As Kristy takes ahold of my hands, I felt sort of awkward, yet comfortable around her presence. She didn't threaten to break my hands, nor burn them with a cigarette.

Instead, her touch was rather safe and comfortable-almost like the apartment, I guess.

Speaking of the apartment, it appears as if Kristy, Olivia, and Austin were celebrating Pride Month; there were a large number of rainbow decorations hanging across walls, television screens, and smooth, wooden cupboards.

Somewhere in the kitchen is a massive dining table with bowls of oven-baked cookies and goods, allowing warm smells to spread inside the apartment.

And as Olivia takes out a pitcher of lemonade from the fridge, a catchy Diana Ross song, I'm Coming Out, blared in the background.

Taking in her excitement, I stared at Kristy's beaming face for a minute. "You were expecting me?"

Kristy nodded very happily. "Of course! I need my future daughter-in-law to partake in this celebration!"

I stared at her in amazement, while Austin stifled a groan.

"Seriously, Mom?" he grunted.

As if it didn't bother her, Kristy simply shrugs her shoulders.

"What?" she asked. "It could happen."

"No, it won't." Austin moaned.

Wandering over to the living room, I studied the rainbow-colored ribbons draping over the flat screen television, then smiled.

"What's the special occasion?" I ask, turning away from the decorations.

"We're throwing a 'coming out' party," Austin explained, laughing.

"Oh," I say, nodding. "Who's the lucky guy?"

Just then, a young androgynous teenager with curly brown hair, blue eyes, and chubby face appeared out of the kitchen wearing a blue buttoned-up shirt, long khaki pants, white socks, and black sneakers.

"This is Billy Townes, " introduced Olivia. "They are here because this brave person has joined our crusade!"

Smiling at her beautiful wife, Kristy added: "they have participated in the LGBT community for quite some time now."

I looked in Billy's direction, whose cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

"You pronouns are they/them?" I inquire.

Billy nods. "I am nonbinary, so I don't identify as a girl or a boy."

Giving them a proud smile, I give them a gentle pat on their left shoulder.

"Okay then, " I say cheerfully. "welcome to the LGBT community."

"Thank you so much, " Billy replied, grinning at me. "Are you a pioneer as well?"

Embarrassed, I shake my head. "I am not much of a joiner."

Giving an understanding grin, Billy added, "Truth be told, I have been a member for only a year."

My eyes widen. "You have?"

Billy nodded, allowing Kristy to throw her arms around them for a heart-warming hug.

"I am so proud of you!" she exclaimed, smearing her powdered cheek against Billy's.

Later, as Kristy turns her head to her family, she says to them: "Austin, make Billy comfortable. Olivia, play them one of your favorite songs!"

Olivia smiled then kissed her wife on the mouth.

"Okay," she says, chuckling. "I'll see what I can do."

Releasing Billy from her loving hugs, Kristy did some sort of odd dance as she went over to the fridge.

Her brown hair whipped side to side, her butt wiggled, and her shoulders shimmied like grass blades caught in the wind.

Mortified, Austin buried his face in his hands. "Mom, please....just don't."

Kristy frowned, stopping her dance altogether. "Why? You used to love watching me dance."

"Yeah, when I was like, seven," Austin grunted.

Stubborn, Kristy continues performing her weird dance to humiliate her son even more.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Austin cries to Olivia: "Mom, please tell Kristy that she is doing her embarrassing dance again!"

Olivia, who is busy switching the television to some music, shrugged her shoulders.

"Sweetie, it's a party." she reminded. "Don't be critical of your mother's dancing."

Confronting me with annoyed eyes, Austin says in a bored tone: "Every time we host a party, Kristy always embarrasses me."

I laughed a little. "Don't be such a dick, Austin. At least Kristy is having fun."

I pointed my finger to see his mother krumping near the stove.

"Oh God," Austin cringed, covering his eyes. "Well, I am going to the bathroom to wash out my eyeballs."

"Have fun," I say in a teasing tone.

Gently patting on my left shoulder, he marches up to his room to get away from the raucous noise.

While Kristy and her wife immersed themselves with music and cookies, Wren smiled then approached me with an M&M cookie clutched in their right hand.

"You look like you could use a cookie," he says offering one to me.

Politely, I take it from his hand, bite into it, then let the chocolate sweetness consume my dry tongue.

As the chocolate candies reduced to the size of tiny pebbles, my delicate tastebuds swallowed the M&M shells from into my mouth to my stomach.

"Mm," I say. "thank you."

