Time seemed to have paused as what he had just said sunk in in a series of inaudible echoes through his mind. How could he be so stupid!
He wanted to open his mouth to take back the words but his body parts refused to cooperate with his brain. So he just sat there, frozen in place, only his eyes moving trying to register his parents' reactions.
Austin was not gay, he was so straight he could make a pole seem gay. He even had a very beautiful girlfriend, Lucy Bishop, and he loved her a lot.
It had just been a dare placed on him by two of his friends just to test how big of a wimp he really was. His ego, as usual, wouldn't let him lose. His friends could be a handful if they had anything on him. They would never let him forget it, especially Sam, his number one best friend, wingman, confidant..you name it.
They had nothing against people who batted for the other team but Austin's father did. Once at a Christmas party, Austin's Uncle, Danny, had shown up with his fiancé - lovely guy named Anthony. Thomas had almost had a heart attack. After he had gotten over the initial shock, he had gone full ballistic on his brother-in-law and had almost killed him if he hadn't been pulled off by a few of the guests who were around.
His wife had threatened to leave him if he didn't change his mind set and try to get along with her brother. Thomas, of course, loved his wife enough not to try killing her brother again but he never said another word to Danny after that day. The most they ever did to acknowledge each other's existence since then had always been some awkward nod occasionally.
Sam knew all about that ordeal and the notion that Austin would be scared shitless if he even so much as thought about the subject in the presence of his father had made this the perfect dare.
If Austin lost the bet..he would have to give Sam a hundred dollars. If he won..Sam would have to give him the hundred dollars. Even so, Sam would gain the sight of Mr. McNamara's constipated scowl at finding out his son was 'gay'. Either way,win-win.
Sam was not a fan of Mr.McNamara ever since he started complaining about his close friendship with Austin. Thomas had claimed that such closeness between two boys was a gateway to 'homosexual tendencies ' and that his son was not allowed to even think about such 'disgusting things' that would waste his precious time. Yea, right!
The silence in the dining room seemed to go on forever. It probably lasted a few seconds but in his mind, it felt like a decade.
Suddenly, his mother was on her feet and going round the table to the other side in order to reach her son. As soon as she got to him, she hugged him from behind while he was still seated on his chair and buried her face in his hair.
"I'm so proud of you Austin!" She said, looking like a crazed fan girl . "Finally ,you admit it! What took you so long? I've always known you were gay . It was just a matter of time before you came to terms with it by yourself! Yay !"
By the end of her outburst, everyone in the room was just staring at her like she had just grown a tail. Two tails.
"What!" Austin exclaimed, a little too loud .
"Ohh..this just turned out better than I thought!" Nicky whispered to her phone while she still had the camera facing the others, intending on not missing even a second.
"Yes. I've always known. Trust me, a mother always knows these things." She said, sending a suggestive wink his way.
"But mom - "
" -Oh,come on. The way you always take extra care of your skin and hair. Honey, your hands are softer than mine! And your room is way too neat for a sixteen year old hetero boy - "
"- oh god! Mom, I'll literally pay you to never say the word 'hetero' again!"
Nicole was now chuckling at the look on her brother's face. It was priceless. He turned to look at his sister, silently beckoning her to rescue him.
Suddenly, they heard their mother talking. Nobody had seen her go for the phone until she was already talking to someone on the other end a little too cheerfully, "Yes, Sally, he finally came out!" She was saying.
"Finally? What do you mean by 'finally'!?" Austin was now getting really confused and at the same time, his skin was starting to warm up a little uncomfortably.
"He just told us right now and I'm so happy! Told you he'd tell us soon enough!"
As much fun as she was having, Nicky knew that her mother might go too far if she didn't try to stop her. So she got off her seat and ran to her mum, pushed the end button to cut the call.
"Hey! What did you do that for !"
"Mom, why are you telling Mrs. Richards about this?" Nicky asked her mother.
"Well..," she started, "Sally and I have always known so we made a bet to see how long it would take you to realize you were gay." She turned to look at Austin, looking a little guilty.
"Seriously mom?" Austin was getting a little irritated at the fact that his mom thought he was actually gay and had apparently been broadcasting it among her old, annoying, gossipy friends behind his back.
Their mother remained silent and then suddenly, there was a change in atmosphere. And not the good kind of change.
Everything about the aura in the room had turned cold and it seemed like a storm was about to arise. Austin then realized something. All this while, his mother's chipper attitude and inappropriate reaction had distracted him from the one thing he had been dreading most. His father's reaction.
He slowly turned his head left and the sight he met almost had him pissing his pants. His father's brown eyes were now so dark, they actually looked to be an entirely new color. His nose was flaring as he took in deep angry breathes. If Austin had been doused in gasoline beforehand, he would literally be on fire right now.
He wanted to run away and find somewhere to hide - preferably below earth - but everything felt numb. Mr. McNamara looked like a lion just ready to pounce on him.
"Does this have anything to do with that Stanford boy?" his voice sounded like a roaring of a lion too.
Really? The Sam thing again?
"N-no...dad -"
"THEN WHAT!" Austin had never thought of dying this young but the way things were going, his time was nigh. He scooted a little further to the right to try and lessen the blow that he knew was coming.
"I...I ...I'm .." he also seemed to have forgotten how to speak language.
"Is this what you do when you claim to go over to his house to study?..huh..?" Mr. McNamara was now on this feet, his hands in fists by his sides.
"N-n-no dad, Sam's not g-gay." he tried to justify himself.
"Oh, so you have other boyfriends on the side that we don't know of!" he was now full blown fuming .
This was it. Austin knew that the dare was supposed to last twenty-four hours. Which means that he was only supposed to let out that it was a joke after twenty-four hours. He could either go though hell for the next full day or forfeit now before it got worse.
"What boyfriends!" he raised his voice a little too loud for the occasion.
Bad idea. He did not see the slap that came right after so fast it could put lightning to shame.
"Austin!" His mother cried, rushing immediately to her son's side. "Thomas, stop it!" Her usually calm features were now engulfed with rage towards her husband.
"Stop?" Apparently her enraged demeanor did little to faze him, "This is why they think they can engage in such sinful acts and not expect punishment. You are always encouraging them. It's a disgusting sin!"
"Who died and made you god!" She stood up, like a lioness protecting her cubs.
Austin and Nicky had moved to one corner of the room, terrified by the sight in front of them. It wasn't the first time that their mother had stood up to their father on their behalf but it never got any easier to watch. Austin's cheek was slowly turning purple from the slap he had received and it stung like hell.
"Woman, I'm their father. I have the right to discipline them!"
"Now, listen to me very carefully, Thomas," she started, pointing a warning finer at him, "Don't you ever again lay a finger on my babies . If you don't like who they are, well..too bad. You are gonna support them even if it kills you. And if you can't, you're to stay silent! You hear me? Or so help me god...you will not like what comes next."
The woman never made threats. She liked to call them promises because she always made good on each of them. She once changed the locks on the house to lock him out for two days just because he couldn't cancel a 'stupid' meeting to attend Nicky and Austin's two hour middle school recital.
Their father was the scary looking one and they feared him. But that didn't mean that Mrs. McNamara didn't have a storm brewing underneath that still surface.
"Both of you, upstairs!" she turned towards her children, "Nicky, find some ice for your brother's cheek."
They didn't need to be told twice before Austin was running up towards his room while Nicky made a beeline to the freezer to retrieve a pack of ice. She went after her brother and entered his room to find him seated on his bed, looking temporarily frozen.
She shut the door behind her and locked it before going to sit beside her brother to tend to his injury.