Drew and Jesus

To say Drew is eager to see me when I arrive this morning would be putting it lightly. As soon as I step through the door, he's dragging me to the bedroom. I dig my heels in.

"Drew, Drew, stop." He turns back to me with a questioning gaze and a frown on his face. "I haven't really seen you in a few days. Don't--"

"I know. I've missed you too." He takes a step closer, his body pressed against mine, and lifts his head to kiss me. I had every intention of going there and talking to Drew about forgetting our plans the night before, but Drew is Drew, and his lips can be very distracting. Before I really know what was happening, we're both in his bed with our shirts off and his hand is reaching for my belt buckle. Just as he's pulling my belt off, I hear the front door open. Drew hears it too.

"Andy! Mom and Dad are gonna be here soon. They're riding the elevator up."

"Fuck, fuck." Drew mumbles under his breath before shouting toward the other room. "Caroline, is that you?" He rolls away from me to get out of bed. He grabs my shirt from the floor and tosses it to me.

"Yeah it's me. Hurry up." I pull on my shirt and look at Drew. He's still looking for his shirt.

"I think it's on the living room floor."

"Looking for this?" I look toward the doorway to see a short, strawberry blond standing in the archway holding Drew's previously discarded shirt with a smile on her face. She tosss it to Drew. "Don't forget to fix your hair too." She walks over to me. "Hi, you must be Jesus. You got another name I could call you?" Her accent was a lot thicker than Drew's.

"Your brother calls me 'baby.'" She laughs.

"How about a middle name?"

"Pedro."

"Well, nice to meet you, Pedro."

"Andrew! Where are you, dear?" I look at Drew. He has his shirt on, and I can tell he had run his fingers through his hair and pulled it back again.

"Ready?"

"Yeah, yeah." It sounds like he's trying to psych himself up. How bad could they be? All three of us walk out of the bedroom, Caroline leading the way.

"What were you three doing in the bedroom?" Mrs. Grey's face is pinched with disapproval and displeasure. Something that I'm sure is a common occurrence.

"They were just giving me the grand tour, Mom."

"Is that right? And who is this, Andrew?"

"Mother," his voice holds a clear edge, "this is my good friend, Jesús Gonzalez." A quiet scoff brings my attention to Caroline, and I manage to catch the tail end of an eye roll. "Jesús, I'd like you to meet my parents, Louise and Anthony Grey."

"Nice to meet you, Jesús."

"Likewise, sir."

"What is he doing here, Andrew?" Okay, clearly that woman is a racist bitch or something. I'm standing right in front of her...and I need to get out of here before I say something that might hurt Drew in the long run.

"Actually I was just heading out to run a few errands. I'll be back here at six for the show, Drew, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Bye, Pedro!" I think I like his sister. The dad isn't half bad either. But that mother...I didn't know how Drew handled that as a kid.

I really don't have any errands to do. I'm not an errands type of guy, that's usually Drew's forte. But I do have a call to make. I sent in all my pieces of writing a few days ago, overnight mail. The anthology publisher in Chicago said they usually have about a week turnover. I know the week isn't completely over, but I'm impatient, very impatient.

"Hi, Ms. Sarah Brown. This is Jesús Gonzalez. I submitted a couple of stories a few days ago and I was just calling to see if you had made any decisions. If you could give me a call back, I'd really appreciate it. My number's 412-555-9834. Thanks."

XXXXXXXXXX

I get to Drew's place a half an hour early. I was counting on his family being gone, so we could get a little alone time. The first thing I see when I walked in was Drew, all dressed, sitting on the couch facing the door. I take a seat next to him.

"So how was your visit with the family?"

"I don't even--" Drew's interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing.

"Hello?"

"Jesus." It's my mother. She'a been calling off and on for the past two weeks trying to pin down a time she could come to visit and meet Drew. I've been putting her off. "You better have a date for me."

"Mama, it isn't a good time. Drew's busy. He has this show. I promise I'll--"

"Jesús Pedro Hernandez Gonzalez, put Drew on the phone right now. I know he's there." I pull the phone away, staring at it. How the fuck did she know? I put it back to my ear.

"How did you know?"

"I didn't, now put him on."

"My mother wants to speak with you." I hand the phone to Drew and listen to his half of the conversation. "Yes Ms. Gonzalez. Okay, Ms. Gonzalez. Of course I have time for you to visit, Ms. Gonzalez. I don't know why Jesús told you that. Yes, yes, of course. Okay, I'll see you in a few days." Drew snapped the phone closed and handed it to me.

"Why did you tell your mother there was no time for her to visit us? Did you not want her to meet me?"

"No, Drew. You know it's not like that. I wanted these past few weeks to be all about you. You're already dealing with the show. The last thing you need on top of that is my mother. Believe me."

"Yeah, I have been pretty stressed lately. Actually there's something else that has been bugging me for awhile. Something that I've been thinking about. Something that I need to tell you, ask you."

"Yeah?"

"I love you, Jesus. And we've been together for awhile now. And I know we've talked about this before, but I don't think I've just straight out asked you, so I'm asking you now. Will you move in with me?" Talk about being blindsided. Just as I'm about to start what will most likely be a long-winded response, Drew's family walks in.

Saved by the bell.