Page 2 of It's Just You

I spotted my dad quickly enough, where he was in the living room sipping on a beer.

“Hi, Dad.” I approached him, waiting for him to scrutinize me.

His eyebrows rose when he did, his mouth pulled into a tight line, then he finally clucked his tongue. “Some days, I think you’re just doing this to annoy me.”

“Why yes, it is nice to be back at home. Thank you for asking.” I smirked at him, though my stomach was in knots. It wasn’t as bad as it had been years ago when I’d first started displaying feminine traits, but I just wanted him to accept me for the way I was.

It wouldn’t happen, though, so I did my best to show him I didn’t care about his opinions, right down to the bright red nail polish I was wearing. Two could play this game, after all.

“Yes, I’m sorry. Welcome home. I just wished you wouldn’t be as—”

“I know,” I interrupted him, my voice a little edged, though it was more out of sadness than anger. “I’m still me, and I won’t change that.” I took a seat on the couch near him, looking at him. His hair was graying more, and it was now the dominant color there. His face showed his age more than ever. The gift of having me later in their life had led them to now being over 60 when I was only 24, which put more distance between us than anything else.

“I know.” Dad drank deeply from the bottle. “Want one? Or a Coke?”

“I’ll get myself a water, but thanks.”

Before I could get up, Mom appeared in the doorway, already offering a bottle to me as she sat down on the couch opposite me, facing me. “Now tell us what you’ve been up to these past few months. We’ve barely spoken.”

Because you’ve been too busy moving, I wanted to say, but I kept it to myself. “Not much. Finals were hard, but I think I did well. I’m going to start looking for a job soon, I think. Something to help me get some experience.”

“Is there a museum you could work at?” Dad chimed in.

“Dad, that’s not what I want to do. I’m thinking about going into digital design, but I need to see. I sure as hell don’t want to stare at boring old pictures all day long.”

Dad made a face, but Mom chuckled. “That’s about what I expected to hear. But maybe don’t word it that way when you’re looking for a job, hmm?”

I shook my head. “I’m not that stupid,” I told them. “So everything is going well.”

“That’s good to hear.” My mother took a sip of her own water, though hers was in a glass. She’d never just drink out of a water bottle if she could help it.

“What about you? Are you settled in well enough here?” I broached the subject, knowing we’d have to talk about it sooner or later.

“Yes. It’s been nice to be back.” Her smile said it all. She loved it here, no matter how much I hated it.

“But why so suddenly?”

“We talked about what to do when the company was sold, then we figured we wanted to move and start over.” Dad looked at Mom. “And since your mother always wanted to come back here, we decided to do that. And why wait? You’re in college, and we’re not getting any younger.”

Could you have your midlife crisis at 64? If so, they definitely had it.

“Yeah, but…” I stopped. It was useless. They’d already made the move, and I hadn’t even known about their intentions until they’d settled on a house. “Where will I be staying?”

“I’ll show you,” Mom said, getting up again. “We just got the guest bedroom ready for you.”

Guest bedroom. That stung a little, even though I didn’t know why. I followed her up the stairs, already trying to figure out how I was going to survive a month and a half here.

I might’ve been tired,but it was more emotional exhaustion than anything else, so I didn’t nap. Instead, I texted Sam, the only high school friend I’d kept in touch with.

“You up for hitting a bar tonight?”I asked him. I hadn’t even been home for an hour, and I already needed to get out of this house.

“Dude, I just got home like 2 minutes ago. Can’t tonight.”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.“Okay, no worries.”

“How about you come over around 9 tomorrow morning? Then we can hang out and figure out what to do?”

“Sounds good to me. I might hit the bar alone then, just to get out of the house for a little bit.”

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