Loose Ends
Okay heres the last chapter before the epilogue, I am so nervous. I hope this is good...
Chapter 20: Loose Ends
After a while of Joe and Ken talking, Joe finally turned his phone back on, and returned Tai's phone call. When he heard about treatment center being converted, he said that as long as it was still standing he would definitely work there. Ken agreed to take things slow with him. Ken was almost fully ready to move on with Joe, but there was one more thing he had to do first...
A couple days before the party, at the end of the school day, Ken walked up to Davis and TK.
"Hey um... Davis? Can we talk?"
Davis looked at TK Awkwardly, but TK nodded, with a look in his eyes that said 'I trust you', and with that, he followed Ken into the music room, and TK waited outside. Once they were inside, Ken sat down at a desk, and Davis at another, facing each other. Davis stared completely unsure of what was coming.
"Davis..." Ken started. "I need to say a few things, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd just let me get through it, and then you can comment after."
Davis nodded, and so Ken took a breath, and started.
"Davis, when we met, I didn't have any friends at all, and I was having a really bad home life... I mean... It could have been worse, I know there are much worse homes I could have been brought up in, but it just wasn't good. I lost my brother and then it went from bad to worse. And then I met you..."
Davis shifted uncomfortably in his seat, really not sure where this was going.
"You were the first person who didn't look at me as Sam's younger brother, but as Ken. You didn't care about how smart I was, or the things I did wrong, you just cared about the fact that we liked the same things, Soccer, Video Games, Music... you were the one positive thing in my life."
Ken smiled at Davis reminiscing. "Davis, you were my first love, you gave so much light and hope to my life. And then after several months of being friends... I knew I liked you more than that. You were so kind to me and gave me the strength to finally tell you how I felt... and then... you... you..."
Davis was feeling extremely guilty, trying to avoid eye contact. But then somewhere in him, he suddenly felt courage to admit to Ken what he should have admitted all those years ago.
"Ken... I said what I said because, I was scared. Not just the denial, though that was a big part of it... but the truth is... I loved you too. But I was afraid to admit that to myself or anyone else. I cared so much about you, and i hated when I saw you frown or unhappy. I wanted to be the one to make you happy... but I was scared. The happiness I felt in wanting to make you happy was outweighed by the fear... what my family would say, what my classmates would say, what the soccer team would say, what the world would say... I know it's not an excuse, but I was young and stupid. I always hated that I hurt you, but I always felt too guilty to approach you. I... really really loved you back then, and I wish I could take away the pain you felt in me being an ass."
Ken suddenly smiled, and touched his hand.
"Davis? I don't regret it... anymore."
Davis blinked. "You mean... your 'happy' that I did what I did?"
Ken sighed. "Well I wouldn't quite go that far, you did hurt me quite a bit, but everything turned out for the best. Your happy with TK, and I got someone who thought he needed to live his life in the closet and alone to embrace who he was. I think everything did work out the way it was supposed to."
Davis nodded. "I guess that makes sence. You don't hate me then?"
Ken shook his head smiling. "I don't think I ever could Davis. Thank you, for listening to me today."
"No problem." Davis said smiling, "I've always felt guilty for that so... I feel better now, like I can move past it."
Ken nodded. "That's what I'm hoping, for both of us."
Davis nodded, and then they hugged before going their separate ways. Though both were extremely happy with their relationships they couldn't help but wonder a little what might have been, but they knew that wasn't important, they were both where they were meant to be.
Tai went by his old apartment to pick up his suit for the party that night, and when he walked in he saw his mom packing things. He hadn't talked to his mom much since everything happened. He walked up to her.
"Hey Mom... how are you holding up?"
His Mom looked at Tai with a small but obviously fake smile. "I'm doing... as good as I can be... after finding out the last 20 years of my life have been a lie..."
Tai sighed. "Mom... and I'm not completely defending him but... you know he didn't do this to hurt you, right?"
She shook her head. "No I know. I know he had good intentions and he wasn't trying to hurt me... but just because he wasn't trying to hurt me doesn't mean he didn't."
Tai nodded. "I understand. I did the right thing though right? Making him tell you?"
"Oh yeah, definitely. Thank you for that."
