James rang the doorbell once, but didn’t wait for an answer before opening the front door and leading me into his parents’ house. Everyone was yelling loudly which reminded me of every time I went back to my own house. The chaos was strangely comforting. Maybe if his family was as screwed up as mine it would increase the chance of things working out between the two of us.

It sounded stupid, but I tried to make myself believe it anyway.

James’ dad, Nolan Nelson, smiled at us from his recliner, then continued yelling into the phone he had pressed against his ear. A kid, presumably Jeffrey, was yelling from somewhere down the hall that he didn’t want to put his pants on. Jillian had clearly heard that argument for too long. Her own voice raised to tell her son that he would wear pants at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Well, it wasn’t exactly like my house. Jillian was just tired and frustrated and clearly trying to raise her kid the right way. Jeffrey was probably just tired and hungry. Nolan, from what I could tell, was arguing with a friend about something that had happened in a baseball game the previous night.

They clearly didn’t hate each other. Even on the good days with my family, strangers would be hard-pressed to believe that anyone liked anyone else, at least when I was around.

James gently pushed me through all of the noise to the kitchen on the back side of the house. His mom was bent over looking inside the oven while also trying to stir something on the stove.

“Should we help her?” I whispered to James.

He shook his head, silenced me with a finger to his lips, and nodded toward the back door. I followed him, and, seconds after entering his parents’ house, found myself alone with James in their backyard. Before James shut the sliding glass door, the fire alarm went off from the smoke coming out of the oven.

The closed sliding door blocked off most of the noise.

James smiled, shaking his head in embarrassment. “Don’t worry about them. They’ll be fine. Mom’s a horrible cook, but refuses any help, and all of them are loud. They’ll call us back inside in a little bit and everything will settle down for the most part.”

James and I looked around the backyard, neither able to start a conversation. I knew we’d eventually need to figure out how to get better at talking to each other, but decided to go for the easy, physical connection instead.

I stepped forward, closing the gap between us. With our bodies pressed against each other, I looked up into his brown eyes and nibbled on my lip, hoping he’d catch the hint.

He didn’t let me down.

Cupping his hand behind my head as I wrapped my hands around his waist, he leaned in for a warm, slow kiss that quickly made me forget anything going on inside the house. His lips were so soft and attentive, that I melted even more into his body. Selfishly, I let myself hope that the visit would be short so we could get back to one of our places to fool around more properly before our real date.

I opened my eyes to ask him if he had any ideas where he wanted to go, but when I noticed his eyes were already open and staring at me, I said, “Eww. You’re an open-eyed kisser? That’s creepy, man.”

James leaned his head back away from me, a questioning look on his face. “Is it? I never really thought about it, I guess.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, it kinda is. I’m standing here with my eyes closed, all vulnerable and focused on our kiss. And who knows what you’re looking at? The house next door? A squirrel on the fence? How messy my hair is?”

“Maybe it is a little strange. But I swear I was only looking at you. It’s like I’m afraid that you’re going to disappear if I close my eyes too long.”

I groaned and shoved him away. “God man, that was corny,” I said playfully even though the words made me feel great.

Stepping toward me, James leaned down for another kiss. Just as our lips touched, the door slid open, and someone cleared their throat.

We quickly pulled away from each other and turned to face the door, but rather than separating from me entirely, James’ giant hand wrapped around mine as if promising to protect me from anything that was about to happen.

Nolan said, “So the rumors are true.” Rather than looking upset at seeing his son holding another man’s hand, though, he held his own out to shake mine. “I’m sure James has drilled all of our names into your head. It’s a nervous habit. He does it with anyone he introduces to us. He never does the same for us, though.”

Hearing the implied question, I answered, “Evan. Pleased to meet you, sir.”

“No sirs or ma’am in this house, please. Nolan and Maggie will do just fine. So what do you do, Evan?”

Nolan’s eye contact was a little overwhelming, and I almost laughed when I realized how similar it was to James kissing with his eyes open.

Before I could answer, James said, “Come on, Dad. You just met the guy. Take it a little easy on him so you don’t scare him away, okay?”

