“Because thoseboysdidn’t deserve you, Aaron. You know that. They were not here for you. They were here for the Everett name. They weren’t right for you or this family, and the company—”
“Fuck the company!” I yell. “It was my choice! But you only wanted to keepEvermore’simageclean.You wanted to keep me as far from this as you could!”
My mother’s eyebrows furrow. Years of pain, of turmoil unravel as I come undone, my voice shaking with the buried bones of all the things I’ve never said, all the things I’ve kept to myself for far too long. “All you had to do was support me, Mom. All you had to do was be in my fucking corner,” I cry.
“How could I be in your corner, Aaron, when you weren’t even here to give anyone a chance?” my dad bites. “You’re the one who left us.”
I grind my teeth as I look at him, noting the hint of sadness, of remorse in his eyes.
“You want to know why I moved? Because I was sick of living my life according to your standards.” I shake my head. “I was sick of being your last fucking choice. The thing you could never love and accept because I wasn’t whoyouwanted me to be!” I growl, the words falling out of my mouth without warning. “Because I wasn’t Mr. Fucking Perfect.”
“Everything I have done, I have done for you!” he bellows.
I kick the bed, fury building inside of me, pouring out of me like steam from a hot kettle.
“No. That’s not true.” I shake my head. “You haven’t done shit for me!” My shoulders tense. “All you’ve ever done is put your company above your family, and you stand there and call me selfish? When you knew all I’ve ever wanted was this fucking company!” I hiss. “Because no one’s ever wanted me!” The tears fester in my eyes.
“The only home I’ve ever had wasEvermore!” I cry. “All I have is fuckingEvermore!” My voice echoes in the space, ringing with the unleashed anguish of a lifetime.
My mother chokes out a sob. “Aaron…”
“I gave you everything!” my father yells. “I gave you the best childhood a son could ask for! You wanted for nothing, and it was because of me! Because ofEvermore. And you’re going to stand there and tell me you have nothingbutthese fucking hotels? You are the one who left!”
His voice shakes, and I can see the tears in his eyes.
“You left us!” he bellows and I hear the guilt, the pain etched in his voice.
“You think I don’t want happy ever fucking after? That I don’t want the things you want me to have?” I snarl. “I want those things! But the reality is those things don’t exist for me! And it’s not because I’m gay, Dad.” My eyes feel the onslaught of tears, and I think this is it. This is the point in my life where I finally break. “It’s because my last name is Everett, and all anyone ever sees when they look at me is your last name and the zeroes that follow it.”
There’s a heavy silence between us as my dad looks at me with watery eyes, my mother’s hand on my arm, warm and sweaty.
He sighs. “Aaron, you can have everything you ever want if you just stop pushing everyone and everythingaway.”
His voice is harsh, yet choked and strained. I’ve never heard him like this before. His gaze falls from my face to my bed. To my tangled sheets.
My eyes rove over Jacob’s side of the bed. I can still envision Jacob here, in the space. Legs threaded through mine, wrapped up in the soft sheets as the morning dawn falls over his perfect features. Bright eyes gazing up at me with excitement and mischief.
My father’s words hurt more than anything else he’s said tonight.
You’ll never have everything you want. If you keep pushing everyone and everything away.
And it dawns on me that maybe he’s right. Maybe I have pushed people away. Because it was easier than sustaining the blow of being left, of being rejected. Of being second best.
“Aaron…” My mother’s voice is soft, breaking through the heaviness. I can hear Lola’s music down the hall. Some Taylor Swift song going on about champagne problems, and stupidly, I can’t help but think about Jacob.
About that dumb TikTok of him singing in the background while she lip synced in her costume, of all things. I look away from his vacant spot, my gaze settling on the edge of the tub, which I can see from where I stand. The bottle of bubble bath stares at me ominously as the memory of him in my arms, coming undone, resurfaces.
Along with so many more…
“Just leave me alone, please,” I say, tears pooling in my eyes. “You’ve done enough.”
I feel my mother’s arms wrap around me, and I try to push her away, but she holds on like a fucking vice.
“Aaron—” My father calls my name, but it’s Uncle Travis who speaks.
“Betsy’s right. It’s late. It’s been a long night, and we all need time to think,” Uncle Travis says. He grabs for my father’s arm.
“Come on, brother.” I see my father’s shoulders loosen as he lets his brother pull him away.
