Soul Mates (English) (Boyxboy)

Chapter 20

By the sunset they were heading back home submerged in awkward silence. Dan was struggling really hard to hide his bad mood while Eric walked with his eyes fixed on his shoes. Such alienation had the thoughts on the jock's mind, that Dante had to take him out of the way of posts, traffic signals and people often so he wouldn't end up on the ground with a concussion.

The shorter boy would have preferred to start a conversation or something but he doubt he was able to open his mouth without spiting a rumble of curses; plus Eric didn't look exactly capable of keeping track of what he'd said.

They had covered around half of the way when they turned a corner of the suburbs and saw a familiar car coming down the street. The vehicle stopped beside them. The driver shot a stern look at the couple.

"Dad?"

Indeed, James Henson was coming back home from doing the super when, much to both boys delight, appeared like a gift sent from who knows what benignant god offering a ride home. Coming back from the maze his mind was at the moment, Eric considered refusing being in the same car as the man —remembering their last encounter and the clear display of disgust toward him— and immediately dropped the effort off as Dante was already pushing him on the back seat and closing the door.

The three kept on strict silence, saving the short words to give James directions to the Richmond's house. More than few times the jock glanced away from the window to the windshield to find Dan's father glaring at him on the rearview mirror and felt his gut sink. Once they arrived, Eric had to fight the silly urge to give Dan even the slightest squeeze of hand before thanking Mr. Henson, wishing them a good night and hopping down the vehicle.

"I still don't like that guy." James almost grunted as soon as Eric's back had disappeared inside the house.

"You don't need to like him," Dan pointed out with complete composure, as if that was the biggest truth of the universe. The man put the car back on march.

"Of course I do. The father's word is absolute when it comes to relationships."

"Yeah? Well, you never had problems with Beth."

"Beth is a really sweet girl."

"She cheated on me."

The man peered at his son on the mirror to find Dante observing him attentively. James looked back to the road.

"...I don't see why this would be better than her."

Dan's brow twitched. "Dad, no offense, but for the umpteenth time. Eric is my Soul Mate." The boy dragged the syllables the slightest on the last two words for emphasis. "He's not some kind of whim I woke up one day having. Things just happened and I'm fairly happy with it."

'Although he won't tell me what's wrong even if I begged him to.'

"But you've been dating for two months already. He's a guy. Isn't it time for you to open your eyes?"

"No. Two months is not nearly enough to realize of anything. Take Beth, for example. We dated almost a year and, guess what, I found her on a coffee shop french—kissing another guy. And I was a fool for thinking she had loved me when I came to discover that wasn't the first time she had these kind of... experiences with people while calling herself my girlfriend."

"You were fourteen."

"So? Does that make it less of a disrespect for my person or my feelings?"

"You are only sixteen." The man sighed and shifted the position of his hands on the driving wheel, grasping it tighter.

"When did you meet mom, again?"

James kept silent.

Seeing his father wasn't going to answer the question, Dan asked another one. "And what if I'm only sixteen? We can always break up if we see things won't work out. It's not like we're fettered or something."