Fire and Freedom - Book One of the Café Latte Trilogy

Chapter Eleven - Jasper

"We'll grab something along the way," I said, putting my bag over my shoulder.

"You're off early," she commented, surprised. She didn't say anything about how tired and ill I looked, but she clearly noticed it as she frowned in concern.

I nodded. "Work to do - English essay."

"We shouldn't have dragged you out yesterday if you had work to do," she sighed, but then kissed me on the cheek. "Have a good day at school, sweetheart."

"Mm," I nodded. "You have a good day doing...whatever it is you're doing."

"I've got a lot of gardening to do, and then I'm clearing the attic room," Mum smiled at my tone. "Your dad thinks we could do some remodelling to turn it into a study. I've got plenty to get on with."

"Have fun," Andrew said, and then looked at me, grinning. "C'mon then, Jay, you can see me parallel parking while we're out."

As we left the house and began to climb into the car, I felt a little bit guilty. I still hadn't approached the subject of university with my parents, and I knew it was a pressing issue. I hadn't come out to them, either, which was causing me a lot more panic. I didn't know if I should do it in stages, or just splurge it all out at once. Our parents were not bad people, but they did like showing off their perfect sons, and I had at least one piece of news that would change that, and a second piece of news that could make it worse.

"Jay?"

I looked at the road ahead of me but answered my brother. "Mm?"

"Do you..." he said, and then paused. "Never mind."

"No, what?" I asked curiously, and then sharply said, "You're not going back to uni early, are you? Mum will flip out if you end your break early and I will therefore have to write you out of my will."

"No, I'm not going back yet," he replied, and then sighed. "I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes," I said warily.

He sighed. "And if you and Cyri are having...problems-"

"Cyri and I are great," I interjected hastily. I didn't want this conversation to get to the point where I was outright lying to him. I winced and said, "We aren't dating anymore." When he looked at me in surprise, I quickly added, "But it was a mutual decision. We work better as friends, it just wasn't really a relationship. I think we were always just... close friends."

"You sure you're okay with it?" Andrew asked.

I nodded, and said firmly, "Yes. But I haven't told mum or dad yet, so leave it with me?"

"Okay," he agreed, turning onto a quiet street to show me how to parallel park between two cars. "You know, you could have come to me with something like that. And... I just want you to know, that if you decided you and Cyri didn't work for other reasons, like you being gay, you could tell me that."

I blushed furiously. "That obvious, huh?"

"Not until this visit home," he said, and then sighed, ruffling my hair. "I don't know, over the last few years it always felt like you were holding yourself back from something. I'm just glad you met Tom and figured things out, and now you can let yourself go a little bit."

"I'm not with Tom," I told him.

"Oh," he said, and then shrugged. "Still, a good friend?" When I nodded, he said, "All that matters to me is that you're happy. Guys, girls, whatever gender you want. Just as long as you're happy and have good friends around you. Is there anyone you're interested in?"