Chapter 5 – Breaking Free

-:-:-:-:-:-

Eventually, Alex managed to find Kayla again. It wasn't that he necessarily wanted to see her, he just didn't know what else to do aside from eat snacks, and that didn't seem as exciting now that Alex had made Reggie cry.

He'd apologized for that a couple times – first with texts, then on some of their group chats, and now Alex's phone was getting inundated with concerned messages from everyone but Reggie, which was the least helpful thing ever.

"Kayla," Alex may have groaned when he finally found her again. "Can we- did I drive you here? Or did you drive? I can't remember."

It seems like something he should probably know, but he had other things on his mind. Mostly Reggie and the way he'd felt in his lap.

Kayla gave him an odd look. "Are you drunk?"

"I don't drink," Alex said, insulted that she would even assume that much. "I brought my own water bottle, remember?"

Because Alex was not, again, a fool.

"Did you eat something you shouldn't?" Kayla asked.

Yellow Candy, who Alex guessed was Kayla's sidekick the way Kayla was Carrie's sidekick, cleared her throat. "I think some dude brought pot brownies."

"There were no pots involved," Alex informed Yellow Candy. "But some guy did give me brownies, and they were delicious."

Yellow Candy and Kayla shared some kind of silent communication.

"You are high as a kite," Kayla informed him, and yeah, Alex got it, he was tall. "I definitely can't take you home like this. Do you want to crash with your band?"

"I think they're still mad at me," Alex confessed, knowing things had likely only gotten worse with all the apology messages he kept sending Reggie.

He had specified that none of them were for Luke because Luke was being a dick and since no one else was going to call him out on that, Alex was going to do so himself. Bobby he left unmentioned, because that guy already had his hands full with his two perfectly amazing boyfriends who weren't Alex.

"There's Willie, though," Alex said, briefly remembering their heart-to-heart. "I'm pretty sure he'll let me sleep on his floor."

"Sounds like we have a plan," Kayla declared, and then she was herding him away from the stupid, awful, loud party and out into the night.

It was a vast improvement.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Consciousness was… less than great. Mostly because Alex didn't recognize where he was.

There was a sleeping bag and a floor, but it wasn't a floor that belonged to one of his bandmates and he had no idea why he could possibly be camping out on it. The last thing he remembered was that useless party Kayla had taken him to, the one he'd agreed to attend because it was that or contemplate the depressing spiral of his life.

"Oh hey," a voice said from above him, and Alex shifted onto his back to see Willie craning over the edge of his bed to stare down at him. "You're awake."

"Did we have a sleepover planned?" It seemed unlikely. His parents had started discouraging Alex from attending sleepovers when he'd hit puberty. He'd always gotten a pass with the band because there was more than two of them. That was supposed to discourage any kind of shenanigans from happening.

Of course they still got into plenty of trouble, but Alex knew full well exactly what kind of shenanigans his parents were referring to. It was the reason he hadn't told them about the rest of the guys' relationship yet.

There was no reason to invite trouble.

"Nope," Willie said, which was entirely discomforting. "You accidentally ate pot brownies at that party you went to. Kayla dropped you off here to detox. I already texted your parents."

"I- good," Alex said, the pieces slowly coming back to him. Fuck, he'd thought pot brownies were like, a myth or something. He hadn't realized that was a thing people actually did.

In light of that, the guy giving him two was super generous. Alex must have looked awful.

But there was something else. Something nagging at him…

"Here's some slightly less good news," Willie said, getting out his phone. "You uh- sent a lot of messages while you were under the influence."

"Oh no," Alex groaned, dragging a hand across his face. It didn't really help anything, but indulging in his dramatics provided a small sense of comfort.

"You might want to read them," Willie offered sympathetically. "And um- also, did something happen with Reggie?"

"No," Alex said. "I haven't even seen him since-"

And then it hit him. The firepit, the cuddles, the hickies.

"Oh, fuck me," Alex groaned, turning to bury his face in his borrowed pillow. Maybe if he just wished hard enough, he'd be able to go back in time and punch himself in the face. Anything to keep from assaulting Reggie. "Willie, I'm going to die. I'm going to die, Willie."

"Please don't do that," Willie said, sliding off his bed so he could sprawl out next to Alex. "It can't be that bad."

"I went on for like, five minutes about how cute Reggie was and then started feeling up his chest," Alex said, Willie giving him a sympathetic wince. "And then I gave him a hickey. Maybe two."

