How to be a Perfect Husband for a Dominant

“Finished,” I mutter softly as I topped the last of the morning special’s cupcakes with my signature buttercream frosting. I had woken up around four in the morning to bake the cakes for the day (double berry fudge) before getting ready for my last day of school as a junior and now I had finished icing these delicious treats.

Oh yeah, where are my manners? The name’s Jarvis. Jarvis Ra’Quan Frazier, son of the late Cedric Frazier and Natalie Maureen Frazier, nee Carver and the grandson of Hezekiah Frazier and Mauretta Frazier, nee Mosely. And I help my mother and grandparents run the most LGBT-friendly bakery and café in all of South Central Los Angeles: Firebird Bakery. My late father, God rest his soul, and my mother joined his parents in opening the first gay-friendly bakery and café in all of Compton back in the seventies after the Stonewall riots in New York and in honor of the late Harvey Milk. Since then, it has not only attracted the gay community and the town of Compton but all of the gay icons and even the entire Southern California area. It was even more iconic after I had come out to my parents on the anniversary of its opening on my birthday. My parents and grandparents took it well but my damned older sister Bernice and her equally homophobic friend Samantha Reece said that I needed to remain a nerd and not cause more embarrassment than I already had on her since I had started helping the family with the business after sixth grade. Since then, she and her friends had kept me harassed and beaten up, dressing me in baggy clothes and bulky eyeglasses. They said that no one would date me because I’m a gay cook. And she almost kept me from having any friends. If not for my small clique of fellow misfits, I’d be driven to the point of insanity. At times, I thought about committing suicide but nixed it because I had promised my late father that nothing would keep me from following my dreams and my heart. And so I fought for my right to be heard. The punches had stopped, but I still had to put up with the name-calling and the harassment.

Some people believed that karma was a major bitch to those who treat others like garbage. Well for my case, let’s hope so when Bernice and her two broads would get their just desserts.

“Jarvis, you’re finished?” my mother called from the cash register. “You got only a few minutes before the bus comes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said as I washed off the remnants of the frosting off my hands before grabbing my backpack. “And the Franklin siblings are giving me a ride today.”

“Yo! Jarvis, get me a few of your famous cupcakes for my friends,” I heard the booming voice of my favorite uncle and godfather Daniel Frazier, one of the top LAPD policemen, say from the dining area. He was sitting with a few of his buddies from the force.

“I got you,” I said as I placed a few cupcakes on a platter and headed to the dining area where my uncle and his buddies were sitting alongside my grandfather who smiled at me. “Here you go, nice and fresh.”

“Thanks, nephew,” Uncle Daniel said gratefully, taking a bite of the moist cupcakes. “You always put it down.”

“Don’t I always?” I said as my cell phone dinged. “That must be Yavier letting me know that he and his sister are on the way.”

“Oh yeah. You better get going, boy,” Grandpa Hezekiah said. “And your sister is coming over this evening.”

My heart dropped. “Oh, Lord, what did she and Samantha do this time?” I groaned.

“She didn’t say, but she’s bringing someone over and that she wants everyone here,” Momma said. “Lord knows that we had to put up with her antics.”

“Don’t I know it. The last time she and Samantha and her trifling mother came by, she had me humiliated at a pep rally. And it was right in front of everyone, no less.”

“I wonder how you put up with her,” one of the officers, a sweet blonde said, shaking her head in disdain. “It’s a miracle that you’re still strong after all she put you through.”

“I know,” I said. Outside, a car horn honked twice. “That’s my queue to leave. See you later.” I raced outside, accepting a bagged lunch from Grandma Mauretta who kissed me on the cheek.

“Have a good one,” everyone said as I left the bakery.

……………

Where do I start with my friends?

First of all, there’s the Franklin twins, Yavier and Janelle. Yavier is the lead singer and choirmaster of the South Ware High School Harmonic Squad as well as the president of the National Honor Society. As for Janelle, she is the lead president of the school’s FBLA club as well as the school’s fast-pitch softball captain. But the both of them hold the valedictorian spot with me being the salutatorian. They’ve been my friends since our mothers set us up for our first playdate back in preschool.

