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“Get in,” my dad says, pushing back his salt-and-pepper curls, and as they both sit in their usual seats at the front, I attempt to open the back door. It’s locked, and it takes me two more tries before Dad opens it with the press of a button.

I’m so ashamed I can barely manage to fasten my seatbelt.

“What were you thinking?” Mom asks, raising her hands as she stares at me in the rearview mirror. She hasn’t even put on the barest minimum of makeup, which is a testament to the level of her upset.

I swallow, unable to look back at her. “It was… a spur of the moment thing,” I mutter.

“Were you drunk?” Dad asks sharply. He’s in a suit, which makes me wonder if he skipped work to come and deal with me.

I don’t have the strength to fight their assumptions, because I deserve their wrath.

“No.”

Mom tut-tuts as Dad drives out of the parking lot. “That might be even worse. I might understand you getting dragged into such a thing after drinking too much, but sober? Really, Aaron? You’re better than that.”

Their disapproval scalds my flesh, but then something draws my attention outside, and when I glance out of the window, I spot Vex leaving the station with the hoodie pulled low over his face. He stops when he realizes I haven’t yet left and glances my way.

“Is this him?” Mom asks as we drive by.

I squirm, sliding lower in my seat.

Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“Yeah, but it’s not his fault. I wanted to go,” I mutter, unwilling to blame Vex even now.

“Oh, we both saw just how eager you were!” Dad raises his voice and Mom rubs her eyes, as if she wanted to wipe them clean by force

I frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that a camera recorded you two, and someone put it on the internet.”

My mind slows down then speeds up as if shot into space. I don’t know what to do, and grip the seatbelt, as if that can save me.

Dad grunts. “Nothing to say for yourself?”

Nothing indeed, so Mom speaks next. “When we found out you’re gay, we thought, well, at least he’ll be polite and have good taste in fashion. What do we get instead? A delinquent set on causing a scandal and sleeping with some criminal. Yes, Aaron, we looked him up during our sleepless night.”

“Do you have a charger?” I utter, because while I got my phone, it’s out of juice. All I can think of is the video of me and Vex circulating online.

Mom shakes her head. “Don’t bother. Dad’s computer man worked hard to wipe as much of the recording as humanly possible. Can you even imagine the indignity we had to go through? And while that man was very smart about wearing a hoodie for your pathetic little heist, your face, and much more than your face, is clearly visible in the video.”

This is a disaster. I can barely breathe, and while I hate Vex for stealing my heart only to stomp all over it, I wish he was here, hugging me, because neither of my parents seems half-interested in touching me.

Maybe they’re disgusted not only by my crime but also with what they saw in the video? After all, it’s so much easier to be tolerant when one doesn’t have to acknowledge that a gay person is in fact sexually active.

I shiver, sinking ever lower, because as we drive toward the university campus, I fear being recognized by other students. “Where are we going?” I ask, and Mom shakes her blonde hair.

“We’ll pick up your things and go home. You can contemplate what you’ve done over the Christmas break.”

I’m to leave this car? And then go through my dorm? Are they nuts?

My mouth is dry as they park in front of my building as I cling to the hope that most people haven’t gotten to see the video yet.

But I would have taken all this shame on the chin if it meant Vex was here for me. Instead, I’ll be facing it alone. Because I’m a hopeless romantic who didn’t take a man’s words at face value and hoped for more where there wasn’t any.

I just hope this doesn’t end up on my criminal record.

Chapter 16