Efrain and Cory Ch. 22

Eventually, Lena noticed that I was not busy.

"You," she said.

"Me?" I answered.

"Yes, you. How long have you been in my house?"

I looked at my watch. "Uhm, half an hour maybe?"

"Great! You're as good as family now," she said with a grin, then heaped some vegetables on a cutting board. "You can help with the salad."

I obediently set about washing and peeling the cucumbers and carrots. Zoe had reappeared, wearing jeans and a blouse in place of the sweats and baggy t-shirt she'd had on when we arrived (and possibly some makeup), and had immediately been tasked with helping the mega-hottie with preparing salad vegetables.

"Mom? Dad? What's up with truck?" a male voice called out from the foyer.

"Kitchen, Juaquin!" Lena called back.

If Efrain and Zoe were carbon copies of Bon and Lena, the oldest Garza child was a composite – Bon's eyes and face, with Lena's mouth and fairer skin. Juaquin's slightly smaller build and shorter height, I was told, came from the Santos side, while his chin-length tight curls were a Garza trait. Behind him stood a delicate beauty with jet black hair who I knew, from Efrain's crash course introduction to his family, was Jennifer, his brother's girlfriend since college. Bon treated his oldest son to the same mauling after Juaquin kissed his mother's cheek. After various exchanged greetings, and my quick introduction as the owner of the bigass truck/Efrain's friend from school, Jennifer took over for me on the salad preparations, so that Efrain, Juaquin and I could add the inserts into the dining room table and set it.

Dinner was almost ready when we heard the door open and even more voices coming from the foyer. Bon's niece and her husband (who just happened to be a junior sailor formerly under his command) came in with their two-year-old daughter. Alysa and Eric Ross were closer to Jennifer and Juaquin's age, and the guys had been good friends for years. The Rosses were just ahead of Lena's brother and his wife, as well as their pre-teen son and daughter, who were somehow impressed that Efrain and I played football and stuck to us most of the night.

Efrain had warned me that he had a massive family, and that I'd be getting a taste of it the night before Thanksgiving. I reasoned that meeting some now would make tomorrow less overwhelming.

~*~*~*~

I tore open a roll and slathered it with butter just as Efrain passed me a platter. The pork roast on it was so tender that no one bothered to slice it. I picked up the tongs and pulled off a sizable amount to add to my plate. I'd already helped myself to a nice salad, and enough of the other side dishes to feed two people.

Casual observations of the other plates at the table showed that I wasn't the only one guilty of gluttony. Efrain and I sat sandwiched between his cousins. The boy, Jamie, had to be half my size, yet had dished out nearly as much food. His sister, Harlie, had only slightly less heaped on her plate. Efrain had plated even more food than I had, so I wasn't really worried about looking like a pig when I finally tucked in.

Mind you, this was my second helping.

"You're really a football player like 'Rain?" Jamie asked me around a mouthful of fried sweet plantain.

I'd just taken a bite of roasted yucca with garlic sauce and was forced to nod until I could chew enough to allow swallowing. I took a quick sip of my iced tea. "Yeah, linebacker."

"'Rain plays wide receiver," he told me matter-of-factly.

"Duh, retard," his sister called from her seat next to Efrain, who was in the middle of spooning an obscene amount of chimichurri over his pork. "He plays with 'Rain, like, all the time."

I heard a small cough from across the table where Eric and Juaquin sat with their respective ladies flanking them.

"So, Cory," Eric said. "I understand you're a freshman. Decide on a major yet?"

"Not really," I answered. "But, I've been taking some interesting Spanish lit classes."

"Mom said Efrain was getting some," Juaquin paused to drink from his beer, then continued, "help with his Spanish from a teammate."

"I'm enjoying myself," I said, "so I thought I'd at least go for a minor in Latin Studies." I wasn't sure why, but everyone seemed to take an interest in their drinks.

"Just a minor?" Eric confirmed, and I nodded. "Nothing major, huh?"

"Yeah, I don't think I could handle a major," I said. "Too hard, not enough rewards."

For some reason, Eric grinned around a mouthful of food and both men received surreptitious elbow nudges from Alysa and Jennifer. I was confused as to why they were in trouble, but I decided to change the subject to help them out.

"This is really delicious, Lena," I said, indicating the pork.

"I'm glad," she said. "I forgot to ask 'Rain what kind of food you'd eat."

"I'll try anything once," I said. Eric and Juaquin sniggered about something they were discussing on their side of the table. "But, I've already had a lot of this at 'Rain's."

"Oh?"

"He cooks a lot. I think the pork is the only thing I haven't tried before," I said. I gestured down at my third helping of yellow rice with chorizo and pigeon peas. "The Spanish chorizo is a bit different from the Mexican chorizo I got back home. Dryer, less sloppy. I think I prefer it."