"Yikes." Willie's brows rose to the top of his head. "Did he know you were…"

"It's Reggie," Alex said, which explained everything well enough. Of course Reggie didn't notice. He was like Luke. They were exceptionally adept at discerning things that caught their interest, but for everything else they may as well be wearing blinders.

"Ah," Willie hummed. "You should probably clarify that with him, then."

"I don't know if I can get him to talk to me," Alex confessed while Willie started swiping through his phone, likely checking out his newest messages. "Oh man, I think I made him cry."

Beside him, Willie paused, and at first Alex thought it was in relation to what he said, but then the skater was angling his phone towards Alex. "I think you might have other problems."

There, on the screen, was a video of Alex marking up Reggie's neck, the angle indicating it was probably taken by one of those douche jocks before they'd interrupted.

Immediately, Alex's stomach filled like stone. "Is it posted privately, or-"

"Nope," Willie said, though Alex had already known that, known Willie wouldn't have been able to find it otherwise. "It's already been shared a lot."

"Fuck," Alex said, heat building in his eyes.

It wasn't his reputation that mattered exactly, it had more to do with the fact that there were enough people at his school that went to his church, and all of their parents knew Alex's parents.

This could be very, very bad.

"I'm going to be disowned," Alex muttered, squeezing his eyes shut in an effort to compose himself.

It didn't really work, not when the hits kept coming, but he tried nonetheless.

Willie abandoned his phone and slid his hand into Alex's, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You're always welcome here."

Alex had a feeling it was a long-term invitation that he was going to be taking advantage of sooner rather than later.

-:-:-:-:-:-

The first thing he did was call Kayla, because if Willie had seen the clip there was no way Kayla – gossip manager extraordinaire in charge of collecting all the latest news for Carrie's review – had not.

Fortunately, her response was probably the best Alex could have hoped for, all things considered. "I'm not mad," Kayla said, the words only somewhat easing the tension in Alex's chest. "One, you were high, so it wasn't like you were in full control of your faculties, and two, no one deserves to be outed like that. If anything, I'm mad at the assholes who took the video, and I'm currently in the process of starting a campaign to ruin their social lives."

"I… thanks," Alex said dumbly, surprised by the amount of support coming from his fake girlfriend. "I am sorry, though. For um- I mean, I probably should have told you I was, that I'm…"

Kayla was kind enough to cut in when Alex trailed off, the blond pacing mindless circles through Willie's room, the skater relegated to the kitchen to give Alex some privacy. "I had my suspicions," she said, making him pause. "They weren't strong – more like a distant possibility, but I'm not really surprised."

Alex let out a bitter chuckle. "Willie said that too."

"Perceptive man, that Willie," Kayla allowed, knowing that while she was the one who gathered info for Dirty Candy, Willie was the gossip contact for The Phantoms and Sunset Curve. "Look, your business is your business," she explained. "You don't owe it to anyone to leave the closet, and if that's where you felt you needed to be, if that's where you were safe, then that's… you know, valid. You've got my support."

"I- thanks, Kayla," Alex said, feeling momentarily overwhelmed. It was everything he wanted to hear from the person he'd least expected it, and a distant part of him wondered if his band would respond the same way. If they'd like him enough to look past his behavior at the party.

"Just being decent, stud," Kayla said, a light tease in her voice. "We're going to have to tackle the social fallout at school, though. You already told them that you wouldn't do anything without my permission, so in your high state you managed to cover that much, but this is still going to affect the guys' relationship, and there's no getting around the implication that you're at least bi. Or demisexual. Reggiesexual? Not that I blame you," Kayla chuckled. "He's a cutie."

"Yeah," Alex managed his throat dry. "He really is."

Even when he was completely out of it, Alex had known that much. Had been unable to hold himself back from waxing poetic on the subject. It was just- Reggie. He could have done it for any of them, really, it was pure luck that Reggie had been unfortunate to be confronted with his attentions.

"You need to make a choice," Kayla said, immediately reinforcing the gravity of the situation. "We can tell people it's none of their business, but if we don't give them something, they're going to start rumors of their own." She allowed a beat for that to sink in. "I've found with these things that it's best to get ahead of them."

"I…" Alex knew she was right, knew he was already damned with the video out there, knew that there was no conversation he could fake with his parents that he could come through without sacrificing large chunks of himself. He could pretend he made a mistake, he could admit to being drugged, he could lie, but he knew his parents had friends who'd sent their kids to conversion therapy before. If he stayed, that was likely in his future. "I think I um- I might need a restraining order from my parents, or something."

