||My Invisible Wound||

||Impossible||

     c h a p t e r | s e v e n t e e n

     Jake stepped inside his house, leaving the door open for me. I closed it and walked into the living room, which was off to the left, and he sat me down. His father walked around the house, calling out his name. "Jake?" he said, finally arriving in the living room. "Who's this?" He didn't sound annoyed, irritated, or angry. In fact, he sounded interested in what was happening.

      "Can you sit?" insisted Jake. "I need to talk to you."

      "Are you his girlfriend?" His father smiled. "How come you never told me you had a girlfriend? Oh, God, is she pregnant?" He looked to me with a stern face. "Are you pregnant?"

      "Dad," Jake said. "No. She is not my girlfriend and she is not pregnant." Bu the looked to me for confirmation. "You aren't pregnant, right?"

      I shook my head. "No," I said simply. It almost made me laugh.

      "But please, sit down." Jake sat first, then his father.

      "So what's wrong, then?"

      Even though he looked at his dad, Jake couldn't get any words out. He was puzzled, left in a maze and couldn't find his way through.

      I decided to begin, to help him. Because that was why I was here. "I'm Jake's friend, Alysha," I said, waving to his father with a small smile."But uh . . ." I licked my lips. "There was something that Jake wanted to tell you—"

      "Dad, I'm bisexual." That came out quicker than I thought it would. "That's nothing easy to say, so I just said it. I'm bi. I am bisexual. There. Done. Moved out of the way."

      "Wh—" his father began, but couldn't get anything out due to Jake continuing to break people off.

      "I'm sorry I'm not the 'perfect' son—despite the fact that there is no such thing—but honestly, dad . . . how could we kid ourselves? I'm different. You knew that somehow, something was wrong with me, and this is why—"

      "Jake!" his father snapped, catching the attention of his son. "Yes, I knew you were different somehow, I mean, what kind of male would want to see gay porn?" He laughed.

      Jake gave him an odd, yet surprising, facial expression. As if to say, "How did you know?"

      "I go through your things, yes—" He put his hands up in defense. "I just thought you were curious on how it worked or somethin'. But now I understand." He paused, opening his mouth and shoveling his teeth with his tongue, as if something was stuck in it. But after a moment, he said, "I'm not mad. I'm not disappointed. I'm surprised, yes, but I love you no matter what. You may not be straight, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that you're still my son." He stood and embraced Jake in his arms. He chuckled once more. "I'm just glad you didn't her pregnant." He pointed to me.

      I smiled, for the sake of the situation.

                                                                               :c:

"Thanks," he said.

      "For what?"

      He looked to me and grinned. "For everything."

      Jake and I sat in silence in his car; it was parked outside of my house. "I guess you're welcome?"

      He sighed, but it sounded like something was bothering him. "Elyes told me."