The Sweetheart Sham by Danielle Ellison

Author:Danielle Ellison [Ellison, Danielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Entangled; Crush; YA; YA romance; Teen; Teen romance, LGBT, fake relationship, Southern, Jodi Lynn Anderson, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Faking It, Chris Cannon
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Published: 2017-12-04T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Georgie

“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” I say to Will. We sit together in his Jeep, windows down. It’s a gorgeous evening outside, hot but not the usual torture.

He rolls his eyes. “Granddad meant it.”

“But he wasn’t talking about you, Will.”

“I’m telling you, again, that’s why I can’t say anything.” Will grips the steering wheel harder so his knuckles turn colors. “God, he even mentioned Dale.”

“That’s because Dale is the only openly gay person Culler has ever encountered.”

Will shakes his head. “Yeah, and he moved because of it.” I start to protest but Will keeps talking. “Mystery Boy has it the same way at his place with his family.”

I’d be scared, too, if I had a big secret like theirs. Will was so nervous when he came out to me; I remember it like it was yesterday. It was winter break—the first Christmas we were going to have without Beau; we were sitting up in the family room, fire going, TV show on. There was a Coke commercial and the guy in the ad was really hot, which I said. Will agreed. I laughed, and he kept looking at me.

“I know this is a really bad time with your mom, but I need to tell you something.” He’d sorta paused. “I didn’t want to tell anyone until I was sure.”

“You can tell me anything you want, Will. You know that.”

“I think I’m gay,” he’d said.

I’d paused. “You think?”

“I know,” he’d said. I sat there for a second, trying to let it sink in. I was really surprised. My best friend was gay. Then again, maybe I wasn’t surprised. Every girl in town would have Will if he asked her. They certainly tried, but he never gave in. I didn’t really know. Everything was playing through my head on hyperspeed, and I couldn’t quite latch on to any particular thought or feeling or memory.

“Are you mad?”

To this day, I hate that he asked that, that I was so caught up in my own head that I couldn’t immediately hug him or something.

I shook my head. “Mad that you’re gay? No. I never could be,” I’d said.

He’d smiled at me. “No one else knows. I wanted to tell you first. I don’t want it to change how anyone sees me when I tell them.”

I’d slung my arms around his neck. “It doesn’t change anything for me, except now I have more competition for the select amount of Culler boys.”

We’d talked about it some more over the next few months, but it didn’t change our relationship. It strengthened it, if anything.

He told me around the same time that everyone found out about Dale. As if he inspired him. I wonder what would have happened if Dale had stayed. Would Will have come out? Would we be in this situation right now?

I know he’s nervous about his family, and some of them may be surprised, but I really believe that anyone who loves him, who knows him, will still look at him the same way.

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