But since I was still Meryl Streeping the shit out of this, I was able to keep it hidden from him, waiting for the inevitable day whe
n it would all blow up in my face in an explosion of glitter and angst, just like the perfect gay storm finally coming down overhead.
THE BEGINNING of the end started with a group of texts.
Mom’s in town and excited to meet you
I told her you said that I’m the light of your life
And that you can’t imagine a world without me
Showed her a photo of you as Helena
She thinks you’re very pretty either way
She wants to bake something for Thanksgiving
I told her not to, that Matty and Larry had everything planned
She told me I was ridiculous
Because apparently you ALWAYS have to bring something
It’s only polite
Then she smacked me upside the head and made me go buy pies
I’m bringing pie
I told her about the drag bachelor auction
She laughed until she cried
So thanks for that
It was odd. My parents were dead, but I had my surrogates, thanks to Paul. Kori’s parents were only God knows where, but she had us. Vince had already been adopted by Larry and Matty because he belonged to them just as much as Paul and I did.
And Darren. Darren, whose mother thought I was very pretty as either Sandy or Helena. His mother who’d met a man named Andrew Taylor and gotten involved, not knowing he was married and had a kid out of it.
But Darren still had her. And he seemed to love her very much.
So I was going to make it my mission to impress the hell out of her. Granted, I’d have the safety net of being surrounded by everyone else, so I wouldn’t have to worry about any one-on-one time, at least not right away.
Me: Tell her thank you for me.
Darren: Already did. After I told her not to stroke your ego.
Me: Rude
Darren: Truth. But she’s going to love you. BTW, we’re coming to pick you up
Me: What?
Darren: She wants to meet you without everyone else around
Me: WHAT?
Darren: We’ll be there at one