Last Supper

The Fowler's attend church Saturday morning.

Now that word has gotten out about Charlotte and him divorcing, less people approach Everett when he walks into the chapel with his parents in tow. He finds it slightly unnerving knowing that so many people are avoiding him because of this news. Nevertheless, he waves and gives brief smiles in greeting to those that still acknowledge him as he ushers his mom and dad to the front.

Mrs. T isn't present for today's mass, but her granddaughter is sitting in their usual spot in the middle of the second pew. "Hi, Ev," Elizabeth says with a warm smile on her face.

"Hi, Liz," he returns her acknowledgement as he sits in the same pew. "This is my mom and dad. Mom, dad—this is Elizabeth. You both have met Mrs. T before, Elizabeth is her granddaughter."

His mom leans forward to wave at the girl. "Hello, Elizabeth! I do remember your grandmother. How is she doing?" She asks.

"Grandma is doing just fine, thanks for asking! She loves having people at her house, so she's thrilled that Beau is staying with her at the moment," Elizabeth informs them.

Everett is hoping that the exchange between his parents and Elizabeth ends there, but his dad decides to continue the conversation. "Beau—as in Beau Coleman? The young man that contacted about coming to Sinting?" He questions his son.

Letting out a sigh, Everett responds, "Yeah. It sounds like he's staying with Mrs. T right now." He tries to give as little information as possible in the hopes that they get the message that he doesn't want to talk about Beau and drop the topic altogether. This, of course, does not work out the way he wants it to.

"Well, why haven't we met up with him yet?" He asks curiously. "I thought that the two of you had become pretty good friends since he's been helping you out with everything going on between you and Charlotte."

Everett hopes that Elizabeth isn't listening in on any of this. He knows that Mrs. T found out about his and Beau's relationship, but he isn't sure if her granddaughter is aware of their situation as well. "I think he's busy working at the moment," he replies in a hushed tone as he sees the service is about to begin. "He also told me that he's moving back to Columbus soon, so I'm sure he doesn't have time to hang out with us."

An organ starts playing all of a sudden and the cross bearer appears. The priest, along with the others in his procession, follow behind him to the front of the room. Everett exhales in relief at not having to talk about Beau for at least another hour or so.

-

When service comes to an end, the Fowler's wait for the church to clear out and then make their way back to the parking lot. In the passenger seat of Everett's car, his mom's stomach growls which prompts her to say, "I'm hungry. What do you two think about grabbing a quick bite to eat while we're out?"

"I have the perfect place!" Everett perks up where he is sat behind the wheel. "There's a bakery not far from here that you will both love. They have these donuts, dad, that I know you could easily knock out a dozen of-"

He rambles on excitedly about the selection of pastries that the bakery sells on the short drive there. His parents have even bigger sweet tooth's than him and that's saying something. Needless to say, the trio is eager to order when they pull up to the shop.

"Sometimes they have specialty cheesecakes too-" Everett continues to fill the two of them in on every dessert that he has had from this establishment. The bell dings when he pushes the door open, alerting the employees of their presence as they enter. Conversation halts, however, as soon as he spots a tall figure with dark hair lingering by the display case.

Beau turns around as soon as he hears the familiar voice. His hair looks unkempt with dark strands sticking out haphazardly from underneath his backwards baseball cap. There are bags under his eyes and he clearly hasn't shaved since before the breakup. He is also dressed in his worn out, gray sweatpants and Ohio State sweatshirt that Everett used to steal from him.

They lock eyes and stare at each other silently for a moment. The air has seemingly been knocked out of Everett's lungs as he finds himself wanting to both hug the man in front of him and run away from him.

"Is that you, Beau?" He hears his mom ask. She walks forward and puts her hand on Everett's back. His dad moves in closer and offers his hand which Beau shakes. "Nice to see you again, son," his dad greets him kindly.

"Uh-" Beau appears to have to force himself to look away from Everett so he can properly address his parents. "It's nice to see you again too—all of you." His eyes flicker back over to Everett quickly before returning to Mrs. Fowler.

Leaning forward, his mom softly squeezes Beau's forearm with a smile on her face. "What a pleasure to see you in person! We've been wanting to meet up with you to thank you for reaching out to us, but Everett said that you are busy at the moment."

Beau takes the opportunity to look at Everett again when his mom mentions his name. Everett averts his gaze to the floor so he can avoid the eyes currently burning a hole through him.

"He's not wrong," Beau answers in a rough voice. "I'm moving back to Columbus tomorrow and have been packing all of my stuff up."

"Well, what are you doing tonight?" Mrs. Fowler asks.

Everett prays that she is not doing what he thinks she's doing.

"Not much—just organizing my bags, I guess," he responds while scratching the back of his head.

"Why don't you join us for dinner this evening?"

Everett wants to smack a hand to his face and groan at how excruciatingly painful this conversation is. He can't think of anything more uncomfortable than having dinner with his parents and his ex.

By the looks of it, Beau isn't exactly on board with this idea either. "Thank you for the offer, Mrs. Fowler, but I don't want to intrude-"

"You won't be intruding at all!" His mom cuts him off.

With one last glance and a subtle sigh, Beau replies, "Then I'd love to stop by later. Thanks for the invite."

"Of course! It's no problem at all—why don't you come around six o'clock?" She suggests with a bright, innocent smile on her face.

"Sounds like a plan," Beau responds weakly with a tight-lipped smile of his own.

The conversation is interrupted by the worker behind the counter who had been watching and waiting for them to wrap up their discussion. "That'll be $12.99, sir," the employee says in a bored tone while pushing a box across the counter towards Beau.

