I say nothing as tears fall.
“You will move home.” My dad says with finality.
“Daddy, Dean and I are together. You’ve both seen us. This is not a scheme. Plus, I’m in my last year of school. I cannot transfer and keep all my credits.” I sob.
“You won’t need these credits. You will not be returning to school.”
“This is ludicrous. I’m right there. I’m months away from graduation. I’m an adult and you cannot force this.” I say with gumption in my voice.
“We pay for you to live here, we pay your bills. All these things, Kaley, will be terminated. You’re done here!” My father bellows, his hands flat on the surface of the table as he pushes himself up.
The front door opens and slams as I recoil at my father’s words. Dean walks into the room and lets his duffel bag slide off his shoulder. As it hits the ground, he’s by my side, down on his knees cupping my face in his hands. His thumbs run across my cheeks, trying to wipe away the wetness.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“Ma- ma- Maddie.” I stutter out, more tears falling from my face.
He removes his hands and pulls out the chair beside me, slides it closer to him and grabs my hand. He lays our joined hands on top of the table.
“Sir.” He starts.
“No, Dean. We need not hear any excuses. We know all about the rouse that you and our daughter conjured, and we do not approve.” My dad says.
“Sir, I believe that Kaley is an adult and can make her own decisions.”
“While that may be, everything she does is paid for by me.”
“Not anymore.” He says.
“Dean!” I hiss. He squeezes my hand.
“Kaley doesn’t need your money. She’s being taken care of.” Dean says firmly.
“Son, I know that you aren’t allowed to work with your football and all. There’s no way that you can manage to pay for all our daughter's expenses and your own. You need not pay for our daughter's sins, she needs to do that on her own.”
“Kaley hasn’t sinned.” Dean says.
“She didn’t abide by our house rules and set out a life here against our word. She is also living with a man who, she lied about the significance of and who is not her husband. Furthermore, she’s had relations outside of wedlock. Shall I go on?”
“Sir. I care about your daughter a great deal. She’s my partner and my best friend.” He looks at me and smiles. “What Kaley is doing is living. While I know some households differ from others, I think that she should be justified to figure out how her own household should run as an adult.”
“Dean, you need not defend our daughter. We know you two are not an actual couple.”
“I told you daddy, we are!” I say gritting my teeth.
“Honey. I think it would be wise to just listen to your father.” My mom says laying her hand atop my dad’s arm as he shakes it off.
“You can think of our relationship however you want, but we are a couple. I think that it would be smart to end your trip here tonight. I do not appreciate the way you are speaking to Kaley in our home.” Dean says.
“Kaley doesn’t pay the bills here. We do.” Dad says with ice in his tone.
“So do I. And since it’s my name and Kaley’s name on the lease, you are trespassing and we would like it if you guys would leave, otherwise we will call the police.” Dean stands.
My sister looks frightened and stands.
She looks over to our parents, waiting for them to stand.
“You’re making a grave mistake son.” My dad points to me as a warning to Dean, with my mother clutching to his other arm.
“Sir, in all respect. You’re the one making that grave mistake. You have a beautiful daughter who is smart as hell. She loves fiercely and would do anything to make you guys the slightest bit proud of her. Treating her like she’s nothing isn’t doing you guys any favors.” Dean growls.
“Maddie, get your belongings. You have five minutes.” Dad yells at her.
Maddie runs into the bedroom as my parents stare Dean and I down.
“You can stop pretending that you are with our daughter. We know you both have been lying to us this entire time.” My dad says.
“While Kaley and I haven’t been a couple for as long as we lead you to believe, we’ve been in one another's lives for just as long. Like I said, she’s my best friend and partner. She’s the one who I come running home to every day and I wouldn’t have it any other way. While to you, it may seem like our relationship is a lie. Our relationship is the most real thing in my life and I can tell you with the upmost sincerity that I love your daughter, and I will keep loving her as long as she lets me.”
Maddie returns from the room with her rollaway luggage in her tow.
She’s out of breath as she looks between the two parties.
“Ready daddy.” She says looking at her feet.
“You’re cut off.” Dad spits at brushing past us. “Since you are such an adult, we’re done. We wipe ours hands and that’s it. We don’t need to further speak to you. You don’t want to live the way that we ask you to, then continue to live in sin, but without the support from your family. And remember Kaley, you only get one family.”
My mother is close on his tail, looking frazzled and unprepared for the whole situation as she slowly walks past us. Her eyes lock on mine and I see sadness and pain in them. But she’s unwilling to speak up against my father regardless of how she feels. I don’t offer her a smile, I hold my head up high, and I show indifference.
Our backs remain to them as they leave the apartment. Once the door slams shut, I lean against Dean and start sobbing hysterically. His body turns to me and he holds me up as I let out whatever tears fall.
