Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:30:29 -0800 (PST) From: Jason Decade Subject: Ever After 24 Disclaimer: This is a story about gay people...if you can't read it or don't like gay people, leave. Go...bye. But if you like it, read it and write to me. Chapter 24: Church of Hard Knocks As I stepped onto church ground, I felt myself get scared. I mean, not only was I gay and unwed...but I was holding my gay fiancee's hand. Suddenly, I let go. "What's wrong?" Archie asked. "Nothing." I smiled, holding his hand again. "You two ready." Mom beamed, " Let's go in." she said, leading our family, Archie and I, Eric, Dad, and Hope, into the Church house. As I walked through the sea of people, I found myself face to face with Ms. Claretha. The town hypocrite. Church lady of the millenium. She was old, maybe seventy and you could tell she used to be beautiful, but now her beauty had gone away and wrinkles had definitely come to stay. As I stopped, so did my family. "Hello, young man, I'm glad to see you've come back. But..." she smiled as gingerly and looked as fragile as she could, " There will be...," she looked down at our hands, " Of, that." she smiled, walking off. I let go of Archie's hand and Archie looked at me, then placed his hand on my shoulder. "She can't do that!" Mom said, looking at Dad, " Joseph, do something." "What can I do, Brenda?" he asked. "I'm sorry, sweetie." she said, hugging me. I smiled weakly, " It's okay." I said, taking a seat by Eric, who just stared, " Not now." Eric nodded and looked forward while Archie placed his arm around me, gaining some strange stairs from other church goers. I mean, it was odd enough for them seeing two guys, but an interracial gay couple? I get it...I do. Or I don't. I can't understand it. As the sermon started, I was in my own world. - - - - - - - - - - As Marco packed, Laura knocked gently on his door. Marco looked up slowly, still managing to fit things into his suitcase. Laura smiled gently, moving towards him, her arms outstretched. Marco hugged his mother, trying to shake what happened out of his head. "She's in a better place." Laura said quietly. Marco sniffled, " I know. But mom, she didn't...she couldn't have..." he stammered. "I know." Laura nodded, " Look, baby, you have to go and be happy. Or try. This is a great opportunity." Marco nodded, " Adaen's back...from New York and Julie's dead. Hannah's married...this just isn't Hargrove anymore." he said. "Things change." Laura said, " That's always going to happen. The thing is knowing when to change with it." "How do you know when to change?" Marco asked. "You just do." Laura smiled. - - - - - - - - - - Adaen typing: I guess no one knows how the world will turn out, no matter how much you shape it and mold it because somewhere, some way, someone is molding it just as hard as you are. I had become a fiancee' and that wasn't bad. It's not bad. But who was this guy I was marrying? He was rich, athletic, smoked marijuana, was gay, and...what else? But when was I going to stop with the marriage kick? I was eighteen and not even in college yet. Things had changed. Hannah wasn't Hannah, she was a teenage wife...Marco was a grieved widower...Julie's dead. Stop there. Julie's dead. I had been here a week, but it hadn't sunk in that, yes, Julie was gone. And Davis was going to...(shock) fight for me, instead of against me. The only thing was that that little skank had my room. Not for long. As Hope came in from school, she was shocked as she entered her room. She looked around at the black and white room. All her possessions were gone and it looked like it did when she moved in, only cleaner. She huffed and walked into the room, hearing something coming from the closet. She threw it open and saw Archie and I making out. "Mom I..." I stopped, " Oh, hey, Hope." "What the fuck did you do to my room?!" Hope shouted. "Sweetie, I lived here before you. And as sad as it is, I'll probably be here after you leave." I explained, " This has always been my room, lil' cousin. So, when you leave, can you close the door?" With a huff, she left the room. I chuckled as we came out of the closet (heh), " That felt really good." I smiled. "You think that was a good idea, she is kind of devious." Archie said nervously. "No kinda. She's a deviant." I said quickly, " But I'm not exactly innocent myself." "Hmmm, really." he smiled