Tai put an arm on her shoulder. "I'm sorry you have to go through this though. I'm sorry that he wasted years of your life."
She shook her head. "Not quite. I got to be a mother to two wonderful children. I'll always be grateful to him for that."
She hugged him, and then he went to get ready for the party.
Izzy, Willis, TK and Davis were already at the pavilion setting up decorations.
"That money really came in handy." Izzy said happily. "We now have this huge venue. I hope lots of people from the community will come."
TK smiled. "I think we can do a great thing here tonight. We just need to get more acceptance out there."
Willis nodded. "I just don't want anyone to go through what I did."
"Or me." Izzy agreed.
"Or me." Davis agreed, referring to his denial.
TK blinked. "Am I the only one that didn't have a horrible experience being gay?"
"Kinda looks like it." Davis said, giving him a surprise kiss. "But that's good right? And I think the rest of us can agree, that it gets better."
Izzy and Willis suddenly kissed each other too.
"Exactly Davis." Wills said after the kiss. "It gets a lot better."
Tai picked up Matt at his house, and then they went to get a sandwich. As they were eating, Tai just randomly laughed out loud.
"What's funny?" Matt questioned.
"This has just been a heck of a year, you know? I'm glad it ended the way it did."
Matt nodded. "Me too, I love you Tai."
Tai would have kissed him, but he knew in public that may not have been the greatest thing. "I love you too. I hope I can spend the rest of my life making up for how bad I treated you this year."
Matt shook his head. "It's already forgotten Tai, all that matters is that we're together now."
Tai smiled. "I can't wait till we're alone so I can kiss you."
Ken looked in the mirror for ten millionth time. He was trying to get his tie straight, and having a hard time. After he finally got it together, he went back in the room to where Sam was.
"Are you sure you are going to be okay alone tonight?"
Sam smiled. "Don't worry about me Ken, just enjoy your date."
Ken blushed a little, he still couldn't believe he was going on a date with Joe, but then his thoughts went back to Sam.
"I'm glad that you will be accepted in the treatment center when it opens. Hopefully we can figure out a good way to get you back on your feet. Maybe study for your GED and then join a college. Whatever you want really."
Sam nodded. "What I really want, is to help others at the center."
Ken smiled. "I'm sure that can be arranged."
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"I wonder who that is." Ken said as he walked to the door. He opened it to see Joe, standing there in a suit, with a dozen roses in his hands.
"Hello." Joe said with a smile. "Are you ready for our date?"
Ken just about melted. He kissed Joe and then hugged him. "I am so ready."
Matt and Tai got to the pavilion arm and arm. When they walked in, they were shocked to see the place completely full. There were people there with gay pride flags, and there were other people protesting the event. A few of the protesters even had name tags, for some reason. One of them even had two. Tai also saw his Dad.
"Hey Dad, glad you could make it."
He nodded. "Wouldn't miss it. I've got to help set up some stuff though for Izzy. See you later, have fun!"
"Bye Dad!" After he left, Tai looked back at the protesters.
Tai smiled at Matt. "Feel like being a dick?"
"What did you have in mind?"
Tai grabbed Matt by the arm and pulled him over to the protesters and started making out right in front of them. They protested more, but that didn't stop them. When they broke the kiss, Tai asked him, "Is it weird that was my best kiss ever?"
Matt smiled and shook his head. "Nope, it was mine too."
Izzy was backstage with Willis.
"Are you nervous?" Willis asked.
"Of course I am!" Izzy said. "But... this has to be done. Just... stand down in the crowd and watch me, okay?"
Willis nodded and kissed him. "I love you, Izzy!"
Izzy smiled. "I love you too!"
And with that, the lights outside dimmed, and a spotlight came on the stage.
Matt looked at Tai. "That's my cue. See you later. I love you."
Tai kissed him. "I love you too. Good luck!"
The curtain pulled back to reveal Izzy standing there.
"Hello everyone, welcome to the Gay-Straight-Awareness party."
The people with the gay rights cheered while the protesters protested harder.
"Listen everyone, I have something important I want to say, especially to the protesters here."
Everyone was quiet.
"You guys obviously think being gay is wrong. You would probably say something like we chose a horrible life style, right?"