There was a long pause. "Oh damn," Kayla said, but she only allowed that one moment of surprise, immediately getting back to business. "Good thing my mom's a lawyer. You got any witnesses to support their homophobic tendencies?"

He thought of Julie, careful and stone-faced as she listened to his parents talk to Ray about 'that Flynn girl' finding a boyfriend because she 'wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea', when just about anyone in the world could see that Flynn and Carrie had been circling each other for ages. Thought about how Bobby's grandparents politely deflected all conversations that revolved around just how many times Luke or Reggie slept over, and 'weren't they worried about something happening?'. Thought about how they'd looked at Willie's fashion, the way he expressed himself, and applauded Willie's grandmother for 'being so supporting, though he should probably tone things down a bit if he wants to get a girlfriend'.

"Yes," Alex said, heart heavy in his throat. "Yeah, I've got that."

"It's a start," Kayla said. "You going to come out to them?"

"I have to," Alex said, the prospect feeling both liberating and like a deadly trap all in one.

"Record that conversation," Kayla said. "Have one of your friends on standby, and if you need to get out of there, do it. If they threaten you, get to my house ASAP, and my mom will get started on the emergency paperwork."

Because his parents didn't actually need his permission to send him to conversion therapy if they were his legal guardians. It was a rabbit hole Alex had researched during his more manic moments – using the computers at the local library, of course, so it couldn't be traced back to him. He needed to know about the threat that was hanging over his head.

He'd seen the results of such practices, and he didn't want anything to do with it. Not when he'd never felt bad about what he was.

"T-Thanks, Kayla," Alex said, feeling a distinct heat build in his eyes. "I'm sorry I'm such a shitty fake boyfriend."

"You're an amazing fake boyfriend, Alex," Kayla countered, her tone unrelenting. "If you choose to come out at school, I'll just say that all the straight guys were so shitty that I had to resort to a gay one, and you were kind enough to humor me."

"You don't- we could pretend I was bi," Alex said, even though that was just as deadly with his parents. With his church.

"We'll do whatever you want to do," Kayla said. "I just want you to know that I support you one hundred percent. Whatever decision you make, we can work with it, okay? You are in no way holding me back or negatively affecting me. Write that down fifty times if you don't believe it."

"I… I believe it," Alex said, a chuckle easing the weight on his shoulders. "Thanks, Kayla. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, stud," Kayla hummed, sounding endlessly fond. "Now take care of yourself. I'll never forgive you if you don't."

If the promise made him tear up, that was their business and their business alone. Still, it was nice to have someone in his corner, even if it came from the last place he expected.

-:-:-:-:-:-

There was no point in delaying things. Like Kayla had said, it was best to cut this stuff off at the pass. Alex was about as sober as he could be, and he and Willie were in the process of discussing potential exit strategies should the conversation with his parents go poorly when someone rang the doorbell.

It was Willie who answered it, Alex hiding like the gigantic coward he was (though it was understandable because this wasn't his house, he wasn't expected to answer the door, it might not be about him. It could be a package or a salesman or the meter inspector or something). There was a few painstaking seconds before Willie led the guest into his room, where Alex was keeping out of the way, the blond's stomach filling with ice when he realized it was Bobby that had come.

"Process of elimination," Bobby explained, his expression neutral as he lingered in the doorway.

There was a moment of tension, Alex struggling to respond.

Willie cleared his throat. "You need me to stay?" Willie asked, the question aimed at Alex. He didn't acknowledge Bobby, acted like he wasn't even there. Like Alex had the entirety of his focus because he did. In that moment, Alex was the one that mattered.

The blond swallowed hard, knowing that he truly didn't deserve the gift that was Willie in his life. "It'll be okay," he said, his voice soft.

Willie held his gaze, waiting in case Alex changed his mind, then nodded. "I'll just be down the hall," he said, leaving the door pointedly open before he vanished from view.

And then it was just the two of them.

"I'm sorry," Alex said, his voice tight, pathetic. "Is Reggie-"

"He's with Luke right now," Bobby said, his expression still painfully neutral. And then, because it was Bobby, because he'd already put up with a lot of shit from all of them and just wanted some peace, he cut straight to the point. "Why'd you do it?"

