Gale #2
He popped his door open and got out. Ozrik climbed onto the hood of the car and peered into the windshield, tapping the glass and waving for me to join him, then shifted and leaned against the window, hands cradled behind his head.
I followed suit, lying close enough that our bodies connected.
Ozrik took my hand and weaved our fingers together.
We lay like that for a few minutes, neither of us speaking.
The night was warm, and the clouds broke up as they took a languid journey across the sky, no longer rushing, no longer angry.
The sharp scent of ozone hung in the air.
When Ozrik rolled his head to glance in my direction, I copied, mirroring his smile.
“No cameras. No people,” he said. “We are all alone.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
He leaned in and pecked a soft kiss on my lips. “It means I can kiss you without worrying anyone will suddenly walk in on us.”
At the reminder, my stomach muscles tightened.
Ozrik kissed me again before sighing contentedly. “This morning was brutal.”
“It could have ended better. The night before was…”
“Amazing?”
“Yes.” Another kiss.
Ozrik brushed his nose against mine. “So, Olivia knows, huh?”
“Yes.” I turned my head and took in the darkening sky, still squirmy that the truth was out.
“Was she cool?”
I nodded. “Only mad I didn’t tell her sooner.”
“I bet she’ll be jealous you got to see a tornado today.”
I laughed. “I bet she yells for an hour straight because we took off.”
“They could have turned around. How many times did I have to say they were doing the wrong thing? Fucking Vern. I don’t know what he was thinking. He knows better.”
“I think Maggie has his brain scrambled.”
Ozrik’s brows rose. “You’ve noticed them too? I thought it was just me.”
“Nope. Something is definitely going on there.”
“Bastard. He hasn’t said anything about it.” Ozrik pulled his phone out and checked his messages. A low whistle followed. “Wow. I think this is the first time in my life Vern has out-texted my mother.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Shit, and I have a missed call from Charles, so someone tattled.” He scrolled a minute longer before shutting it off and tucking it away again.
“Fuck ’em. Part of me wants to tell Charles to stick his show up his ass.
It’s not worth it. They’ve spoiled the one good thing I had going in life.
Our followers have been raging because we haven’t posted a thing since signing that contract, and we can’t tell them why, either. ”
“Olivia mentioned something similar. They’ve lost subscribers.”
“Same.”
We didn’t talk for a while, and I sensed Ozrik was stewing over the stupid reality show we’d all agreed to. Was anyone having fun?
Twilight turned to night. Through the shifting, moving clouds, a few pinpricks of stars appeared.
The sky stretched long and far, an endless world surrounding us. Despite the wide-open space, it felt more private than the previous night in Ozrik’s room.
“Did you get good pictures?” he asked.
“I think so.”
“Is that what you want to do for a career?”
“What? Take pictures?”
“Yeah, or write for magazines or whatever it is you’ve got going on.”
“Oh. I don’t know. I like photography, but it’s not that simple.
My work is… I’m not a professional. Weather has let me do the odd piece because of my education.
It would never be permanent. I’m not sure I could get anything sustainable in that field.
Most magazines hire freelance photographers.
Anyone working full-time has a degree behind their name, qualifying them for the job. I’m an amateur.”
“What about a career in atmospheric science?”
“I’ve had a few offers in my field, but honestly, I don’t think it’s what I want to do.”
Ozrik tsked, playfully elbowing me. “Should have taken meteorology. I hear it’s way better.”
I chuckled. “Right. I know it’s stupid. I spent four years in school for what?”
“At least you went to college.”
“You didn’t?”
“Nah.”
“How come?”
Ozrik was quiet for so long, I wasn’t sure he would answer. “My mother.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure how else to respond. His mother seemed like a touchy subject.
He sighed. “What all do you know?”
The question was vague. I rolled my head to examine his face, but he gave nothing away, gaze fixed on the sky. “About your mother? Not much. I’ve heard she’s… controlling?”
I didn’t know if that was the right word, and I didn’t want to upset him by saying the wrong thing.
Ozrik smirked. “That’s one way to put it. Although this is my unofficial diagnosis, I believe Stella has a form of Munchausen by proxy. Do you know what that is?”
“Vaguely. Isn’t it where you make yourself sick on purpose?”
