“Well,” Davi said. “That’s a horrible thing to do to yourself. I’m Catholic as well and I have a gay cousin at home. No one in the family judges him for it. We say it’s his life to live, and that is between him and God.”
“You don’t think I’ll go to hell for it?” Rory locked eyes with Davi, a kindred spirit in their religion. He’d known Davi was Catholic, but they never discussed it.
“No, I don’t,” Davi said. “You are a good person. Kind and generous. I don’t think God would punish you for your love.”
“Thank you, Davi,” Rory said. “That means the world to me.”
His friends gathered around him and wrapped him in a hug. He had friends. He still couldn’t wrap his head around it. People outside his church who wanted to spend time with him. Encourage him. They didn’t care how he turned out. They liked him for who he was and didn’t expect anything else.
“So,” Sophia said. “Are you going to go ask him out on a date?”
“What if he says no?” Rory said.
His heart ached. Bernard’s rejection of his love would crush him.
“You’ll never know unless you try,” Nicolas said.
“You got this, big guy,” Jeff said.
“Okay.” Rory stood. “I’m going to go ask him right now.”
“We’ll be rooting for you, Rory,” Nicolas said.
“You have to let us know how it goes,” Jeff said.
“You’ll do great,” Sophia assured him.
Rory left the bar and headed to Gilroy. He needed to ask now, while he had the courage. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind. What would he say? If they went on a date, where would they go? What would it be like to kiss him? What would it be like to…? He stopped. He had thought about sex with Bernard. What it would feel like. Would he be able to? He had to stop thinking about the negative. Right now, his goal was to get to Bernard’s and ask him out.
Rory took a breath and knocked on Bernard’s door. A pool of sweat covered his face. His heart jumped into his throat when Bernard answered the door.
“Oh, hey, Rory,” Bernard said. “Is everything okay?”
“I…can I come in?”
“Of course,” he said, scrunching together his eyebrows in concern. “It’s ten at night. What happened?”
“I just need to talk to you.”
Rory followed Bernard in. Bernard’s house was nice but not as clean as his apartment. He wanted to grab a broom, mop, vacuum, and duster, and tidy the place. He needed to help Bernard.
Rory’s mind jumped to cleaning when he was stressed. He could clean a mansion right now.
“Do you want something to drink?” Bernard asked.
“A soda would be great.”
Rory sat on the couch, hands between his knees.
Bernard returned with two glasses of soda. Rory held it in both hands and stared at the bubbles as they fizzed. Bernard sat next to him.
“What’s going on?” Bernard asked.
“I…I have to… I need…”
“What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Rory looked up at Bernard. His eyes fixated on him.
