Chapter 25

* * * *

“The bus will be here in two minutes, AC!”

He rushed down the stairs for school on his sixteenth birthday, picked up the card his mother had left with his lunch money and turned to face the kitchen, where she and his father still sat at the table nursing their coffee. AC’s dad was in a shirt and tie, his jacket hanging on the back of his chair. His mom was dressed for a day of errands and lunch with the ladies.

“M-m-om, d-d-dad, I’m g-gay.”

“Okay, AC. We love you, no matter wh—”

* * * *

“Not that.” Ixaax interrupted the story.

“Oh.”

“My dad knows I’m gay. He doesn’t know about this.” Ixaax nodded toward the guys in the back behind them. “Or these.” He ran a hand down each arm. “Or my wish to be on Ink Master. My brother does. He’s after me all the time to get laid more and just tell my dad what I want to be. ‘Open a shop and tell him after,’ he says. That’s what I meant. No dad wants their kid to be an artist. How did you tell yours you were going to do it anyway?”