Life as I know it chapter 1

"Kyle Thomas Peterson! You have five minutes to get your ass out of bed, or I'll come up there and drag you out, hard on and all!"

Yes, that is my mom saying that! She's just like that - not afraid to say things like hard on. It's just mom and me; my dad left before I was born; but, of course, he didn't know I still existed; but I'll get to that later. Like I said just mom and me; well, my grandpa, too, but he's in a nursing home across town. He still has his mind, but when he fell and couldn't get up, we, and by that I mean even he, decided that he needed the extra help. At first, my mom was against it; she didn't want her dad in a nursing home, because she felt that she needed to be the one to help him. But when grandpa made her see that she couldn't possibly work, take care of me, and take care of him, she dropped it, and reluctantly agreed to him going to the nursing home.

I got out of bed before my mom could make good on her promise, and headed to my bathroom to get rid of my piss hard on. After doing that, I headed over to the mirror. I think of myself as "average", nothing special. At sixteen, you would think I'd be taller; but I'm not, I'm only 5'8'', and thin, rail thin. It doesn't matter how much I eat, I never gain weight. I looked at myself in the mirror - brown hair, green eyes - that about sums it up. Of course, my boyfriend says that I'm anything but average and that I'm "the most beautiful person in the world"; but hey, he's a little biased - he loves me. I love him, too; I love him more every day. We've been together for three years; yes, that means that we were thirteen when we became boyfriends, but we have been friends since kindergarten. He always comes by to pick me up for school; speaking of which, I have to hurry. Racing back to my room to find some clothes, I quickly get dressed; if I don't, my mom tries to force feed my boyfriend more food, even though he just ate. I don't think he minds; he is the opposite of me. Ethan has blond hair, and these piercing blue eyes that make you want to sink into them and float away. He is also tall; we make a funny couple - me at 5'8'' and him at 6'2''; me so thin, and him so built - we are talking six-pack here. I think he actually likes eating breakfast at his house, and then coming here to eat more; but to be honest, the amount he eats is sickening - that's why I don't want to watch him eat breakfast here, too. What! Am I kidding? I love that about him, too, even if, like I said, it is kind of sickening. I am so excited; today is Friday, and we are going to go out tonight. I love just spending time with him, but it's nice to go out.

When I'm finally ready, I go downstairs to see if he's here, and, sure enough, he's stuffing his face with my mom's chocolate chip pancakes. Shaking my head, I can't help but smile at the same time.

"Hey, babe!" I say, as I plant a kiss right on his lips.

"Hey, baby!" he replies back.

Looking over at mom, she makes a gagging gesture, using her finger, a reaction to our greetings. She's also smiling, though. She always teases us playfully; that's just mom, just how she has always been. She is definitely a mom, though; I've tested that thoroughly over the years. Considering how she found out that I'm gay, I'd say she's great about it. I was fourteen, when she walked in on Ethan and me, with each other's dick in our mouth. Yeah, not how I imagined she would find out, but she just turned and walked out of my room. That kind of killed the mood; we were both scared half to death, and close to tears. We quickly got dressed, and went downstairs to find my mom reading a book. She looked up at us, and went back to reading her book for a couple of minutes, until she closed it and told us to sit down.

"So I guess you two are together then?"

"Yes," both of us answered nervously.

"Ok."

"Ok?" I asked shocked that there wasn't more.

"Yes, ok. I don't really think you are ready for what you were doing up there, but I can't tell you not to do it; you will anyway. At least, you'll do it where you're safe."

"But, you don't care that I'm gay?"

"No, I don't. I had a friend who was gay. It isn't something you chose, it isn't something you can change, so why be upset about it? Yes, it will take me some time to get used to it, adjust my thinking about what your future holds, but it is what it is; I love you just the same - five trillion piece of chocolate, ten bazillion chocolate chip cookies."

I laughed, and then cried tears of joy at that. Anytime she wanted to express how much she loved me, but couldn't possibly express it in words, she always chose foods that she liked. It was like our own little personal way of saying how much we meant to each other. So that was that; two years later, it hasn't changed. She only made the rules that she doesn't want us having sex anywhere in the house except my bedroom; that she doesn't want to hear us; and that if we decided to have anal sex, I would come to her before we do. No matter how embarrassing it was, I did just that, about eight months ago, when we decided it was time. I knew she wanted me to talk to her about it, because she cares about me.

So while he stuffed his face with pancakes, I got some of my own; I was not passing up my mom's chocolate chip pancakes! After I had three, and Ethan had five, we both kissed my mom on the cheek and headed out to Ethan's truck to go to school. You would think that a small town in Texas wouldn't be accepting, but, with a few exceptions, nobody cares that we're gay. We've been out since we realized we are gay. Yeah, there are a few assholes, but they just like making a few smart ass comments, and that's it. We actually have a lot of friends, but in our core group, there is only seven of us - Ethan and me, plus Julie, Amy, Eli, Ian, and Chase; a truly great group of people; we have so much fun together. It was an unspoken agreement that we would all meet outside the school every morning.

