CHAPTER FOURTEEN #2
“So, mom, dad, I have moved in with Gabe and Ellen and Holly, and also Krystal and Liz there. The woman who provided the house let us move into another, bigger house just recently. Like we just got done moving in yesterday basically. And I am really, really happy. I have my own space, I have my own office. I am making actual connections in the gaming industry. And I know you don’t take the idea of streaming seriously because it’s like one-in-a-million who actually ‘make it’, but I don’t have to make it!
I live with five other people who are all also pursuing their own passions, and if you’re worried about money, Ellen has money. ”
“How much are we talking here?” her mother asked.
Chloe looked at Gabe, who looked at Ellen.
She cleared her throat. “At present, our collective savings–most of which is mine–sits at around twenty six thousand dollars.”
“That’s...nothing,” her dad muttered.
“It’s not nothing when you have five hundred dollar a month rent, a reasonable landlady, and zero utility bills beyond internet,” Chloe shot back.
“She has a point,” her mother said.
“Are you really defending this?” he asked.
“Yes.” They stared at each other for a moment. Gabe found himself hoping this wasn’t going to be a fracture point for their relationship. “Honey, you know that people can make things work even if they don’t do it the quote unquote right way.”
He sighed and returned his attention to Chloe and the others. “So what are you all doing for money then?”
“As I said, I am pursuing streaming, and I’m actually getting my shit together.
Gabe and Krystal are writers, and they’re making money.
Not crazy money, but more than enough to cover freaking five hundred bucks a month.
Liz is going to launch an online workout routine website.
Ellen’s designing websites and cover art.
Holly is becoming a photographer and she is very good at it. ”
“None of these are…” He hesitated, looking around, and perhaps reading the room. “Stable jobs.”
“What the fuck even is a stable job now!?” Chloe demanded.
“It’s all bullshit out there! You can get fired for nothing.
They steal your fucking wages, they steal your fucking tips, they steal your fucking life!
And you know it. You can’t just ‘walk into a store with a smile and a resume’ anymore, dad!
There’s a million other fuckers willing to do it for less for every goddamned job.
Let me ask you a question: where exactly did you see me going with my life as a goddamned barista?
Like truly, five years from now, where did you think I would be? ”
“I…” He hesitated for a long moment, clearly struggling.
Gabe put a hand on the back of Chloe’s, trying to get her to relent a little.
This wasn’t just hard for her. “I figured you’d eventually find a better, more well-paying job.
I figured you’d find out some way to put your degree to work, some crazy new job I didn’t know about. ”
“Exactly. Just what-ifs. There are so few paths forward to actual success now, dad. The American Dream–which was already a joke when you were my age–is deader than dead now. It’s a joke.
Hard work just gets you more fucking hard work for the same or less pay!
And that’s the goddamned standard everywhere now because you all raised us to believe in working hard, making yourself shine!
It will get you a raise and a promotion if the boss sees you working hard and doing extra!
“If that was ever true, it isn’t now. Just-flatly, it isn’t true.
Fucking boomers and Gen X all decided to, instead of rewarding that vaunted fucking ‘initiative’ like actual human beings, take advantage of it and laugh all the way to the fucking bank.
They spit in our faces and tell us we should be grateful for the opportunity.
And I’m not even exaggerating! Oh ‘no one wants to work!’ is such fucking horseshit!
No one wants to be fucking exploited anymore! ”
“Chloe, you know I am one hundred percent in agreement with you, but...we need to focus here,” Gabe said.
She looked at him and seemed to realize she was working herself up into a frenzy again.
“Goddamnit,” she whispered, closing her eyes for a moment and pinching the bridge of her nose.
“I hate this shit so much.” She opened her eyes again suddenly.
“Dad, if I can escape the bullshit of society, like actually escape it and be happy, why wouldn’t you want that for me? !”
“Of course I want that for you!” he replied, and in that moment Gabe saw where Chloe got her emotional temperament from. “But I’m having a very hard time believing that choosing this life is going to do that.”
