Secrets Told

Chapter Four: Outcomes

Late that night, Gary collapsed onto his bed with a sigh. He had known for quite some time that he would eventually have to tell his friends about him and Tracey but he hadn't exactly planned on doing it anytime soon. It had proved to be one of the more difficult things to do and the normally confident and arrogant teenager had to admit to being rather fearful of the responses from his six closest friends. He could have gone about it many different ways; calling them on the phone individually and tell them quickly without having to deal with the embarrassment of seeing their faces, get them all together and explain everything at once. Instead he opted to seek them out personally and individually, telling them with a rather blunt "I'm gay and I figured you'd rather hear it from me before my sister goes blabbing to everyone." Of course, the wording differed with each person but that was the basic method of delivery.

And, of course, everyone had reacted differently. Disbelief, general acceptance, negative emotions varying from mild annoyance to outright anger…

"Hate to break it to you, Gar, but April Fools was over a month ago." "That wasn't a joke." "Seriously?" "Yep." "Oh, man. That's gonna take awhile to sink in." "Yeah, well how do you think I felt about it?"

"Whatever floats your boat, man. Can you help me with my biology? I've got a major exam tomorrow." "Wait, do you even care?" "About you, yeah; about who you like, no; about this exam, fuck yes. What does the mitochondria do?" "Mito… what?" "Just help me! We'll talk about you tomorrow when we go to the beach after my exam!"

"You fucking lied to me!" "How the hell did I lie to you? Did you ever ask me 'hey, Gary, are you gay?' No, you didn't!" "That's beside the point!" "How?" "Does it matter?" "Yes!"

"Oh. Well, that explains a lot." "That's it? No other comments?" "Yeah… Well, I mean, I'm sorry for all of the little gay comments I made but you know, you kinda kept it a secret." "Okay… So, no big deal?"

"You're what?!" "Gay. As in, I like guys. Is there a problem with that?" "I've gotten dressed in front of you!" "And did you ever catch me checking you out?" "… No." "Then why are you freaking out?" "Um… well…" "My point exactly. There's no reason for it; besides, you're not even my type." "That's… not entirely reassuring." "You do realize that you act more gay than I do, right?"

"Dude!" "Oh, hell…" "Why the hell didn't you ever tell me?" "I… Wait, you're not mad?" "I'm pretty annoyed that you never told me; I'm your best friend! You helped me pick out my Charmander, you helped me evolve my Nidorino, you –" "I get the point. Does it really matter though? I told you either way." "I guess… Hey, you're not gonna replace me with Tracey, are you?" "Sure I am." "Hey!" "What? He lets me have sex with him. Can we say the same for you?" "Way too much information!" "Now you know how I feel about you and your girlfriends."

There was nothing he could really do now but hope that it wouldn't change things too drastically.

The sound of the bedroom door creaking open startled Gary out of his mental review of what had happened that evening. He glanced up to see May in the doorway with an uncharacteristically shy expression on her face.

"What do you want?" Gary asked warily as he sat up on the bed to face his sister.

She gave him a weak smile. "I made chocolate chip cookies," she offered quietly.

"First you out me to everyone, now you're trying to poison me. I feel so loved," he replied sarcastically, a slight smile tugging at his lips.

May grinned at that; her pathetic attempts at cooking were an ongoing joke between the two siblings. "Okay, okay; I bought them at the bakery downtown, but the message is still the same," she explained as she walked across the room and climbed onto the bed next to her brother.

"And what exactly is this mystery message?"

"I'm sorry for telling everyone… It wasn't my business and it wasn't my place to tell."

Gary snickered softly and shook his head. "That must've been one hell of a lecture Grandpa gave you earlier."

May visibly cringed at the memory. "Let's not talk about that. I just wanted to say I was sorry and it won't happen again. And I hope everything went alright with your friends… How did that go, by the way?"

"We'll see tomorrow when I meet everyone at the beach; Mike and Brandon kind of freaked out but no one else seemed to care."

May nodded sympathetically and stood up to leave the room. "I figured Wyatt would be the one to freak out with all of the gay jokes he makes. Hey, wanna watch a movie with me?" she suddenly asked cheerfully.

Gary groaned inwardly, of course his sister would be the one to change the subject to that. "Only if I can sleep through it," he muttered.

"I'll let you pick the movie!"

He couldn't help laugh at her enthusiasm and he couldn't exactly blame her for trying to convince him to hang out with her. The two siblings had such vastly different personalities and interests that they rarely hung out together. Finally, Gary nodded in agreement and followed his sister out of the room and down the hall.

They had reached the top of the stairs when May hesitated and turned to face him with a small frown gracing her pretty features. "Wait a minute – you're going to make me watch something gross, aren't you?"

"You did say I could pick the movie," Gary replied smoothly with a small smirk as he headed down the staircase ahead of her.

"Wait – Gary! You little brat!"

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