Latter Day Sinner

Chapter 6

"So I was talking to Father Way yesterday" said Frank's mother one morning. They were sitting at the breakfast table as they often did on Saturday mornings in some desperate bid to seem 'close' or 'conventional.
The statement came seemingly from nowhere, and made Frank choke a little on his cereal.

"Oh? Uh. Who's that?" he asked nervously, wiping his hand on his jeans. His mother looked at him and cocked an eyebrow in a way that very clearly said "I'm not buying what you're selling, kid." She shrugged, poking at her eggs with her fork.

"I think you've met him. Tall, dark hair, walks with a cane, talks out of one side of his mouth," she said almost flippantly, gesturing with her fork. She gave Frank a dark, thoughtful look.
"He had a lot to say about you," she said. Frank cleared his throat, face burning as he looked down at his cereal.

"Yeah? Like what?" he asked. This was it. Gerard had probably told Frank's mother about the window. He'd told her that Frank was a delinquent and that he couldn't be trusted.
Frank couldn't help but feel a pang of betrayal. He'd really thought they'd been getting close to being friends. Hell, he hung out with him now about as equally as his actual friends. After Church, it was now customary for Frank to go to Gerard's house for tea. He'd never have thought that he'd want that sort of thing, previously, but it was actually a lot of fun. Frank liked watching Gerard transform from his serious priestly role, into a funny, affectionate, warm man with a very specific love for comic books from the 70s and bad horror movies. He even found himself missing their time together when he was away from him, which both excited and worried him.
His mother's voice snapped him back into reality.

"I didn't know you'd been helping him out around the Church," she said simply, arching an eyebrow suspiciously. "It's out of character for you."
Frank felt a wave of relief. Gerard hadn't told his Mother a damn thing. Frank smiled.

"I...it's a school thing," he stammered "y'know, community service. Helping the elderly. All that stuff," he said quickly, impressed with the fluidity of his own lie. His mother raised her eyebrows, looking amused.

"Father Way isn't that old, Frank," she chided softly. Frank shrugged.

"He looks old," he said, the second lie flowing off his lips just as easily as the first. If not more so, because he'd been trying to convince himself of this one for weeks now. It could have almost been the truth if he'd only believed it.

Frank stood up after a moment and began to clean out his bowl, watching the individual pieces of cereal slide down the drain. It was oddly hypnotic, but he knew it was his brain intentionally distracting him from the problem at hand.
Things were getting difficult with Gerard, and it was far past the time when Frank could be dishonest with himself about it. The man drove him crazy in all the best and worst ways. The power in his voice when he preached, his gentle laugh, the way he looked at Frank like he was sunshine rising over a hill at dawn. It was wonderful and it was killing him, all at the same time. The worst part was, he supposed, that he couldn't really tell anyone. Nobody, at least, that wouldn't judge him for it. His friends – specifically Mia, who had catlike intuition - knew there was something up with him, but couldn't tell them. He was old and he was a Priest. Those two things alone were enough to make him regret this. But he couldn't help it. He couldn't stop it –and at this point, he didn't even think he wanted to. He was never one to get interested in people this quickly – but he couldn't help himself. Gerard was so pure, so wonderful. He'd never met anyone like him. He was endlessly powerful, but then he'd ruin it by saying something dorky and right there, Frank would fall for that idiot all over again.
Not fall for. That wasn't right. It hadn't got to that point – it was just a crush. A stupid crush. He'd get over it as soon as his damn community service was over.
The idea made him both relieved and pained.