After school came ASL lessons with Mr. Brunner, who probably saw the whole "Yup, totally PG13" thing on cameras. Mr Brunner, who also had 'Solangelo' written all over his office. "Don't mind this!" He'd say. "Just some business stuff!"
And after that, I met Will behind the school. The first thing he did was ask my permission to kiss me. I liked that about Will. He always made sure I was okay with being touched, and he knew how picky I was about who touched me since Connor beat the living cornbread out of me.
I decided to start the walk home and teach him signs later.
Will made eye contact with me as the school disappeared over a hill. I raised my eyebrows at him. He said, "Is it okay if I held your hand, you know, like friends do?"
I smiled at him. What's next? You want to make out like friends do? But I grabbed his hand a intertwined our fingers. Will was smiling again, and it must have been contagious because I was smiling too.
We arrived at Will's house I few minutes later. "I was wondering if you'd like to meet my parents?" He asked.
I nodded and tried to pull my hand out of his in fear of Mrs. Solace. But Will kept his grip. "It's okay, I need to come out anyways." He gave me a highly seductive wink, and said, "We'll meet them inside."
Nodding once again, I let him pull me in.
I remembered this house. It was the first place I'd kissed Will, which I said was friendly then, but it wasn't. That kiss was suppose to be romantic. Sorry for lying.
The house was pretty ordinary for a town house. Tan walls, a nice living room upon entrance, kitchen about fifteen feet away, and upstairs bedrooms/bathroom. A very nice house, in my opinion. (Maybe because the room layout was exactly like mine, I don't know.)
"Mom! Dad!" Will yelled as we entered the doorway. "Come here a minute!"
Will's dad, Mr. Solace, came from the kitchen, which had a magnificent smell coming from it. Mrs. Solace came from upstairs, probably tidying up the bedrooms.
"Welcome home!" Mrs. Solace seemed very cheerful. Your typical household wife, but I'm pretty sure Mr. Solace did the cooking.
"Who's this?" Mr. Solace asked, eyeing our intertwined hands, and wiggling his eyebrows a little.
"This," Will said, looking at me like I was the greatest thing in his world, "is Nico di Angelo."
"A friend?" Will's mom asked.
"Boyfriend," He amended her.
"Oh!" She was obviously about to have a heart attack. "Will, talk to me when you two are done." And with that, she disappeared.
"So," Mr. Solace said, swinging an arm around Will, "you couldn't wait until college to come out?"
"What?" Will asked.
"Me and your mother," Mr. Solace nodded his head towards me, "had a bet on when you were gonna come out, son."
"Call me son one more time."
"Anyhow," he said, "Nico, you want to stay for dinner?"
Will leaned close to me and whispered, "That includes listening to horribly poetry."
Sure, Mr. Solace, I signed. Solace, I signed as Solstice, but close enough, right?
"Please, call me Apollo," Mr. Solace (I guess Apollo now) said.
I gave Will a questioning look that meant he can read signs?
Will gave me a sheepish smile. "I may or may not been teaching them signs." I flipped a gesture behind my back that Will wouldn't need to know sign language to understand.
"Hmm," Apollo said, "I don't think Naomi will be coming down until the boyfriend leaves."
A timer went off in the kitchen. "Alright, you two take a seat." He pointing towards the dinning table.
Will walked over, me following in suit. I could tell he was a little more tense than usual and was trying to hide it. You okay? I asked as we sat down side by side.
He smiled and rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. "Yeah."
A few seconds later Apollo came out with two plates of amazing smelling, exotic looking food that I couldn't name.
"Aren't you going to eat, dad?" Will asked, looking a little let down. Maybe scared, even.
Apollo gave Will a caring smile. "You know I have to work."
"Okay." Will looked down at his knees.
"You kids have fun! Enjoy!"
Thank you! I smiled at the Will's father.
He smiled back at me, then left through the front door.