That seemed to actually calm her down. She sighed softly.
“I know, dad. This is exactly why I was so scared of telling you all this. Because you can’t envision this working out.
And I had doubts, too! I don’t want you to think I just walked into this blind because I saw a cute boy.
Like, I took some time, I really thought about it, and even after we got together and I moved in, I still had doubts!
And they didn’t make me feel bad for that, they gave me time and helped me through my thoughts and emotions. ”
Silence fell as her father seemed to struggle with what to say next. Her mother simply seemed like she was waiting for someone else to continue the conversation. Gabe looked at Chloe. She seemed unsure of what to say next as well.
Time to shine, apparently.
“All right,” he said, clearing his throat. “I think it would help if you heard from us how this relationship we all have came to form. I know how this looks. I really do. So I’ll give you a rundown of how all this happened, and...hopefully that will make you feel better.”
“I am rather curious,” her mother murmured.
“Right, so. I’m kind of just...a regular guy.
I graduated from high school, worked crap minimum wage jobs, and wanted to be a writer.
Last year, I started getting my shit together and actually working really hard on making money related to writing.
I know Ellen from a grocery store I used to work at, she was the accountant there for a bit.
We talked, she got a better job, we stopped talking.
But last October, her life, uh, collapsed… ” He looked at her.
“My fiance cheated on me, tried to blame it on me, and I was basically on the verge of losing my job because I have little patience for power-tripping jerk-offs,” she offered.
“Right. So, she reached out to me for help and I had her come crash at my place.
We realized that we both actually really like each other, so we started dating.
Not long after that, we found the opportunity for the house and met Sadie, our landlady.
She offered us a place because I was a writer, for three hundred a month, we took it.
When we moved there, we started eating at a little cafe down the street and met Holly here, a waitress.
“We, uh, hit it off and invited her into our relationship.
She was having trouble getting her own life together and we offered to help, so she moved in and we all began dating each other.
A bit after that is when we met Chloe at that party.
I decided I was...extremely interested in her, and started talking to her, and, well, you know how that turned out.
“Krystal here,” Gabe nodded to her, and she smiled and gave a little wave when Chloe’s parents looked over as well, (she seemed to be enjoying all this immensely), “is Ellen’s friend from way back when.
She had since moved away, but they reconnected and Ellen...
thought it would be nice if Krystal came up and hung out with us. ”
He flicked a glance at Krystal and could immediately tell she was struggling, really struggling, not to make a remark about sex.
He appreciated the effort.
“We connected and realized we really liked each other,” Gabe continued. “Now, Krystal was already dating Liz here, and after some...back and forth, ultimately decided they would like to move up here with us and both start dating me and probably Ellen and Holly.”
There was probably a better way to phrase that.
“And,” Chloe spoke up, “just because I know you want to ask the question but don’t really know how: I’m just dating Gabe.”
For a moment, he thought she might say more, given her questioning of her own sexuality, but she didn’t, which made enough sense given this was her parents she was talking to.
“Yeah, and that’s basically it,” Gabe concluded.
“So...how is nobody jealous?” her father asked after a long moment. “I can’t get that.”
“I think this is one of those things you either get or you don’t,” Chloe replied.
“I didn’t think I was going to be able to be in a relationship like this until I tried, and apparently I can.
Or, at the very least, I can be in this relationship.
And...this is me asking you to accept my life choices here, guys.
This is me asking you to stay in my life.
Because I love both of you and I don’t want to be one of those kids who is forced to go no-contact with their parents. I really don’t want to have to choose.”
Silence fell again, and this time it lasted longer. Gabe waited. They all waited. Her parents kept staring at them, and finally looked at each other.
“All right, I think...I can accept this,” her father said finally, “but I want to talk to every one of you. And one-on-one.”
Gabe realized everyone on his side was looking at him.
He nodded. “I think that’s fair.”
“All right,” her father said, focusing on Ellen, “you first.”