Suzie’s House 426 : Three Cups of Tea

Pete placed three cups of tea on the coffee table. The first he put in front of Ethan, the latest lost puppy to be brought home by Gabriel. The second he gave to Gabriel. The last he kept for himself.

He wasn’t a bit surprised when Gabriel clasped his hands together, leaved forward with one of his rare smiles, and said, “I’ll go first.”

“I was born in Tiffin Ohio. You’ve probably never heard of it. It’s a little town in the middle of no where. It isn’t close to Akron, or Columbus or even an interstate. A lot of people think it’s a very nice place.”

“But you don’t.” The bum took a sip of tea as though dining with the Queen of England.

He had hesitated before sitting down. At first Pete assumed the guy’s homophobia was getting the better of him, but now, looking at the greasy spot spreading around one pocket and the delicate manners, he may have been more concerned about the furniture. With a name like Ethan it made sense.

“My… inclinations… aren’t exactly welcome there.” Gabriel touched the handle of his tea cup, but didn’t pick it up. “When I was thirteen, my parents caught me in a compromising position with my cousin.”

Ethan’s cup clattered in its saucer and the bum stiffened up. The prude.

“They threw me out.” Gabriel made it sound like the natural outcome.

“Threw you out?” Ethan’s ire had clearly ignited. “At thirteen?!”

Gabriel nodded. He didn’t need to say that it began a hellish existence for him. It wasn’t like a thirteen year old could get any kind of decent job. That only left state institutions with ridiculous expectations and the kind of jobs that didn’t involve a W2 form.

“What about your cousin?”

“I don’t think they ever spoke to him again, but he was nineteen and already living on his own.”

“They should have charged him with rape!” Ethan’s blazing eyes fed Pete’s own anger.

“Exactly!” Pete chimed in.

“No, no, no. I seduced him.” Gabriel shook his head emphatically. “It wasn’t like a good little Christian town like that provided him with much of an outlet. And I wanted it.” Gabriel always said that, but his voice always grew faint.

“Were you top or bottom?” Pete muttered the question. He already knew the answer. It was intended to be rhetorical.

“Top or what?” Ethan looked bewildered.

“Don’t worry about it,” Gabriel assured him. “You don’t want to know.”

“Oh! Ohhhh,” Ethan grimaced so hard his head turned.

There it was. The subconscious rejection that Pete had struggled with his whole life. He hated it. Even the straight men who were trying to be understanding did it. This was actually why he agreed to let Gabriel bring his little puppies home. It gave Pete a chance to teach these people a thing or two. Maybe, over time, his little efforts to open the eyes of people who should already know better would give other gay men a chance at a better life.

Not that Pete could complain. Except for the constant little cuts of rejection, his life was pretty good. He took Gabriel’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Gabriel stared into his eyes, and squeezed back.

“Then it’s still statutory rape!” Ethan’s ire on Gabriel’s behalf went a long way to making Pete feel better. “You’re parents should have stood up for your rights!”

“My parents were only too glad to get rid of a kid they considered disgusting,” Gabriel said in a growl. “I’m lucky it didn’t happen sooner.”

“But… what did you do?” It was like Ethan couldn’t imagine anyone surviving on the streets at that age.

“I did whatever I had to.” That was as much as Gabriel was likely to say. It had taken Pete years to wheedle out the whole story. Even to this day, he wasn’t sure he knew everything.

”But…”

“Do you want to tell me every little detail of your own life?” Gabriel’s eyes blazed. “Your turn is next.”

“I…” Ethan’s chin came up, then went back down. “I guess.”

“I’ll tell you this much. By the time I met Peter I’d already been through a lot. When you say I can’t know what it’s like to be where you are now, you are wrong. I don’t know everything, but I’ll bet I’ve been through worse than you have. If not for Pete…” Gabriel blinked. Considering that when Pete met him, Gabriel had been sitting on a public toilet with a gun in his mouth, Gabriel had a right to do some blinking. “In many ways, he saved me. It’s not just loaning me his car, or investing in my pizzeria. Peter has made everything worth while. Everything.”

Pete pulled the decorative handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed his eyes. This part always made him feel like crying. He had always been able to feel Gabriel’s pain.

“What about you?” Ethan asked casually with a glance at Pete. “Are all gays treated that way?”

“Oh, no! I’m the opposite.” Pete was glad to say. “When I told my parents they just shrugged and said, ‘We thought so.’ They sent me to college and even gave me the twenty thousand dollars that I built my fortune on.”

“Excuse me?” Ethan choked on his tea.

“I’m a day trader. I’m worth millions.” Pete smiled benignly. He loved rubbing his wealth in the nose of people like Ethan. The look of shock on his face was well worth letting him spend the night.

If you enjoy Suzie’s House and would like to see more, please leave a comment. Suzie’s House is powered by its readers.