Page 4 of Gay for Pray
“That is the real reason.” When I stare, he throws up his hands as though affronted. “I’m serious! I’m trying out for the choir. Will you just tell me if I’m going the right way or not?”
No. No. This can’t be happening. This absolutely can’t be happening. There’s no way this could happen. There’s no wayJudecould be trying out for the choir, the very same choir I intend to be in for the next three years of my life.
“What?” he asks.
Then it hits him and his eyes go wide.
Chapter Three
Jude
OH HELL NO.
No, no, no, no, no. This can’t be true. Anything but this. Anything buthim. This is supposed to be my foolproof plan for finally getting laid at this dismal university. I can’t imagine a bigger cockblock than Church Boy over here.
Of course he sings in the choir. Of course he does. What else would a guy like Theodore have to do on a Sunday morning? He’s certainly not hungover from partying the previous night. Even so, the thought of Theodore singing is hard to reconcile in my brain. For me, music has always been freedom. It’s always been joy. There was nowhere gayer in my high school than the theater club. All of that is the absolute antithesis of Theodore.
He takes off, and I fall into step beside him. I wasn’t lying. I really don’t know where the church is. I know in theory, but I’ve never gone there myself, and I don’t want to miss my try-out time. I’ll just have to hope Theodore isn’t leading me on a wild goose chase, but he doesn’t seem like the type. He does everything with an annoying amount of sincerity.
“Why are you following me?” he grumbles after a few steps.
“Because you know where the church is.”
“You’re serious?”
He shoots a glare at me, quickly looking away as though he hopes I might vanish. Tough luck. I’m not going anywhere. I’m certainly not lettingthisguy run me out of town. I walk besidehim as though we’re friends, refusing to slow or speed up to put space between us.
Theodore mutters beside me. You’d think he was marching through a landfill and not strolling down a literally cobbled path beneath beautiful, flowering trees. Students filter around us, oblivious to our conflict as they soak in the perfect California weather. I won’t lie. Going to a Catholic university was a way easier sell when I learned it was in southern California where the weather is perfect all year long.
Amid the sunshine, Theodore is a thundercloud.
“Do you have to follow me?” he snaps.
“Yes. I don’t know where I’m going, and you’re my tour guide.” I flash a toothy smile just to irritate him. I have to look up a little to do it, but I’m not going to let him lord his height over me. I’m the one with the power of obnoxiousness on my side.
“Do you even care about the choir?” he says. “This isn’t theater club. It’s serious.”
“Theater club was serious,” I retort, though his perceptiveness surprises me. He saw through my motivations quicker than I would have guessed. How does someone like him know what goes on in theater club?
“We aren’t singing for fun,” Theodore says. “We’re praising God. It’s part of the church service. You realize that, right?”
“I do, in fact, understand what a liturgical choir is.”
“Then you understand why you don’t belong there.”
This time I hit him with a glare, a real glare. No playful grin after that remark. Theodore has the decency to seem ashamed, refusing to meet my eyes.
“I just mean,” he backtracks. “You know.”
I refuse to give him the out. “No, actually. I don’t know. Whatdoyou mean?”
His mouth twists into a scowl. I try not to notice the fullness of his lips or the way the sunlight makes his stubble shinegolden. It would be a lot better if my enemy was ugly, instead of looking like some kind of golden Greek god. All the more reason I need to get into this choir. If I’m thinking about Theodore this way, I am truly desperate.
Theodore huffs. “I just mean that this is important to those of us who actually believe.”
“And you assume I don’t believe.”
He glances at me. “Do you?”