"Oh—sorry!" Beau is caught off guard, probably flustered over forgetting that he was in the middle of a transaction. He pulls a $20 bill out of his wallet. "Keep the change," he says to the teenager at the cash register.

With his box in hand, Beau offers a small wave to the Fowlers and rushes out the door before they have the chance to start talking to him again.

"Well, he seemed to be in a hurry," Everett's dad pipes up.

Walking up to the display case, Everett tries distracting himself from what's to come later that evening by explaining his favorite desserts to his parents. "We're gonna need donuts, cookies, a piece of cake, a scone-"

-

Beau arrives for dinner at exactly six o'clock.

"Hi," Everett greets him after opening the door.

"Hey."

They stare at each other for a moment before Everett steps aside and widens the door even more, inviting him inside. Beau steps through the doorway, kicks off his shoes and turns back to face the smaller man.

"I wasn't sure how to get out of this. Sorry for agreeing to be here." He looks genuinely apologetic as he stares down at Everett.

Laughing nervously, Everett waves a hand dismissively. "There's nothing to apologize for. I should be the one apologizing, if anything," he points out. He leans over and eyes the direction of the kitchen before leaning back over to whisper at Beau. "I'm sorry that they pressured you to come here. They know that you helped me with navigating the divorce and you also reached out for them to come visit, so they've been wanting to meet up. I couldn't say no to them without explaining everything else...."

A small smile forms on Beau's face. "Sweet—so this awkward-ass dinner is both of our faults, then."

Letting out a laugh, Everett smiles back and says, "Technically, I guess so. I'm choosing to blame my parents, though." He notices that Beau has a case of beer under his right arm. "Let me take that into the kitchen. Hopefully it helps alleviate some of the weirdness tonight."

They finally leave the entryway and brave the kitchen.

-

"Everett mentioned that you lived with him briefly. Why are you staying with Mrs. T now?" His dad asks Beau before taking a bite of meatloaf.

Everett's parents are on one side of the dining table closest to the counter while Everett and Beau sit on the other side facing the kitchen. Their knees occasionally bump into each other and it's making Everett feel like he's going insane.

Taking a swig of water to wash down his food, Beau then wipes his mouth to buy time as he tries to figure out how to respond. "Uh-" He begins, eloquent as ever, "I guess we both knew that me staying with him was a temporary thing."

Everett shoves a bite of mashed potatoes into his mouth to distract him from the conversation that's going down.

"I didn't want to cause Rett anymore stress while he's sorting out the divorce stuff either, so I thought it was for the best to give him some space. I've only been staying at Mrs. T's for a couple of days. My family is still in Columbus, though, so I'm moving back in with them and am hoping to get my shit—uh—I mean, get my crap together." Beau looks sheepish as he corrects his language.

The Fowler parents frown at this. "That's a shame," his mom states. She cuts another hunk of meatloaf and puts a dollop of mashed potatoes on top of it to prep her next bite. "It would've been great if you could stay here to keep each other company."

Beau has a pained look on his face as he once again forces a toothless smile. "Yep. That would've been great, but I can't stay in Sinting forever." His tone of voice doesn't sound convinced by the words he's speaking.

Dinner continues to be incredibly awkward which goes unnoticed by the Fowler parents, but couldn't be more obvious to the exes sitting next to each other. Everett's mom and dad get up from the kitchen table and insist on doing the dishes.

"Thank you so much for dinner. This was really great, but I think I should head back to Mrs. T's now," Beau says as he stands up from the table as well. "Big day tomorrow. Y'know?"

"Oh—of course! Moving is always tiring, you should definitely head back and get some rest," Mrs. Fowler agrees with his reasoning. She steps forward and gives him a short, but tight hug.

Mr. Fowler follows his wife's lead and shakes Beau's hand. "It was great meeting with you, Beau. Thanks again for reaching out to us about coming to visit—we really appreciate it." He claps Beau on the back once before stepping away.

"Of course, it was no problem at all. I'm just glad you were able to make it to Sinting," Beau responds earnestly.

Everett decides to step in so Beau isn't trapped here any longer. "That was really thoughtful of you, Beau. I can walk you out now if you're ready to go," he offers.

Beau gives him a nod at this. "Yeah, I'm ready. It was nice talking with you guys—see you later," he gives his final goodbyes to the Fowler parents. Everett then leads them to the front door and picks up a box that he placed there before Beau arrived.

"This is for you," he says without making eye contact with the taller man. He wants to keep the exchange casual and tries to play it off like it's no big deal.

Grabbing it and opening the top flap of the box, Beau peers inside and frowns. "I'm not taking this stuff. You paid for everything—it's yours." He refuses to take the box full of clothes Everett previously bought for him when he first moved in.

"I can't return anything, plus you and I both know you don't have enough of your own clothes right now," Everett argues back. "I also got you all of this before anything even happened between us. Take the box back with you."

Adjusting his grip on the package, Beau shifts it to his right arm, freeing up his left one which he stretches out in an inviting manner. He raises his eyebrows at Everett, silently asking for a friendly embrace. Everett gives in and wraps his arms around his ex.

Neither of them move for a couple of seconds, enjoying the last bit of intimacy they will get from each other. Everett feels lips on the top of his head and squeezes his eyes shut tightly as he feels his heart begin to ache. He initiates their separation by taking a step back.

"Have a good trip tomorrow. Tell your mom and Finn I said hi." His voice sounds scratchy and far away all of a sudden.

Beau's eyes look hurt and empty as he stares back at him. "I will," he whispers.

With that, Beau walks out the door and gets into Mrs. T's truck that he's been borrowing since he started staying with her. Everett watches out the window as he drives off.

As the truck fades further and further into the distance, his heart continues to ache more and more.