“Oo-ee, cher. That was so good. Are you proud?” Colt’s voice preceded his huge, happy smile. He couldn’t live under a cloud with that shining on him.
“Come in, baby.” Kyle tossed the note on the table and held his dressing room door open. “I am so proud. Crazy proud. You had fun?”
“I had a ball. It was even better today.” Colt came to him, offering his lips.
Kyle pulled him right in for a taste and let the door swing closed. “Mmm. Thank you for coming. It means a lot.” He knew what it meant that Colt had come. He still wasn’t sure about his parents. “My parents are here.”
“Yeah?” Colt searched his eyes. “You want I should disappear, cher? I know that some folks ain’t pleased.”
He sighed. He wanted Colt to stay, for the two of them to stand up to his parents, but he couldn’t force that choice on Colt. “I can’t even tell you why they’re here. They’ve never come to an opening before. Nothing is going to make them happy. I don’t want you to feel?—”
He looked up at the knock on the door. “Jake?”
“It’s us, Kyle.” His father’s voice was unmistakable and sounded impatient. “Did you get our note?”
He looked at Colt. “Go or stay, it’s up to you. I’m introducing you as my lover if you stay.”
“I ain’t ashamed of you, cher. I’ll stand with you, no worries.” Colt squeezed his hand and offered him another one of those smiles, eager, happy.
Kyle smiled and kissed him. “I’m proud of you too. Thank you.”
“Kyle?”
Kyle went to the door and opened it. “Mom, Dad. What are you guys doing here? I thought you were waiting in the lobby.”
His mother kissed his cheek and then brushed by him. “We got tired of waiting. This is your dressing room?”
“Yes. Did you enjoy the show?”
“Some of it.”
His father followed her in. “Some of it was too….”
“Gay?”
His mother looked at him. “Sad.”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Why are you?—”
“Oh. Excuse me, I didn’t…. Who is this?”
Who is this. Because heaven forbid the woman say hello before she knew whether Colt was beneath her.
“Ah. Mom, Dad, this is my lover. Colt Boudreaux.”
He waited while the room dropped ten degrees. His mother looked Colt over, said absolutely nothing, and then looked back at Kyle. “Your sister gave us her tickets when she found out she couldn’t be in town, and she….”
“She asked us to see you dance.”
“Wasn’t he amazing, y’all? He was stunning.” Colt grinned over at his parents, just bold as brass.
Kyle smiled and took Colt’s hand, watching his father’s face.
“I wish you would at least dance normal ballet, Kyle. Respectable, classical ballet as you were trained.”
“You know I don’t like that, Kyle.”
He shook his head. “What, Mother? Holding hands with my lover?”