Juan, Efrain's uncle, suddenly set down his drink and started coughing.

"Honey?" his wife patted his back.

"Sorry," he wheezed around his coughing fit. "Went down the wrong hole."

Eric and Juaquin quickly excused themselves from the table and went into the next room where they promptly fell into raucous laughter at poor Tio Juan's expense.

~*~*~*~

After dessert (a tasty flan of which I had three servings), while everyone else was having family time, Efrain and I snuck up to his room to have some non-family time.

"Keeping my hands off you is going to be harder than I thought." He smiled a little, leaning in toward me.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Guess we'll have to get handsy when there's no one around."

"There's no one around now."

"Is that so?"

He backed me up against the dresser in a sexy stalk that made my knees resemble the caramel sauce on his mother's flan. His hand cupped the back of my head and we melted into another one of those sweet and slow kisses that I still hadn't grown tired of. A series of teasing nibbles, slight parting of the lips, tongue tentatively slipping between. Our tongues sought each other, met half-way, mingled, and then retreated. We repeated this, prolonging the kiss each time.

This wasn't necessarily an attempt at arousing each other, just time spent enjoying the company, but I nevertheless felt myself getting hotter the longer he pressed me into the dresser. I seriously entertained the idea of convincing him to fuck my ass over various pieces of his childhood bedroom furniture later tonight when everyone else was asleep.

I grabbed him by his belt loops and shifted my hips against him, and he growled low in his throat. Oh yeah, it wouldn't take much to sway him at all. If not here, then he'd definitely bend me over the dresser once we got back to Blacksburg.

I was so wrapped up in his kiss, and his bedroom furniture, that I didn't notice the door opening.

"Hey, 'Rain. Mom wanted to know–" the rest of that was halted by a surprised squawk. I lifted my head to find his little sister standing in the doorway, her cell phone held away from her head. Slowly, her shocked expression morphed into a wolfish grin that was apparently a family trait. "Ohmigod, I'll call you back," she said quickly into the phone. "Shit just got real!"

And then she ran off.

"Fuck!" Efrain chased after her. "Zoe!"

I had no idea what to do; I was too stunned to move. I didn't even know what good I would do. She had seen us and there was no way to pretend that her brother and I weren't trying to fuck each other through our clothes. There wasn't even a decent excuse I could offer.

I heard Zoe's giggling and shouting over two sets of feet pounding down the stairwell.

"'Rain brought home bae!"

From elsewhere, I heard a mix of male and female voices shouting. Oddly, it sounded more like they were watching a football game than learning that the middle Garza child brought his same-sex lover home for the holiday.

"Shit, are you for real?"

"Aw, man. Fucking knew it."

"I told you, honey."

"Pay up, bitches!" Zoe trumpeted.

Huh?

I rushed out and made it halfway down the stairs. Bon and Juaquin, as well as other family members, were pulling cash out of their wallets.

"Really, mijita, you shouldn't call family 'bitches', even if they did lose a bet," Lena chastised.

"What the fuck?" Efrain drove his hand through his hair.

Zoe turned to him. "Your little make out sesh just earned me $60," she said and started doing the "make it rain" gesture with her hands.

Efrain stared at her dumbfounded. As if to explain, she looked down at her phone and started ticking through a list of wagers – when he'd come out, how he'd come out, when he'd bring a boyfriend home, whether or not it was me.

That last one had been going on for over a month.

"Zoe has been playing bookie since you left for college," Bon said.

He was smiling; well, everyone was (even those who'd lost bets). Efrain had been worried about being outed and his family ditching him, and here they were open and accepting. They already knew and were fine with it, even if the mechanics of showing said acceptance were infuriating. The warm reception I got earlier, the fact that they already knew so much about me, suddenly made sense.

I was still hella shocked, but made my way closer to Efrain nonetheless. I could tell something was up. This was the second time we were surprised by someone close to us, but I didn't think he was taking it as well as he had the last time. A muscle ticked in Efrain's jaw; his hands clenched at his sides. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but decided against it.

Instead, he stormed out of the house, slamming the front door hard enough that it rattled the pictures on the wall. Zoe flinched. Through the lace curtains, I saw him walk over to my truck and punch the side panel hard enough that I heard it. He pulled back his hand in pain and roared "motherfucker" so loud that I was sure the whole subdivision heard it.

They all looked at each other awkwardly.

"The fuck's his problem?" Juaquin asked.

"Yeah," I deadpanned. "If you really wanted to be assholes, you would have disowned him." I honestly wanted his family to like me, especially since they knew who I really was to Efrain, but the words fell out before I could stop them. Zoe looked closer to tears the more I spoke. "Although, he probably wouldn't be as pissed off then."

Without much else productive to add, I gave them a mocking salute and walked out of the room. I put on my shoes and coat, and grabbed his since he had walked out without them.

