Caleb
I knock on the door as the cold wind hits my face. It wasn’t snowing anymore but the wind made up for it. It felt like I was in the north pole.
After a matter of seconds the door opens, I am met with Landon who has a large smile on his face.
“Caleb!” He jumped at me, and I caught him, immediately entering the house I previously lived at.
The warmth of the house quickly engulfed my body. I took my coat off and hung it on the coat hanger, along with my hat.
“Abuelo and Abuela are in the kitchen! Come on!” He grabbed my hand and dragged me into the kitchen.
I saw my grandparents and my mom. My abuela seems to be criticizing my mom’s cooking.
“No, no, no it will be over cooked at 390.”
“But mamá—”
“No Alexandria, ¿qué tal si cocino?”
(No Alexandria, how about I cook?”)
“Fine.” My mom spots me and her face brightens up, “Hijo! C’mere!” She rushes over to me and hugs me.
“I was scared that you’d freeze to death before you got here.” My mom pulled away with a smile.
“A little frostbite can’t hurt me.” I chuckle.
“Mi nieto mayor.” My abuelo walked over and kissed my cheek before pulling me into a hug.
(My oldest grandbaby.)
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you abuela, I’ve miss you.” I hug her back.
“SÃ, it has. But luckily we’ve been brought together because of Christmas.” She pulls back and makes her way back to the kitchen with the turkey and the rest of the food.
“Where is abuelo… and papá?” I look around for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Your Abuelo is in the living room asleep, and you’re father is upstairs grabbing my phone.” Mamá explains as she gives with trying to cook, since Abuela has taken over.
“Who called for me?” I heard my papá from behind me, which causes me to whip my head around and he stands behind me with a large smile and mama’s phone in his hand. “Here love.” He handed mamá her phone, and presses a kiss to her forehead.
“Hey papá.” I started, and he smiled before we both gave one another a hug.
“Long time no seek.” He pulled away with a chuckle, “How ya been watermelon.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes at the nickname, but a laugh also leaves my lips. “It was once, you’ll never stop calling me watermelon will you?”
“Nope.”
“Why do you call him watermelon?” Landon asks with a slight head tilt.
“Because when he was around 13, I woke up in the middle of the night for a quick snake, when I came into the kitchen he had watermelon everywhere. It was all over his shirt, and somehow managed to get in his hair.”
“Once, it was once.”
“It’s still surprising that it happened at all.”
The door was knocked on and my father went to go get it. Once he opened the door my mood went a bit sour. It was his parents. Our grandparents on his side.
They walk in and put their coats on the coat hanger before walking down the short hallway into the kitchen.
“Hello Mrs Hernandez, it’s been a while.” My grandmother said to my aduela.
“Hi Mrs Harrison, it has been a long time. Hello to you as well Mr Harrison.” Abeula said with a small smile as she places the cooked turkey on top of the stove, along with all the other cooked meals.
“Hello my favorite grandchild, give grandma a hug.” Grandma held her arms out for Landon as he gave her a hug.
She doesn’t acknowledge me and greets my mother instead, who is doing her best to not cause a scene on Thanksgiving.
“You have two grandkids, say hello to both of them.” My father said with irritation in his tone.
She gave my grandfather a look before looking back at me, which made my mood go from bad to worse.
“Hello Caleb.” She said before immediately moving on, not attempting to look at me longer than she needed to.
My grandfather didn’t say anything to me and began to talk to Landon.
“I’m going to my room. Call me down when it’s time to eat.” I immediately leave, quickly legging up the stairs and to my room, immediately shutting the door.
“Of course, they’re still disgusted of me.” I flop onto the bed with a groan. I shouldn’t have come out to my grandparents, maybe they’d still look at me the same and not with disgust.
There is a knock on my door
“Who is it?”
“Your dad, can I come in?”
“Yea.” The door opens and my father walk in and sits on the bed next to me.
“What it a mistake coming out to them?” I ask as I sit up on the bed.
“I don’t know, but eventually they would have found out. It’s better to tell someone on your own accord, than being accidentally force out.”
“I know but, they can’t even force a smile when they look at me. They look at me with pure disgust, like I’ll kiss any guy within a one mile radius.” I clench my fist from angry, trying my best not to shout. “Did you see the look they exchanged with one another?”
“I saw, and they shouldn’t have done that, especially in front of you. I didn’t want them to come, but it was for your brother.”
“I know, it’s just so stupid to stop loving your grandson because he’s gay. Granddad didn’t say anything, he didn’t even look at me dad. Am I that gross?”
“No, and don’t say that about yourself. There is nothing gross about you liking men. Your grandparents are just… difficult.”
“Dad, they are more than just difficult, you should know from how they treated you growing up. You became depressed mostly because of them, that is how terrible they are. And they still are the exact same way from all those years ago. “
“You’re right Caleb, they are still the exact same way.” He lets out a sigh, “How about this, if they even attempted to do or say something disrespectful, I’ll send them home.”
“You don’t have too—”
“No, I will. They need to learn how to treat my family with equal respect or they won’t come over at all.” He stands up from the bed.
“Thanks dad.”
“Of course.” He walks to the door, “And don’t let them get to you, alright?”
“Alright.”
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