seductively, " You should show me how uninnocent you are." I stopped, " You're starting to talk like me." I smiled. "Is that weird?" Archie asked, palming my waist. "It's sweet." I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him, " You're taller than me." "Didn't seem like a problem before." he smiled. "It's not. Kinda turns me on." I smirked. "You turn me on." Archie smiled, " Makes me wanna throw you on the bed and fu..." "You're going to do what to my little brother?" Eric smiled at the door, causing us to part and blush, " Yeah, Kya's here." "Okay." I said, still shocked. "And the family's downstairs. Mom and Dad want you there." he said, putting an arm around my shoulder, " Come on, it's our sister." "Yeah, and she hates me." I said quickly. "She's your sister." Archie said, walking with us, " She loves you." "Yeah, right." I chuckled, " I think the last thing she said to me was..." The door opened and my four months pregnant sister walked, or waddled in and hugged me and kissed me, " Hey little brother, you've gotten bigger, have you been working out?!" she said giddily. I was confused and happy at the same time and I looked from the back of her head to my mom, who beamed at the sight. I smiled nervously and wondered what the hell was going on. Adaen typing: Some people never know about things like that though. It's not that they don't know, it's that they don't care. Some people don't care about how they affect the world, they see it happening all the time, but the effect they have is so monumental that there is no way to describe it. We had all been a little shocked, but no one more than me. It was the antithesis of everything I had believed for the last few months. Archie had already asked what was going, as I had told him that she hated my guts. He said that he wasn't shocked, no one could stay mad at me. Not true, but I loved the compliment all the same. As my already showing sister walked my way, I started to turn and go another way, but I stood and watched her waddle to me. She asked to sit with her while she pigged out on some cookies she'd stashed away. "So..." I said quickly, " A baby." Kya giggled, " Look, I know the last time we talked...I unloaded on you." she said. I sighed, " You told me you hated me and that..." I said. "I know what I said, smart-ass." she said, binging on her cookies, " Want one? Vanilla. I had to add pickle juice, can you imagine them not making that type of cookies? Anyways, I'm sorry." "Huhdowhat? Come again?" I asked, almost falling out of my chair. "I was taking out all the stress that Johnathan was putting me through....the hormones...and, I've never really talked to you about the 'gay' thing." she paused, " I know, it's not a thing...it's who you are. And somewhere underneathe, I've always know...duh! But it's still a shock." "I get that." I said, " Can I touch it?" I asked. "Sure." she smiled. "So, what about Johnathan?" I asked. "He's getting his act together." she sighed, " I can't have him around my baby. So, he's managing anger." "You love him." I said softly, " I understand. You're dilemma-ed." "Sounds like you're there." she said. I rubbed her stomach, " Feels like your having a baby." I smiled, tears welling up in me, " I'm sorry." "For what?" she asked, concerned at my tears. "I had no right! I...." I shook my head. "Are one of the best brothers I could ask for. You saw that he was treating me wrong and you tried to stop it." She stopped, " No. You stopped it." I laughed, " I broke the porcelain world we're living in." I said, wiping the tears away. "Shattered it." she smiled, " So, Grandma finally got another one of us set up. Well, there's Johnathan and I, Eric was with Genicent, and now you with Archie. How is that?" "What married life?" I asked. "Marrie...d, life? What!?" she asked, sitting up. "That's what it feels like." I said, " Not that I'm complaining! I...I just, I don't know. I feel very rushed." "Maybe you need to slow it down." Kya said, savoring the taste of her pickled chocolate chip cookies. I sighed, " I can't do that. I don't want him to think that something's holding me back." "Then that means that you are." Kya said slowly, " Maybe whatever's holding you back she be looked at again." I looked at her, knowing she was right. Maybe I was still hung up on Davis, but if I was...I couldn't dwell on him. I was in love with Archie, not just saying I was, really