It's Still There ✔️

2. What Is A Gay Person?

Carter began to occupy a large amount of my mind. It seems like whenever I was with my “friends”, all I imagined was sitting on Carter’s old carpet and playing some more board games. He told me that he had more, which only furthered my want to hang out with him. We settled that every Sunday, from now until who knows, forever?, that we would hang at his house. But it felt like once a week was too little. And I wanted to hang with Carter more. 

It was finally Sunday. During the week, I gave Carter waves and he waved back. I sat in the church pews. 

“God has given this country sins! Everywhere we look, sinners flood the street chanting their devil words!” The “preacher” said. I chose to ignore him, like always. 

“I’m telling you, these… fags keep flooding our streets. Kissing one another like it’s normal. But you and I know the path to freedom and eternal peace. Those abominations will go to hell and suffer while we rise and be one with the Lord!”

“AMEN!” The church-goers said. They all proceeded to open their books and sing about how kind God is.

I thought about what the “preacher” said. How could I know he was telling the truth? My mom always told me to trust adults because they know better. Then I saw my mom tell me we didn’t have any more pie and witnessed her and dad eating some later. So my judgment was speculating what the “preacher” said. 

How can he claim that God hates people when in the Bible, its main message is to spread love. Did he really hate gays? That was an idea that I blocked from my mind. While everyone else believed that it was wrong, I didn’t. Because I understand that God loves me (I think) and he loves gays and blacks and hispanics and Jews and everyone else who's different. 

There was no room for hate.

Church service ended, finally, and I told mom that I was going to go walk and return home. She allowed me to and I walked out of the premises of the church and headed to Carter’s home. I felt jumpy. I wanted to run so badly and reach his home as fast as I could. But I had to walk so I wouldn’t start sweating and made a bad second impression on Carter. 

This is the first time I’ve cared about how someone sees me. I guess it’s because Carter is different from everyone else and I only want to show him the best part of me. 

I knocked on his door and it opened to reveal Carter. He quickly put on a happy face when he saw me.

“GAVIN!” He said.

“Hi Carter!” He stepped aside and let me in. I walked and sat on the couch while Carter sat next to me.

“How’s your day been?” I asked.

“Lonely. Was waiting for you to come.” He said, blushing.

“Yeah. I left early so I could have more time to hang out with you.” I said.

“Wanna play Operation?” He said.

“Totally!” I said. He hopped off the couch and ran to another room to get the game. He returned a while later, holding the box and setting it on the floor. We played for a while and I constantly kept getting shocked. Carter, however, was a master. His small and precise hands allowed him to pick up the pieces easily.

“You’re hella good at this.” I said.

“Thanks. I want to be a doctor when I grow up so I’ve had practice.” That was the first bit of personal information he’s told me.

“How come you and your family never come to church? Everyone always wonders that.” I said while picking up a wishbone piece.

“My mom is always working. She never has the time to take me.” He said, putting his hair behind his ear.