Page 93 of Frat Ghost Wingman

“Probably not.”

I pulled him on top of me and kissed him.

“Mateo?”

“Smells like they lit a fire.”

I registered my parents’ voices as what I was hearing about three seconds before they entered the living room. It did not give me enough time to move; Zach was asleep on my bare stomach. Not that I wanted to move. For a split second, I wondered if I made the right decision.

“Here you are.” My mom found us first. She looked surprised, but didn’t say anything.

My dad, on the other hand, asked if we had been drinking.

“No,” I answered.

“Are you naked under there?”

“Michael!”

“Well, Elena, how else am I supposed to know what’s going on then?”

Zach picked a perfect time to wake up. In his rush to remove himself from my body, he took the blanket, leaving me sitting on the floor, back against the couch, wearing nothing but bikini briefs as my parents continued to discuss our situation.

“They just fell asleep watching a movie, that’s all.”

She was covering for me, but I didn’t need her to. And I wanted to show that to Zach who was still speechless.

“In their underwear?!”

“Enough!” I stood up. Zach held a pillow in front of my crotch and I took it – more to humor him than me. I certainly wasn’t ashamed of my body. “Not that my sex life is something I wanted to discuss right now–”

“Well, you should’ve thought about that before frolicking in front of the fireplace!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at my dad. He was reeling, but he didn’t seem mad. Shocked, really.

“If Zach were a girl, would it be a problem?”

My mom’s expression said it all. She knew I had made the right point. My dad was mumbling random phrases in both German and English, but before he could answer, I continued.

“Zach and I are dating. He’s been my boyfriend for months.”

“Before parents’ weekend?” my mom asked.

I shook my head. “It’s only been a month or so.”

“Did you suspect?”

Before my mom could answer him, I said, “I didn’t even know until recently, Dad.”

“Know what exactly?” he asked. “If you’re gay, bisexual, or one of the other ones?”

“It’s not like I’ve taken a quiz or anything, but if you need to call me something, gay works.”

“But you’re a jock. You like sports.”

I laughed. Hard. To the point that my dad must’ve realized how silly that sounded.

“Okay, okay. Forget I said that,” my dad continued, rubbing his temple with a few fingers. “You’ve been friends your whole lives, why now?”