Luke, Part 1

Luke

The snow was hitting my windshield. I had made a Spotify playlist with all of my favorite Christmas songs. I was actually feeling pretty happy. The thing is, I am sure I would have liked Christmas much more if I didn’t feel the obligation to visit my parents each year.

A few of my friends who were on bad terms with their families would celebrate Christmas together in Chicago, where I lived. It sounded like a lot of fun. Even though I wasn’t particularly close with my family, we were in touch and I knew they loved me deep down. So I was again on my way to Fennville.

Looking back, I am proud I made it out of Fennville, Michigan alive. The MacPherson home itself had been very religious. My family went to church every Sunday, and the kind of church that was very explicitly unaccepting of homosexuality. I was deeply in the closet all throughout my youth.

My Mom had always been very involved in the local community. Involved to the extent that I felt like everything my sister Sarah and I achieved in school and sports, was used to show off to other people in town. My Dad was one of those Dads who hardly ever spoke. Never showing affection or emotion. He was the most vocal while watching football or during a game of cards with his friends.

Outside of the house, Fennville, population 1,398, hadn’t provided much refuge. When I was able to, I moved to Chicago, where I felt the freedom to be myself. I came out to my parents at the age of 25. Over the phone. Because I knew they wouldn’t take it well. My Dad said nothing. My Mom said I was putting the family in an embarrassing position. I was happy when I was able to hang up.

Seven years later, they hadn’t particularly come around. They just showed no interest in my romantic life. Which I could live with. The tension every time I went back home was just a lot to bear. Especially if I was back for a week, like now.

Sarah, my younger sister, was hard to gage. She was much more into pleasing our parents during the holidays. I couldn’t help but feel she pretended to share their conservative values. Instagram really showed what she got up to now that she lived in LA. She did treat me like a human being and she seemed more interested in my life than our parents. However when we were all together, she thrived on their approval.

Cooper

This Christmas would make for an interesting one. Sarah had announced she was bringing a new boyfriend. Cooper, his name was. Sarah had described him in the family text chain as ‘Christian, handsome, and a true gentleman.’

Once she shared a photo of the two of them together, and I saw a very sexy man with Asian features, my Mom wasted no time replying.
‘He’s an immigrant?’
‘No, he was born right here in California.’
So that was promising. I had decided to stay out of it for now.

The drive around Lake Michigan was nice enough, although you never actually saw the water. In the light snow it was quite a Christmassy drive though, getting me in the mood. When I pulled up to the street, my playlist finally getting to ‘My Only Wish (This Year)’ by Britney Spears, I noticed the decorations looked amazing.

My Mom greeted me with a hug. My Dad didn’t get up from the sofa.
“Hey son”, was all he managed.
My Mom and I talked in the kitchen. She updated me on all the town gossip, which honestly was at times quite entertaining.

She asked me questions about my professional life, and my professional life only. I was a medical records technician in a hospital in Chicago. I was pretty sure my Mom was telling people I was a doctor.

Sarah and Cooper were renting a car at the airport in Grand Rapids and arriving in Fennville later that day.
“Luke, what did you think when you saw that photo?”, my Mom asked.
“He seemed nice. Handsome. Makes Sarah happy, clearly. That’s all that matters.”
My Mom looked at me. Not the answer she was hoping for.

Cooper

The second they came through the door, it all changed. Cooper, who looked even better in person, was very charming. I could tell my Mom liked him. He sat with my Dad and engaged in an actual conversation with him. And he hugged me, saying it was great to meet me.

My Mom had gone all out for the night’s first dinner. Cooper thanked her and offered to cook one of the nights this week. He was nice, funny, and just pleasant to be around. His sexy smile was definitely going to help me through this week.

When it came time for bed, something happened I hadn’t seen coming.
“What? Why?”
“Under my roof, couples only sleep in the same room when they are married.”
“Mom! Are you serious?”
“Honey, it’s fine”, Cooper tried, but Sarah was pissed off.
“So now he is sharing a room with Luke? Don’t you see how little sense that makes?”

I wasn’t a fan of being pulled into this discussion. I agreed that the rule made no sense, but it wasn’t like the implication of my being gay was relevant here. I stayed quiet. My Mom and Sarah talked it out, Sarah apologized, and Cooper was sleeping on an air mattress in my room.

So before I knew it, I was all settled in the bed in my childhood room. I thankfully now had a queensize bed in here, replacing the original twin that had lasted throughout the nineties and beyond. Cooper entered the room.

Cooper

“Hey, roomie!”, he said cheerfully.
“Hi”, I smiled.
“Hope you don’t mind me crashing in here for a few nights”, he said as he started to take off his clothes.

“No, not at all… That’s fine”, I mumbled as I looked at Cooper’s lean, muscular body.
It didn’t take long for him to pull down his jeans and I noticed his cute butt in his underwear. He turned around to look at me when I realized I hadn’t picked up on what he was saying.

“Did you ever spend the night with someone up here?”
“N-no?”
“Cool. So I’m the first one.”
His confident smile was a turn-on.

Cooper laid down on the mattress and got under the covers. As the mattress was at the foot of my bed, he was out of my line of vision.
“I am all ready for lights out”, he said.
I smiled and reached for the light by my bed.
“Unless you still need to pray or whatever.”