Then came Marcia Hamilton, tomboy extraordinaire. From the basketball team to the hockey team (yes, we have a hockey team), that girl is a sports-lover until she passes away. She’s the black sheep of a family of female-led housewives whose main mission is to be submissive to their rich husbands and to wait on them hand and foot. She plans to go to UCLA to study business, despite her haranguing mother who wants her to be a stay-at-home mom.

Lastly, you got the politician of the gang, Clarissa MacNeil-O’Hara. Coming from the Valley, you’d expect her to be like Samantha or Bernice since she’s come from an Anglo-Saxon family with a lot of money, right? Wrong! She and her family are very no-nonsense and down to earth. She loves the hip-hop, the funk, and even a bit of rock and roll. But she’s also the mayor’s daughter and she too wants to be a politician after graduating from her dream school: Howard.

Yeah, we’re quite a clique with a class of our own and we may be shunned by the rest of the other students. But no one can say that they can’t be denied of my signature treats for a party or Marcia’s skills in beauty and fashion when in a fashion crisis or even Yavier’s tech skills when a computer is bugged with a virus.

Yep. We’ve been through hellfire and hurricane and there’s nothing that we wouldn’t do for one another.

Speaking of said friends, the five of us were seated at our usual lunch table, discussing over how we did on our AP US History finals. “I know I nailed mine,” Marcia said. “Although the essay threw me off a bit.”

“You’re lucky, girl,” Janelle groaned. “History is so not my forte. But aside from a few questions, I think I did all right.”

“You and I still got Economics with Mr. Ng and Calculus with Ms. Sloane before we can chill, Yavier,” Clarissa said. “And Jarvis, you and Janelle got AP American Lit while Marcia has Chem I.”

“I know I studied as much as I could, even in between icing two wedding cakes for two gay couples and preparing this morning’s cupcake special,” I said. “And yes, I got some with me for you all with my lunch.” I handed my crew the sweet treats.

“Damn, Jarvis, you always make the best desserts,” Janelle gushed, taking a bite of hers. “Mmmph! You did it this time!”

“You gotta make the cake version for my aunt’s birthday,” Marcia agreed. “She’s been begging me to have you make something for her fortieth birthday.”

“I don’t know if Jarvis should be eating such sweets,” said an unpleasantly familiar voice.

We all groaned as we saw the Wicked Bitch of the West, aka Principal Patricia Reece came towards us. Always a big snake up my ass, she has never liked me since I turned down her daughter for a date just to turn me straight and after I said her nose job made her look like a chicken.

“Hello, Madame Reece,” I said. “And how are you?”

“Well, thank you,” the older woman said sweetly. “Anyway, Jarvis, I hear that you’ll be working at your family’s bakery again this summer. It’s a pity that you can’t work for me at my fitness center. You can learn a lot from my trainers who can put some muscle on you.”

If only she knew that I actually work out three times a day swimming at the local Y. “I told you, Madame Reece, that my family will need the help come to Pride Month since it’s our biggest month,” I explained.

“About that, why can’t you be more like my daughter and your sister Bernice? You’re too sweet to be dating other boys and my daughter is the perfect match for you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Good God, lady! Get a grip on reality. For the last time, I am not interested in your STD-laden slut of a daughter of yours,” I said, my patience breaking. “And even if I was straight, her porridge is way too nasty for me.”

Mrs. Reece sniffed. “Well, you’ll reconsider if you don’t want to do summer school,” she said snidely. “You and my daughter are made to be.”

It was time to cut my losses. “Let me make this perfectly clear as daylight, ma’am,” I said. “I am not interested in your daughter and I never will be even if it meant saving my life. No way, no day, not ever! Got it?!”

At that moment, her hulky bodyguard name Gus came up to me and snarled, grabbing me by the shirt collar. He had way too much muscle for my taste. “You date Samantha or face Gus’ wrath,” he boomed.

