ADDICTED [BoyxBoy]

14 | coℓ∂ αs yoυ

What a rainy ending

Given to a perfect day

Chapter 14 ~ Cold as You

Max Caldwell

My dad was a mixture of two things: angry and frustrated.

It wasn't the first time I saw him so furious. When I told my parents I was gay, his eye twitched a couple times and he refused to talk to me for a whole week. Apparently, I ruined his hopes for me to carry on his legacy, even though being gay had nothing to do with being a successful lawyer.

I didn't think it was possible for him to get any more angry than that, but I was proven wrong when he stayed at my grandma's house for an entire month because I told him about my dreams to be an artist. When he came back, he threw away all of my art stuff, but my mom convinced him to buy them back. He wasn't too happy about that.

Right now, he was livid. His arms were folded against his chest, his lips down turned into a scowl, and jaw clenched tight. He took a defensive stance against my bedroom door, studying me with his cold brown eyes. "Are you thinking about telling me why you stayed past curfew, now?"

He had been constantly pressing me for the past two days wondering why I didn't come home on time. It wasn't like I could tell him, "Oh, yeah! I missed curfew because I was having sex with my best friend in his car!" because I was supposed to be staying away from boys. If he knew what I was really doing, I would never see daylight again.

I shook my head as I entered my closet and retrieved a Nirvana t-shirt. "No, not really."

He squinted at me. "Max," he scolded. "You're going to tell me where you were, or I'm grounding you for another two weeks."

I racked my brain trying to think of a quick excuse that would sound believable. "Uh, I was at Robin's house?"

He titled his head to the side. "Are you sure?"

I knew he would take it upon himself to call Robin's parents to confirm I was actually at her house, and I also knew that meant I had to convince Robin to cover for me. Asking her to do something that was against the rules was like asking for it to rain cats and dogs.

"Yeah," I finally said, satisfied with my answer.

He still wasn't convinced. "You don't sound so sure."

I gave him a small smile. "I'm sure."

"And Robin's parents will be able to confirm this?"

I pulled my t-shirt over my head and tugged it down. "Sure."

My dad stood in the doorway for a very long time, studying me with his skeptical gaze, but eventually sighed in relief. "Look, Max. You know I'm only a hard-ass because I love you, right? Your mom and I both love you, very much. Everything we're doing for you, it's for your own good."

I dismissed him with a simple wave of my hand. "Yeah, yeah, tough love. I get it. Now are you going to let me get ready for school or are you going to lecture me some more? If so, please write a note because Mr. Kalmyk is a harder hard-ass than you are."

His lips pulled into a slight smile, but it disappeared before he could even take note of it. "Feed Lola, and you're free to go." He turned to leave but glanced over his shoulder at me with he remembered something important. "And take the bus."

I gave him a look of disbelief as I fetched my jacket from the bedpost. "Goodbye, dad."

He looked me over once more with his lips tightening at the corners like he was holding something back. Eventually, he sighed. "Have a nice day at school."