"You're welcome," said Billy, sitting on the clean kitchen countertop.

As soon as the song was over, Olivia ventures toward the snack table pluck a simple blueberry muffin out of a muffin bowl, then nibbled it wholeheartedly.

Her pearly white teeth dig into the soft golden brown surface, letting chunks of blueberry scatter on the floor. With every satisfying bite, Olivia closed her eyes then sighed, letting the warm muffin replenish her empty stomach.

Staring at the baked good intently, I thought back to the cookies I had eaten. When I was a kid, I wasn't obsessed with fruits and vegetables. Most days, I would eat fruits that blended into yogurts or milkshakes, but not an actual fruit. And for vegetables, they weren't as appealing as a Lays potato chips.

Despite this, I eat whatever I could grab my hands on. Whether it was freshly bought eggs, slimy oatmeal, or a ripened banana, I made sure that my diet didn't affect my weight.

And though I admit those M&M cookies are delicious, maybe I should consider eating something healthy.

Perhaps whole wheat muffin would suffice, I think.

But when my feet began to shift, I heard Billy's nervous voice creeping behind me.

"So, what's a badass chick like you doing in this awesome party?" they asked.

Blushing from Billy's clumsy flirt, I replied that I was going to crash in Austin's apartment for the night.

"Oh, like a slumber party?" they implied.

I nodded. "Yeah, something like that. My name is Jack Cassidy by the way."

"Billy Townes."

After shaking their hand, I asked them to tell me a little bit about themselves.

"Well, I am currently seventeen, " Billy began. "I was born in Washington D.C. until my mom moved us to New York."

"How come?" I ask.

"My mom thought it was the perfect city to be a journalist," they explained. "In the meantime, my older twin sisters are attending New York University in the fall, so that leaves me and my mom paying our apartment bills."

"Oh," I say, listening to their story.

"Yeah," Billy chuckled, agreeing with me. "it sucks, but at least I got some extra money from babysitting. Normally, I would pay for groceries and gas mileage for my car, but sometimes I would go to the bookstore and buy graphic novels, especially Detective Comics."

"Oh cool, " I replied.

"So," said Billy, "have you read the Dark Knight or Superman?"

I scratched my head very nervously. "Well, I am kinda into Marvel."

"Marvel?" Billy baffled. "No offense, but DC is WAY better than Stan Lee's comics."

I gave them a smug stare. "No, it's not. Marvel comics is awesome! It has action, drama, and sexy characters, like Thor the Asgard Warrior."

I fanned my face for effect. "I bet my entire life that Thor can take on anything that throws at him."

Billy smiled. "I think Loki better than Thor."

"What makes you say that?" I scoffed.

"Because Thor looks like He-Man on steroids, " Billy stated.

I crossed my arms at this.

"No, he doesn't," I say with a laugh. "Thor is sexy, meanwhile Loki looks...I don't know, standoffish."

"Standoffish?" Billy repeated. "Tom Hiddleston is a vision! You should have seen him in Midnight in Paris."

They closed their eyes to imagine the thirty-seven-year-old British actor with an amazing jawline, blue eyes, and luscious brown hair.

"Someday, I want to marry that man," they vowed.

I let out an embarrassing laugh. "Same here, but I want to marry Chris Hemsworth."

When it was Billy's turn to ask me about my interests, I told them about my filmmaking skills, my older brother Jacob, and my obsession with Harry Potter.

"You like Harry Potter?" asked Billy.

I nodded once more.

"What is your favorite Hogwarts' house?"

"Hufflepuff." I proudly stated. "You?"

"Slytherin," replied Billy. "It is the best Hogwarts house in the universe. Have you ever been to Universal Studios?"

I frowned. "No, but I really want to."

Billy grinned. "Well, my uncle works as the 'entourage' of the park. He can get us tickets and backstage passes."

I looked up at him in shock. "Wait, really?"

Billy nodded. "Yeah, but he says that there are only two tickets left."

My eyes sparkled with excitement. "That's so cool, Austin is going to lose his shit when he hears about this!"

But just then, I remembered something.

Austin promised me that he would go to Australia to film a movie. If I say yes to Wren, I will never fulfill Elle Jones' dream.

Instead, my ass of a father will find out that I stole Elle's ashes, arrest me, force me to wear a fugly orange jumpsuit, eat prison shit, and die in a four-by-four jail cell.

I could say the same thing to Austin, but I bet three grand he wouldn't survive in a jail cell-let alone shower with deranged convicts.