Did I mention that he had the breath of ten dead roadkill? “No thank you,” I said, kicking the big oaf in the nuts as he keeled over in pain.

“Young man, I swear that you are the biggest faggot I have ever met!” Madame Reece said angrily. “I wonder if your father really died of a heart attack or that he was secretly ashamed of you!”

The cafeteria went silent as the air went out of my lungs. Oh. Hell. No.

If my friends knew one thing about me, is that nobody dares disses my family and gets away with it. I picked up two cartons of milk and calmly walked to the principal, intent to pour it on her ugly red hair. But at that moment, I saw the glaring look of my uncle (in his Sheriff persona) as he beat me to it by pouring a gallon of green paint on her, making her scream.

The cafeteria burst out in laughter as the principal screeched loudly. “Oh, what a world, what a world!” the lady screamed, glaring at my uncle who looked like he got the cream. “You!”

“Say something about my brother or my nephew again and I’ll have you arrested for a hate crime!” Uncle Daniel boomed.

That’s when Patricia Reece made the ultimate mistake of spitting in his face, which Superintendent Wesley (her father) saw as he came into the cafeteria. “You nig-“ she started to say before the handcuffs were swiftly snapped on her by the same female officer from earlier. “Daddy!” she pleaded, making puppy-dog eyes at her boss and father.

“You’re fired,” he snarled as he came towards me, his glare softening as I steeled myself from crying. “You alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” I said as my friends surrounded me.

“Why don’t we talk in her office?” Superintendent Wesley said. “She won’t be needing it now that she’s finished.”

I nodded. “That’ll be fine, but I got finals-“

“That won’t be necessary. With your grades and perfect attendance, you and your friends are basically free and clear and are automatically promoted to senior year.”

I looked at the older man. “Thank you,” was all I could say before letting the tears fall down my face.

……………..

“I can’t believe that the principal went there,” Clarissa muttered as she, Janelle, Marcia, and I were waiting in the conference room as Superintendent Wesley was talking to my uncle out in the office lobby. “She had the nerve to say that your father was ashamed of you for being gay.”

I wiped my eyes. “I knew she was playing dirty,” I said softly, “but this is a new low, even for her own damn standards.”

“Did Bernice say anything like that to you?” Janelle asked, handing me another tissue.

“Uh-huh. She said that Dad probably wanted to put me up for adoption after I refused to go clubbing with her and Samantha. Mom was pissed off. She took her cellphone away and forbade her to go partying for a week. That didn’t stop her from having her football goons beat me up for that same week.”

Just then, Superintendent Wesley came into the room, looking a little miffed but more relaxed. “You don’t have to worry about Principal Reece anymore,” he said to me. “She has been terminated of her job and her severance pay will not be given to her until she writes a letter of apology to you and your uncle.”

“I’m surprised that she’s not heading to jail yet,” Janelle said.

“Oh, she’s been charged with contempt towards an officer so she’ll be held in the jail for a couple of days,” he replied. “Jarvis, I am so sorry that you had to deal with this homophobia in this school for years. Rest assured that there will be a law regarding zero-tolerance regarding bullying.”

“Thanks,” I sighed. “I just hope that things don’t get any worse or nerve-wracking after this.”

The door opened revealing my uncle. “Jarvis, we gotta go right now,” he said tersely. “It’s your sister. She’s done it this time!”

“I spoke too soon,” I said. “What happened now?”

“I’ll explain when we’re at the bakery, but we got to go right now.” Uncle Daniel turned to Janelle and Clarissa. “You two can join us if you like.”

“I’ll notify Yavier,” Marcia said as she gathered her belongings, the rest of us following suit. “I’ll get the limo.”

“You don’t have to,” I said.

“I insist. You’ve been there for us, Jarvis. So we’re returning the favor. Come on.”

We left the room, bidding the patronal superintendent goodbye before heading home. Bernice, what the hell did you do this time?