Alex swallowed hard. It felt like his throat was full of sandpaper. "I accidentally…" He began, trying to figure out how to word it. "I got drugged," he settled on, making Bobby's brows raise in surprise. "I didn't- I didn't know pot brownies were a real thing but apparently they are and I saw Reggie and I just-" Alex dragged a hand over his face, hating the sudden swell of heat building behind his eyes. Bobby didn't deserve to put up with this. "Bobby, I wouldn't have- I never would have done that in my right mind. It's not- it's awful, what I did, what I made him put up with, I know that, and I'm so sorry. If he wants to- if he wants to press charges-"

"No one's pressing fucking charges," Bobby cut in, his voice hard, and then he was settling next to Alex on the bed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and dragging him close. "I knew there had to be something to it. I knew you wouldn't just-"

"I wouldn't," Alex insisted, his eyes feeling painfully hot. "I don't think he's a slut. He's not a slut, he's Reggie, and you guys- what you have is good, I don't want to wreck that. I'd never want to wreck that, I was just so fucking high and I've never been high before so I didn't know- I just thought I was happy, I guess."

And that hadn't happened in so long that Alex had surrendered to it, allowing himself to be impulsive because it seemed like a good idea, because maybe that could bring him more happiness.

"Can you tell him that?" Alex asked, his voice achingly small. "Can you- I'll tell him myself when he's ready to see me again, if he wants to see me again, but he needs to know that as soon as possible." He hid his face in his hands again, trying hard to swallow down the encroaching tears.

"I'll tell him," Bobby said, the words coming in a calm murmur. "I think he… he was surprised," Bobby said, his phrasing seeming a bit clumsy. "Just- was it because of the um- drugs or are you- I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to-"

"I'm gay," Alex said, quiet, and yet it seemed to echo throughout the room with a sort of ruthlessness that made him shudder. "I'm really, really gay."

There was a tense silence, and while Alex was used to it from Bobby because Bobby was a person who liked to be careful with his words, who liked to proceed with caution, Alex couldn't help but feel a little hurt by the sudden thread of tension.

"Does Kayla know?" Bobby asked, the question so very careful because he didn't want to upset Alex. And yet, he needed to know.

"She's aware," Alex murmured. "We were never really dating. Just- it was business."

"Business," Bobby repeated, like maybe if he echoed the word that would help with his comprehension.

"She offered," Alex said. "And it didn't- it wasn't like I was going to date someone for real anyway, so I may as well make my parents happy."

His parents. Fuck, his parents. They were going to destroy him.

"Is that why you didn't tell us?" Bobby asked, carefully neutral again, pulling all his cards close to his chest because Alex had become a volatile substance. He couldn't predict how the blond would react.

"It didn't matter," Alex murmured finally. "And – you know, the best way to keep a secret…" Is to not tell anyone, but Bobby could finish that for himself. "It's kind of inevitable now, though," Alex said. "So I'm um- gonna-"

Bobby coaxed him closer to his side, and then a hand was braced against Alex's jaw, Bobby thumbing away the few tears that had the audacity to spill down his cheeks.

"You're not alone," Bobby said, gentle, like he was handling Reggie. Like he'd handled Alex when he'd quit the band. "You can always come to my place."

"You've got Reggie and Luke already," Alex said, and even if they didn't officially live there, they were present at the Wilson's place often enough that they may as well be. "It's okay, Willie's got my back."

"It probably won't come to that," Bobby said, and it was a lie, they both knew it was a lie, and yet Alex was grateful that Bobby was nice enough to pretend. It wasn't realistic, but having someone see that potential bright side… it helped.

"Maybe," Alex said instead of 'it would', it would and that would likely be the best of it if they stopped there. He swallowed hard, wondering how to proceed. "Thanks for coming. I- if you could tell the guys-"

"I'm not leaving you," Bobby said, his tone fierce. "We stick together, Lex. I'm coming with you."

It was more than Alex could have hoped for, and yet he still shuddered, knowing he didn't really deserve it.

"You should call the guys first," Alex murmured. "They deserve to know-"

"We'll call them," Bobby said, his gaze stubborn.

But Alex just shuddered. "I can't…" He couldn't look at Reggie so soon after it'd happened, couldn't bear the idea of Luke's displeasure, couldn't handle that on top of everything else. "Please, Bobby."

There was a pause, and then Bobby nodded. "Okay," he said, and that was that, Bobby holding him in companionable silence while Alex tried to gather the pieces of himself together, knowing he couldn't afford to be fractured with the upcoming trials.