"Hey, bitches!" I say, as I approach them.

"Hey, assholes!" they all reply at once, like always.

We all laughed, and then talked about nothing important, as we waited for the bell to ring. What is there to say about school? It's always the same: four classes, lunch, three more classes and then freedom. No, I'm not a shitty student - I have a 3.9 GPA, but that doesn't mean I don't find school boring as hell; the only thing good about it is Ethan and my friends. Besides, I was anxious to get the day over with so I could go out with Ethan.

Finally, it was over. We said goodbye to all our friends, and left to go to my house. It's something we always do: we don't wait until the actual date, we just go to his house or mine, and hang out until it's time to go out; usually my house, though; Ethan isn't out to his parents. I know that may seem strange, to be out to my mom, and out to the entire school, but his parents are crazy, I mean crazy! They are religious, but it's more than that - they are extreme - the type of people you hear about when you think of taking religion to the extreme. I know that they would ship him off to be "cured", if they knew he is gay.

When we got to the house and parked, I noticed my mom's car in the driveway. "I wonder why my mom's here; she isn't supposed to be home for a couple of hours." To be honest, I was hoping we would be able to do something to pass the time, if you know what I mean.

"I don't know; you think she is having another one of her migraines?"

"I hope not; I can tell they are painful; they even make her throw up sometimes. It's scary to see her like that."

For the past few months, she's had these migraines that literally stop her in her tracks. They make her drop everything she's doing, because they are so painful. She went to the doctor and they gave her this medicine, and it helps a little bit, but just enough to take the edge off her pain. She keeps going back, and they keep giving her new medication. We go into the house to find my mom lying on the couch, looking like she's sleeping.

"Kyle?"

"Yes, mom?"

"I know this is your date night, but before you go, can you go to the pharmacy? The doctor put me on this new medication - it's ready; all you have to do is pick it up. Grab my purse, please."

"Sure, mom." I give her purse to her, and she hands me her insurance card and some money. "I don't know how much it will cost."

"Don't worry, mom; we'll go do that right now."

"Thank you, honey."

I gave her a kiss, and then we leave.

"I don't understand, Ethan," I say to him, as we get into his truck. "Why the fuck aren't the doctors trying to do anything? It's just 'here's another medication; hope it works'. They aren't even trying to find out what might be causing it."

"I don't know; I wish they would. It worries me, seeing her like that. It seems to be happening more often now, too."

I take his hand, and we drive in silence the rest of the way. He's right; it has been happening more frequently. That thought had never crossed my mind before; maybe I didn't want it to.

When we got to the pharmacy, I got out as soon as he stopped the truck. I wanted to get those pills and get back, so that she could take one; maybe this one would actually take all the pain away. I walked up to the counter, told them who it was for, paid, and was out of there in probably two minutes. Ethan knows the drill; he just stayed in the truck. We've done this before, and he knows that I want to get it, and get it to my mom as fast as I can; so he's learned to just stay in the truck and let me get it. I get back in the truck, and he squeezes my hand before we leave to go back home. Its little gestures like that; that makes me love him so much; he is such a caring person. We make the short drive home in no time, and, again, I jump out of the truck as soon as it has stopped. Walking quickly, I make it into the house before he has had the chance to get out of the truck.

"Mom?"

"In here."

I find her in the exact same spot she was in when we left, and I hand her the medication, and then go into the kitchen to get her some water. I pray that it works; I don't know how much more she can take. Taking a deep breath, I go back into the living room and hand her the glass of water, then open the pill bottle, and hand her one. After she takes it, she stands up and says "Thanks, honey; I'm going to go lie down; be careful tonight."

I watch her as she starts walking away from me, and she appears a little unsteady, so I go to reach out to help her, and she collapses. I just barely am able to catch her before she hits the floor.

"Mom?" She comes out of it immediately, but I've seen enough; this has got to stop; something has to be done.

"I'm fine, honey; I'm just in a lot of pain; the medicine will help."

"No, you're going to the hospital right now; they need to find out what's causing this. They should have tried a long time ago, but all they've been doing is handing you endless prescriptions, saying it will help, but it hasn't."

"I'm fine; I don't need to go to the hospital."

"Yes, you do; you're going." I had never tried to tell my mom what to do, and I could tell she was shocked by it, but I guess she saw how serious I was, because she sighed and nodded. By now, Ethan was in the house, just standing there watching us; but when he saw that she agreed to go, he helped me get her out to her car. After we got her into the passenger seat, he got in the back seat, and I got into the driver's seat, and quickly got us to the hospital. Life would never be the same.