Page 13 of Cinematic Destinies
“I like you too,” Albert replied, and they kissed again.
“So, since I dragged you out practically the second you got back, you never told me about your weekend at home.”
“It was really nice just to spend time hanging out with my family. Sometimes it’s hard being far away. I miss them. Georgia’s hysterical. She always makes me laugh. You’d get a kick out of her. Betty’s the smartest person I know. I like listening to her talk about her job. And my parents are great. They’re into my new drawings and the classes I’m taking this summer.”
“That’s because you’re super talented.”
Albert blushed. “My folks celebrate their thirtieth anniversary on October first and they’re doing a vow renewal, so we’ll all be at that. My dad’s flying us back home. So at least I know when I’ll see them again.”
“That’s cool,” Ryan said. “I actually have a couple relatives in LA. Maybe I can tag along with you, and we can have some fun in sunny Cali. There’s an amazing arcade that has the sickest virtual reality stuff. Completely next level. We would have a blast.”
Albert looked down and fidgeted.
Ryan touched his hand. “I wasn’t asking you to introduce me to your family or anything. I just thought it would be a chance to go somewhere fun. It’s not a big deal. Forget I mentioned it.”
“Look, I know things were weird when I left. I thought about it. I thought about it a lot. The whole time I was gone.”
“And?”
Albert looked into his eyes. “I want us to keep seeing each other, but I’m still not comfortable with public displays of affection.”
“Al, all our friends know about us.”
“I’m not worried about our friends. It’s strangers. Friends of friends. Everyone takes pictures on their phones. When we’re at an arcade or a party or someplace like that, I just need to lay off the physical stuff. The last thing I want is someone snapping a picture of us and posting it online for the whole world to see. My dad can’t find out like that.”
“What are the odds that’s going to happen?”
“Being a celebrity’s kid makes you a target,” Albert explained. “It’s hard to understand unless you’ve experienced it. I’ve dealt with it my whole life. I’ve been followed by the paparazzi. Kids at school have tried to become friends with me just to meet my parents. Sometimes I see people staring at me a little too long, pointing, whispering. All kinds of stuff. It makes me extremely uncomfortable.”
“I’m sorry. That sucks. I guess I never really thought about what it’s like. When we met, I didn’t know who your parents were.” Ryan ran his hand through his hair. “But . . .”
“What?” Albert asked.
“It’s just that I guess some amount of that stuff is going to happen anyway. You can’t let it stop you from living your life.”
“I know, it’s just that my dad doesn’t know. I thought about telling him over the weekend. Honestly, I did. We were just all having such a good time, and I didn’t want to mess it up.”
“It’s never going to be easy, but you’ll feel so much better when you do it,” Ryan replied. “From everythingyou’ve said about your dad, there’s nothing to worry about. He sounds like a good guy.”
“He’s the best.”
“So, how come you told your mother and not your father?”
“I didn’t intend to.” Albert took a moment and explained, “Junior year of high school I had a crush on this guy, Brett. I was too shy to do anything about it. I kind of watched him from a distance.”
“Is he gay?” Ryan asked.
“Oh yeah. Totally open. He definitely dated and hooked up, but he never had a steady boyfriend or anything like that, so . . .” He took breath and continued, “It’s stupid and embarrassing, but I always hoped that maybe he liked me back. He used to look at me sometimes. I thought that somehow we’d end up going out.”
“What happened?”
Albert sighed. “One morning I was walking down the hallway in school, and he was coming toward me, holding hands with some other kid. People were whispering that they were going out. My heart sank. I was so distracted looking at them that I didn’t notice there were a couple stairs in front of me. I flew down, falling flat on my stomach. All my stuff scattered everywhere. Some kids laughed, but Brett stopped to help me up.” He got quiet for a moment before adding, “It was humiliating.”
“That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks. I forced myself to hold it together at school, but as soon as I got home, the floodgate burst. I exploded into tears and raced up to my room. My mother saw and followed me. She sat on my bed and threw her arms around me, rubbing my back, whispering that whatever it was would be okay.” Ryan smiled softly and Albert continued, “When I finally calmed down, she asked me what happened. I justsat there, looking at her through puffy eyes, unable to speak. She took my hand, looked straight into my eyes, and said, ‘Albert, I know exactly who you are. I do. And I love you with all my heart. You can tell me.’ So, I told her everything.”
“Wow. She sounds like an amazing mother.”
