Reaching Lily by Vivacia K Ahwen

Author:Vivacia K Ahwen [Vivacia K. Ahwen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The Legend of Jerry Fitz

Jerry Fitz and I always began our scenes the same way.

‘Bless me, Father Gerald, for I have sinned.’

‘When was your last confession?’ he would prompt from behind the screen.

The confessional was dark, claustrophobic, and the wooden bench stung my knees.

‘My last confession was, uhm …’ I tried to think back, but this little game had become so familiar that they all kind of ran together. ‘My last confession was two or three weeks ago.’

‘It was three weeks ago,’ he corrected me. ‘And now, as you repent for your sins, you can add lying to the list.’

‘I suppose you’re right.’

‘Did you mean, “I suppose you’re right, Father Gerald”?’

‘Yes.’ I sighed. ‘I suppose you’re right, Father Gerald.’

‘Because Father Gerald is always right.’ I heard his breath quickening on the other side of the partition. ‘Say it.’

‘Because Father Gerald is always right. Forgive me, Father.’

‘Perhaps I will, depending on how penitent you are.’ He waited.

‘OK. So, last week I swore seven times, took the name of the Lord in vain twice, lied to my mom and stole one of her cigarettes.’ I made my voice as shaky as possible.

‘Oh, come on, Lily.’ He sighed. ‘Can’t you do better than that?’

‘Jerry, don’t break character. You always break character. Those are three commandments I broke. Isn’t that good enough?’

‘No. You know what I want to hear.’

‘Fine. But ask me in that creepy priest voice you use, or I’m not playing.’ I straightened my new Catholic-schoolgirl miniskirt I bought that afternoon at Hubba Hubba in Cambridge Square. Super cute. I didn’t buy it for Jerry, even though he was my top. I bought it for me.

I didn’t even like Jerry.

But I did like dressing up.

He cleared his throat. ‘My child, those are some serious sins, and I’m terribly disappointed in you. Though not half as saddened by your choices as Our Father In Heaven. Are you certain there isn’t anything else you have to tell me? Some trouble you may have fallen into over the past few weeks?’

‘Now that you mention it,’ I said, ‘I have been thinking about sex an awful lot lately.’

‘The thought is as good as the deed,’ he reminded me.

‘Yes, Father Gerald.’

‘Is there more to the story?’ he prompted.

‘Yes, Father Gerald.’

I heard the rustle of him pulling up his vestments. Once I asked him how much he spent on a priest dress, and he told me that first off it wasn’t a ‘priest dress’, it was a robe, and secondly it was $800. Now that is some serious commitment right there. I also asked why he didn’t just go to Harvard Div so he could be a real live priest, but he said he preferred the fantasy. And then suggested I stop asking personal questions.

‘Well, I let a boy feel me up at the CYO dance,’ I told him, and remembered to add, ‘Since I’m eighteen years old and a senior in high school, I thought it would be time to experiment.’

This is also part of the story we always had to do.

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