~ Trenton ~

My phone rang. It was my grandmother.

"I just wanted to check in to see where you were."

I smiled and replied, "I'm fine. Just around. I met some of the higher-ups in the family and they took me backstage."

"Oh, well that's nice. I'm glad you were able to do that." And with that, she hung up. Hours had passed, and they were blissfully unaware of the events that had transpired at the main square. I must say that I'm glad they don't. I know my grandmother was worried about me with my mother-encounter and all, so she would worry to the moon and back with what I told her about now. I could certainly hear in her voice: "Oh Trenton, you know better than to meddle with people's personal lives like that!" I would hardly call it meddling and certainly more dragged into it involuntarily.

Nonetheless, it brings us to now: nearly six in the evening, but the sun was still high in the sky.

I placed my phone down on the dresser that was there in my room in the suite, my eyes never peeled away from the mirror. Does this look good? I wondered.

Snap out of it, Trent. I reprimanded myself internally, and quite sternly for that matter. Why should I care if I look good for Zach? Yes, he's gorgeous and all, god knows I've been battling that demon all day, but the back of my mind is poking me mentally with a hot cattle prod that reminds me harshly of the fact that he's so much like Cameron.

And furthermore, it is certainly not like I owed him anything. Just because I turned him down today when he asked me out on a date, which this is certainly not a date. It's just a counseling session in essence, between a boy who's just been rejected by his brother and his family for his sexuality and … a future paleo-biologist. Am I on a telenovela?

The chime of a xylophone rang through the room, making me jump. I let out a sharp exhale to try and calm myself and my arm shot out to grab my phone. Sure enough it was Mr. Cautionary Tale himself.

'hey, did you want to meet somewhere?'

We were slated to meet at 6:30. I assumed somewhere in the hotel and we'd walk down towards the main square. Though, before we did, I'll definitely have to make a point to ask about what happened with Gray. I really hope nothing terrible happened with his family, but I have a sinking feeling that makes me suspect otherwise.

'Can we just meet in the lobby?' I wrote and sent. Impulsively, my fingers kept moving. 'Im ready now, if you are.'

Now why would I say that? I saw a fleeting look of regret in my eyes in the mirror, prompting me to once-over myself again. And once again be critical of the outfit I had on. A tee-shirt and shorts. Not bad, but also not first-date type— This is not a first date! Wait, are these shorts maybe a little too short?

Before I could think of anything more to that thought, my phone chimed again. 'yea, can we meet in the lobby now?'

I hoped against hope that I would have had a little bit longer, but I can not say I am surprised. I took a deep breath and started towards the door to the hallway.

I must have stopped twice or maybe three times on the way down to the lobby? As inconsequential as that trip is, it still felt like I was merely going through motions; a thousand miles away mentally. Every time I stopped was a hesitation to go any further, because with each step I was closer to him. Part of me wanted to cancel the whole plan and go back into the suite— specifically curl up under the blanket and block out the world and the events that transpired throughout the past few hours. I was so nervous to meet him all of a sudden, and I was not entirely sure why. I guess to try and counsel him though something as terrible as what he went through with Gray's response. Yes, that's mostly why I knew I need to see him, but also why I am nervous (can't say I'm great with comforting), but there was something else …. That wasn't entirely the reason I was nervous.

I found my mind slowly drifting back to reality like a feather; back and forth, taking its sweet time. By now, I had made it down to the lobby, but barely out of the elevator. I knew he would be around somewhere, or maybe even on the next elevator down, or … he went back? God, I am way too tired for this.

Suddenly, I saw him. It was certainly sudden— though I was scanning the area, I was prepared for my eyes to land on him. My stomach jumped into my throat and I froze. Or, at least I thought I froze, because I actually went and started to walk. Somehow, my legs took me straight to him. An amalgam of thoughts swirled through my head, and I could not even make a single thought out. What was I going to say when I eventually arrived? Should I apologize for what happened? Is it even my fault? I barely had time to process what happened earlier that I could not even think of what to say about the whole thing because I had so much I yearned to tell him and no words to articulate at all.

