I didn’t give a shit about her pleading voice when she called after me as I left. I had to get out and do something – anything – more fun than being around these assholes and being harassed by that meddling fucking bitch. Tess was spending the Holidays with her mother in California again, so there was no way to meet up with her. Another night in front of the computer would do.
The very next day, Christmas morning, Aunt Danielle showed up at the house, trying to get me to talk to her, but I blew her off rather harshly. I wasn’t having any of it. She, as well as the rest of my family, had three damn years to realize I was their son, brother, nephew and cousin.
When I had reached my new lowest point, I searched my own feelings and had to admit: What I felt for them now was more familial obligation than anything else. Certainly not love. Though, I also had to admit that Danielle surprised me with how persistent she was. After I blew her off at the house, she simply started showing up at the office, knowing full well I wouldn’t want to make a scene there, and thinking her chance for success would be higher. It wasn’t. Thanks to the tracker on her phone, no matter at which time she arrived to talk to me, I was either already gone or had the door locked. So, Instead of making a scene by telling her off, I simply ignored her banging on my door until she gave up.
My big hope was that the whole story about me and Jenny would fade into oblivion over the Holidays. Surely, when the other students came back to school after Christmas, they would have other topics to talk about, and my life would return to how it was before Ava’s birthday. I didn’t consider the influence Golden Boy still had. It was his last year before going off to College, and he seemed to want to make it count. He wound all his football buddies into making sure I’d never live past the humiliation. And they, still remembering me ruining their football season the year before, were all too happy to assist him.
More than once, I found myself debating why I should even continue going to school. It would be the easiest solution to just stay away from it all. After all, my income was already enough to support a small family of my own, and that was while I spent half of my weekdays in school. What was the point!?
Tess wouldn’t hear any of it, though. I had to promise her to “keep going and hang on” multiple times. She was my sole support over the following months, and I suspected she knew it, since I spent more time at her place than my ‘home’. When I was with her, nothing else mattered to me than being with her. It wasn’t just the sex anymore, which was still awesome. I genuinely enjoyed her company, she had completely stopped talking about other girls, and it didn’t take long until both of us realized we were basically dating.
After school, I came to the office to pick her up and take her to lunch, trying new places to eat out whenever we could. We went to the movies, Street Fairs, and, remembering my awkwardness during our first date, she made me take a dance class with her. I even learned how to give foot massages, since wearing high heels for the whole day took a toll on her feet. And sometimes, just for the fun of it, we went to open houses and estate sales together, allocating the rooms and fantasizing on how to decorate them. A few of those we could have actually afforded, though we would’ve needed to fix them up and I never used a hammer before.
If we didn’t feel like going out, we would cook together, cuddle up on the sofa in her living room to watch TV, or read together. It was genuinely the happiest time in my life despite what was going on in school. Although we carefully tipped around that subject, I loved her, and I was pretty sure she knew that as well. She always seemed to hold back though, since I was still only sixteen and we couldn’t be reckless until my birthday. Or until we moved to another country.
My happy life drastically changed shortly after her birthday in early April. I was still a sixteen-year-old boy, and she had now turned thirty. I didn’t know if she was bothered by the age gap, or wanted a family, or whatever. It wasn’t lost on me that, even before her birthday, she was remarkably apprehensive about me meeting her family. But after she had turned thirty, it seemed like she wanted to distance herself from me emotionally in one moment, and then went full on “Let’s get married!” the next. The sex was the same. Some days she was insatiable, to the point my dick actually hurt the next morning, on other days she refused to get within three feet of me, no physical contact at all!
We still practically lived together while enjoying each other’s company, and even though these changes irritated me, I was determined to stay with her for as long as she would allow it. I was silently hoping, if I could just make her realize how little of a shit I gave about the age difference, we could keep it going until I graduated. Then I would have been perfectly happy to marry her, even start a family with her. The people at work already knew about us anyway and nobody had ever given her crap or even so much as teased her about it.
It just wasn’t meant to be. In early June, I came home to Tess’ apartment to find her sitting in the silent living room. She didn’t look too happy when, for the first time in my life, I was confronted with the four words every man fears.
“We need to talk.”
I sat next to her on the sofa and waited.
“I’ll have to leave town.”
I was stunned. My stomach felt like I was falling. I needed Tess, and I didn’t know why this happened now, or why so suddenly.
“Look, Tess, I know this isn’t perfect. But it’s not gonna be much longer before my birthday. Please, we were so good together, and things got so much better over the past few months.”
“It’s not anything like that, Tim. I really like you; I don’t want to leave you.” She hesitated before she continued. “My sister called ... Mom’s sick. They ... diagnosed her with pancreatic cancer, and ... She’s going to need someone to look after her. For a while, at least. With my sister having her own family, she can’t just uproot her entire life to do it.”
She was crying. But there was nothing I could do to truly help. I would go with her, switch schools, quit school, do whatever I could to support her. But I was still only sixteen. I couldn’t just up and leave on my own accord without the constant threat of being dragged back here. I didn’t even have full control over my own damn bank account. And what about Tess? If she was apprehensive about me meeting her family before, she sure as hell won’t confront her cancer stricken mother with the news of her dating a kid now.
There was no discussion. I made sure she knew I would be there if she needed me. All it would take was a phone call, and I would get the next plane, consequences be damned. And once she returned, I would be waiting for her. She had already talked to Bill and would leave on the first of July. For the rest of the month, while sorting out her apartment, getting everything packed, and preparing the move, we spent as much time together as humanly possible.
With Tess gone, I had nothing but school and work in my days. I don’t know if I actually earned it, or if Bill wanted to help me distract myself, but I found myself in a lot more meetings with clients to discuss surveillance installations. In addition to that, he spent quite some time personally teaching me a lot of the administrative aspects of the job; writing reports, proofing risk assessments and even drafting IT-Security Guidelines for a few clients.
Aunt Danielle kept showing up regularly, trying to get me to talk to her. She kept insisting that her question from Christmas wasn’t addressed at me specifically, but at me and my family, and certainly wasn’t meant as any accusation. She just wanted to find a way to mend our relationship. I still didn’t care, though. She had a higher chance to get me talking when she first tried, because by now I was pissed at the family, dejected with school, and missing Tess.