Met a Boy at Seventeen (Kellic)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Kellin - Stay The Night

The rest of the date goes smoothly. I drop Vic off at nine and head back to the apartment. I'm only there for about fifteen minutes, smoking out my bedroom window, when somebody calls me. I groan, not wanting to be brought out of my own little world and back into reality, but then I realize that Vic is the one who's calling. (This is when I decide that reality isn't so bad if it includes him.)

I answer my phone before even giving myself time to wonder why Vic is calling me when he just saw me half an hour ago. "Hello?"

"Kellin," Vic says, his voice hitched and uneven. "Kellin, I—my parents—Mike—I just—I don't—"

"Whoa, calm down," I interrupt, putting out my cigarette and standing up. "Calm down. What happened?"

"I—it's nothing, it's just—"

"It doesn't sound like nothing." It sounds like he's trying not to cry.

"I just—I went inside, and my parents, both of them, they fucking—fucking exploded on me. They figured out that Mike was gone and started yelling at me, and then Mike came back and they—they knew he was high. They've been trying so fucking hard to protect him and now they see him sneaking out and doing drugs and all that shit and they blame it on me. They blame me for his actions. And I'm not allowed to—to see you anymore, either."

"Fuck that!" I yell, automatically kicking the wall. "Fuck all of that! Don't you fucking dare listen to all that bullshit, Vic. None of what Mike does is your fault. Parents don't always know best. Okay? Remember that."

"Is that why you don't live with yours anymore?" Vic asks, sounding noticeably calmer.

At the thought of my parents, a lump forms in my throat. My hand automatically reaches for my hair, fingers twirling erratically. "It—it wasn't really a choice," I say, thinking that maybe I should just tell him and get it over with. There's no reason to keep it a secret.

So I add, "I got kicked out."

After a moment of silence, Vic breathes, "Holy shit."

I lie down on my bed, first on my back before switching to my side. "Yeah."

"Kicked out?" Vic repeats. "How did it happen?"

I close my eyes. "It happened right after I told them I was gay. But that wasn't the only reason—it was just the last straw. It was like I could feel it every time I did something wrong. I could feel their disapproval. I remember them really caring about me when I was little, but as I got older and started doing more things that they didn't like...I knew that those feelings about me were going away."

"That's horrible," Vic says. "What other things did you do?"

"Started carrying weapons around," I reply casually, as if reading off a grocery list. "Started getting into fights. Started smoking. Started drinking underage. Started doing drugs. Started going out to clubs and shit. I can kind of understand why they were so pissy all the time. And then, on top of all that, I'm a flaming homo. So they finally realized that they'd failed in raising their only son—they didn't even want me in the first place—and out to the curb I went. They couldn't care less where I ended up from there; they just wanted me gone. Thank God for Justin."

There isn't any noise on the other end of the phone, and for a second I think that Vic must've hung up, but then I hear his voice: "That's...I don't know what to say."

"That's okay. Don't say anything."

So he doesn't, and I don't, either. I just lie on my bed, listening to him breathe as he listens to me. After a few minutes of this, I ask, "Why aren't you allowed to see me anymore?"