The protesters screamed in agreement. Izzy continued.
"I know this will sound empty, but... unless you are gay, you can't understand that it's absolutely not a choice. I think if it was, there wouldn't be many who were gay at all. Who would choose to be someone that everyone makes fun of, looks down on, and who are victims of hate crimes? And even run the risk of their parents faking their own death. I'm here to tell you all, we did not choose this, but we are who we are, and we love who we love, and we can't do anything about it."
Suddenly he heard one of the protesters yell. "GOD HATES FAGS!"
Izzy actually laughed at this. "Seriously? God who loved the world so much that he gave his only son so that WHOEVER believed in him would have an everlasting life? And when Jesus came to earth, he spent time with the sinners? He came to them with love? It's true, I may not know for absolute certain weather being gay is a sin or not, and no one will until we die, but no matter what, what I do know, is hypothetically, if we are sinning, all your doing is pushing us farther away. Your supposed to come to us with love, like Jesus did. Weather you accept us or not, is your business. I'm not here to try and change your opinion on things, but what I am saying is, why does there need to be hate? We're not trying to change what you do personally, we just want the rights to do what's right for us."
The protesters were pretty quiet, and the gay rights activists where cheering pretty loud.
Izzy smiled and looked at them. "And to the rest of you, It gets better."
There was major cheering, Izzy bowed, and waited for the crowed to calm down.
"Now, I hope you all have a good time, enjoy the food, make friends, and here to sing us a special song is my good friend, Matt Ishida."
Everyone cheered, especially Tai, who was so proud of his boyfriend.
Matt spoke as the crowed died down. "This is a song by a popular U.S. Singer named Rob Thomas. It wasn't written specifically for gay rights, as far as I can tell, but it really does fit. And since he is a gay rights activist himself, it is possible. He said something wonderful once." Matt said, looking at the protestors. "We only have one short ride on this earth, and as long as we drive nice, and stay in our own lane, we should be able to drive however we see fit. Now here's the song."
Everyone applauded the speech, and Matt started strumming the guitar, as in the crowed, TK and Davis, Ken and Joe and Izzy and Willis started slow dancing, while Tai just kept his eyes on Matt who started singing.
"You can go
You can start all over again
You can try to find a way to make another day go by."
Izzy cuddled Willis while dancing, thinking about how hard it was to go on without him.
"You can hide
Hold all your feelings inside.
You can try to carry on when all you wanna do is cry."
Tai thought about that, knowing that was exactly how he felt, glad that he finally let it out.
"And maybe,
Someday,
We'll figure all this out,
Try to put an end to all our doubt,
Try to find a way to make things better now and,
Maybe,
Someday,
We'll live our lives out loud,
We'll be better off somehow,
Someday."
TK and Davis hugged each other tightly, glad things worked out the way they did for them.
"Now wait.
Try to find another mistake.
If you throw it all away then maybe you could change your mind.
You can run
And when everything is over and done,
You could shine a little light on everything around you
Man it's good to be someone!"
All the couples were happily dancing, and some of the protesters were even getting the message.
"And maybe,
Someday,
We'll figure all this out,
Try to put an end to all our doubt,
Try to find a way to make things better now and,
Maybe,
Someday,
We'll live our lives out loud,
We'll be better off somehow,
Someday.
And I don't wanna wait, I just wanna know,
I just wanna hear you tell me so,
Give it to me straight, Tell it to me slow."
Joe looked at Ken and smiled, glad that he never gave up on him.
"'Cus maybe,
Someday,
We'll figure all this out,
We'll to put an end to all our doubt,
Try to find a way to just feel better now and,
Maybe,
Someday,
We'll live our lives out loud,
We'll be better off somehow,
Someday.
Well sometimes we don't
Really notice
Just how good it can get
So maybe we should
Start all over
Start all over again."
And this time the GSA sang with him loud, in the crowd.
"Well sometimes we don't
Really notice
Just how good it can get
So maybe we should
Start all over
Start all over again."
The song ended and Matt jumped off the stage and ran to Tai and Kissed him.
"My someday is here with you." Matt smiled.
The End
Hope that was an acceptable ending! I'm sooo nervous!