DARE

{33}Why Now

Amy nervously chuckled and slowly said, "Why not?" Jack was on edge waiting for Mark to answer Amy.

He could hear a little more shuffling then Mark said, "I- I don't... I can't..."

"You- you can't even kiss me? What is going on with you?"

"...Amy, there's um, something, something I have to tell you," Mark's voice sounded strained, like he was on the verge of tears, "I can't do this, anymore, I-" his voice broke, "I guess I'm not who you think I am? Th- there's a part of me that I've been hiding from, and trying to avoid..."

"Mark. What."

Mark took in a deep breath, and quietly said, "I've realized that I-"Mark paused, "I'm gay Amy."

"You... what?" Amy said blankly, "A- are you serious?"

"Yes..."

"So all this time? And you didn't think to- to even mention anything to me?" Amy was talking louder now, angrier, "You could have talked to me, that's why I'm here! For you!"

There was a sharp clop like she slammed her heels on the ground when getting up.

"So much of my life... I- I can't believe it, I can't believe you!"

A couple more stomps, like she was heading for the door. "I need t- to be alone, I- I'll call you," Amy said, voice trembling as she moved closer to the door.

"Shit!" Jack inaudibly mumbled as the door shoved all the way open. He quickly stepped back from the door as Amy stepped out.

She stood just outside of the doorway and stared right at Jack, frozen. Her eyes were a bit bloodshot and very watery.

She looked at Jack with anger, scoffed with disbelief, then turned to walk back to the convention center.

"I- Is somebody out there?" Mark said weakly from within the storage room. Jack looked down the hall and saw the door Amy went through already shutting.

"Yah..." Jack softly replied as he stepped near to the door frame. Jack took one more step so Mark could see him there.

"Oh god," Mark said rolling his head down into his arms. He was sitting on the ground, with his legs pulled up to his chest and his arms crossed resting on top of them. "Did you-?"

"I heard what you said."

"No..." Mark said through his sleeves, "you weren't supposed to know!" Mark looked so weak alone, basically in a ball on the floor. Jack was just standing in front of him, staring down.

Mark clearly couldn't bring himself to look up from his arms, he just sat there, quivering.

"Mark, it- it's okay." Mark stopped his shaking and slowly looked up, his face was streaked with tears. "Is it? Is it okay? Everything just changed forever, because of me," his words seemed like he could manage to get out, like he didn't have the capacity to talk right now.

Jack took another step closer to Mark as his head fell back to his arms. Jack walked up to the side of Mark and leaned his back to the wall, then slowly slid down until he was sitting next to Mark.

Jack carefully reached one arm over Mark's hunched shoulders and then leaned his head against Mark, holding him tight. Mark stopped moving for a second when he realized what Jack had done, but then he started quietly sobbing again.

His tears continued falling, he kept shaking, and Jack kept sitting. Jack closed his eyes, and let Mark cry.

After a couple minutes Mark sniffed and lifted his head a bit, so did Jack. "Jack.. what the hell did I do? Why did I even say anything? It- it's my fault Amy's upset, I didn't want to do that."

Jack softly shook his head as he said, "No... it's not your fault, really." Jack's arm was still on Mark's shoulders. Mark put his head back into his own arms and whimpered, "I was afraid to tell anyone, this is exactly why. I'm such an asshole, I shouldn't of put her through that."

Jack couldn't quite think of what to say, he was at a loss for words, but he managed, "You- you said that you didn't know for sure, right?"

"Yes, but I shouldn't have put anyone's feelings on the line, I guess I wanted to prove to myself... that I could be straight."

"I get it."

Jack pulled his arm back and wrapped his arms around his own legs as he said, "Then you couldn't have been sure that you had to tell her, if you thought you could be wrong. I mean, yah, maybe you should have broken it off sooner, but you didn't. You also didn't wait any longer... so you told her when you knew. That was the right thing to do."

Mark sniffed again and kept his face hidden, though he wasn't crying anymore. "I know," he mumbled.

Jack paused for a second and looked back at Mark as he said, "But.. why... here? Why did you tell her now?"