we were born sick. || lashton ✓

1

luke.
..
"Luke it's time for church, honey!" My mom calls to me from downstairs. I look over myself once more in the mirror, fixing my black dress shirt and red tie. I reach over to my desk and grab my lip ring and put it in before walking down the stairs to the living room.

"All black again?" My dad groans.

"Seriously Lucas, people are going to begin thinking you're a Satanist." My mom agrees. I roll my eyes before heading out to the car. I get in the car and put my headphones in, really not wanting to listen to gospel music right away. Don't get me wrong I am a proud Christian, but gospel music is just not my thing.

As I'm listening to my favourite band, Good Charlotte, I get a text from my best friend Ashton.

From: Ash- Hey bro, want to go out to the lake for a picnic after church? Mom said she would get us some food together.

To: Ash- Sure sounds fun. See you at church. :- )

I put my phone under my leg as my parents get into the car. As we begin driving down the road I begin thinking about Ashton. He and I have been best friends since we were very little. Considering we were the only two boys in a class full of girls at church, it was inevitable. When we got older, I started to notice things about myself. I would end up staring at Ashton instead of the girls in our town. I would text Ashton to go out to dinner with me instead of a girl in our town. I've tried to convince myself that I'm not gay, but I just can't think of girls in a romantic and sexual way. It took me a while to accept that I'm gay. I was scared for the longest time that if someone found out, the people in the town would kill me. When I finally accepted the fact that I'm gay, I vowed never to tell anyone, not even Ashton.

See the thing about this town is that we're all very religious. There is one church that everyone goes to so we're all brought up with the same beliefs. Sadly enough, from the time we're able to understand what being gay means, we're taught that being gay is a sin punishable by death. I've seen the way people here act towards gays. We've had a few gay or lesbian couples pass through stopping to get gas or use the bathroom and the people here would refuse to service them. They would have to move on to the next town to get the things they needed. And the entire time they were here people would yell awful things at them. It's terrifying to be gay in the town I live in.

When we get to church I climb out of the car and shove my phone into my back pocket before walking to stand by the door. As I wait by the door, I scan the crowd of cars in the lot hoping to see Ashton's fluffy head of hair.

"Luke!" I hear someone shout. I look around and see Ashton's younger sister, Lauren, running over to me. I smile and hug her tightly when she gets to me.

"Hey, kiddo." I grin when Harry walks up behind her.

"Ashton's coming." She grins before walking into the church, dragging Harry along with her. Biting my lip, I stand on my toes trying to find Ashton.

"Looking for someone there, you giraffe?" I hear Ashton chuckle behind me.

"Hey!" I laugh turning around to face him. He shakes his head and walks inside, causing me to follow him. When I get inside I go over and slide into the pew beside my mom who gives me a glare.

"I swear if you keep waiting for and following Ashton around like a baby puppy, people are going to think you're gay." She whispers in anger. A chill runs up my spine as I nod and face the front of the church. As Pastor Joe begins his sermon I tune out everything he is saying and think about lunch with Ashton. Ash and I normally go out to a diner or fast food restaurant for lunch on Sunday's, so having a picnic seems really fun. It'll just be us and I won't have to worry about being myself in front of him. Except the me being gay part that is.