A New Dream Ch. 02

Danny was both his parent's whole world, and that's why Danny guessed, and I agreed with him, they had absolutely no problem with him coming out. After wanting a baby for so long, they were just happy to have him alive and well, and nothing would make them stop loving him unconditionally.

"Okay," Danny said, "sorry dad. Good night."

"Don't worry about it, kiddo," he said, leaning down and kissing the top of his head. "Go, have fun."

Then he pointed his finger at me. "Back at midnight," he said.

I smiled. "You got it, sir."

He ruffled my hair, went over to give Rachel a kiss on the top of the head too -- they treated her like a daughter -- and then headed for his room.

"Alright, you guys," his mom said. "You have fun, and don't worry about the time," she said to me, "he's usually fast asleep within an hour, he won't even notice when you get back."

Right, I thought, remembering how he scared the hell out me just a few days before when I was leaving Danny's room in the middle of the night.

"Just be safe," she continued, and unlike her husband she kissed all three of us on the forehead before going to bed.

"Alright!" said Rachel, getting up, "let's go!"

I sent a quick text to Mike saying we were on our way and I got up too.

*

Once the three of us were in my car -- Danny sitting next to me in the front seat and Rachel in the back -- I got on the road headed to the rest of our friends and I felt a mix of emotions.

On the one hand, everything in my life seemed to be going amazing and this had definitely been the best week I'd ever had, but there was a weird vibe I was getting from Rachel that I just couldn't shake off. I could see her in the back seat through my rearview mirror and she looked upset.

I had always been more of a guy's guy, I guess because I only had a brother and we both played sports, so my closest friends always were guys -- my mom even encouraged that, since she was always afraid not having a dad or uncles, I would need that -- but there was something about Rachel that was special. I loved that girl.

Ever since I met Rachel through Danny, she had been amazing to be around.

At first, I got the feeling she was into me when we met, but it suddenly changed the more and more we hung out. I'm guessing it was because she noticed I was into her best friend and not her, which she now assures me was obvious even before I came out, and as soon as that happened, her and I developed a very special bond that I'd never had with anyone else.

I felt I could talk to her in a way I couldn't with my guy friends, even Mike -- my best male friend. She would listen and make me talk more openly about my feelings than I ever had before, and she wasn't even trying. There was just a very loving and even motherly vibe she gave off that made everyone open up to her.

She had been my rock when I broke down after coming out to Danny and he didn't show any attraction to me, and she was always the one I talked to whenever I had a problem regarding him. Anything I couldn't talk to Danny about, I would to her.

Now, even though I knew she was ecstatic about us -- having always wanted us to get together -- and acting like everything was fine, I knew her well enough to realize she was hiding something. Something that hurt her. I was pretty sure it was what she had wanted to talk to Danny about this morning, but she had made it very clear she didn't want me to know, and I just couldn't understand why.

I felt the need to be there for her like she had always been there for me, but she wasn't letting me, and that was the only thing nagging at the back of my head that didn't allow this day to be as perfect as it should've been.

Oh, well, I thought, she doesn't want to talk about it for now, so we won't. I'll just enjoy the rest of this day with our friends and try to talk to her tomorrow.

As I was thinking all this, Danny seemed to notice there was something wrong, so he squeezed my right hand, which he was holding, and made me look at him.

"Hey," he said, looking at me and asking me with those gorgeous eyes of his if there was something wrong.

"Hey," I responded with a smile and a kiss to the back of his hand.

I knew he would understand what I meant, which was we will talk about it later, and he did, giving me a short smile and a little glance back at Rachel.

Apparently, he knew there was something wrong with her too.

"Hey, Rach," I called out to her.

"What's up?" she said, immediately cheering up.

I hated that she felt the need to fake happiness for us.

"You wanna listen to some music?"

"Sure thing, sweetie."

I connected my phone to the radio and started playing "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus. I knew she loved that song.

Her and Danny both gave a little excited shriek and I couldn't help but laugh.

We all started belting out the song and for the rest of the drive, it felt like everything was right in the world again.