The old man nodded at him in reply, and raised an eyebrow in question.
"What are you doing here Norman? Haven't seen you in some while."
"Nine years, I think, Dad." Jayden replied shakily. Well, not exactly the welcome he'd been hoping for. But then what did he expect? His parents hated his guts...
"Nine years...." his father mused. "Well, you got a good reason for being here? I'm not just having you and your... partner stand out here on the street, you know. When we said we didn't want to see you until you were normal, we meant it."
It took a while for what Jayden's father had said to sink in, but as soon as it had, both men turned beetroot red, and stepped away from each other quickly.
"He's not..." Jayden stammered.
"I'm not his..." Carter yelped.
"I'm not gay!" Norman yelled. Jayden's father looked at the two of them, horror on both of their faces, and quickly scanned the street to see if anyone had heard Norman's outburst.
"Hmph. Come inside, the both of you." he ordered. "I'm not having this argument out here where the neighbours can see."
"I've gotta get back to Philly..." Carter started, but was interrupted by an angry look from the old man.
"I said come inside, young man. Do you have no respect for your elders?"
Carter blinked, not used to being talked to that way. He looked at Norman, who shrugged. They both went inside, and Jayden's father made them take their shoes off. He turned to them, arms crossed.
"Would you like a drink?" he asked stiffly. "We have tea, coffee, brandy, gin, and whisky.
"No thanks, I'm fine." Carter replied, earning him a glare from the old man, for what he wasn't sure.
"I'll have a whisky, please Dad." Jayden answered. He nodded, looked at the two of them suspiciously, and wandered off the get the drinks. As soon as he was out of earshot, Carter turned to Norman.
"Well, this is fucking weird." he whispered. "Has he always been like that?" Jayden shook his head sadly.
"No." he whispered back. "Not always..." Blake sighed.
"Let me guess, it was just because you're gay?" he asked, sympathetic for once. Jayden looked at him funny.
"Which I'm not." he hissed. "Remember?" At this, Carter rolled his eyes, and started snooping around the hallway, looking at all the photographs on the wall.
"Who's this?" he whispered to Norman, pointing at an old photo of a woman holding a child.
"Mum and me." he replied absent-mindedly
"And this?"
"My cousin Lana."
"And this?"
"...Hmph."
Carter looked at his face, and took a wild guess. "Sister?"
"Yep. Well, by blood."
"She's quite the looker. I'd imagine she had all the boys round after college."
"Huh. Yea, you could say that." Jayden said.
Before they could continue carrying on their conversation about Jayden's sister, his father came back with three whiskies, and handed one to Carter, even though he'd not wanted one. Carter shrugged, and downed it in one.
"Now." said Jayden's father. "What have you come to talk about?"