in love with him! But I was in love with Davis, too. Or, I was trying not to be. I was completely sure that I was, " I did that before. It ended up with me leaving." "And our devious, slutty little cousin moving into your room." Kya asked. "Yes and Eric's still on my back about it. He's all 'Big' Brotherly." I said angrily. "Well, he is your big brother." Kya said, " So, mom and dad, how are they?" "Ask what you wanna ask." I smirked. "Ok, Archie...is he...umm..." "Yeah, really, really great at it." I smiled, " And doesn't he have the best eyes?" "He reminds me of Chance Crawford." Kya smirked, " So, have you done it here?" "Kya!" I shouted. "Well, I'm a pregnant lady. Hormones." she said. "No. We got really close in my closet." We both laughed, " And, umm, he even started talking like me." "Wow. It took me like sixteen years to talk like you and I'm still not there." she chortled. (DING DONG!) "I'd better get that." I smiled, walking to the door. As I opened the door, the first thing I noticed was the messy, unmanagable hair, " Hi, Marco." "Hi, I just wanted to say goodbye." he said, gesturing towards the car, where Laura waved at me. I waved back. "Yeah, I just need to go check out a few colleges. I'm finally leaving Hargrove Junior College, and I figure I'll go to North Texas or Oklahoma. It's close." Marco explained. "Oklahoma's not so bad. I mean, they have a lot of great colleges." I said quickly, " North Texas is closer, but it's about what you want." I nodded. He hugged me quickly, " I love you, in a purely 'non-touchy-feely' way. I mean, I did, but now..." he stammered nervously. "I know." I said, breathing in his scent, " Be careful." "I will." he said, walking back to his car. I smiled, " There's something I have to do," I yelled back into the house, grabbing my leather jacket and leaving. - - - - - - - - - - - Adaen: I wondered was he going to say goodbye to his sister or would he just call her, or had he already talked to her. Some people definitely don't know how they affect the world. How they affect my world. I lost a lot of things, including sanity, but I gained back a friend and a relative, as well as trying to decipher my emotions. I wasn't going to let the world mold me like it did so many others, I'm going to fight. Like I should hae down before I left. It sounds cheesy, but who doesn't love a good underdog, right? I walked into the Church where Pastor Haynes and Ms. Claretha sat, going through verses and sermons in the bible. I walked in, my hands in my leather jacket. They seemed to be talking about someone or something when I walked in. I stood for a minute, listening to them talk about that poor white girl who committed suicide because of the loss of her baby and her boyfriend. I knocked on the already opened door and they turned, smiling up at me. "Welcome, Mr. Lawerence, how are you doing today? What can we do for you?" Pastor Haynes smiled, standing. "Being gay, it's not about being wrong or right. And it doesn't define me. It's not all of who I am and as a matter of fact, it's not everything about me. No one ever singles out that I'm just a big dork or that I like Buffy and Charmed too much, or that I'm super clumsy...Or that sometimes I'm so sad I could die." I said slowly, " For a long time now, I've wondered whether letting everyone know that I'm gay was a good thing, not denying it, I mean. Cause the cat was out of the bag before I wanted it to be," they had puzzled looks on their faces, " For so long, I've been worried that being gay would send me straight to hell and whether that meant I deserved happiness and the answer is that it's between me and God and now one can judge me. I can't help who I love and it's not fair that people should be judged by one part of them. So, to end this big, long speech, being gay is not about being wrong or right. It's another trait, another trait that makes me human." I said, turning to leave, " And I'll be here on Sunday, ready to praise him, with my boyfriend. I'll be holding his hand and sharing his love with everyone." I said, leaving. Adaen typing: I guess no one knows how the world will turn out, but I mold my own world. In my world, I'm not the underdog, I'm the over-achiever and no one can ever take that away from me. - - - - - - - - - - Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Please give me some feedback because that's how I get started.