Page 46 of Beautiful Trauma
“Baby,” Ezra said, dropping onto my bed and pulling me into his arms. I rested my head against his shoulder, feeling better than I had since leaving his apartment Saturday afternoon. “It doesn’t matter what you wear, your hair is fine the way it is, and you look like a twenty-one-year-old man. My parents are not going to think I’m having a midlife crisis.” Ezra’s chest shook, and I jerked my head up to look at him.
“Are you laughing at me?” I asked.
“No,” Ezra said calmly. “I think the situation is adorable, but I’d never laugh at you. How can I make you feel more comfortable about meeting my parents?” A sobering expression crossed his handsome features. “Would you prefer to meet them another day? Maybe you’re not certain about us and—”
I cut him off with a quick kiss. “I want to meet my boyfriend’s parents, Ezra; I just don’t want them to see a gold-digging hussy when they look at me.”
“Gold-digging hussy?” Ezra fell back on my mattress, laughing harder than I’d ever heard him. “G-g-gold. D-d-digging. H-h-hussy. Have you been watching reruns ofDallasorDynasty? Or was itKnots Landing? Oh my God, Henry. I don’t even know where to begin with that statement.” I started to get up off the bed, but Ezra pulled me down to lie beside him. “You’re not going anywhere. I just need a minute to recover.”
“I bet he’s heard that one plenty of times before,” Jess said as she passed by my bedroom door.
“Is she calling me old?” Ezra asked me. When all I did was stare at him, he yelled, “Are you calling me old, Jess?”
“If the shoe fits, Grandpa.”
“Jess!” I yelled, mortified by her bluntness.
Ezra only laughed harder. “Oh. Oh my God,” he said, winding down from his trip to delirious town. “Okay, we need to get on the road if we’re going to make it on time for dinner. Do you want to go?”
I nodded.
“Great. As much as I love seeing you parade around in tight-fitting boxers, I’m afraid I must insist on covering them up.” Ezra kissed the tip of my nose then left me lying on my bed while he crossed the tiny space and rummaged around in my closet. “This is just a laid-back dinner at my parents’ house. My dad will be wearing a polo shirt and a pair of jeans or khakis, and my mom will be wearing a casual dress and flip-flops or sandals. Don’t let my parents’ Indian Hill zip code fool you.”
I relaxed enough to let my eyes roam over Ezra’s outfit. He’d chosen dark denim jeans in a tighter fit than I was used to seeing him wear and a pale blue, short-sleeved, button-up shirt that looked lovely against his tan.
Ezra slid a few more hangers over then said, “What do we have here?” He removed my Spiderman Halloween costume from last year and held it up so he could look it over. “I’m going to need you to try this on for me someday.” The heat in his voice made me shiver. Our eyes met, and I could tell we were seconds away from either forgetting about our dinner obligations altogether or arriving very late. Ezra blinked then turned quickly back to my closet where he tucked the costume away for another day. “Later, Ezra,” he said to himself, making me smile for the first time that day. I loved how much he wanted me. “How about this?” Ezra held up a charcoal gray polo shirt I forgot I owned. I had found it during one of my trips to Goodwill with Esther. She knew the best locations and days of the month to find the good stuff.
“Not bad. I have a pair of nice shorts to go with it.”
Ezra shuffled a few more hangers over and pulled out the white and gray plaid shorts. “These will work perfectly.” Bending forward, Ezra picked up a pair of shoes from the floor. “These burgundy Chucks match the accent stripe in the plaid. We’re all set.”
I slid off the bed and started getting dressed, which became harder when I had to tuck my stiffening dick into my shorts. “I need you to stop looking at me like that,” I told him, gesturing to my problem.
“That’s never going to happen, but I’ll happily lend a hand.” Ezra crossed the room, batted my hand away, and tucked my dick away before he zipped and buttoned my pants. Then he placed both his warm hands against my abdomen, smiling when my muscles quivered beneath my flesh. “Need more help?”
“I think you better wait for me in the living room,” I said.
“Probably,” he agreed. “You’re not going to freak out and escape out the window, are you?”
I snorted. “I wouldn’t trust the fire escape.” Ezra scowled and headed toward my bedroom window to inspect it. “I’m sure it’s perfectly fine, Ezra. I simply meant I wouldn’t be testing it out for anything less than an emergency. I might be nervous about meeting your folks, but I’m not going to climb down the fire escape to avoid it.”
“Once you’re ready, we’re going to have a nice chat about why you’re so nervous.”
“Can’t wait,” I said with mock cheer.
Ezra narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything else before he left my room. I didn’t waste any more time second-guessing my new status as Ezra’s boyfriend because I knew he’d come looking for me.
I found him sitting on the couch looking through a copy of Jess’sRolling Stone Magazine. He looked up when I entered and smiled at me. “Ready?”
“Yes,” I said with conviction I didn’t feel.
Ezra reached for my hand and led me from my apartment, not breaking our connection until I was seated in the passenger side of his car. Not one to waste time, he got right to the point as soon as he pulled away from the curb. “Why don’t you tell me why you were so panicked? Don’t tell me it had something to do with your appearance, and please don’t use the gold-digging hussy phrase again. I can’t be serious when you say it, and the situation calls for my full attention.”
Honesty had been a huge part of our relationship once we stopped lying to ourselves about wanting one another. I could gloss over my concerns and let them rot, or I could act like the adult Ezra believed me to be and talk about them. “I’m worried about their reaction to our age difference and what they’ll think when they find out how we met.”
Ezra reached over the console and squeezed my hand. “I already told them, Henry.”
I snapped my head in his direction. “What? When?”