I’m unsure how long we stood like that, but sometime later, he’s moved me to the couch and handed me my phone. There was a text message from my sister.
Maddie: I’m sorry. I couldn’t let daddy and mom believe lies of their wonder girl. But I see that I underestimated the relationship that you and Dean DO have. We will stay at the hotel this evening and will be leaving tomorrow as planned. Just in case. I love you, I’m sorry.
Dean was reading over my shoulder as I sit with my back against his chest.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“Not really, but I will be. I just feel numb.”
“I’m sorry this happened. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when this all started. I got held up after the game with my sister.”
“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have made up some ridiculous lie to begin with.”
“Hey. It’s not ridiculous. After all, maybe we would have never known how amazing we are without it. Maybe we would have continued to be friends.”
“And maybe if I didn’t make up this lie, I would still be able to pay my bills and portion of the rent. You heard him, I’m cut off.”
Dean rubs my arms. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve got this covered. We can lease out my room and we’d be set.”
“You mean, you mean you still want to be with me?” I bite my bottom lip.
“Kale. I don’t know if you were listening back there, but I wasn’t just pretending when I told your dad that our relationship is real. Of course I want to be with you. What I don’t want is to be without you.”
“Thank you,” I sniff.
“And besides, what your dad said was wrong. You don’t only get one family. Sure, by blood. But you can also choose who you let in your life, you can choose your own family.”
Chapter Nine
Dean
A few weeks have passed and Kaley has been quiet since her parents left
The way that her family left wasn’t ideal, but she refused to go to their hotel room before they left town. She hasn’t exactly been in a funk, but she’s not exactly herself.
I skipped my morning practice and first class today to lie in bed with her.
“I don’t know how it got this way, I never thought that my sister hated me.” She says agains
t the fabric of the comforter.
“I think it’s different than that. I think that Maddie is jealous that you went against what your parents had planned for you. I don’t think she understands that she has a voice too.”
“I know. I tried to talk to her about it the other night, but she wouldn’t hear me. She was so adamant that she had no choice in the matter about her future.”
“Prove her otherwise.”
“But how?”
“Well, we have Thanksgiving break in a week. The team is done playing for the season after tomorrow, so there’s no reason for me to stay in town. We were originally invited to their house, I think that we should go.”
“No, I don’t think they want us there, no offense, but I see that being a disaster.” She shakes her head.
“Okay, then what about this idea? We have our own Thanksgiving.”
“Huh?” she looks at me confused.
“You heard me. We can have our own Thanksgiving. It would be our first official holiday that we’re hosting as a couple. We can have my sister come maybe her boyfriend if he’s around, my parents, and invite Maddie.”
“Maddie won’t come.” she tells me.
“She probably will if I invite her and we pay for her ticket out here?” He grins.
Maddie arrived exactly a week later.
Trying to persuade her to not spend Thanksgiving with her parents and some of her other family members was easier than I was expecting. I didn’t have to make much of an argument.
Kaley knows she’s coming, but she’s not sure when. She has been cleaning the apartment from floor to ceiling over the past few days and when she’s not cleaning, she’s trying to figure out what she will talk to her sister about.
“I’m sorry that I outed you and Kaley to my parents. I see my mistake about that now.” she says sitting in the passenger side.
“Things happen,” I say with my eyes on the road.
“No, I mean it. I was selfish and looking out for my own agenda.”
“Honestly, this is something that is between you and Kaley, and you should be talking to her about this and not me.”
“Okay, then just let me practice on you.”
She talks the entire ride home, and I listen. I say nothing until we park the car.
“We’re going to go upstairs. Kaley is incredibly nervous. I get that you’re sorry, but she has a lot that needs to be said too.”
“Okay.” She gets out of the car and looks up at the building.
“What if she hates me?” Maddie asks.
“Then you guys work on repairing your relationship.”
Kaley
The door opens and my little sister walks in with Dean following her. Maddie stops in her tracks in the middle of the walk-way and looks around.
Dean grabs her bag from her and walks down the hallway and takes it into the bedroom that’s been vacant since she was last here.
“Hi Mads, how are you?” I ask.
Maddie looks at me and her chin trembles. Tears threaten to spill, and I rush to my sister and engulf her in my arms.
“I’m so sorry, I am so sorry.” she shakes in my arms.
“Shhh. Mads, it’s okay.”
I take her over to the dining room table and we sit down next to one another.
“I messed up, and I know that I shouldn’t have said anything to mom and dad. But I was so mad. I was so mad that you were here and allowed to do whatever the hell you wanted. I’ve been under their microscope with your name in every move that I make. It’s not fair.”
“Man, I wasn’t expecting that we would do this right away.” I say, taking a deep breath.
Dean walks into the kitchen and a moment later, places two glasses of water on the table. I smile at him as Maddie thanks him, before he disappears into the bedroom that we’re sharing.
