“…a date.” He said aloud. I’ve got a date. I…got asked out on a date. By someone I like.
His hands cupped around his face, pushing the blonde tendrils back. “Holy hell. I have a date on Friday!” When the anixiety finally died down he could feel it pulsing through him. Excitement. Triumph.
(There was also a hint of arrogance, but he buried it immediately.)
He nearly danced his way home, swinging his black laptop bag a bit as he skipped and twirled three blocks down to his parent’s house. After a minute or two of his frollicking, he realized people were looking at him, so he adjusted his glasses and bashfully walked the rest of the way home.
Fingers grasping the handle and jiggling it before he pushed it open, he was prepared to say something, anything about the great day he’d had. Actually, now would have been the best time to talk about it; he was going on a date with a man on Friday. And he was gorgeous! Noel scrubbed at his cheeks with such excitement that he almost missed the talk in the living room.
Almost.
“See, nonna, that’s what I mean. The homosexuals are taking over everything. Turning out our kids and shit. Gesù Cristo. Does nobody believe in the blood anymore?” His brother, Nicholas, was throwing a fit again. He was always complaining about something.
“They yell for what they want so that they get what they want, Nico, and they get it, with their rainbows plastered in shops. Man will marry a pig when they’re through with this country.” Nonna was folding clothes as she chattered, which made the folding all the more violent as she often talked with her hands. “Oh, Noel! You’re home. How was class today? Your mama will be home around six, she called ahead.” She straightened when he said nothing in return and turned to look at his face. “Caro, you look white as a sheet! Is your heart okay?”
He wondered what would happen if he said it. That he had a date. What they would say after asking “who is this girl, is she Italian” and hearing “no, he’s black”? Would papa curse at him? Would he throw things? Would everyone start yelling and screaming so loudly that the neighbors would come? Maybe Noel would be lucky and his condition would kick in; maybe he’d have a heart attack and die at that moment. But here would he go? To purgatorio or to hell? He’d already said yes to a man, for a date. A date. Albeit, it was a romantic campus tour and dinner, but Noel considered all of this for a second and a half, which seemed to be too long for his nonna.
“Noel? Should we call a doctor or not?”
“I’m fine, nonna. Just a little tired. I’ll do the laundry.” He smiled, and kept his mouth shut.