James’ voice was playful, but I thought I could hear a slight tension. His dad held his hands up defensively. It felt like they were both going through their well-practiced roles.

Wanting to make sure that Nolan liked me since I thought it might help his family accept learning that James was gay, I said, “It’s okay, James. Sir, I mean Nolan, I’m a DJ. Down at The Firehouse, one of the clubs on The Strip.”

Maggie, perhaps with a little too much excitement in her voice, nearly squealed, “Oh, that gay club. I’ve heard it’s great for dancing.” She spun in a circle with her grandson in her arms, and finished by dipping him. The boy giggled, the argument over his pants long since forgotten.

James groaned. “Jesus Christ, Mom. What do you know about the only gay club in town?”

In a perfectly friendly tone, but without backing down one inch, she replied, “Up until earlier this morning, I would’ve said the same to you. Looks like we’re all full of surprises, aren’t we?”

None of us had a reply for that.

Maggie handed Jeffrey back to Jillian. Smoothing out imaginary wrinkles on her apron, Maggie said, “Shit. That came out all wrong. We’re excited for you, James. We just don’t know exactly how we’re supposed to show it. You, too, Evan. You seem like a fine young man, and I hope my James is taking good care of you.”

I squeezed James’ hand, hoping it would help him relax. James had no idea how lucky he was to have parents that seemed to only care about his happiness.

I was certainly jealous.

“No worries, Maggie,” I said. “The sooner we get it all out on the table, the sooner we can all be perfectly comfortable around each other. Ask me anything, I’m an open book.”

Nolan, Maggie, and Jillian all started asking different questions at the same time. Even James was able to laugh at that, which went a long way toward clearing any stress.

Jeffrey took advantage of the quiet moment to get in the next question. “Do you like Elmo?” he asked.

“Who?” I asked wondering if I had misheard him.

“Elmo, Elmo, Elmo,” he squealed. “Come inside. I’ll show you.”

Jillian picked up her son, and told him, “No TV until after lunch.”

“How about you show me after dinner, okay?” I offered, figuring winning over the kid wouldn’t hurt me one bit.

“Tell us about your family,” Nolan said, wrapping an arm over Maggie’s shoulder and pulling her against his side. Without missing a beat, she tipped her head against his shoulder while continuing to look at me with a friendly smile on her face.

After a couple of seconds of me stumbling around, trying to get out of talking about my family, James swooped in and saved me.

“Hey, Jillian. I thought you said Rick was going out of town?”

She sighed dramatically and said, “He is. That convention thing he told me about, remember? That’s why Jeffrey is here today.”

“That’s what I thought,” James said, clearly lying about being surprised. “But while we were driving over here, I saw him walking into one of the bars on The Strip. You don’t think he was lying to you, do you?”

James’ voice made it clear that he certainly thought Rick was lying.

“What the fuck? Shit. What the hell?” She corrected the profanity after a quick glance at her son. Jillian turned and stormed back into the house, pulling her phone from her back pocket.

Nolan and Maggie followed.

“Don’t call him,” Nolan shouted. “The less you, or Jeffrey, see of Rick, the better off we all are.”

Alone again on the porch, James winked at me. “Rick’s good for exactly one thing. Getting everybody in my family pissed at him so they forget about me. Good thing I saw that slimy bastard during the drive over.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Your family is so nice, though. I just got caught off-guard. I barely like to think about my family, much less talk about them. I’ll have to find some way to make it up to you later.”

Placing himself squarely in front of me, James said, “Another kiss would go a long way toward squaring everything up as far as I’m concerned.”

While we kissed again on the back porch, any worries about my own family drifted away. I risked a quick peek while James’ tongue explored mine. His eyes were closed. He looked so peaceful and happy that I was able to understand the attraction of being able to see the other man while kissing.

But James caught me in the act. “Hey, eyes shut, mister.”

He lightly bit my lip as punishment.

Instead of making me feel bad about peeking, the bite just made me want to earn another. But with his family waiting inside, we could only grab each other’s hands and walk back inside to join them for dinner.