There Goes Sunday School by Alexander C. Eberhart

Author:Alexander C. Eberhart [Eberhart, Alexander C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Martina McAtee

The road underneath the car is a steady noise helping to drown out my thoughts. Headlights pass on the opposite side of the road, flooding us in light for a split second before they’re gone.

The rest of Jackie’s party had involved her opening a huge stack of gifts, watching four reruns of Big Bang Theory, and a really raunchy round of Cards Against Humanity that—to everyone’s surprise—Chris won.

Jackie’s hodgepodge group of friends finally warmed up to him by the end of the evening, and Mark even invited Chris to hang out with him and Tanner in the computer lab after school. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they liked him more than me. I should probably take some offense to that, but honestly, I couldn’t care less.

“Thank you.” A soft voice comes from the dark.

“Huh?”

“I said thank you,” Chris repeats, louder. “You know, for inviting me to come along tonight. It was nice to be able to hang out.”

“I’m pretty sure Jackie invited you first,” I reply, watching another pair of yellowed lights roll by.

“You know what I mean.”

I shrug my shoulders. “You kinda turned out to be the life of the party.” I fiddle with the flip door on the cigarette lighter. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much soda shoot out of Jackie’s nose before. She was dying.”

“It just kept going.” Chris chuckles. “It was like Niagara Falls.”

Once the laughter fades, silence resumes between us. His hand lays open on the armrest, palm facing up.

Is he trying to hold my hand?

The thought occurs a little too easily for my taste. I’ll admit, Chris has been on my mind a lot lately, but that doesn’t mean I’m anywhere close to considering the possibility of something happening between us.

“I had somewhat of an epiphany yesterday after I got home.”

“Really?” I angle myself toward him, thankful for the interruption. “And what’s that?”

He hesitates. “Never mind. It’s kind of a long story.” Chris’s eyes reflect the headlights as they pass, flecks of starlight in each pupil.

“Hey.” My hand finds his shoulder. “You can tell me if you want.”

“All right.” He silences the music. “Um…. Here goes. Well, for the past couple years, I have felt the space between what I believe and what I feel growing. The divide gets wider every day. I’m sure you know exactly where I’m coming from here.”

I nod, encouraging him to go on.

“Faith commands one thing from me, but my heart… Jesus, that sounds corny. Sorry. It’s really my whole self. I’m not satisfied. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cried out to God, begging him to make me straight. To make me normal.” He snorts a laugh. “Just hoping, one day, I’d wake up and realize this is all some cosmic mistake, or I’d meet the one woman that would change things for me.”

That sounds familiar. His story makes my heart race.

“But, surprise, surprise, that day never came. It felt like God was laughing at me and just ignoring the persistent whining of a lost gay boy.

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