I chuckled.
“I haven’t done that in a long time. Have you?”
I didn’t hear a response.
“Cooper?”
I heard heavy breathing. I sat up. I hadn’t even switched the light off yet. He was lying on the air mattress. His eyes closed, his mouth open. He must have passed out instantly.

“Good night”, I whispered.
I laid back and switched off the light. Some light snoring started to fill the room.

I woke up. I could tell it was still dark out. I turned to face the window and noticed it snowed. I smiled.

I heard something on the other end of the wall. Talking. Sarah was sleeping in the next room. It didn’t immediately register. I sat up. The air mattress was empty. I shook my head and laid back down.

Cooper

I tried to fall back asleep when I suddenly heard a soft moaning.
“Oh no”, I whispered out loud.
I could tell Cooper and Sarah were having sex. I tried to cover my head with a pillow while laying my head on the other one. But it wasn’t comfortable.

I realized I would just need to wait it out. My sister moaned a few more times, I also heard the two of them chuckling every now and then. The bed hit the shared wall a few times when they got to their climax.

I was relieved when quiet returned to the room. I wondered if Cooper was going to come back here, but after a few minutes I felt myself drifting back to sleep.

When I woke up again, it was light in the room. I heard some shuffling behind me. I turned and saw Cooper in just his underwear slipping into the room and closing the door. He looked at me and smiled.
“You caught me”, he said.
I smiled back.
“It’s OK.”
“Yeah, my secret is safe?”, he asked, sarcastically.
“Sure.”

After breakfast, my Mom and Sarah wanted to go to the store to do some grocery shopping. As my Dad was watching TV, I sat on the sofa, listening to Christmas music on my AirPods and watching the snow fall. Cooper talked to my Dad, and for some reason I had never seen him happier.

Cooper

I could tell Cooper got bored after a while.
“Hey, you wanna go outside and build a snowman?”, he asked me.
I smiled. That actually sounded like fun.

So we put our warm jackets on and snowboots and started building a snowman in the front yard. It was fun to do something together.
“Is Christmas over here always like this?”
“Like what?”
“Just… a bit boring?”
I chuckled.
“Yeah”, I said, shrugging. “It’s nice to see my family though. And I like getting away from the city this time of year and relax.”

Cooper nodded.
“It’s relaxing to do things like this as well though, right?”
“Oh yeah!”
“OK cool. Growing up in California I never really had Christmas like in the movies.”
I smiled. I guess that made sense

Once the snowman was done, it didn’t take long before Cooper threw a snowball at me.
“Be careful what you wish for!”
A full-on snowball fight erupted. Cooper ran into the snowman and nearly knocked it over.

Cooper

When I hit Cooper straight in the face, he ran after me and tackled me. We fell into the snow, him on top of me. We were breathing heavily and laughing as we laid like that for a while.
“I haven’t had this much fun in Fennville in a long time”, I said.
Cooper laughed.
“Glad I could help.”

Cooper rolled off of me and started making a snow angel. I joined him. He was so fun to be around. I was glad he was here.

“So are you seeing anyone in Chicago?”
“No, not right now. My last relationship ended in August.”
“Guy? Girl? Non-binary?”
“I’m gay”, I said. “Didn’t Sarah tell you?”
“No. But I had a feeling.”
I chuckled.

“What do you mean?”
“Just the way you take care of your appearance. The hair, the skin. The muscles. And how your parents are treating you.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“I’m sorry, but yeah. And I think it’s disgusting. You are the bigger person for coming back here.”
That got me quiet for a while.
“Thanks.”

When my Mom and Sarah returned to the store, they admired our snowman. Our snow angels were quickly covered by more snow.

Cooper

Cooper, Sarah and Mom baked cookies. I sat in the kitchen and watched. My Mom was asking Cooper questions about himself. And I could tell she was warming to him more and more. It helped when he told her about his job as an engineer. He seemed to tick the boxes for everything my Mom cared about. Except for maybe one.

“So where are your parents from?”
“My parents are both from California as well.”
There was a short silence.
“All four of my grandparents are from Korea”, Cooper finally said as he continued kneading the dough.
“I see”, my Mom said.

I was annoyed by this exchange, but as always, I just stayed quiet and looked down. Cooper did not seem deterred, and asked my Mom if she was originally from Fennville.
“And where are your grandparents from?”, he asked.
“All from around Michigan.”
“And, like, before that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your ancestors who came to the US. Where were they from?”
“Oh. Ireland, England, mostly.”

Cooper looked up and looked her right in the eye with a big smile.
“Interesting!”
Point made.

That night at dinner I admired Cooper so much. He was so engaging and was making this Christmas so much better than usual. I could totally see why Sarah liked him.

Cooper

When it was time to go to bed, I realized this had been the most fun I had ever had while visiting my parents. With a smile on my face I settled into bed. I was looking forward to the rest of the week.

Cooper entered the room.
“Hey”, I said, “all ready for bed?”
“Almost!”, he replied.

He started taking off his clothes again and I watched him. I realized it would be less weird that I was looking at him if we were having a conversation.
“How is the air mattress anyway?”
“Well, as you know, I didn’t sleep on it a lot…”
I chuckled.
“But it kept waking me up last night, hurting my back.”

“Oh, I’m sorry”, I said absent-mindedly, looking at the underwear he was wearing this time.
“I was going to ask, but please let me know if this is too awkward…”
“What?”
“Would you mind sharing this bed?”

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