Efrain was leaning against the driver's side door when I got out there. He took his coat and shoes, and put them on without looking at me, or even speaking to me. I knew he was still pretty angry, but also knew he wouldn't talk about it until he felt like it.

"Come on, 'Rain," I said. "Show me around town a little."

Efrain walked – middle finger thrown up at the bay window where his family was probably still watching – around the front of my truck and got in on the passenger side. I got in, put the truck in gear, and drove off with no real direction in mind. He was still silent, so I took his hand and laced my fingers with his.

"Well, that was a shitshow," he finally said once we got out of the neighborhood.

"Yeah, that could have gone better," I responded with a half laugh. "Your hand okay?"

"Fucking hurts."

"Think you'll be alright for the game on Saturday?"

"Don't know," he said then leaned his head back against the headrest. "I knew this was a bad idea."

"What? Me coming here?"

"Yeah," he answered quietly.

I tried not to let it get to me, but I felt myself sinking anyways.

~*~*~*~

I directed Cory to the nearest drug store.

He'd been silent for most of the drive, but I knew it wasn't him giving me time to cool off. He was upset, and I knew why, but I still couldn't find the words to fix it by the time he'd pulled into the parking lot.

He put the car in park, but left the key in the ignition.

"I'll be back," he said flatly, the first words he'd spoken since he'd started giving me the silent treatment, but it definitely wasn't reassuring. He shut the door a little too hard.

"Fuck," I muttered. My cellphone had been going off since we drove off, but the one person I wanted to talk to was inside and pissed off at me. I picked a random family member and texted that I'd come home when I fucking felt like it, then put my phone on silent.

After several minutes, Cory returned with a plastic bag and the same stony expression. He still wasn't talking, but he took care of me all the same, pulling out a bottle of pain meds and shaking a few into my hand, even opening the bottle of water so I wouldn't have to. Once I'd been drugged up, he pulled my hand into his lap and started looking it over. Other than swollen knuckles, my hand seemed alright, so he wrapped me up.

"Thanks," I said, but he didn't respond.

Cory had set his hands on the steering wheel and gear shift, but just sat there for a few minutes without putting the truck in gear. After sitting in awkward silence for too long, I pulled out my phone, ignoring the dozens of calls and texts still flooding in, and pulled up Google maps. I punched in the location of one of the landing sites along the Chesapeake Bay.

"Go here," I said and handed him my phone.

I didn't expect a lot of people to be at the watersedge, given that the weather was miserable and it was a holiday to boot, but the small dock by the landing site was completely deserted. I grabbed the blanket I knew he always kept in the back and motioned for him to follow. He trailed behind me as I walked to the end of the dock and sat down. When I patted the wood planks in front of me, he sat and allowed me to wrap myself and the blanket around him.

We looked out over the bay. Visibility on the Chesapeake wasn't that great this late, but I still liked listening to the water lapping at the dock. I used to come here all the time when I needed to get away from things and just cool the fuck down.

"I was looking forward to bringing you here," I said. "It's one of my favorite chill spots."

"It's nice," he said evenly. Cory relaxed into me – as I'd hoped, the bay seemed to help him be less pissed off at me.

"Listen," I started, but he cut me off.

"It's okay," he said. "This is a really cool spot. Let's just chill for now. We'll have plenty of time to talk later."

"I can work with that."

"Is it always this deserted?" he asked after half an hour or so had passed.

"Sometimes," I said, kissing the back of his shoulder, even though I doubted he could feel it through his coat.

"Ever bring someone out here?"

"Nope, just you."

"Just me?" he asked. "So this wasn't a makeout spot?"

"Nope."

"Lame."

"What?"

Cory looked over his shoulder at me, flashing me a smirking grin before his hand crept up to pull me into a kiss.

"It is now."

~*~*~*~

Cory drove me around, got me coffee, let me talk when I felt like it. It was one of those times that I wasn't aggravated with my boyfriend's almost instinctual ability to manage me and my moods.

It was almost midnight when we got home, but Mom and Dad were still up.

"Want me to stay with you?" Cory asked quietly. I shook my head, and he told me that he would be upstairs.

Our talk was what you would expect – weepy hugs, apologies, blah, blah, blah. My family knew me better than I thought – it was just universally understood that I was gay and they'd all been waiting for me to feel comfortable enough to admit it. As for the betting pool and forced outing, Cory had either implied or said outright that they'd been assholes and everyone felt appropriately ashamed of their behavior. I agreed to talk to Zoe, who had been bawling since I stomped out.

As I was walking out of the room, Dad said, "You really like him, don't you?"

"I think so."

"I like him," Mom said. "He seems like a great catch, mijo."

"Yeah." I smiled. "He does, doesn't he?"

I felt a lot better as I made my way upstairs to settle things with my sister and then cuddle with the bae.

~*~*~*~