Page 35 of Romeo vs Romeo

My heart thundered as I saw myself open my mouth to ask my next question. I didn’t need to jump in front of the limelight so bluntly, yet here I was. “Is it about that lot on the Hudson River? The bar?”

Mother clenched her teeth. “What do you know about that?”

I held my breath for a moment before shrugging. “Only what you said the other day.”

Father lifted his gaze to me. “Near the Hudson River. Only from the tenth floor up will they have the view. Yes, it seems it won’t be smooth sailing after all.”

“That den of perversion deserved to be flattened to the ground,” Mother said venomously.

“For chrissake, Lavinia,” Dad said in frustration.

“Do not tell me to be silent, Harold,” Mother hissed. “You may act like a cynic and plant doubts into my heart over the fate of your own soul, Harold, but you cannot deny the truth when it’s staring right into your face.”

Unadulterated fear filled me like balefire. No. It was not hot at all. It was cold and huge, like a glacier, and it froze everything inside of me.

“What is it now?” Dad asked. They were too busy squabbling to notice that I had been holding a full glass of juice in my left hand, unable to put it down or lift it further. Had either of them spared me a glance just then, my fears would have been clear as day to them.

But judging by Mother’s concerned expression, something had upset her much more than the regular dose of “gays are ruining this world” problems. Her eyes, normally dry and narrow, reflected sunlight in the welling tears. She pursed her lips and blinked the tears away, making me scared for my life just then.

“I’m telling you, Harold, those people need to be ferreted out of their dens,” she said stiffly, but the cold anger in her voice was artificial. It only vaguely hid the desperation. “Anyone could stumble and fall. Cursed with the sin of pride and living in these times when more and more people are turning their backs on the only chance for salvation, these people are in our homes. Everett.” She bit off my name so hard that I nearly dropped the glass.

“Yes?” My voice was dry and husky.

“On Wednesday, were you alone with anyone here?” she asked.

I tried to remember Wednesday. “Alone?”

“Did you stay alone with someone from the church group?” she asked.

“Lavinia, what is the point of this?” Dad pleaded.

Pressing her lips tightly together, my mother lifted her chin in that righteous way of hers. “Joseph Burton. Barbara told me herself. The poor woman is beside herself. She won’t host the book club or join should anyone else do it for tonight. We spoke just this morning, and I’ve been praying for her all day. Poor woman.”

“What happened to Joseph? Is he alright?” I asked. It wasn’t exactly that I worried about him. I didn’t hate the guy. I merely disliked everything about him for the simple fact that my mother had never been able to let go of that tiny sliver of jealousy. Barbara Burton had the perfect son, and Lavinia Langley didn’t. Yeah, it was safe to say I didn’t care what had happened to Joseph.

“I feel soiled even repeating it,” Mother said tersely. “Last night, Barbara and Joe Bob were supposed to visit Barbara’s ailing mother, but a flat tire upset her so much that Barbara insisted they return home at once…” Mother’s breath hitched in her throat. “It was like the Almighty had designed it. You see, the truth will always reveal itself. He guided them home only to discover…” She shuddered with disgust that broke my heart.

“What, Lavinia? What did they discover?” Father begged impatiently.

“Joseph. Sharing his bed with a man.” Mother looked like someone who had stepped into a pile of dog shit. I fought as hard as I could to keep my face from contorting. “His girlfriend’s twin brother,” she whispered hurriedly like it was a sin to speak the words.

My heart sank a little. Alex Blakely, who looked like an elf, got caught in Joseph Burton’s bed by the devout Catholics Barbara and Joe Bob. What a fucking mess. “What happened then?” I asked, my voice sounding like it belonged to someone else.

“The Blakelys are accusing Joseph of seducing this…man…and Barbara says it’s the other way around, but there’s no reasoning with Joseph. He’s completely changed. He speaks to them like he had never spoken before. Shouts at his parents, cries, and slams doors like he’s possessed. He…will be moving out this weekend. Barbara thinks it’s for the best. It was Joe Bob’s idea that the boy should leave and find his own way. I disagree.”

Something shifted inside of me. What did she mean?

But the cold slap of my Mother’s righteousness didn’t miss me. “If they harbor any hope that Joseph will voluntarily enter conversion therapy, which they certainly do, then they understand nothing of these things. He must be made to see that his affliction…”

The rest was simply a ringing noise that flooded my ears. I pressed the glass against my lips and drank deeply. So that was that. Joseph Burton was gay, and it cost himeverything.

But only because he got caught, some small voice told me.

Everyone gets caught sooner or later, I replied silently.

For one desperate moment, I wondered if it was too late for me to turn things around. Then, like a cat realizing the mouse it toyed with was long dead, I set that thought aside. I wasn’t going to spend my life like this. I wasn’t going to sneak around until I was caught off guard like Joseph and Alex. Fuck that. It was time for me to act.

It was time to put this dagger where it needed to go.

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