WHITNEY'S HOUSE
"Gay?"
Lauren
asks, suddenly wide-eyed.
Jason's
world
has stopped turning. He just sits there on the bed beside Lauren, paralyzed
by a shock so deep that it feels as though his entire body is shutting
down. He waits for Lauren to make the next move, because without some prompting
he has no idea where to begin.
But she is
caught up in her own reaction. The shock that washed over her tear-stained
face a moment ago is now giving way to something else.
"Oh ... my
... God," she says slowly, almost inaudibly, as her hand rises to her mouth.
Suddenly Jason
can take the waiting no longer. "What did
Alex tell you?" he blurts out
in a rush of breath.
She glances
up at him, a bit startled, as if in absorbing the surprise she forgot he
was there. "He said I needed to know for good that we'd never be together
-- after I kissed him downstairs, he told me to come up here so we could
talk ... but he didn't say ..." She sounds distant, almost dreamy, as she
reviews everything that has happened tonight and in the last months from
a completely new point of view.
"Did he tell
you?" she asks suddenly, whipping around to face Jason. "I mean, do you
know for sure?"
There is suddenly
a lump blocking Jason's throat, and it takes him what feels like forever
to force it out of the way. "I--Lauren, I just thought--"
"You thought
or you knew?"
"I was thinking
about the whole thing, and I--I figured maybe ..."
"Maybe what?
Jason ..."
For the first
time, Jason brings himself to look at her, to truly look at her. Her makeup
is distorted and her eyes are puffy. Tears have left the mark of sadness
and finality on her cheeks, trails leading nowhere but down. The insecurities
that have come out so many times in neurotic fits are there, smudged all
over her face, but there is something different about them now. They seem
more realistic, more ... tragic.
"Lauren--"
He grabs hold of her hands. "This is not your fault. This isn't even--it's
not about you, not really."
"Then he is?
Jason, tell me. I need to know. Is--" Suddenly she stops, mid-question.
Jason follows her eyes over his shoulder, to the door, where Alex is now
standing.
Jason notices
the bunch of tissues in his hand. He must have gone to get those for
her ... before he told her the whole story. If he was going to tell
her the whole story.
"Jason," Alex
says weakly as he evaluates the scene before him. "W-what's going on?"
To Jason, the
room feels as though it is about to explode. He looks at Alex and then
at Lauren, and then back at Alex. Where is this going?
"Alex," Lauren
says suddenly, popping to her feet. A sob blurs her voice and she pauses
a moment before continuing. "I need to know the truth."
"The truth?"
Alex glances over at Jason, who tries to offer an apologetic look. He sees
horror warping Alex's features as he realizes what has happened.
"Tell me,"
she says forcefully. It sounds to Jason as though she is doing everything
she can to keep going and make this happen.
She focuses
her gaze more strongly on Alex. "Are you gay?"
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