Because You Suck: Chapter 2: Part 17

The down and nasty about Gentry. Well, part of it. Not for the squeamish!

He paused, and Gentry put his first to his mouth, looking up at Zach and expecting him to go on. “I do. It’s confusing and… but it makes sense too.” he said softly,”There has just been so much shit going on. I don’t know how to tell my parents, or if I should. I just keep hoping that they’ll ask. I know my dad will take it the hardest. He’s not a bad person, but… he wouldn’t understand. He’d just worry about it, and so would mom---”
“Look.” Gentry stood up, grasped Zach’s shoulders and said,”I don’t care what and if you tell them. I keep secrets all the time.”
”Do your parents know?”
Gentry pulled away, sitting down again.
“Sure. They know.”
Zach sat down on the bed,”How did they find out?”
“It’s a long story. When I was seven, and my family still lived in Alabama.”
“You lived in Alabama? You don’t have any accent.”
A grimace of a smile,”I know. I taught myself to forget it. My family lived in a nice house in the bad part of town.” A pause,”I fucked around with this 14-year-old. Or rather, he fucked around with me, because I couldn’t get erections at that age.”
“You were raped?”
Gentry made a face,”No. I liked it, it felt good. I just couldn’t get off.” A childlike little smile illuminated his features,”I kept worrying we would get stuck like that… and that I would have to go to my parents that way. I don’t know how it got in, or how it got out… But it did.”
“Then how did you get caught?” Zach asked, leaned forward slightly.
“My dad walked in on us.”
The redhead’s features became strained and he fell silent.
“Was he mad?”
“He asked if I liked it.” Gentry reclined,”I said I didn’t know. Mom found out soon enough, and the next day there was a church guy in our living room yelling out I would get AIDS and go to Hell. I listened to him for four hours while my mom was in the corner praying. I don’t get these family values people. They keep talking about keeping families together, but they were the ones who tore us apart.”
The shadows on the wall lengthened.
“Mom wanted me to see a shrink. Dad said no… they both worried I would be diagnosed with something and never get into a good college. They were right. Once you get into one of those special ed programs you never get out.” He leaned forward, crossing his arms and leaning them on his legs,”What did you mean with what you asked?”
”Oh. That. I don’t know… I just thought you pitied me.”
“What if I did?”
“Well, don’t. I can fight for myself as well as you can.”