Page 37 of Forced to Share
By the time I’d gotten to college, they’d noticed the shift in me. They started making comments about how Sam must have corrupted me, which was insane. Sure, I’d made out with Sam on a few occasions. We never got further than that because I was always too scared of getting caught. Not that it mattered in the end.
Even with Berkeley being so removed from my family, I needed to escape. I couldn’t keep living where I had the fear of them running into me at a random store or restaurant. After nineteen years, I deserved to feel free for the first time in my life.
Chapter 25
Austin
All I wanted to do was push my mother out of the way and hold Jeremy. If I had any clue that any of that was going on... It made so much more sense why he’d up and left. It wasn’t as if he had a choice. Life like that was toxic, everyone deserved to live where they were free of judgment.
Yet when he uprooted his life, he still ended up with my sister. A straight presenting relationship. Not that it made him any less bisexual. He left so he could be free but then didn’t explore things.
I was judging unfairly. You love who you love. If anything, I should have been happy that he’d ended up with Leah because she was the right person to take care of him.He’d been able to be open with her about being bisexual, and she’d accepted him without question. That’s what real love was, I hoped that he saw that.
“So... that’s why I’m not mad...” Leah sounded so small as she sat there, head clutched in her hands as her hangover washed over her. “If it were anyone else, I’d be pissed as hell, but Austin deserves so much happiness, so does Jeremy if I’m being honest...”
And the whole thing was getting ridiculous because then everyone was hugging my sister. But this was what my family was like. We’d all been about supporting each other from the very beginning, we’d never let something like this come between us. Especially when it was a special situation like Jeremy’s.
“Honey, I don’t know a lot about God, but what I do know is that his lessons say that you’re supposed to love everyone. You will always find love in this house, maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t some sort of divine intervention that you ended up meeting both of our children. I don’t know. But I’m glad that this was where you landed.”
Mom was now back to hugging Jeremy, he looked like he was about ready to cry. The whole thing was emotional, and I wouldn’t blame him if he let a few tears fall. I wished he’d said something sooner.
When Mom finally let go of him, I pulled Jeremy from his seat wrapping my arms around him. It was now my turn to shower him with love and affection. Staying mad about him disappearing three years ago was impossible now that I knew the whole truth.
That presented another problem of what we were going to do about us. While I wanted Jeremy to come with me, I understood his hesitancy in returning to California. There was no telling if he could run into his family again or what they would think.
I’d just gotten that promotion at work, so up and quitting wasn’t something I could easily do. I loved my job. Finding love was a little more important, but I didn’t want to have to give up everything.
As if reading my mind, Jeremy pulled from my embrace grabbing my hand, dragging me from the room.
“You know I’d never ask you to give up your job, right?”
I sighed, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. With him being taller than me, I liked how I had to look up at him to talk. “Thank you for that, but I’d never put you in a position that made you uncomfortable. If I needed to look for something different so you didn’t have to worry about your family—”
I didn’t get to finish because Jeremy sealed his mouth over mine. Without realizing it, we’d made our way underthe doorway with the mistletoe again. He could have been kissing me just because of that, but I knew better. I could be a rambler, and this was an effective way of shutting me up.
When we broke apart for air, there was a bright smile on his face. It made my whole body light up like a firework on the Fourth of July. I’d put that there. I’d made Jeremy Praytor happy. That smile was just for me.
“At this point, I’m not worried about my family. Once I moved to New York, they gave up trying to talk to me. Maybe it was because they realized they couldn’t keep me under their thumb forever. I can’t live the rest of my life in fear.”
I couldn’t stop myself as I launched myself onto my toes to kiss Jeremy again. It took a lot of bravery to make a choice like that, but it was one that he was making on his own without outside pressure. He wanted to be with me just as much as I wanted to be with him, and we were going to make it work.
The snow had melted a bit by the next day. The snowman in the front yard leaned to the left, looking alot sadder than when we’d put him together the other day. Something about the weather warming up a bit put things in perspective. This little vacation was coming to an end, we’d need to face the reality of separation sooner rather than later. Instead of getting up and facing the world, all I wanted to do was curl around Jeremy staying in bed with him all day.
He seemed like he was content to do the same thing.
After the excitement of the day before, with my family confronting everything, we were left alone. I didn’t worry as much about locking the door, but it still felt weird that Leah was right across the hall, even if I had her blessing.
“Can we just... stay here?”
I laughed as Jeremy read my thoughts. His hair was soft against my lips as I kissed the top of his head. “If only it were that easy. I’d love to live among the sheets with you forever.”
He sighed with contentment, rubbing his nose into my chest. My arms tightened around him because there was still that small part of my mind that couldn’t wrap around the idea that he was really here. That we’d found each other again—that this was actually happening.
Then my stomach let out the loudest and most pathetic sound I’d ever heard it make. We both laughed before we crawled out from under the blankets and got dressed forthe day. Since the holidays were over, Mom wasn’t making her big elaborate spreads anymore, but there were still a few items set out on the counter by the time we made it to the kitchen. Everyone else had already eaten, so there wasn’t much left, but I grabbed a donut from the box that was set out turning to Jeremy, motioning for him to follow suit.
He almost looked taken aback. Not that I could have blamed him. Mom had gone all out every day that he’d been there, but here we were, digging into a box of donuts from a local shop. It was fine. I sometimes argued with my mother that she did too much, she deserved the ease of buying something for a meal every once in a while.
Jeremy opened the lid. I watched as he looked over the remaining options, reaching for a chocolate frosted one with sprinkles.