-:-:-:-:-:-

It was his house. He'd been there a million times before. In the grand scheme of things, when it came down to ratios, this was the place Alex had been the most, so really, it shouldn't be intimidating. It was just a house. Middle class, solid, friendly HOA, the garden gnome gag gift his mom had gotten safely relegated to their storage shed where it couldn't besmirch the perfect picturesque life.

If only Alex could manage such things.

He swallowed, sharing a look with Willie and Bobby before he activated his voice recording app, a sudden chill traveling down his spine as he made his way towards the back door. He already knew things were bad because both of his parents were home and it was a Saturday afternoon. Normally, his mom would be chaperoning his little sister's cheer competition, or his dad would be out running errands. Saturday was their free day, but Alex had seen both their cars in the driveway when he'd approached, just as expected.

He let himself in through the backdoor, as though nothing was wrong, and caught his mom freeze in the kitchen, halfway through stress cleaning the dishes she'd normally leave from Alex's sister (because they had to earn that chore money somehow). Their gazes locked, and Alex tried not to fumble, not to melt, but she simply dismissed him, shutting off the water and abandoning her rubber gloves mid task before she glided out of the room.

He was used to seeing various negative emotions from his parents. They were human after all, they were destined to do things like be annoyed or angry or sad, but this was the worst of it, this was disappointment, and it left Alex standing by the back door, his stomach full of ice.

It didn't take long for his mom to return with his father. Alex hadn't moved in that time.

Unlike his mom, Alex's dad seemed to take the more congenial route, sliding into a warm smile on what was likely reflex. "Welcome home," he said, seeming to mean it, but Alex couldn't reciprocate, not when he felt so twisted up inside. "Did you have a good time at your party?"

"I- sure," Alex decided, because he'd only been allowed to attend with their permission. "I, dad-"

"We need to talk about that video," his mom cut in, which was both a relief and horror.

"What's there to talk about?" Alex's dad cut in, making the blond pause. "It's just boys being boys, right? Something got taken out of context, and…" He made a vague gesture with his hand. "I assume Reginald put you up to it, correct?"

Alex paused, a distant white noise seeming to ring in his ears. His dad was giving him an out. They were giving him an out even if they didn't believe in it, they were offering a pass because they needed to buy into the delusion that Alex was somehow the straightest son in the history of the world.

Kayla's words echoed in his mind.

"You don't owe it to anyone to leave the closet," she'd said, sounding so very confident."And if that's where you felt you needed to be, if that's where you are safe, then that's- you know, valid."

It wasn't always about being true to yourself or whatever. Sometimes it was just about surviving. Sometimes it was about waiting until you had full control of your life, or until you could relocate to a safer shelter, until you could pin down a new family that accepted you for who you were unequivocally. It wasn't a race to get out of the closet. There was no shame in taking care of yourself, Alex knew that now.

For a painful second, he was tempted to take the offer for what it was.

But the kids at school wouldn't be willing to buy into the same mindset as Alex's parents, and they'd already seen the video. They already knew Alex was at least bi, and being bi was enough of a sin to condemn him in the eyes of his family. Even if Alex played himself off as straight, the blame could potentially get put on Reggie, who was already getting bullied (and it burned Alex to think that, to know it, he wanted to tear the world down and settled for having Kayla decimate those guys' chances of ever getting girlfriends instead).

"No," Alex said, because he might be a coward and he might be romantically unappealing to his friends, but he wasn't going to hurt Reggie more than he already had that day. "No, Reggie didn't… that was me."

Because I was drugged, he could say, but it wouldn't matter. His mom always thought that it was when people were compromised that their most honest opinions emerged. She liked to tease his dad when he was sleep deprived and rambly, though they'd never been anything less than sweet together.

One day, Alex would like someone to be that way with him.

"I'm gay," he said, the words somehow both easier and harder than he'd anticipated. "Kayla knows," he added, as though that would somehow lessen the weight of their disappointment, to know their son hadn't lied to the girl that, until a few seconds ago, had been a source of great joy in their lives.

There was a long pause, his mom's eyes beginning to get wet, and when she opened her mouth to protest, probably, his dad cut her off. "It's just- this is a phase."

"It's not," Alex said, feeling his throat begin to get tight. "You don't think I wanted it to be a phase? I waited, but it's just- this is me."

