Seth
I was embracing myself to face the questions I knew I was gonna get when meeting the family for another birthday party. Having a big family was a great thing if you needed help or someone to talk to. But sometimes it was a pain to keep up with all the parties and gatherings that was bound to happen if you were a greek-american living in a smallish town with all your family near-by. And being a 30-year-old single man I was almost getting used to all the question about "a girlfriend" or "having a family soon" or " being interested in this or that lovely girl". Almost. But there was a problem to that. I was a single gay man. A closeted gay man.
I was in the closet for purely comfort reasons. I didn't think I would be disowned or anything like that. It was just easier for me to not have everyone know my business. Because in my family secrets were like holding a diamond in your hand - rare and too good to pass up. And I hadn't met anyone who was worthy of coming out. So I stayed in the closet.
When I got to my parents' house I was ready to face all the aunts and uncles and cousins with their children.
"Seth! Oh, my dearest Seth, come here, help me with the drinks" My mom had already hugged me and kissed my cheek while patting my stomach and pulling me towards the drinks.
"God, are you eating anything? You are getting too thin! You have to eat, my dear! Come here, take some meat. Here, here!"
She was pulling me towards the grill and I stopped midway and took my mother's hand.
"Mom, please, I will eat later. And yes, mama, I am eating, every day in fact."
"Oh, you! You know I worry about you. You need a wife to cook for you. With your crazy work hours I am sure you don't have time to eat properly. I will pack you some leftovers, yes."
With that she nodded and pushed me back to the drinks and was already giving orders to other people who arrived "early to help" like every other family had done who were attending. I started to take some soda and wine out of the coolers and had to smile when three teen-aged girls came and one shyly asked if they could get some coke. I reached for some coke and gave each one a can.
"Enjoy!" I smiled and winked at the girls who started giggling and backed away whispering to each other. I never really understood women or girls. But I knew that if you were a teenaged girl, you crushed on older guys left and right. I'm sure my looks didn't hurt, or so I had been told many times over. I myself think that I am your average greek-american guy: olive skin, black wavy hair and dark eyes. Being a firefighter and having a good physique due to my job and constant working out at the gym helped also. I knew that people thought of me as attractive, but to me it was just looks and it would fade in time.
Maybe that's why I hadn't found anyone yet. I had had plenty of offers and men (and women) were interested in me, but that's just it. They were interested in my looks but nothing more, I had come to find out. I was beginning to think that gay men didn't really look for something serious and long-lasting, but just a hot night or two. But I knew that I wasn't really looking in the right places either. I visited some clubs while younger but the club life wasn't for me. Nowadays I met guys at the gym who made an obvious pass at me. I wasn't really one to have a great gay-dar.
"Seth! Look at you, my darling! How are you? Are you seeing anyone yet? You know, my neighbors daughter, little Amy, remember? Well, she has just broken up with... who was is, Mark, honey, who did Amy date? Mark?"
