Page 41 of They Were Roommates
“Sofia, you knew about this? ThatDiegowas off running wild in this city, sleeping with men to get ahead and run a… a coffee shop?” his father shouted.
Diego felt the exact moment his heart shattered, and it was when his father said his name, except he didn’t say Diego. He said his dead name, the name Frankie had never heard and was never supposed to hear.
Diego had never had his heart broken before. He’d never dated anyone before Frankie, and while the incident with his mother at his graduation had been bad, it had been a long time coming and he’d built up a protective shell around his heart by the time it happened. He had no such shell today.
Diego slowly turned to gaze at his boyfriend who looked almost as bad as Diego felt. He looked a little like his heart had just broken too.
“¡Tío!” Sofia shrieked. “That is not Diego’s name! That has not been his name for years! And you,” she wheeled on Diego’s siblings, “you’re just going to stand there while your father tears down your brother?”
Oscar crossed his arms, accentuating his bulging muscles. He’d been born into his masculinity; he hadn’t had to fight for itlike Diego had, so he often took it for granted. It was one of the many things Diego envied about him.
“What brother?” he said coldly.
“Oscar! You fucking ass—”
“Enough!” his father boomed, slicing his hand through the air. For some stupid reason, Diego flinched. Frankie stepped up to his side and wrapped his arm protectively around Diego’s side. For just a moment, he considered pulling away. Frankie was taller. Diego felt tiny and insignificant, and he felt like the small child his family had never seen clearly.
As his father’s eyes bore into him, though, Diego gave up all of the toxic notions of masculinity and strength that had been drilled into him as a child. He shrank into Frankie’s embrace.
His father shook his head and scoffed. “Your mother would have been so disappointed in you. I’m glad she doesn’t have to see this.”
Diego heard his cousin’s outraged voice, and his brother responding in kind. He heard Antonia tittering anxiously, and Miguel trying to calm everyone down. Well, at least he knew without a shadow of a doubt that nothing had changed. His sister always tried to play the peacemaker, while Miguel was the class clown who tried to divert attention away from the problem and pretend like everything was just fantastic all the fucking time.
As the disapproving voices of several of histíasandtíosbegan to rise,Diego realized he couldn’t make out a single word they were saying. The only thing that made it through the fog that was descending over him was Frankie’s strong grip on his shoulder and his soft, measured voice.
He spoke confidently but didn’t yell. To Diego, it sounded almost like he was whispering. As if anyone worthy of listening would stop their own talking to listen. “We came all the way here, left our business and left our home, so Diego could pay hisrespects, and give his condolences to the rest of the family. He has done that, and he has weathered more abuse than any one person should ever have to bear. Now, we are leaving, and I do not think we will be coming back. Good day to you all.”
Dozens of pairs of eyes turned to look at them and Diego realized maybe Frankie hadn’t been speaking so quietly after all. Maybe the ringing in his ears had made his voice seem softer than it was. Thankfully, the ringing seemed to be blocking out all the words his family tried to fling at him as Frankie led him out the door.
“Franklin,” Diego whispered, and Frankie squeezed his shoulders tight.
“Yes, my love? What do you need from me?”
“I want to go home.”
“Okay. I’ll take you home. Right now. We’ll get our things and I’ll call the airline on the way.”
“Okay.”
Diego followed Frankie to the curb where thankfully several taxis were waiting. He let Frankie help him into the backseat, and a moment later, after Frankie sprinted around the car to the other side, Diego let Frankie buckle him in. As they sped across town to their hotel, he let Frankie pull him into his arms, and when he started to shake, he let Frankie cradle his head against his chest, and whisper promises Diego wasn’t sure he would be able to keep.
Chapter 7
Frankie
As time provideddistance from that horrible day, Frankie watched his boyfriend slowly turn into a ghost.
Diego seemed to float between rooms, barely making any sound at all. At first, Obie had joked maybe they should put a bell on him, so he didn’t scare the customers by just appearing at their sides, but after a full week of this, he wasn’t joking anymore. Frankie hadn’t thought it was his place to tell their friends what had happened, but as the days passed and Diego became more and more withdrawn, Frankie got a little desperate.
He called in reinforcements in the form of a night of pizza, beer, baking, and video games with Obie and Seth. Diego said all the right things and quirked up the corner of his mouth at all the right times, but he wasn’t really there. The second their friends left, Diego disappeared into their bedroom, and by the time Frankie cleaned up the coffee table and put the dishwasher up, he found Diego curled up under the blankets facing away from Frankie’s side of the bed.
Frankie had offered to sleep in his old bedroom several times after Diego declined sex, cuddling, and even holding hands. Diego said he would never kick Frankie out of their bedjust because he wasn’t in the mood for physical touch, but as days turned into weeks, he wasn’t sure how he could justify continuing to take up space in their bed when he clearly wasn’t wanted.
Frankie tried talking about it. He tried not talking about it. He tried talking about anything and everything and Diego would respond, but they made absolutely no conversational headway on anything important. At one point, Frankie even gently suggested therapy. Diego agreed that it sounded like a good idea, but never brought it up again.
Some of their regular customers began to notice, so Frankie and Obie began to come up with managerial tasks for Diego to do in the backroom where he could feel useful but not be forced to socialize, which seemed to be the very last thing Diego wanted to do. He barely seemed to want to talk to Frankie, let alone dozens of strangers each day.
Their customers were quite loyal, so their patronage didn’t drop off, but the profit reports indicated they weren’t bringing in any new customers. It was as if people could tell there was a depressed air about the place, and it made the cozy space feel almost oppressive.
