Juniper Blue (NaNoWriMo2023; manxman)

Chapter 21

Gabriel

For the first time since leaving home, I didn't see my parents for the High Holidays. In fact, I was so disgruntled and disillusioned that I chose to work on those days. My mother's memory had deteriorated, so she frequently thought I was still in college. I let her believe whatever she wanted to believe. Ten minutes after I told her "I had too much work to do," she asked me when I was coming home. She asked me the same question every time we spoke. I had not spoken to my father since he confessed the family lie.

Juniper noticed everything, which were both good and bad/annoying qualities. He wasn't Jewish, yet he kept track of the holidays.

"I'm confused," Juniper said on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. I'd just gotten home from work and was about to take a shower. "Why aren't you with your parents? It's the most important time of year, but you're here and you're working tomorrow. Why?"

"Because we're short-staffed."

"Nah, that's not it. You've told your parents about me, haven't you? And they've disowned you like you thought they would."

"I'm seeing my parents in a few weeks, so they haven't disowned me." I hadn't made up my mind about visiting my parents. I was only going to Brooklyn for my follow up appointment. The hospital wouldn't review the results in person. "I'm having a bit of an existential crisis, I guess. Come take a shower with me and fool around."

Fooling around always distracted Juniper from continuing serious discussions. He undressed and stepped into the shower. "Are you ever going to tell your parents about me?" he asked, turning on the water. I had to wait for the water to be hot, but slightly cold or lukewarm water didn't bother him. I stood outside the stall, waiting for the water to turn hot. "Do you think I'll ever get to meet them? You've met my family and extended family, including my mother who wasn't very nice to you."

"Your family's different."

"You have a lot of excuses, Gabriel," he said, reaching for my arm. He pulled me into the stall and grasped a clump of my hair. "It's a good thing I'm patient and I love you." Kissing my neck, he slowly released his grasp.

I struggled with living in the moment, always stressing about the future and things I couldn't control. No one had a crystal ball. Even genetic testing wasn't a hundred percent. In my warped mind, I thought I made the right decision by keeping my family's illness from Juniper until I got some answers. Maybe I was looking for a reason to sabotage this relationship I feared was too good to be true, even after a year.

As Juniper hugged me, water beating down on his back, he pinched my ass, bringing me back to the present. "I wish you'd let me in your world," he said.

"I'll do better." I didn't know what else to say to him. I lathered his hair in shampoo and smoothed his hair into a mohawk. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

I couldn't imagine Juniper loving me as a sick, decrepit man, old before my time. Juniper deserved a man who could keep up with him, who hiked and rafted and matched his energy-level. He didn't sign up to be a caregiver. I could only hope that the test proved I didn't inherit the disease.

It was only seven o'clock at night, but time meant nothing to us. I'd sometimes wake up to Juniper's lips around my dick. It didn't matter that he had to be at work in an hour. Juniper rinsed his hair, dried off, and walked out of the bathroom. Naked, he made his way upstairs to the bedroom.

Juniper loved sex, and I assumed he'd want nothing to do with me if I could no longer perform. I made a lot of incorrect assumptions. In a way, it was like I didn't really know Juniper all that well, always expecting him to be no different than any other man I'd ever been with. I found him sprawled out on the bed, waiting for me.