Suddenly, once again, it was over and my time was up. I was right behind him, but he had not noticed me yet. I opened my mouth to speak, but what came out I would barely consider speech let alone any articulate word.

"Uh … h-hi."

The taller boy turned around to face me. "Hey," he replied smoothly. "thank you for doing this."

And like that, it all melted away. All the anxiety, worry, and confusion I had coming up to him just vanished. Though, while the confusion disappeared and I was reminded as to why I was there with him, the anxiety and worry came flooding back to me, endlessly. I just can't seem to get rid of it; I'd venture to say it's my background state, but I try not to think so direly and use that energy to relax.

Today, there was no relaxing.

I realized that I had been staring at him with my lips ajar for some time. "Oh, yes, yeah, of course." I looked away, hoping he would take it over. I avoid needless eye contact when I can, but his just straight up terrified me. As if I need another pair of honey-colored eyes to fall for again.

"So, do you wanna head to the main street or just hang around here?"

"Uh, let's just head there," I managed to eke out. Hopefully milling through crowds like this would help alleviate some of the stress I have. I look up at Zach, now looking away, and see him bite his lip. Fuck that is … I held my breath for a few seconds before I exhaled, looking away. That was when a thought crossed my mind, "Wait, do you want to go there?"

"Uh, not really."

I suspected as such. He probably does not want to return to the scene of the crime, or moreover maybe encounter some of the strangers he ran into while wearing his taco salad dress.

By now, however, we had stepped outside and looked upon the small water enclosure they had in the middle of the park. I say small for it truly is for the Mosasaur that they engineered. Hardly anything like the mere meters-long Mosasaurus of the Cretaceous. This behemoth was trapped in a small pond compared to his size. As incredible as it is for me to see something like this with my own two eyes, I still pity the poor creature. Sure, it had room to swim around at some distance, but it's hardly the ocean it is predisposed to know.

While pondering over this for a few, short seconds, I glanced up. At a distance to my left I could see the large creature launch itself out of the water, and gobble up a dangling great white shark. As if the sharks didn't have it hard enough.

I couldn't help but let out an exasperated huff, and roll my eyes. My mother crossed my mind. Her and her contribution to this wonder of science that is simultaneously a terrible source for profit and greed with no regard for the torture endured by the creatures we created that are already a perversion of that which nature and evolution to millions upon millions of year to perfect and master in a delicate balance in a fragile ecosystem; and here we are playing God and filling our mind with believes of power —

"Trent? Hey, are you okay?"

My eyes snapped towards that voice, meeting those incredible amber eyes once again. Goodness, had I been internally ranting that long? All we did was go up to the edge of the water and wait there.

"Huh— oh, I, I … yes. I am." I sputtered out. "I was just … thinking about this." I motioned to the water in front of yes.

"Oh. Okay. What … what about it?"

Right, that would have been important and made more sense.

I began a more coherent tale of the rambles in my head. I lost myself again, but I was at least careful not to mention my mother— no need for more drama among all this.

That was when it hit me: what am I rambling for? I'm here for him!

I looked back up at him and stopped mid sentence. "God, I'm sorry. I'm just rambling on and on about this and we're here to talk about you. I'm so s—."

"No," he interjected. "I love it. You get excited for these animals and this whole program. Especially being committed to the original stuff," I think he meant the original forms of the fossils, "and all that. It's awesome to see this stuff in person, and then to meet someone like you who's really passionate for it all, it makes it even better."

To say the blush that took over my face was red would be quite an understatement. My cheeks were about as red as they could be. "Oh, heh," I let out an involuntary giggle. "thank you. I can get going on a number of tangents and just don't know when to stop."

"I could certainly listen to you all day."

I look up at him and he's looking at me. Our eyes meet and I find my stomach lodged in my throat with my words once again. His gaze is absolutely intoxicating. Just as any booze would, it was making me tipsy. Was I leaning forward?

I was and I nearly fell into him, but I thankfully caught myself before he could notice … I hope.

