Epilogue
Max
I DECIDED TO move home during my last year at Southern California University so I could focus on my grades. My roommates wanted to party every night and I didn't. The time to start acting like an adult was now. After I had moved back home, my parents dropped the bomb that they were getting divorced. Honestly, it didn't really come as a surprise. My mother and father had started sleeping in separate rooms when I was 15. They argued all the time and often I felt the only reason they were together was because of me. It never really sat right with me. What was the point of being with someone if you weren't happy?
My parents sat me down at the kitchen table a week before finals and gave me the news.
I smiled at them both. "It's about time," I said to them.
My response was simple. All I wanted was for them to be happy regardless if that meant together or apart.
The divorce almost seemed too easy for them and that's how I knew it was the right decision. They didn't argue about anything and it was the most cordial I had seen them be in years.
My mother moved back to New York and my father and I stayed in California. I would have gone to New York with her, but I had another semester remaining before I graduated with my bachelor degree in engineering. After I had my diploma, I would have to decide what I would do with my life. Eventually, I would leave the coop too which meant my father would be left to live in a two-story house on the coast alone.
Weeks passed and my dad and I barely exchanged a word. He worked crazy hours and seemed to spend more and more time at work while I studied. My movements almost became robotic in a sense and I felt like I was living the same day over and over. Sleep, eat, study, rinse and repeat. After finals, I relaxed, but only slightly. The repetitiveness of life made me realize I had to get away even if only temporary.
For the Christmas break, I booked a flight to New York to be with my mother and grandparents. New York was a city that held my soul. I loved being there, but the days passed way too quickly, quicker than I imagined. Within a blink it seemed I was back on the plane flying into the Los Angeles International Airport.
I often wondered when my life changed and each time I thought back to the events that led up to the now, it always started at the airport.
That was the moment when my life changed indefinitely.
I have to tell my story to the world so others may understand. Maybe through my accounts, another can find the courage to do the unthinkable, say the unspoken, and believe that love can exist, even if it's forbidden.
Chapter One
Max
MY FATHER WAITED for me by the baggage claim area with a smile placed across his lips. I couldn't help but smile back. Though it did make me wonder what was up because his smile was too genuine. I hadn't seen the man in almost three weeks and if I hadn't known better, I would have thought he had gotten laid during that period.
"How were the holidays, Max? How's your mother?"
Even though they were divorced, my father still cared for her. I knew that.
"She's great, Dad. Really happy. And the holidays were good. Grannie and Papa gave me this to give to you."
I pulled a small present out of my backpack and handed it to him. The paper was bright red and green with a white bow taped to the top. I already knew what it was and I was sure he did too, but he still took it with a smile.
"Hmm, let me guess what this could be." He shook the box, the way he always did really close to his ear then gently tore the paper from the edges.
"A watch," we both said at the same time.
Since as long as I could remember, Grannie and Papa always bought Dad a watch for Christmas. Just the thought made me laugh.
The conveyor belt whipped my bag around and I picked it up, pulled the plastic handle from the top then fell in step beside my father. We walked to the door and before we stepped out into the warm California sun, my dad stopped
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