Post by Noah Malachi on Jul 13, 2009 12:45:55 GMT -5
Noah couldn’t believe he had forgotten about the retreat. After coming out to his father, and officially to his mother as well (though after walking in on Christian and him, well, there was no denying that she was well aware) things in the Malachi household had been tense. Few words were spoken, and his parents were in some weird stage that kept fluctuating between denial and anger. For the most part they just ignored him when they could, and when they couldn’t avoid him they refused to talk about his sexual orientation. Noah tried to bring it up on several occasions, he knew that eventually they had to talk things through, reach some sort of understanding. Eventually they had to be civil about all of this, right?
But Noah remembered the stories. Kids thrown out of their houses, abandoned, disowned… things that were permanent, or at least long-lasting. Even Christian had been rendered homeless when he came out. Noah knew that his father had to keep up appearances, and he understood that this was probably the only reason he was still allowed to live there. But hey, it was better than nothing. And forcing him to stay around, that constant reminder of what his son was, would probably do them all good. More good than forcing him away, at least.
But this weekend, this weekend there would be no icy stares, no hurtful tones. This weekend was the Church Leadership Retreat, a weekend where the leaders of all of the local churches met and, well, did church leadership stuff. Noah had never really asked many questions about the annual weekend trip, all he knew was that he got the house to himself for an entire weekend! And this year that meant he and Christian could, well, be alone together for the first time in what felt like forever.
His parents suspected what their son’s intent was with the house, and while they had made it a point to remind him every five minutes that he was not to have any visitors over while they were away. And every single time he promised, even swearing to God once or twice (which he wasn’t a fan of, because he knew it was a lie, and every time he did he said a little apology prayer in his head).
And now the day was here. His parents had said goodbye, stalling as long as humanly possible before packing up the car and heading to the church. And that was the last Noah would see of his parents for the next 48 hours. Now all there was left to do was wait. Of course, he and Christian had made plans to meet as quickly as they could, and Noah wanted everything to be at least semi-tidy. Even remembering that Christian had lived with him for a time and knew how very messy he could get, it was always nice to pretend to be a neat person when you knew someone was coming over.
And it was with this motivation that Noah went up to his room and began throwing clothing in the hamper, putting pillows into some sort of order on his bed, and organizing the pile of papers and books and clutter that comprised the top of his desk and dresser. Every four seconds he glanced at the clock on the wall, amazed that only seconds had passed instead of minutes or hours. Not for the first time that day, he wished that Christian would hurry up and get there already!
But Noah remembered the stories. Kids thrown out of their houses, abandoned, disowned… things that were permanent, or at least long-lasting. Even Christian had been rendered homeless when he came out. Noah knew that his father had to keep up appearances, and he understood that this was probably the only reason he was still allowed to live there. But hey, it was better than nothing. And forcing him to stay around, that constant reminder of what his son was, would probably do them all good. More good than forcing him away, at least.
But this weekend, this weekend there would be no icy stares, no hurtful tones. This weekend was the Church Leadership Retreat, a weekend where the leaders of all of the local churches met and, well, did church leadership stuff. Noah had never really asked many questions about the annual weekend trip, all he knew was that he got the house to himself for an entire weekend! And this year that meant he and Christian could, well, be alone together for the first time in what felt like forever.
His parents suspected what their son’s intent was with the house, and while they had made it a point to remind him every five minutes that he was not to have any visitors over while they were away. And every single time he promised, even swearing to God once or twice (which he wasn’t a fan of, because he knew it was a lie, and every time he did he said a little apology prayer in his head).
And now the day was here. His parents had said goodbye, stalling as long as humanly possible before packing up the car and heading to the church. And that was the last Noah would see of his parents for the next 48 hours. Now all there was left to do was wait. Of course, he and Christian had made plans to meet as quickly as they could, and Noah wanted everything to be at least semi-tidy. Even remembering that Christian had lived with him for a time and knew how very messy he could get, it was always nice to pretend to be a neat person when you knew someone was coming over.
And it was with this motivation that Noah went up to his room and began throwing clothing in the hamper, putting pillows into some sort of order on his bed, and organizing the pile of papers and books and clutter that comprised the top of his desk and dresser. Every four seconds he glanced at the clock on the wall, amazed that only seconds had passed instead of minutes or hours. Not for the first time that day, he wished that Christian would hurry up and get there already!
