Nate, feeling thoroughly embarrassed about his Dad walking in on him masturbating to were porn, had his door firmly closed and locked. There was something bugging him though and he needed to talk to Ben about it. It was something he had said earlier that made him feel anxious about the upcoming initiation ceremony. He pulled out his cellphone and picked Ben's number out of the list of contacts. He was about to dial when he heard his mom yell from her bedroom. Great, he thought, the parental units are fighting again. I'm steering clear of that bullshit. He pressed dial and waited as the phone rang. Hopefully they will have already had dinner. Ben picked up a moment or two later.
"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Ben sounded happy to hear from him. That was good.
"Oh I'm doing pretty good." replied Nate. He let out a deep sigh. Why was this so hard to say? What would Ben think when he told him.
"Are you okay?" asked Ben. "Are you nervous for Saturday?"
"Yeah, it's just that...oh man, how do I say this?" Nate felt a lump in his throat. Part of him knew his nervousness was irrational, yet here they were.
"What is it? Do you want to back out?" Ben sounded genuinely concerned. That was a good sign.
"No, not at all. It's just that...you know...does it have to be with a lady?" Nate listened intently as the phone fell silent for a moment.
"Oh." Ben gave a low, quiet response. Then it was silent again for a moment. Nate's heart dropped. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have assumed. I feel so stupid. Of course not. I know someone that could help you out. Alex is his name. You'd like him, he's really sweet."
Nate let out a sigh of relief. "Really?"
"Yeah. I mean, I'd be honored to help you out myself, but I'm not...you know." Ben let out a bit of a nervous laugh.
"No, that's fine." Nate felt silly for thinking a guy with two moms would react negatively to his coming out. Nate laid down on his bed and the two chatted for a while longer with the topics of conversation drifting from school to movies and various other things. They had been chatting a good fifteen minutes when he overheard Samantha poking her head into Ben's bedroom and stating that she and Frances were going over to Nate's house. "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?"
"Yeah? They're coming over to your house. Mom seemed worried. If they're both going, it must be something serious." Ben sounded genuinely concerned.
"I heard my Mom yelling earlier. I figured they were just having an argument and stayed out of it. I better go check on her." said Nate.
"Yeah, you probably should. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Yep." Nate hung up the phone and set it down on his nightstand. He quietly opened his bedroom door and walked across the hall. He stood outside the door for a moment thinking if he should knock or not before deciding to.
"Just a moment," came his Mother's voice from the other side. A few moments later, he heard her say it was okay to come in. Nate slowly opened the door and walked in.
"Are you okay?" asked Nate.
"No, actually I'm not," replied Martha, trying to keep from crying again.
Nate looked around, not seeing a sign of his father anywhere. "Where's Dad?"
Martha let out a long sigh and debated if she should tell him the truth or not. "Come over here and sit down. You might as well know."
Nate closed the bedroom door and tentatively sat down next to his mother. He was wondering what she was going to say, but was afraid it was going to be something awful.
"You're sixteen now and I think you're mature enough to be able to know the truth. I hate secrets anyway so you might as well know now rather than later. Your father is not what one would call a faithful man. The reason we moved from Minnesota was he slept with a co-ed there. He was fired immediately and Moon Lake University is the only place he could get a job. He was blacklisted from almost every other university." Martha felt a weight lift off her shoulders. "And now, I just saw him wander off into the woods with some young were-something or other. All I saw was the shadow of her shapely form and bushy tail..."
Nate felt his heart sink. To his surprise, he wasn't even mad at his father, just disappointed. He took his Mom's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "So, what does this mean?"
"I don't know. The first time, I forgave him. But now that it's happened again, I just feel like a fool. But whatever happens, you and your brother will be alright, I promise."
Nate nodded in a agreement. He did wonder what would happen if his parents did get divorced. Before he got to ponder it too deeply, he heard a knock on the front door, followed by it opening.
"Hello? Martha?" asked Frances as she and Samantha walked in.
"Oh yeah, I asked Samantha and Frances to come over," said Martha. "Up here!"
"I know."
"You knew? How?" asked Martha.
"I was on the phone with Ben when Samantha said they were coming over here."
Martha let out a laugh. "Why you little..."
"Never fear Martha dear, the therapist is here," announced Frances walking into the room with Samantha.
"And they're packing wine!" added Samantha, pulling out a bottle of chardonnay and three glasses from her bag.
Nate looked at the three of them and decided to make his exit. "I see where this is going and I will let you ladies be."
He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. He then went downstairs to watch some TV alone.