Paul

“Are you ready for this?”

“Only for you.”

Ben smiles at Paul and Paul relaxes somewhat. “It’s going to be fine.”

“Easy for you to say. I’d also like to point out that you had to do that once. Just once.”

“Oh, I’m sorry that my parents being divorced is inconvenient for you,” Ben teases.

“Okay… let’s do this.”

Paul is about to open the car door when Ben’s hand grabs his arm and pulls him for a kiss.

“For good luck,” he says before leaving the car.

Ben and Paul drove to Savannah after school on Friday to stay for an extended weekend. Ben’s stepmother has a family reunion as her parents wanted the family to be together one last time before the baby comes. When Ben asked Paul to come with him to meet his father, Paul wasn’t sure. Meeting the parents is one thing. Meeting the entire family is something else completely. But then Ben told him that it was not his idea, but his father’s. Paul felt honored that Ben’s father wanted to include Paul in a family event, and it would also be rude to refuse.

So here they are.

Ben takes their bags out of the trunk and gets the house keys from his jacket pocket. Paul never thought about it before, but he almost feels relieved that Ben would have the keys to the house. He knows that his father moved there after the divorce, so Ben technically never lived there, and he also knows that they rarely see each other. The fact that Ben would still consider this house says a lot about his relationship with his father. Maybe this weekend will be slightly less intimidating than expected.

“Dad?” Ben calls as they enter the lobby.

A man walks out of a room and greets them with a wide smile. He doesn’t really look like Ben but there is still something in the cheekbones and eyes.

“Ben!”

He hugs Ben briefly and hands out a hand to Paul. “And you must be Paul.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Carter,” Paul says shaking his hand.

“Only my students call me that. Richard will do.”

“Sure. Richard.”

A woman, with a stomach so massive it can’t be comfortable, joins them. “And this is Stacey,” Richard introduces.

Paul shakes her hand as well, and then she looks at Ben. “I’d give you a hug, Sweetheart, but it’s a whole logistic at the moment.”

Ben has a small, shy smile that he only ever uses with strangers and figures of authority. “Don’t worry about it. You look…”

“Huge,” she finishes.

“It’s not what I was going to say.”

“Of course, not. You’re way too polite to say it, and probably too sweet to think it. That’s true regardless.”

Their dynamic is odd. She’s trying too hard, and Ben doesn’t really give anything back. Paul realizes that they never really discussed her, nor the baby, since they started dating. It makes him feel uneasy. He wants to be Ben’s boyfriend. Not just the kissing and going to the cinema kind. The real kind. He needs to work harder to be there to support his boyfriend without Ben having to spell it out.

“Your bedroom is ready,” Richard tells Ben. You two might want to put your things in there.

Bedroom. Singular. Paul is really liking the prospect of sharing a bed with Ben for three nights. Loving it, even.

Ben’s bedroom here isn’t that different from the one he has at his mom’s. It’s a bit less personal, maybe. The walls have fewer decorations, there is only one picture of him and his father both holding a medal for something. There are books everywhere, though. That’s very Ben.

Paul takes a few more steps in the room and stops.

“Uh… Babe?”

“What?” Ben asks, joining Paul in the bedroom. But he stops right where Paul stopped and looks at the same thing. On the nightstand are a box of condoms and a bottle of lube.

“I’m going to talk to my dad,” Ben says.

“What? Why?”

“Because if he wants to have a sex talk, that’s fine, but I’m not making you sit through another one.”

Paul smiles as Ben leaves the room. Isn’t that twenty-first-century chivalry?

Ben comes back after five minutes and sits next to Paul on the bed.

“How was the sex talk? At least it was short, right?”

“There wasn’t one,” Ben explains. “Apparently, my mom told him that we were all good about safe sex, whatever that means, and my dad understood that as a ‘better safe than sorry’ situation. He told me that he remembers being seventeen and that not having protection would not have kept him from having sex.”

“Well… Clearly. Have you seen your stepmom?”

Ben’s entire face puckers. “Nope. Please don’t.”

Paul smiles, but changes the subject. “So… One bed. Condoms. Clear invitation to have sex…”

“Yeah… It’s a bit weird. Then again, it’s better than being shoved in two different bedrooms.”

“I don’t know. I think I would have liked that.”

