For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and for these two, their lives have been planned down to a science.
For Wylan Olson, being yourself can be very stressful. Since she was young, her emotions have always been backwards. The e...
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I sat in the back yard for a while thinking long and hard for an answer. I even left my phone inside the house in a locked drawer. Ty had the key. It got dark quickly, and my dad got home earlier than usual. I was sure he would just keep going until he reached his recliner and got a nice grip on the television remote. Once that happened, my father and relaxation had a symbiotic relationship. In my younger days, my father fascinated me, and that fascination later grew into admiration.
My admiration never died. I walked into the den, and there he was, perched on the sofa watching Law and Order: Special Victims Unit with my mother leaning against his shoulder, wrapped in his warmth.
He looked up, acknowledging my presence as he raised an eyebrow. "I have a question dad. It's about boys," I squeaked.
"Have you transgressed, Wylan?" he asked while flipping the channel to some football game.
I shook my head. "If looking and longing are transgressions then I definitely have."
He laughed, making sure not to shift my mother. "Sit down. Who is the subject of these transgressions, my child?" he inquired, looking me in the eyes. I started walking towards the love seat, which was on the opposite side of the room and ran into the coffee table. I rubbed my knee as I reluctantly broke my stare.
"Well his name is— he goes to my school."
He nodded. "Oh so you're finally recognizing your undying love for Okra?" He smiled with satisfaction. "I knew you liked him from the way you acted when I first texted him back from your phone that day. You were bashful. That was your first year, right?" I nodded, biting the lining of my cheek. "Well what do you want to know then?"
I shifted in the chair awkwardly. "Do you think he likes me? I mean, I'm not thinking about dating seriously, but I was wondering. Boys are so complicated," I sighed and he coughed.
"Boys aren't complicated. It's just that girls usually believe we're being deep and cryptic when we aren't. 'I want to go to California over the summer.' Means I want to go to California over the summer. It isn't our way of telling you that we want to move to California, start a family, and become weed growing insurgents on the side. Also no, Wy, if we are talking about the same boy, I think there's a nice chance that he cares about you, and does not just like you. Caring is different than liking someone or something. You remember all the times he got bothered and concerned about your opinion on him. I had an hour-long texting filibuster with him on whether you thought he was sexist and racist. He wouldn't ask about your opinion if he didn't care," Dad answered as he ran his thumb over my mother's wedding ring.
"He still doesn't know that was you." I confessed, frowning at him.
"Good, that'd be awkward."
I nodded looking at him in the eyes. "Give him a chance to be your friend and get to know you. The faster it comes, the faster it goes. Your mother wasn't an easy prize to win, and I keep working hard to let her know I care. As much as I would like to think that she would never leave, I know deep down that she could leave whenever she got ready. All she needs are the right papers and nobody would ever know she was with me, but you and Ty are mine. You both have my name, and my blood runs through you two. That's one of the benefits of this. You get new things as you play the game. There's never going to be a level that you can't come up from." I started crying in that moment and he waited. He didn't ask what was wrong because he knew I was okay. He actually smiled. "Glad to know that made you happy," he said softly.