"Um … heh thanks," I looked away, thinking of some sort of diversion — anything to try and drain my face of its flush. "Where do you want to go?" I looked back up at him, seeking an answer. Although, I had an idea in mind.

"I really don't know. I haven't been here long enough to know what's on the island. If you know a place, I'll be happy to go anywhere with you."

God, there he goes again.

"I … might know a place. C'mon!" I started off with Zach trailing behind and we were on the next monorail out of the hotel complex.

Once we were seated and the monorail started with a smooth lurch forward, I let out a deep sigh. "So… what is it that you want to talk about?"

"Well, I guess that, since I've known I was gay since I was like … I don't know, ten maybe? It's been hard every day. Like," he looked away, out the window. "I remember for a while I lost sleep because I thought to myself: is this really who I am? When I realized that there was no way to change it, I immediately repressed it. I knew, like, that there was no way I could let it out in the open that I was gay. Never. I actually convinced myself that I would go through like as if I was straight. Get married to a woman, have kids, a house …." He trailed off, looking out the window. Then his shoulders twitched a little, like a chill went up his spine. "God, the thought of that makes me cringe almost."

"What," I interjected. "Being straight?" I felt the sides of my lips twitch up in a small smile. He returned one as well, nearly grinning ear-to-ear, with a small (and heart-meltingly cute) giggle.

"Yeah, pretty much. Plus … the thought of just living the typical suburban life? God, no. Like, I live outside Minneapolis and on the rare occasion that we go into the city is as close as I can get to feeling … feeling …."

"Yourself?" I finished his thought for him; he faded, seemingly unable to find the right words. His gaze raised to meet mine.

"Yes. My … myself. Yeah. It's hard to describe, really. Like I feel so alive and apart of something. The gay community there is, well, there. But in the few times I've just walked down the street or something, I don't know, I feel that sense of belonging. So, living in a suburb like in the one I do is just so hard to go back to. It's like a box."

I let out a laugh. "Hah! Go figure, that's exactly how I describe suburban life, too." He beamed that million-watt smile right back at me.

"Exactly! I don't know. Maybe it's a gay predisposition to live in a city."

I let out a fit of laughs. It seemed entirely plausible, really. I couldn't wait to get out of my crummy suburban life with nothing happing outside of my daily routine. I couldn't wait to get to college and live as free as a bird.

There was still one question on my mind, however. It was about his parents.

"So, have your parents always been so outwardly homophobic?"

Zach pursed his lips, nodding. "Yeah. It didn't happen often, but like when the news would say something about gay rights, or pride, or something like that, they'd say something really harsh. It always stung to hear that, so I always just stayed silent on it. It was always my dad who initiated it. My mom would really just agree …." He trailed off yet again, but his last few words were nearly silent. And yet, I heard that unmistakable tone that I was all too familiar with. One that I produced when I told my grandma what happened with Cameron. One I even remember my dad's voice when he tried to keep his composure telling me about my mother leaving.

His voice was breaking.

I looked up into those chocolate orbs that were still looking down, but clearly glossing over with tears. "Hey," I whispered as softly as I possibly could, "no matter what, your parents could come around with time. And even if they don't, you still will have so many people who do love you for who you are. You're a wonderful person with a big heart, and not to mention a great big brother. I know it may seem like you're trapped now, but you took a big step in coming out even just today. One day, you'll be free, and never look back on those who chose not to support you for who you are …."

Almost instinctively, but with some conscious thought to it, I lifted my hand and placed it on his. That was when he finally looked up and met my eyes. And those gorgeous brown eyes got bigger and bigger as he got closer and closer …. And I only had one thought as I let myself go:

Finally.

A/N: Okay, listen, I know it's been two years, but ...! ... yeah, I got nothing to say for myself.

BUT! Ya'know, I really wanna finish this story. I will say, I've had a struggle with writing just in general these past few ... years ... damn I'm old, but - I think I'm slowly learning to grapple with it. Grapple, and hopefully improve. :)) See y'all soon!