“Maddie, I’m sorry that mom and dad are the way that they are. What they don’t see is that you are your own person. You have your own mind, your own voice, and your own future. Mom and dad cannot tell you how your future will go. Only you can make that determination.”
“But they want me to go to seminary school. They want me to be a child of God. If I don’t, then they will cut me off, just like they did to you. I’m so sorry they cut you off.” She places her head in her hands.
“What do you want to do with your life? I mean, I know that you’re only sixteen, but do you have any plans?” I ask.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never given it any thought. I’ve been told over and over again that I had to do one thing and one thing only. I had no choice.”
I take her hand in mine. “Listen, you can have your own voice. You shouldn’t let anyone control your future for you. If you don’t want to go down the path that they’re telling you to, then don’t.”
“But I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how to do what you did.”
“What you do is, make it look like your following their plan. But have your own. Act like you’re doing what they want, but work towards your plan quietly, just below the surface.”
“How did you do it?” she asks, wiping a tear from her cheek.
“I made a plan with my guidance counselor. I told them what I wanted and worked with them towards that goal. Mom and dad never knew what I was planning. My counselor helped me with filling out applications, with applying to schools and everything else. I had a friend’s parents pay for my application fees and hid my excitement when I was accepted into a few schools. Mom and dad didn’t know until the day that they approached me with my acceptance letter into seminary school.”
“You applied?” she questions.
“No, they did.”
“Oh.”
“Listen, I did it and you can to. Be strong, and I will do whatever you need me to do to help.”
She looks up at me in shock. “You will? Even after—”
“You’re my sister. Sure, that whole thing sucked. But Dean and I will be okay. I get it, you wanted the pressure off of you. You saw an escape route, but mom and dad would have pushed this shit on you too, even if I went with what they wanted.”
“I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”
“You are.”
Chapter Ten
Dean
We have the turkey in the oven. Kaley and her sister started working on some of the sides yesterday, so those just need to go in the oven whenever the timers that they set on their phones chime. They have some weird system and it’s been interesting to watch.
They move in the kitchen together. It’s a choreographed dance, they silently hand one another something, and they both know what to do with it. I’ve never witnessed such a quiet Thanksgiving prep, but they make it look effortless.
The turkey was my single job.
I woke up early and followed a recipe on a website, then popped the bird in the oven and went back to sleep for a few hours.
My sister is talking with Maddie about some of her classes and Kaley is sitting beside me on the couch, tucked under my arm when there’s a knock on the door.
“That must be my parents,” I say, standing.
Once I open the door, my mom throws herself at me which makes my legs move back to steady myself at the onslaught of sudden weight.
“I’m so glad to see you, boy!” she says, pulling herself away and placing her hands on both sides of my face.
“Hey mom,” I smile.
“You look so handsome,” she gushes.
She looks away from me and bounces away as Denise stands up and gets the same greeting that I did.
“Son,” dad sticks his hand out.
“Dad.” I place my hand in his.
“Thank God you and your sister planned to do this. I don’t think I could have stood a meal with your aunts right now. Since they just got divorced, they’ve been raising enough hell that your mother was dreading Thanksgiving.” He smiles.
“They both got divorced?”
“Long story, short. Cheating and with the same woman f
or Christs’ sake.”
“I don’t want to know.” I shake my head.
“No, no son, you don’t.”
My dad and I walk further into the apartment and once Denise and my mom break away, I’m standing next to Kaley with my arm draped around her shoulder.
My mom turns to us and her mouth drops open. “What’s this? What’s happening here?” She points between us.
“Kaley and Dean are hooking up.” Denise grins.
“Correction D, we’re together. Like, we’re in a relationship.” I sneer playfully at my twin.
“When did this happen?” mom asks.
“Like a month ago, it’s still new.” Kaley responds.
My mom and dad look to one another, and when they both turn their heads back to us, mom has a huge smile and opens her arms.
“Come here, girl. It’s about damn time that you two acted on your feelings.”
Kaley disappears into my mom’s embrace.
Kaley
The table is set and I’m standing at the kitchen counter as Dean pulls out the turkey.
I scrunch my nose at a burnt smell.
“What is that?” I ask him.
“What is what?”
“You don’t smell that? It smells like someone died,” I cover my mouth.
“I smell nothing.” He shakes his head.
“Your smell receptors are broken.” I laugh turning around, “Mads, come in here a sec!”
A moment later, my sister walks into the kitchen with her nose in the air.
“Oh geez, what’s burning in here?” she asks immediately.
Dean’s mom then follows behind her. “Is everything okay? Oh lord, what is that smell?” she takes a step back and covers her mouth.
“You guys are freaking crazy, there is nothing in this kitchen that smells.” Dean shakes his head.
Dean turns and grabs the knives to start cutting into the bird, when my hand reaches across and grabs his arm.
Little White Lie Page 6
