The Emo and the Quarterback (Book one in the Love is Love Series)

VIII

"I'm Portia, and this is Wade," Troy's mom said. I smiled shyly. "I'm so happy to hear that my little boy has picked such a cute date."

"Wow, this is going better than I expected," Troy chuckled. "Halo's been my friend for the past week or so, until last night, when he became the most important thing in the world to me."  I blushed, play swatting him lightly. "Oh don't be like that, angel."

"You take care of my son," Mrs. Steel said. I nodded.

"I won't let anything happen to him, Mr. and Mrs. Steel," I said.

"Oh please, use our first names, son," Wade said. "You're an honorary Steel, now."

"How are you guys ok with this?" Cyran suddenly barked. I winced. Here was that negative reaction I was worried about. "Troy isn't just gay, he's picked the only guy at his school who doesn't have any friends, and is probably in a gang or something!"

"Cyran Jay Steel you watch your attitude!" Portia snapped. "I'm sure your brother would be smart enough to not date a gang member, and gay relationships are not a crime!"

"I'm 19! I can do what I want, even if it means showing this family reason!" Cyran snapped, and marched over to Troy, grabbing his brother and punching him. He pinned Troy to the ground beating the poor boy senseless, and that's when I lost it.

"Get the fuck off of him!" I roared. "Get off of Troy right fucking now!" Cyran seemed to not hear me, so I pushed him off of my boyfriend punching Troy's brother with all the strength I had. "Nobody!" Punch. "Hurts!" Punch. "My!" Punch. "Boyfriend!" Punch.

"Ok, ok!" Cyran relented. Satisfied, I got off of the vile man. "Fucking psycho!"

"Get away from him before I regret leaving it at just that," I snapped. "You should be thankful I was in a good mood before, or that would have been so much worse." Cyran scrambled out of the room. I moved over to Troy, who already had bruises from his brother. "Are you ok, Troy?"

"Yeah," he said, but I could see that he was on the verge of tears.

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry," Portia said. "But, we have to leave in an hour, and I don't think that you and Halo will be safe here with Cyran. Halo, dear, can he stay with you when me and Wade are out of town?"

"Yeah," I said. "I haven't known him face to face for long, but Troy is my world. I refuse to let him stay here with that homophobic bastard. I'll help him get some of his things, and he can stay with my family, and I'll drive him here when you two are home. Here's my number and home phone, so you can text or call me when you're in town."

"Thank you," Wade said. "We had no idea that Cyran was going to react like that. We can only hope he someday sees reason. But Troy, son?"

"Yeah, d-dad?" Troy asked quietly. I could tell that he was terrified so I hugged my boyfriend gently.

"Hey, you're ok, Troy," I whispered. "I've got you, alright?" I whispered. He nodded.

"Troy, dear, we've been waiting for you to realize that about yourself for a while," Portia said, stifling a chuckle.

"What?"

"We had a feeling you were gay," Wade said. "We were just waiting for you to catch onto that fact yourself."

"How did you guys know before me?" Troy asked.

"Your nature, dear. You've never had a girlfriend, you have pictures of male movie stars on your walls, and you definitely had your moments, that's for sure. Remember Quall Lake? Freshmen year?"

"Oh, don't bring up Quall Lake!" Troy groaned, and his faced flushed pink.

"Quall Lake? As in the yearly mandatory school camping trip?" I asked. Troy nodded.