“Sleeping in different bedrooms?”

“No. Having to brave an interdiction to sneak in your bed at night and fall asleep in your arms.”

Ben’s eyes sparkle. “It’s called the forbidden fruit effect,” Ben says. “People tend to want something more if they can’t have it. Then again, maybe for gay people, there is always a sense of forbidden.”

Paul slides closer to Ben and kisses him softly. “Have I ever told you how sexy you are when you are smart?”

Ben chuckles and his cheeks get a shade darker. “I don’t think you have.”

“Well I find you sexy when you’re smart. Is it weird?”

“It’s not. I find you sexy when you’re smart too.”

“I’m really not the smart one in our relationship though.”

“Of course you’re smart!” Ben says looking at Paul. Then he puts a kiss on Paul’s neck. “And kind.” Another kiss. “And funny”. Kiss. “And pretty.” Kiss. “And hot.” No kiss this time, but Ben suddenly straddles Paul and looks at him with dark eyes.

“I’m not hot,” Paul tries to say, but the words don’t quite make it out of his mouth because Ben is kissing him again. Paul’s hands travel down to grab Ben’s ass making him groan against Paul’s lips, and…

“Boys, dinner’s ready!”

Ben groans again, from frustration this time. Paul is just happy that Ben’s father called them and didn’t come to tell them in person.

Then again, maybe that’s because he knew what might have been happening behind the door, and that’s equally mortifying.

“So, Paul, are you going to convert to Judaism?” Ben’s father asks as he is cutting the chicken.

Paul just freezes. He doesn’t know what to say. He knows he’s definitely not converting to any religion any time soon, but… is it something he should have discussed with Ben? Ben rarely discusses religion. They really need to work on their communication.

Every second that passes makes Paul feel like he’s failing Mr. Carter’s test.

“Dad, leave him alone,” Ben says. “Paul, ignore him. He thinks he’s funny. Just like your dad.”

“That’s the prerogative of every father,” Richard says. “Make jokes that embarrass their teenagers. Preferably in front of friends or love interests.”

“You would really like my dad,” Paul comments.

“I’m sure I would. Ben told me a little about your family. They seem delightful.” Well, then Ben has been hiding the truth. But Paul is obviously not going to say that, especially not now. “He also mentioned that you were in a play at school. I don’t know if he told you, but I’m an English teacher.”

“Yes, he mentioned it. I had a small part, but it was an exciting project.”

“Great mindset,” Richard approves. “It’s all about the art. And there are no small parts. If they were important enough to be written, they are important enough to be played.” After a pause, he adds, “maybe we can go see the next one.” Then he looks at Stacey. “Well… maybe not you, dear.”

“No. I don’t think Paul would enjoy getting his thunder stolen by a screaming baby.”

“When is the baby due?” Paul asks.

“Mid-June,” she answers. “Three more weeks.”

“You don’t sound very excited,” Paul notices before realizing that it was maybe a nosey thing to say.

“I’ve enjoyed being pregnant. But I’m ready for it to be over. It’s tiring, my body feels like a human incubator, it’s globally uncomfortable… So I’m excited about the baby but not so much about the time leading to it.”

“It?”

“We wanted to keep the surprise,” she replies. “People said that it would be easier if we knew. For the nursery, the clothes, the toys… That really annoyed me. The nursery is light blue, because it’s soothing, for both boys and girls, the clothes came in all sorts of colors. My mother got me a dress and body saying “Mommy’s boy”. That child is going to wear both. It’s not like people can tell a baby’s sex by looking at it anyway, and we are not going for a fashion statement either. As for the toys… it’s teddy bears for now, and then it’s going to be learning activities. No need to have a gender for that.”

“Please excuse my wife, she gets really worked up about that.”

She smiles at her husband and shrugs. But Paul doesn’t want to excuse her. He wants to support her. She’s right. He likes her much better than he did a few minutes ago.

“Boys, do you want any dessert?”

“No, thanks,” Ben says. “The drive tired me, and I’d just like to go to bed.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Ben starts clearing the table when his father says: “Leave it. I’ll do it. Go rest up, we have a long weekend planned.”

“Thanks, Dad. Stacey. Good night.”

“Yes, thank you for dinner,” Paul says.

“Don’t mention it. See you tomorrow.”