Famous last words. Or last thoughts anyway. But for a while, it did seem that things were getting better for Blink after his disastrous English class. He'd managed to get through the rest of his classes without incident, and had been tackled by Rebecca, his resident fag hag, and one of the only people in the entire school who would actually talk to him. But then again, she was a drama geek, who really didn't care what the rest of the school thought.
"You missed my show," she laughed as Blink picked himself up off the floor.
"Come on Becca, I never go to your rehearsals," Blink groaned.
"I know," she smirked. "But I had to get your attention somehow, and you told me to stop asking you to the prom."
"You need to stop hanging around Sari," he muttered.
She ignored him. "Did you get in? You never called me to let me know."
"Yeah, I went out."
Becca gasped. "You got a social life?" she practically squealed. "Did you go on a date?"
"Just to the club with Racetrack. And his boyfriend."
"You two would make such a –"
"Say cute couple, Becca, and you die."
Becca shut her mouth in mid-sentence.
"Just because I'm gay, and Race is gay, does not mean we should go out," Blink informed her, for about the fifteenth time that week. "And besides, I thought you wanted me to go after Mush."
"Well, you two are soul mates, he just doesn't know it yet," Becca smiled. "And what's bothering you, hon? Talk to me."
"It's just been… well."
"Bad day?" she asked in sympathy.
"You could say that. It's been the most stressful twenty-four hours of my life." He quickly filled her in on the previous day's events as they walked to the cafeteria.
"Your father is such a dick," Becca informed him. "I usually don't hate anyone, but your father is just…"
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," Blink said bitterly.
"The show is tomorrow night," Becca laughed as she gave him a hug. "Are you coming?"
"I'll see," he promised, and then glared back at Becca as she gave him a mock wounded look. "Of course I'll be there, Becca. You're one of my best friends, so I will be there to support your show."
"Good," she said, looking positively thrilled. "Or I'll kick your ass."
"Aren't you supposed to be some sort of hippie pacifist?"
"Beating you up doesn't count!" she informed him, as she slipped her arm through his and dragged him into the cafeteria, quickly switching the subject to complaining about the lack of edible vegetarian food in the cafeteria, or the lack of edible food overall. Blink smiled, and meekly bought her mozzarella sticks.
The two of them headed to the ledge at the side of the cafeteria and took a seat against the windows. Becca turned to him, suddenly serious.
"You
want to talk about it, sweetie?" she asked.
Blink managed a smile. Becca
always knew the right thing to say. She
knew when it was best to lend an ear, or when to distract with talk of anything
else.
"Not much to say, really. My life is screwed."
Becca slung an arm around him. "You'll be okay, you know. You do have some friends around here. And we all care about you."
"Thanks Becca," he whispered.
"Any time hon," she replied, giving his shoulders a quick squeeze. "You want a ride home?"
"That would rule," Blink said, a smile coming to his face. He paused. "Don't you have another rehearsal though?" He'd been intending to walk home, again. But turning down a free ride wasn't his style.
"Nah, last dress rehearsal is tonight though."
The two of them headed out through the cafeteria door, and started the long walk down to the pool parking lot, which was practically a block and a half away.
"I want parking," Becca sighed.
"Next year," Blink informed her. "Parking for seniors only."
They reached the pool, and headed into Becca's car.
~*~
At least Blink was getting some peace and quiet that night. His father wouldn't be home until late, which gave Blink a few hours to think up some way to convince his mother to make his dad stop with this insanity. He knew that his mother didn't totally approve of the choice his father had offered him. Maybe if he played his cards right he'd manage to talk some sense into her, and then she could talk to his dad. But before he'd had the chance to think up some speech that would totally convince his mother to help him, she interrupted him.
"Ryan?" she said hesitantly, knocking lightly on his door. "Can I come in?"
"Sure," Blink said, beckoning her inside. "I wasn't expecting you." He glanced at the clock. "Five o'clock already?" he asked in surprise.
She nodded, and sat down on his bed. "Ryan, sweetie, we do need to talk."
"You mean about how dad won't accept me?"
She winced. "Ryan, your father just wants to do what's best for you. You see all these horrible reports on the news, and we just want to protect you from being hurt."
"The fact that you won't accept me for who I am hurts worse than anything anyone else could ever say to me."
"But if you choose to live this way, you could be hurt!"
"And I could be run over by a car tomorrow, but at least I wouldn't have to live a lie for my whole life."
"Ryan, please, don't say that," she begged, her eyes full of fear.
"That's what you're asking me to do. Live a lie. Or, more accurately, lie to you. Because nothing is going to change who I am."
"Ryan," his mother tried again.
"No," he told her firmly. "You know that what dad is asking of me is wrong. Is my happiness worth absolutely nothing to you?"
She sighed. "I want you to be happy. And I want our family to be happy. And we won't be happy if you don't agree to what your father demands. Look, I'm not happy with the way he's been acting lately. Could you at least pretend to be straight? I'm not asking you to actually be straight… just stop talking to your father about your sexuality. Don't flaunt it."
"I'm not flaunting it," he snapped. "I am who I am. Christ, Mom, I don't even have a boyfriend. I've never had a boyfriend."
"I know," she said quietly. "And I'm sorry."
