Page 56 of Out of Nowhere

“Did she mention me while she was with you?” Dex asked.

“If you mean did she tell me that you told her you’re gay, yeah. She did. She didn’t seem happy about it, but she still talked about you going to Colorado for the holidays. You haveto, Dex! Don’t you want to see Sky? He’ll definitely be here for Christmas.’

“Of course I want to see him. I just hadn’t thought about it. Mom hasn’t spoken to me since I told her.”

“I’m sure you two will have things ironed out before Thanksgiving,” Anna said.

“Hopefully. But I don’t want to go visit without Seo-jun. He doesn’t have any family, and I’m not leaving him alone on the holidays.” Dex watched Seo-jun lift the last of the boxes into his trunk and shut the lid.

“Mom’s just being weird because of her society friends,” Anna said. “All it will take is for her to find out one of them is LGBTQ friendly, and she’ll change her mind. Don’t sweat it. Oh, and…I’m really sorry for how I acted in front of Seo-jun when you guys were here. I was pissed off, and I took it all out on you two. I’m embarrassed that’s his only impression of me.”

“You’ve already apologized to me for that.”

“Yeah, but not to him. I hope we can start over.”

“I apologized to him for you, and I’m sure he’ll be fine with that.”

They talked for a few minutes longer before disconnecting. Pocketing his phone, Dex walked back to where Seo-jun stood with Jude and Cara.

“Sorry, that was my sister,” Dex said. “She can only use the phone at certain times of the day.”

“That’s okay. We were just talking about having a Halloween party. What do you think?” Cara asked.

“Sounds like fun,” Dex said.

“I’ll run it by the Holy Trinity, but I’m sure they’ll be on board. I’ll organize it and get back to you guys, but be thinking about your costumes.”

Dex chuckled. “You know they hate it when you call them that. But it is kind of funny.”

“Well, it gets old saying ‘Jase, West, and Logan’ all the time. And it’s better than the Three Stooges.”

“That it is,” Dex agreed.

Cara and Jude went inside and Dex wrapped his arms around Seo-jun.

“I’m all packed up. You can’t get rid of me now,” he said.

“I am never going to want to get rid of you,” Seo-jun said seriously. “How is Anna doing?”

“She’s well. She apologized again for the way she acted when you saw her and said she hopes the two of you can start over. I know she’s being sincere, but I also know she can change on a dime. So, I guess what I’m saying is, don’t get your hopes up.”

“Don’t worry. I probably won’t even see her again any time soon,” Seo-jun said.

“Yeah, about that. I don’t know for sure, because Mom hasn’t gotten in touch with me and may write me off altogether after my announcement the other day, but it’s possible we’ll be spending the holidays in Colorado. And bywe, I mean you and me.”

Seo-jun’s eyes got wide. “What?”

“Well, I mean, you’re my boyfriend, and I want you to go with me. At least for Christmas. We probably can get out of Thanksgiving and have it here like the last couple of years.”

“You want me to go to Colorado with you for Christmas?” Seo-jun asked.

“Please?” Dex tugged on Seo-jun’s sleeve. “Pretty please, will you? Like I said, Mom may not want me there this year, but if she does…will you go with me?”

Dex could see the moment he won the battle, all of Seo-jun’s uncertainty melting out of him.

“Okay.”

“Thank you, baby!” Dex threw himself into Seo-jun’s arms and kissed him. Now that he had Seo-jun’s promise to go with him, he actually looked forward to going and hoped it worked out.

---