He reached out and messed up Adam’s hair. “Baby boy, you are exactly as you are supposed to be. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.”
A lot of people grumbled about their parents, and Adam got it, he really did. Sometimes they were pretty uncool, like the whole condom thing. But the truth was his parents cared about him. They watched his grades, went to all his conferences and track meets. They monitored what TV shows he liked, books he read, and what he saw on the Internet. They never outright reprimanded him for those choices, just made gentle hints about what they would prefer for him. And they never hesitated to answer questions truthfully.
He was probably the only kid at Northern High without a Facebook page, or an Instagram profile, or even Twitter. That used to bug him, but now with all the peer pressure and bullying, he didn’t really mind it. No matter what happened during the day at school, he went home, and it all ended. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him, right?
They pulled into the driveway, but before Adam could get out, his dad grabbed his arm. “Your mom told me that you want this boy to come stay with us. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Adam began to protest, but his dad shook his head. “Hear me out. You haven’t known him that long, right?” Adam nodded.
“He has a roof over his head and food, right?”
Again he nodded. “He goes back and forth to San Diego all the time, and no one seems to care about him. No one wants to take care of him. But I do. I want to show him what it’s like to have a family and maybe not have to sit alone in some fancy condo.”
“I understand that this is important to you. I also know that this is new to you.”
“Very important. He’s important.”
His dad sighed and seemed to think for a minute before finally nodding. “He can stay Saturday night and through the day on Sunday, then he has to go home. And you’ll both stay in separate rooms. We’ll try it once.”
“Dad, I’m not ready for sex yet. Even if he did stay in my room—”
“Which he won’t be. Adam, you are very young. I understand more than you know how much you want this to work. First loves, well they are sort of like rainbows and sunshine all swirled into one. I want this to be good for you. I want him to be good for you. But teenage boys have hormones, and sometimes they get out of control. I don’t want you looking back and regretting this. Broken hearts really hurt. And I know I can’t save you from that forever, but I’d be a crappy Dad if I didn’t want to try.”
Adam stared out the window feeling like he wanted to cry. It sounded to him like his dad thought this was just a short-term thing. He hadn’t even met Ru yet and probably thought him out of Adam’s league.
“I want you to be happy. I do. Can we just do this a little slower? Your mom and I need to adjust too. We want to help you work this stuff out, but you have to let us.” His dad squeezed Adam’s hand. “Saturday night and Sunday during the day. And if he’s under our roof, he’ll have to follow our rules. That means for the Internet too. I know everyone’s got iPads and super phones nowadays...” And just like that he was off on some ramble about misinformation and the Internet.
Adam got out of the car and headed toward the house. He and Ru would have a day and a half together. That had to be better than Ru going off to some lonely high-rise. Adam headed to the shower, breathing in the sweet smell of dinner as he went. How many homemade dinners did Ru get?
