Page 12

Reality Check

AXEL

I’m not exacting bouncing when I walk in the door after returning from dropping Justin home. Mainly because I don’t tend to show my emotions all that much. But I’m on a definite high and I feel so light. I’ve made up with my boyfriend – although we haven’t talked about it, he is my boyfriend now – and he’s forgiven me for my cowardly disappearing stunt, and I am so excited and optimistic . The sun is rising, the birds are calling, and I have a stunning, cute, sexy boyfriend who I’m really into, and who is really into me. Age difference be damned, it doesn’t matter. We are so good together, I don’t even notice it. We only parted ten minutes ago, but I can’t wait to see him again.

I am so happy.

Which makes it all the more confusing to find my mother waiting for me in a fury.

“What were you thinking?” she demands, the minute I step into the house.

“W-What do you mean?” She’s caught me off guard. My head is all fuzzy with endorphins and she’s in a rage. It makes no sense.

“The Beecham’s grandson. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“We… went out last night.”

“And he slept over?”

“Um, yes. You don’t usually have a problem with that,” I reply cautiously. “What’s the big deal?”

“The ‘big deal’ is that you’re messing with the grandson of your dad’s boss,” she accuses me angrily.

“Whoa!” I hold my hands up, trying to calm her down. “I’m not messing around. I’m seeing him. This is serious. We like each other.”

“It doesn’t matter how much you like each other. Not only because of who he is, but also because he’s still in school. And you’re twenty-two, for heaven’s sake!”

“Mum, we don’t care about that. He doesn’t. I don’t. We get along just fine.”

“I'm sure it's illegal. And anyway, you just can’t. He’s out-of-bounds – you can’t sleep with or even date him. I don’t know what you were thinking.”

I’m gobsmacked. How dare she tell me who I can and can’t date?

“I’m not going to stop seeing him,” I insist, starting to walk away.

“You must. Your father will be livid when he finds out.”

I stop walking. I turn around.

“Then he’d better not find out. You can’t tell him. Or anyone. Justin isn’t out yet. And he’s told me his family would not be accepting.”

“All the more reason to stop seeing him,” she says, “as if there weren’t enough already.”

I turn and walk away. There’s no point in arguing. She won’t out him. And I won’t stop seeing him. I hope that by letting her have the last word, she thinks she’s won the argument and lets the subject drop. I’m not going to fight with her, but I’m also not going to let go of the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s my life, not my parents’, and as long as Justin chooses me, then this is what we’re doing. I’m not letting go of him again.