Two days and three finals after the phone call from my stepfather, Hyde caught up with me as I was walking back to my dorm room.
"You all set to go?" he asked me.
"Yeah, I just gotta grab my stuff," I replied.
I was actually starting to get really excited about going home. I couldn't wait to introduce Hyde to my brother, take him around my home town, and show him more of my life.
"Here, let me help you with that," Hyde grabbed a hold of the large bag I had slung over my shoulder. That left just my purse and my sketchbook for me to carry.
Hyde and I didn't talk too much once we set out on the road. The silence wasn't too awkward though because he was constantly tuning the dial on the radio so that Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd was always playing. I spent the two and a half hours working in my sketch book. Once finished with the drawing I had been doing, I looked down to see a perfect pencil drawing of Hyde behind the wheel of his beloved El Camino. I had finished just as Hyde was pulling off of the highway and I needed to put away my sketchbook so that I could help direct Hyde to my house. We pulled into my driveway around four o'clock that afternoon. My mom ran out to meet me.
"Eppie, darling!" my mom cried out in greeting.
"Hi mom," I replied as she wrapped her arms around me.
Hyde stepped out of the car and reached back in to pull out the bags.
"Mom, this is my friend, Steven Hyde," I introduced.
"Hi Steven," my mom said. "You didn't say you were bringing home a guy, Eppie."
"Sorry, I didn't think you would mind," I lied.
"It's nice to meet you," Hyde nodded toward my mom.
"Why don't you two come inside and get settled in," my mom suggested. "Steven, I hope you don't mind sleeping in the basement."
"Not at all," Hyde answered with a smirk.
"Where's Allen?" I asked my mom as we walked up the front porch of the house.
"He's still at work," she answered me. "But he'll be home in an hour or so."
The next hour passed without too much incidence. I did help my mom pull a cot out of the backroom in the basement and set it up for Hyde. All too soon though, my stepfather walked in the front door to find Hyde and I flipping through the channels on the new color T.V. in the front room.
"Hello Eppie," he said when he saw me.
"Hello, sir," I said quietly looking down at my hands as I sat straight up and scooted slightly farther from Hyde.
"And who's your little friend?" Alan asked, his voice sounded very condescending.
"Steven Hyde," Hyde stood up to introduce himself. Even I could feel the death glare Hyde was giving my stepfather. I watched as my friend gripped Alan's hand for a handshake and realized that he was holding far harder then I would have imagined.
"Yes, well," Alan replied. "I didn't realize our little Eppie had a boyfriend."
"He's not my…" I started to say but was soon cut off.
"Now you know," Hyde said in a very cold voice.
"Hyde!" I cried out, my voice barely more then a whisper.
"It's alright Eppie," Alan cut me off again. "It's quite alright."