"Alex…" his mom began, her tone broken. "This is just- you've just been given another trial, is all. You're a good boy-"

"Yes," Alex interrupted, which he never did with his parents. "Yes, I am. And being gay doesn't change that. Being gay doesn't affect that at all."

There was another pause.

"I see your friends have… indoctrinated you," his dad said, all traces of that warm smile gone and replaced with a certain coolness that made Alex ache.

Alex couldn't help but laugh though. "I figured myself out long before they did," he admitted, because he may as well. "I spent years wanting it to go away, but it's not. And you can either love me-"

"Of course we love you," his mom said, tears spilling down her cheeks.

"But we can't support this," his dad said in the next moment, killing whatever hope Alex had. "Not if you- not if you're doing this willingly."

"Then… that's it, then, I guess," Alex said, waiting to see if they'd push some kind of ultimatum, and somehow knowing in that moment that they wouldn't. He was dead to them, an embarrassment, and so long as he wouldn't try, he'd be ignored.

Alex, he found, could live with that shunning. He loved his parents, he loved all the parts about them that weren't homophobic, but the whole homophobic thing was still unquestionably a problem, and Alex couldn't live like this anymore.

"I'll just get my bags," Alex said, moving from the kitchen on auto pilot.

Neither one of them stopped him.

He packed his clothes, his school supplies, his music. He packed up the things that couldn't be replaced and packed up the toiletries no one else would use until his life was nestled away in two gym bags. When he got back down to the first floor of the house his mom was crying in the living room, his dad keeping a careful arm wrapped around her shoulders, holding her close. He looked up when he heard Alex enter, sending him a scathing look like this was all his fault, but… it wasn't.

It really wasn't.

The realization took Alex by surprised, but he pushed past it, deciding to give his parents the same treatment they'd subjected him to and ignore them entirely.

They were the adults in the situation. They were the ones who were supposed to have calm, rational responses. They were the ones that weren't supposed to make their child hate themselves for something they couldn't control, for something that didn't hurt anyone. They were the ones who had failed, not Alex.

Alex had not failed.

He'd packed his bags, he'd been honest, and he'd gotten himself out of a toxic situation. He was removing himself from a place that made him act in a way that actively hurt him and his friends, and he had done well.

When he got back into Bobby's van, voice recorder off and eyes not even slightly wet, Willie pulled him into a tight hug, running a hand through his shaggy hair.

"I'm proud of you," Willie murmured among other things, warm, generous reassurances because Willie knew he needed it. "I'm proud of you, and you did the right thing."

For once in his life, Alex agreed. He was proud of himself too. And he deserved that pride. He didn't even regret the cost, because he was not the one that had laid the ultimatum. He was not the one being unreasonable. That was not on him.

It was not his fault, and it was never going to be, so Alex moved on, into the future.

He already had a family that loved him unconditionally. He'd submit to them over his blood relatives any day of the week.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Endnotes:

And you thought Alex would talk to Reggie this chapter, as though it would ever be that straightforward ;)

Story notes:

Because I really, really, really did not want to research conversion therapy, the entirety of my knowledge on the subject devolves from a Cracked article I read once. There's a good chance this information is entirely outdated, but for the purposes of this story, it's applicable.

So the end of this chapter is mostly me just waxing poetic on my own opinions but they do basically boil down to 1) you really don't owe it to anyone to get out of the closet. You're the best judge of that, and if it's actually dangerous for you to be outed, you stay there nice and safe. 2) there is and never shall be anything wrong with being gay, and the parents who have the audacity to condemn their children for it (as opposed to things to actually be offended by, like if their kid's a bully or sexist or racist or what the hell ever) are garbage people who probably shouldn't have been parents in the first place. If even the pope's like 'yeah, love your neighbor, and they're also your neighbor' and you still can't chill the hell out, you need to stop using religion as an excuse and embrace the fact that you're a garbage person.

I realize I'm speaking to the choir here but I wanted to go ahead and emphasize this fact for anyone who might be struggling with stupid family members. If they loved you, they'd make an effort to understand. If they don't, there is absolutely nothing wrong with cutting a toxic person out of your life, blood relation or no. You are obligated to talk to no one.

This has been my Ted talk that I'm sure is very redundant but I wanted to put it out there anyway, because while I have read a lot of stuff, I haven't seen a whole lot of Alex vs. his parents confrontations, and these are important points to hold onto.

Until next time :)