A Father’s Lesson on Protection
Jared lowered his head deeply, then let out a long, exaggerated sigh of relief.
When he lifted his head again, his eyes—matching Hunter’s exact shade—sparkled with mischief.
“Thanks, Hunter. I was secretly worried you’d have to start from there, but my son… you never disappoint your old man. I was just grumbling at Loren for pushing you to ‘talk’ for days. I would never have dreamed of bothering you with this. It’s a good thing I did, right?”
Hunter gave a small laugh and buttoned up his shirt. The shoulders and sleeves of the shirt he’d bought recently felt a little tight. He’d grown taller in a hurry. Every three months now, he needed new clothes and sneakers.
The conversation wrapped up faster than Hunter had expected, and he couldn’t help smiling.
“I believe you. With that, let’s call it a wrap. Drop the two hundred dollars on the desk. When you leave, close the door behind you.”
Jared clapped once and stood, brushing the wrinkles from his trousers.
“Okay. Oh, where were you headed today?”
“The eighth-grade combined party. Spring Fling.”
“Spring Fling… yeah, I know that one.”
Jared patted the inside pocket of the jacket draped over his arm and pulled out his wallet. He fished around inside until he found something, then tucked it between two fingers and snapped it toward Hunter.
Hunter froze, then shot out his arm and snatched the small wrapped package in mid-air. He didn’t need to open it to know what it was.
Jared’s expression turned serious as he pointed at the condom.
“Just in case. Keep one in your wallet.”
“What the hell do you mean, keep one in my wallet…?”
Hunter’s face twisted in disgust the moment he realized the reason.
Ugh. His stomach churned.
He never wanted to hear about his parents’ sex life.
“You know how to use it, right? When you put one on, twist the end with your finger to let the air out—”
“Dad!”
Hunter cut him off with a disgusted groan.
“Hey, call me Dad. You’re making it weird.”
He ignored Jared’s fake pout. At his age, he couldn’t possibly call anyone “Daddy” like Daisy did.
“I know how to put on a condom too. Why are you bringing it up out of nowhere?”
Jared’s puzzled face made Hunter’s scowl deepen even more.
“Don’t kids do that anymore? The kids at the union party, I mean. Is the vibe different than when I was your age? Remember, this is for protecting not just your partner but yourself too. Hunter, when I was a teenager—”
“Dad.”
Hunter ground his teeth and cut him off again. He had zero interest in stories from thirty years ago.
But Jared kept talking, waving his index finger for emphasis. When he started in on the stories from the eighties and nineties, he never stopped.
Ah, faded glory.
“You don’t get it. In the late eighties it was amazing. Manhattan now is like a kids’ playground compared to then. When I was your age, Manhattan was nothing but booze, drugs, music, parties, and sex—no strings attached…”
He paused, then added quickly, “Just one thing I need to clarify: I’m not saying any of that stuff was good. It was just the simple fact of how things were back then.”
Hunter rolled his eyes. What century was this?
Of course there were still kids drinking, doing drugs, and bragging about sleeping with their girlfriends. But if someone his age acted like that now, they’d get kicked out of the private school he’d fought so hard to get into.
He’d end up exiled to some harsh boarding school in the frozen East.
“Look, no matter when, parties full of teenagers are the same. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Guys your age are ruled by their lower half, not their heads.”
Jared pointed at his crotch. Hunter rubbed his forehead and stretched one arm toward the door.
“Out.”
Jared flashed a toothy grin.
“Alright, alright. I’ll stop teasing. Do you have a date?”
Hunter let out an irritated sigh and looked at the ceiling.
“Obviously. He’s that good-looking. How far have you gotten—first base? Second? Third?”
Hunter wrinkled his forehead in annoyance.
“Forget the baseball stuff and hand over the money. You’ve already wasted five minutes.”
“Oh? Do kids not say that anymore? Back then first base was kissing, second was the chest, third was—”
“Son, do you have questions about baseball? The technique of hitting a home run, or something to fill in on the rules?”
Hunter stared silently at the door until Jared finally met his eyes with a serious look.
“Listen, I know I sound like an old coot like Lafayette, but I have to say this again. If you’re not planning to keep that last name Hamilton forever, you need to use protection. Got it?”
Jared’s lips curved into a sly smile as he tapped the condom still clutched in Hunter’s fist.
“I’m always ready to be your mentor, Hunter. Keep it safe, be considerate of your partner, and remember never to forget that.”
“I’ll never share my sex life with you, so dream on. I don’t want to hear about your sex life ever, and besides, you’re supposed to tell me to wait until I’m ready, right? Things like ‘having sex before you’re mentally mature’ and all that nonsense.”
Jared stopped on his way out, chuckling as he ruffled Hunter’s hair. Hunter swatted his hand away.
“I wouldn’t ignore a ‘don’t do that’ rule. Actually, I was worried because you seemed uninterested in girls. When I was your age I already had my third girlfriend. Oh, and by the way, I never hit a home run. I got as far as second base.”
“What I just said? When Mom and I were divorcing, I was the one testifying against Dad in court. I won’t keep my mouth shut for free.”
Jared pulled a wad of one-hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and stuffed them into the back pocket of Hunter’s pants.
“Hey, when I was young being a player wasn’t a flaw—it was a charm. The real thing is staying completely faithful to the person you love. God, kids these days are so repressed.”
He shook his head in disbelief.
Hunter pulled the bills out, counted them, then grinned and shoved his father toward the door. That was still a good deal.
“It ended five minutes ago. Now go.”
Jared stumbled out and called back urgently.
“Son, do you really have no girl you like? Or are you gay? If you are, I can accept it as long as you’re happy. Your grandmother probably won’t like it, but—”
“…”
Jared stopped in his tracks, turned with a serious expression.
“For real? Son, as long as you’re happy—”
“What are you talking about? I like girls.”
He’d seen it clearly in dreams—waking up after kissing a girl.
“Oh? You have a girl you like?”
“More like…”
Hunter’s chest tightened strangely. He looked up and found Jared grinning at him with curious eyes. It seemed he’d fallen for one of those sneaky schemes again.
“More like?”
Jared picked up where he’d left off. Hunter hesitated a long moment before blurting out the question he’d been holding back.
“How do you know when you like someone? Is there a special symptom? I mean, what’s the definitive proof?”
Jared crossed his arms and nodded with a serious face.
“Good question. I had the exact same doubts before I met your mom. The fact that you’re asking means you haven’t met the real person you like yet. When you really like someone, you just know. Your body reacts first, right?”
Hunter blinked in confusion. Jared’s lips curved into a smile.
“At your age, the girls who catch your interest can change twelve times a year. It’s completely normal. You can fall head over heels for the first one you notice. The kind of person people call ‘first love.’”
Jared glanced sideways at Hunter’s face and kept going. Hunter had gone stone-faced and was listening quietly, so he probably already had someone in mind. But the deep sigh suggested things weren’t going according to plan. Jared knew his son’s personality too well—his first love would be a war.
‘He’d swing wildly. He’d think he was in control.’