. “I won’t hear another word. You’re going with Eliza, and that’s just how it is.”
Ken forced himself not to scream at the tops of his lungs, though it was a near thing. His own hands were clenched into fists with the pressure of keeping his temper under control, and if he didn’t get out of there soon, he was going to yell and make a big scene.
“I’m not going with Eliza,” Ken informed her, though he, of course, really wouldn’t know Eliza from a hole in the ground. Not that it mattered. There were two people that he was considering asking to come with him, and he had to pick one of them. Eliza, whoever she was, just didn’t figure into the equation at all.
Besides, while it might be easier to give his mom what she wanted, while he could almost feel the weight of her conviction beating down on him, trying to make him yield to her will, he knew that if he did, it would all be over. Any chance of her ever accepting his sexuality would be right out the window.
She opened her mouth, her eyes glinting with discontent, and Ken shook his head and turned away. It wasn’t easy for him to do, not to his mother, but really, what other choice did he have? She wouldn’t let up, he knew her well enough to know that.
“I’ll see you later, Mom,” he told her, his best oblivious look pasted firmly on his face. That look, perfected over the course of years, was the reason that he had gotten out of many, many fights with his stubborn mother.
He hated to do it, but damn it, he had come out to her years ago. It wasn’t his fault that he had to keep doing it over and over again, because no matter how hard he tried, she refused to accept it.
So there it was. He could bring no one, and she would frown, but probably leave him alone. Or he could make a big gesture, bring Aaron or Justin, and send a serious message.
If only he knew whether either Aaron or Justin would even be willing to go with him. He hadn’t been brave enough to ask, not in either case.