"Not your fault."
"Ryan, just… please try to keep the peace in this house. Humor your father, as a favor to me. Just until you graduate. And I promise that you'll be able to go to Columbia."
"So you're asking me to lie to him?"
"Yes. And trust me, I'm not happy about it either. But I want this family to be happy."
"I won't be happy if you ask me to do that."
"Do you want to go to Columbia or not?"
"I do. But… that's too high a price to pay."
"Ryan," she pleaded. "Don't-"
"Get out," he said firmly. "And don't ever ask me that again."
Her eyes filling with tears, she fled the room. Blink sighed, and collapsed on his bed. Just when he thought that it couldn't get any worse, he heard the sound of a car pulling up in his driveway. His father was home.
Shit.
He heard his mother greet his father at the door. A quick conversation, and an outraged roar from his father. His mother's voice pleading with his dad to calm down, and think before he spoke, and the sound of her sobs.
"Ryan Mitchell Ballat!" his father shouted as he stormed down the hallway. "You have crossed the line this time. Making your mother cry."
"Look Dad," Blink said, sitting up on his bed. "It wasn't on purpose. I didn't mean to upset her."
"Pack your things. And get out of my house," his father said bluntly. "I will not have you ruining my family any longer."
"I'm not the one ruining this family," Blink snapped. "At least I don't expect you to change for me. I learned a long time ago that you'll never accept anything about me. Not just my sexuality, you don't like anything I do with my life. I'll never be perfect enough for you!"
"You have twenty minutes to pack your things, and get out," his father hissed. "I never want to see your face again."
"Wonderful way to teach me a lesson," Blink snarled. "Just pretend I don't exist."
"As of today, I have no son," his father responded. Turning on his heel, his father left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Blink stared at the closed door in shock. He couldn't believe he was being kicked out of his house, again. At least this time they were letting him take his things first. Reaching for the phone, he dialed Racetrack's number, and quickly asked him to meet him at the end of his block in half an hour. Racetrack was surprised to say the least, but he quickly agreed, promising to be there as soon as possible.
Grabbing for his backpack, Blink quickly threw some clothes into the bag, and his notebook with all of his story ideas. He grabbed a few more necessities, then unplugged his laptop and put it in its case. Slinging his bags over his shoulder, he headed for the door.
"Ryan," his mother called to him. "I'm so sorry. I'll try to talk some sense into him, I promise."
"Don't bother," he said bitterly. "He's never going to change."
"I love you," she told him, giving him a hug.
"Yeah. I know." He walked out the door, and didn't look back. Nobody called after him.
~*~
Half an hour later, Blink checked his watch for what had to be the eighty seventh time. Race had promised to be there as soon as he could, but there was still no sign of him. Blink continued to pace back and forth, looking up eagerly every time he heard a noise. He realized that he should probably be feeling more upset about this, but he couldn't bring himself to actually acknowledge what had happened. If he thought about it, it would be real. And his family would have abandoned him, again.
Finally, he saw Racetrack's van coming down the block. He started running to meet it, and waited very impatiently for Race to slow it down. One of the back doors opened, and Blink jumped in.
"What's with the stuff?" a female voice asked from the front passenger seat. The girl turned her head, and Blink nodded to her.
"Hey Sari, I didn't know you were going to be here."
"We were at the mall," she said with a big grin.
"That explains all the packages then," Blink said, looking at the giant pile of bags that was piled up in the back of the van.
"What happened?" Race said bluntly, glancing back at him.
"They kicked me out," Blink sighed.
"THEY WHAT?!" Sari shrieked in outrage.
"Blink," Race began sympathetically.
"Look, I was hoping I could stay with you… I don't really have anywhere else to go."
"My house is open to you, always," Race told him. "We were going to go back to the mall, but this is more important."
"Your parents are such-" Sari began, but Race shook his head and she shut up.
"No, it's okay. Dad just threw another fit, really. They'll let me come home…" Blink tried to sound convincing, but he knew that it had taken a lot for his father to allow him home in the first place.
"We'll figure something out," Race told him.
Blink sighed, and stared out the window. The rest of the trip was made in silence.
Author's Notes: You know, this fic was SUPPOSED to be a oneshot. And there was supposed to be an entire second half to this chapter, but this was such a nice place to end, and I felt like torturing Blink… oh, who am I kidding, this is turning into an epic type thing. Next chapter we actually will meet Racetrack's family, I PROMISE. And his mother will try to interfere.
Shoutouts!
B-*hands over naked Blink* You did get to be his faghag though :) 3
Nani-Racetrack is the most awesome best friend ever. But unfortunately for Race and Blink, I like torturing them.
Braids-And Blink's dad just keeps getting worse and worse… But there will be cute Blink/Mush moments later on, I promise.
Flare-Torturing them is too much fun. Seriously, I enjoy it way too much than could possible be healthy. And Blink is just so much fun to torture… (Although that's because of B. I never liked torturing him before.)
Sock-Free – Since when do I write happy stuff? :-p
Bovine-I can't believe you actually read this. Don't kill me. 3333
Liams Kitten-There will be a lot more Spot/Race later on. Because they demanded their own subplot.
Til next time!
~TSB