Infuriating - Onley James Page 0,48
sorry for myself, I say it because it’s true. There are too many things about me you don’t know. I know you think my illiteracy is something that can be fixed, but it can’t. I’m not just dyslexic. I have a sensory processing disorder that just doesn’t allow the pieces to line up for me. I had a speech impediment and a stutter too, but those are things I outgrew. My dyslexia, combined with whatever other problems I have…up here…” He tapped his temple. “That’s never going to go away. I’m never going to be able to sit down and read a book or write anything that doesn’t look like a preschooler wrote it. That’s just how it is.”
Jackson didn’t necessarily believe that was true, but Day clearly did, and, for right now, Jackson had to accept that. “I don’t care if you can’t read. I don’t care if you ever learn to read. You’ve clearly figured out a system that works for you. I just want you to let me in.”
Day rested his head against Jackson’s shoulder. “The optimist in you is going to leave us both broken if you don’t learn to listen to me. Run now, Jackson, before it’s too late.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Jackson looked at his watch. “Actually, that’s not true. It’s Sunday. So we’re both expected at my mother’s house…for dinner. In two hours.”
“I can’t believe you just decided to spring this whole dinner with your family thing on me at the last minute.”
“I wasn’t trying to spring it on you last minute. If I’m in town, I do Sunday dinners with my family. I can’t leave you alone with some crazy stalker looking for you here in LA. Also, I’d rather keep you close after what happened between us earlier.”
Day shook his head. “No. I’m not going. I’m not meeting your family. This is too much. It was bad enough meeting your sister—who hated me, by the way. Now, you want to parade me around to your whole family? Why? I keep telling you this thing between us is temporary, and you just keep acting like we’ve been dating for a year instead of fucking each other for a month.”
Jackson looked at Day like he was crazy. He was crazy. He was acting crazy, but he couldn’t stop himself. Ever since Jackson figured out his secret, he’d felt like he was trapped outside with a tornado bearing down on him. Having to sit with Jackson’s family while Jackson’s mother asked him a million questions and his sisters watched made Day sick to his stomach.
Day had just wanted the fantasy for a few more days. Was that too much to ask? A few days to pretend he was a normal guy without a warehouse full of baggage. A few days to pretend there was a world where he and Jackson fit together, but it just wasn’t true. But then Jackson had gone and ruined everything because he just didn’t see Day for what he really was: a lost fucking cause. Why couldn’t Jackson see that? Day needed to make him see that.
“Day…”
“No. It’s fine. We’ll go. As long as you know this is going to be a disaster, right?”
Day turned on his heel and marched up the stairs. As soon as he closed the door, he leaned against it and took a few deep breaths, grimacing as he noticed the remains of his bathroom door. Jackson had literally kicked down a door because he’d thought Day might be hurt. Who did that? Jackson. Only Jackson. He was a goddamned superhero. Too bad Day wasn’t leading lady material.
It was time Jackson saw who Day really was. He found his tightest pair of jeans, donned his bubblegum pink crop top and a full face of makeup, leaving his hair wild and just a little unkempt, like he’d spent a day at the beach…or rolling around in bed with Jackson.
Jackson met him downstairs, looking Day up and down. “You look beautiful, but you didn’t have to get dressed up for my family.”
Day looked at Jackson’s two hundred dollar jeans and his D&G white t-shirt and arched a brow. “You look pretty fancy to me.”
Jackson shook his head. “I’m not the one wearing enough holographic highlighter to be seen from space,” Jackson said with a chuckle. “But I see your point.”
The drive to Jackson’s mother’s house passed in silence, Jackson playing the audiobook they’d started the day he’d brought Day home. His mother didn’t live far, just outside