Spring Break Cruise (8)
--EPILOGUE--
I didn't see Travis on Saturday. And I guess, like he said, that was probably a good thing. Of course I was totally crabby and depressed the entire trip home. I knew I shouldn't take this out on my family, but I was in a really bad mood and I was completely rude every time anybody said anything to me. I'm sure my parents were ready to send me to see the school counselor or something.
As soon as we got home I went to my room to email Travis. It turns out he had sent me an e-postcard already from the ship some time on Friday and that was waiting for me. As soon as I saw his name in my email box I got excited. His note was completely cheesy but still, it was the first time I had smiled all day. I sent him an email and waited for his response, checking every five minutes to see if he had gotten home yet. Finally around 9 o'clock or so, I got his reply and we were able to IM one another. We stayed up til midnight chatting online. It made me feel a lot better but I still went to bed feeling pretty lonely that night.
We started getting into the habit of chatting online pretty much every night after that. We sent each other pictures from the trip and talked about what was going on at school. It was great, but I still missed him like crazy.
After we had been back about two weeks or so, Travis told me he was going to come out to his parents, just like he had said. The following day he sent me an email:
-----Original Message-----
From: Travis Larson [mailto:tplarson87@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 3:56 PM
To: anmitchell@comcast.net
Subject: last night
ANdy,
wazzup! how are u? my audition for the musical
yesterday went great! call-backs are tomorrow
and so keep your fingers crossed for me k? how'd your
chem test go? i'm sure you aced it (if you ever got
off the computer and started studying ha ha!)
you probably want to know how things went last night
with my parents. after we finished our chat i went
right down stairs and just sort of blurted it out. i
was totally babbling to them even though i had
completely rehearsed what i was going to say before
hand. it was pretty bad. mom started crying right
away and dad was angry--like i knew he would be. they
both said i was too young to know, that i just needed
to go out wiht girls and stuff. i told them it didn't
work like that but i'm not sure they really
understood. we talked for a long time and eventually
they sort of calmed down a bit. i tried to go
back to my room and study, but i could hear them arguing.
dad was all 'this is your fault' to my mom
which really made me angry. i guess the good news
is that they both came to talk to me afterward. mom
was still crying but she said she loved me and that all
she wants is for me to be happy. i didn't realize
until she said it how much i needed to hear that. dad
mumbled something about how he didn't approve of any
of this-no shit-but i was still his son and he even managed
to say he loved me as well. one step at a time huh?
god Andy, it really sucked. i never want to do that
again. but its weird cause i'm still glad i did.
things are still pretty tense around here, and even
though i've kind of made their lives suck for a while,
i finally feel like i've made my life better. that
probably doesnt make any sense, but i just know
that i feel like a huge weight has finally come off my
shoulders.
i know we say this every email but i miss u so
much!!! after my parents left the only thing I wanted was
to feel your arms around me.
we'll chat again tonite. i'm enclosing a little pic i
took for you (don't get excited--its rated G!!)
love, t
I opened the picture and smiled as I saw a close up of his foot--sporting our anklet. I reread what Travis had written. I looked down at my own foot and the matching anklet I was wearing. I headed downstairs to find my parents in the living room.
"Mom, Dad," I said. "There's something I need to tell you."
-- AUTHORS NOTE --
I've been genuinely shocked at how many people have written about this story. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. As usual, your comments are always welcome! Please do feel free to write to me at: billynkyle@yahoo.com or you can try me on MSN Messenger at: billynkyle@yahoo.com. I'm toying with a sequel . . . so let me know if you'd be interested!
I didn't originally intend for this to become a musical, but as it went along I found myself sort of intrigued with the idea of a story with a soundtrack. Hence the number of song lyrics in this story. Hope that didn't feel too forced or silly.
If you're curious, here's the song list in its entirety. I actually burned them on a disc and it didn't turn out to be that bad a mix. Ya know, in a cheesy, love song kinda way.
"Part of Your World"
Performed by Jodi Benson
Song by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken
From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to "The Little Mermaid"
"Part of Your World (reprise)
Performed by Jodi Benson
Song by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken
From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to "The Little Mermaid
"Time After Time"
Performed by Tuck & Patti
Song by Cyndi Lauper
From "The Best of Tuck & Patti"
"Under The Boardwalk"
Performed by Bette Midler
Song by Arthur Resnick and Kenny Young
From the Original Motion Picture Recording of "Beaches"
"The Luckiest"
Performed by Ben Folds
Song by Ben Folds
From "Rockin' the Suburbs"
"Good Things"
Performed by the BoDeans
Song by the BoDeans
Live version from "Joe Dirt Car"
"At Last"
Performed by Etta James
"Song for the Asking"
Performed by Simon and Garfunkel
Song by Paul Simon
Live Version from "The Essential Simon and Garfunkel" (?)
"Wonderful Tonight"
Performed by Eric Clapton
Song by Eric Clapton
Live Version from "24 Nights"
"Come Away With Me"
Performed by Norah Jones
Song by Norah Jones
From "Come Away With Me"
And I added this one for pure over-the-top corniness (ya know, the whole book-end thing):
"Happy Ending"
Performed by the Disney Chorus
Song by Alan Menken
From the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to "The Little Mermaid"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPRING BREAK CRUISE January 2004
Comments and critiques are welcome at: billynkyle@yahoo.com or you can try me on MSN Messenger at: billynkyle@yahoo.com.
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