Scratching my head, I said to Billy. "It's very nice of you to get Universal Studio tickets for me, but I have plans with Austin."

"Plans?" Billy repeated blankly.

"Yeah, " I sighed. "We are making a movie for some kind of film contest."

"Oh."

I sheepishly gazed into their eyes.

"Listen, it's nothing personal," I say quickly. "It's just, you know-"

"Bad timing?" Billy guesses nonchalantly.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"How about some other time?"

Grinning, I nodded again. "Yeah, sure. That would be great."

As soon as I part ways with Billy, I saw Austin coming downstairs and towards the dining room table.

Heading over to the kitchen, I saw Austin plucking a hot cookie from the tray, sitting on the countertop, and taking a delicious bite.

As he ate, bits of M&M's candy sprinkled onto the kitchen floor. Austin tries getting out a piece of towel paper from the roll, but as soon as he hears Kristy calling his name from the living room, Austin abandoned his mess then ventured forward.

"Hey, Mom," said Austin. "You called me?"

Kristy nodded. "Could you do me a solid and pour me some lemonade?"

Smiling, Austin said, "sure, but in the meantime, please don't go overboard with the cookies."

Heading over to the dining room, Austin retrieved the pitcher of icy lemonade, poured it into a red plastic cup, and returned to his mother.

"Here you go," he insisted.

With a caring look, Kristy kissed him on the forehead and stroked his dark brown curls. As I watched her comfort Austin, a twinge of envy blossomed deep inside my heart.

Ever since Isadora abandoned Jacob and me, the first person I had ever considered as my mother was Kristy. In some way, she reminds me of Isadora: they were both loving, beautiful, kind, eccentric, and loyal.

But unlike Kristy, Isadora had always gotten into fights with Joseph. Sometimes it was about the rent, but most days it was about Joseph choosing his job over his struggling family.

Because of this, Jacob, who was barely seven-years-old at the time, became the parent. Making lunch, giving me a bath, and putting me to sleep became natural for Jacob, but when it was my tenth birthday, Isadora had had enough with Joseph's bullshit.

She threw her clothes, drugs, and her belongings all in one suitcase, kissed me and Jacob goodbye, then stormed out of the apartment without heading back.

Soon after Isadora left, Joseph went into a ballistic rage. Glass was thrown, couches were turned over, and every trace of Isadora was either burned, disposed of, or ripped apart by Joseph's brutal strength.

While Joseph continued trashing the apartment, Jacob carried me up to my room, locked the door, rushed into the closet, then held me tightly until we heard the landlord telling Joseph to stop scaring away his profits.

As time went by, Joseph began to crumble; drinking and neglecting us became his way of coping. And with Isadora on the run, Jacob and I started to take care of ourselves.

Every day, we did our homework, bought groceries, and cleaned every piece of trash rested on the apartment's floorboards.

Taking care of Joseph is one of our least favorite jobs to do. Mostly because Joseph is an irresponsible drunk with no regards for others.

But in spite of our attitude, Jacob and I became his slaves: cleaning, washing, cooking, dusting, and throwing away broken beer bottles became a daily routine for us.

That is until Jacob left me to deal with Joseph's bullshit.

Examining my sullen face, Billy asked me if I was doing okay.

"I am doing fine, " I lied.

Billy looked at me funny then gasped when he saw the enormous bruise covering my left eye.

"Oh my God, " he murmured. "what happened to you?"

I stared down at my cookie. "I fell downstairs."

"Are you sure?" they asked. "It's a really big bruise."

I nodded solemnly. "Yeah, it was the stairs. Not Joseph."

Billy's eyebrows scrunched. "Who's Joseph?"

When I didn't respond, Billy takes a step closer.

"Was he the one who hit you?"

"No."

"Then why did you say his name?" they asked. "Is he your boyfriend or something?"

Overwhelmed by their questions, I thought about leaving Austin's apartment when an echoing sound alerted me.

Riiiing

Riiing

I glanced over my shoulder to see a black house phone, buzzing inside its receiver.

Its whiny noise made it hard for me to consume my cookie-even continue the conversation I had with Billy. Not only I found the phone's ghastly ringing obnoxious, but I keep getting the feeling that Joseph has finally found my hiding place.

As the calls grew loud, I can see Joseph's monstrous eyes leering at me; his large hands wringing my neck; the smell of beer on his sluggish breath.

Riiiing

Riiiing

Since I was near the phone, Kristy and the others expected me to answer it, but for some reason, I couldn't.

Somehow I was afraid that Joseph had woken up from his bed and started looking for me.