Take Me to Church (boyxboyxboy)✅

Chapter 33

Liam

Home for Sunday dinner and once again I found myself staring blankly down at my plate of roast beef, which I loved, but didn't have much of an appetite. After we left Nick's, Jeremy and I decided on a game plan, which meant betraying Nick's trust. The way I looked at it, though, was that Nick told us for a reason. We weren't about to ignore what he said.

Jeremy must have texted me twenty times, wondering if I'd talked to my dad yet. Before dinner, I spent two hours in my room, trying to figure out the best way to tell him.

"How was your weekend?" my mom asked me, snapping me back to reality. "Did you have fun with the boys?"

"Yeah," I said, hoping she didn't notice my cheeks turn red. We had more than a little fun. "It was good."

"You seem sort of distracted tonight," my mom went on.

"I'm alright," I muttered. But then I realized I wasn't "alright" and everyone needed to know that. What I said next was not what I initially had in mind when I got home.

"Dad, Mom, I'm gay," I blurted out; the words just came out. I wasn't about to have that "talk" about Nick at the dinner table with Ericka present. The words "I'm gay" caught me by surprise, though.

My parents stopped eating and stared at me. "Yeah... yeah... I'm gay," I said, breathing a sigh of relief, glad to finally get that out in the open. At the same time, I wished my parents would say something instead of just blankly staring at me.

"Do we have to talk about that here?" my mom said. "I mean, in front of Ericka and..."

"She should know, too," I said even though I was pretty sure she didn't understand what "I'm gay" meant. "I like boys," I explained to her.

"Liam," my dad said in that stern, all too serious kind of voice. "Now is not the place to discuss this."

"Where is the right place then? Ericka needs to know I won't ever be like you and Mom." I turned to Ericka again. "I won't ever marry a woman. I might marry a man... someday."

"Ohhh," she said as if she finally understood what I meant.

"See. Now she understands," I said.

"Go to your room," my dad said.

"Why? Because I'm gay? You're going to punish me because I'm gay?"

"No," he said. "I want you to go to your room because you're being disrespectful and obnoxious."

Maybe he was right and I was being rude and obnoxious, not my usual self, but I had so many things on my mind.

Close to cussing everyone out, I sighed instead and threw my napkin on top of my plate and stormed upstairs to my room.

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I held my face in my hands, wondering if I'd ever get the strength to tell anyone what those monsters did to Nick and most likely to other boys.

Several minutes later, my mom showed up, finding me sulking on my bed, my arms folded across my chest, fighting back some tears. A few escaped, streaking my cheeks.

"We're not angry," she said, sitting down beside me. "We're angry at how you told us... the way you told us."

"Yeah, sorry about that," I said. "I just thought you should know."

"Yes, it is something we should know. Thank you for telling us. Which one is your boyfriend?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"Jeremy or Nick, the cute one." My mom always referred to Nick as "the cute one." "Which one is your boyfriend?"

"Oh," I said, my cheeks burning again, not sure how to tell her or even if I should tell her the truth. I decided the truth was always best. "They both are."