Screen Burn

Episode 26

"Mother," Mateo said, displeasure evident in his tone. "I thought we'd decided that knocking was polite, and that certain words are not acceptable substitutes for gay."

"Whatever," the woman replied, shaking her head dismissively. "You need to remember to meet your boyfriends outside my house."

"I'm not his boyfriend," Jake protested, looking quite taken aback by her statement.

"Then there's some hope for you," she declared, smiling bitterly. "Perhaps God will show you the way to Heaven after all."

"Get out of my room," her son replied in an even tone, refusing to let the words get under his skin.

She glared at him, but complied with his demand. Jake noticed her touch the tiny gold cross on her neck before walking away. The cross seemed out of place next to her colorful clothes and high heels, but she clearly wasn't the kind of person one could understand easily in the first meeting, so he didn't comment about it.

"I'm sorry about that," Mateo sighed, once he was sure his mother was out of hearing range. "I didn't think she'd be home."

"It's fine," Jake assured him, despite the fact that was feeling mildly nauseous.

He opened his mouth to add something, but closed it again after a moment. Clearly, he needed time to gather his thoughts after the interruption.

"Forget about her. Remind me where we were again?" Mateo asked, grinning.

As he leaned in, Jake put a hand on his chest and pushed him away.

"Mateo," he stated, his voice shaking. "I'm not gay."

"Of course, you clearly weren't a few minutes ago. That was totally a straight moan," Mateo replied, sarcasm coating his words.

Jake flinched, but did not stop the next few words that escaped his mouth.

"I'm in love with Astrid."

"You mean obsessed with Astrid."

"I'm in love with her," Jake repeated, despite not being as sure about the statement as he was a few hours ago.

"So do you often kiss other people when you're in love with someone, or am I an exception?"

The hurt that Mateo had been trying to hide was slowly creeping into his tone. Jake ignored it and thoughtlessly continued.

"It was a mistake."

"Oh," Mateo said, a blank expression on his face.

The single word seemed to contain all the emotion missing from his face. He rose from the bed and collapsed on the only chair in the room, like he'd been knocked off his feet by Jake's statement.

"I was hurt and convinced that she would never speak to me again. I wasn't thinking clearly, which is why I had the accident, which probably messed up my ability to make further judgments. I was confused and just wanted to stop thinking about her."

"I was the perfect distraction, huh?" Mateo finally spoke, an unnerving smile on his face. "Somebody you could kiss as an experiment and leave behind in your college memories?"

"It's not like that."

"Please, explain what it's like then," Mateo snapped. "Tell me I'm not just some boy you kissed to make sure you were straight. Tell me I'm not somebody you kissed to pretend you weren't thinking about someone else. Tell me that you didn't use me to stop hurting."

Jake's silence seemed to adequately answer his question.

"You know what? I'm bisexual, and I've accepted that. It's not a phase for me and it never will be. I refuse to be a part of your questioning period."