“Technically, yes. The by proxy means it’s directed at someone else. Usually a child. She made me sick on purpose.”
Ozrik explained the condition and how it came to light when he was a kid.
He talked about social services and how they had handled his case—or rather, not handled it.
He explained about the lies he told his worker to cover for his mother because he was afraid they would put him in foster care.
He shared about how his mother poisoned him, fabricated illnesses, and lorded over his health.
How she took care of him when he was sick.
How she diagnosed him with everything under the sun, simply to have a reason to take care of him.
Under it all, I heard what he didn’t say. How Ozrik jumped through impossible hoops and ran an obstacle course of avoidance because he didn’t know what else to do and loved his mother too much to have her committed against her will.
“They call it a form of abuse. I get it, but the root cause is entirely psychological. It’s a mental health disorder.
A dangerous one. For me. Stella doesn’t want to hurt me, Gale.
She loves me in the only way she knows how.
What she doesn’t want is to let me go. She’s afraid I’ll stop loving her and leave like my dad did.
“When I was a kid, she sought attention from anyone who would give it. Doctors, neighbors, and teachers at my school. Now, it’s my attention she wants.
She knows I’ve got one foot out the door, and she’s terrified.
She does everything she can to keep me close.
It’s a catch twenty-two. If I stay, I suffer.
If I go… I don’t know what will happen. This show was supposed to be my ticket to freedom. ”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Running won’t solve anything. Not really. She needs help, and I need to convince her to get it. Or force it, and I don’t know if I have it in me. I love my mother, but some days I hate her. Then I feel like an asshole.”
“You’re allowed to do both. Love her and hate her simultaneously.”
“How? They contradict each other.”
“Not really. I love Olivia to death. Unconditionally. She’s my other half. We’re linked in a way others can’t understand. But let me tell you, there are days when I hate her more than anyone on the planet. I could beat her with a dirty sock and not be sad.”
“So violent.”
I chuckled. “She’s selfish, mean, and hot-tempered. It’s infuriating when she doesn’t listen. But I love her anyhow.”
Ozrik rolled to his side to face me. “You get it.”
I copied and rolled to my side. The hood of the car wasn’t the most comfortable, but it wasn’t about comfort. It was about privacy.
“It sounds like you’ve had a tough go,” I said, taking his hand. “You aren’t the person I thought you were.”
“And who’s that?”
I shrugged. “Someone shallow and indifferent.”
“Ouch. Is that the vibe I give?”
“No. That was me being judgmental and making assumptions based on your level of hotness and number of friends.”
Ozrik laughed. “Tell me about my hotness.”
“No.”
He chuckled, and my cheeks warmed.
“I know you’re deep in the closet, Gale, but I was wondering—”
“Hey now, I told my sister. Can I have a moment to be proud? That’s like having one foot out the door. Three people know now. That’s three more people than a month ago.”
“You’re right. Be proud. It’s a big moment. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“What were you wondering?”
Ozrik’s eyes glimmered devilishly. “If we could go on a date sometime.”
My belly swooshed. “A date? Dates are usually pretty public.”
“They don’t have to be. It can always look like friends hanging out, remember.”
“True. I heard you don’t date.”
“Is this fact from the same person who told you I was shallow and indifferent?”
“I also said you were hot and popular.” Ozrik’s smile was contagious. “Are you asking me out?”
He shuffled closer, resting a hand on my hip. “Would you say yes?”
“Are you?”
“I’m asking you out.”
“Then yes.”
Ozrik closed the distance. Our mouths joined. A blanket of slowly emerging stars covered us as we got lost in one another. Was this happening? How was it real?
I was becoming familiar with kissing and lost all reservations. The tentativeness that had existed the first few times we came together vanished. When Ozrik rolled me to my back and straddled my waist, I pulled him down against me, delving deeper into his mouth.
I regretted that returning to the motel would mean severing this bond. It was my doing. My issue. My choice. I wanted to be braver and not care what other people thought. Ozrik made me believe it was possible.
Something about racing off on our own, disregarding the rules, and witnessing a tornado had changed me.
It rocked my foundation. I felt emboldened.
Alive. When I got home, I would tell my dad the truth.
Ozrik was right. I could be a little out without waving a flag or marching in a parade.
The weight of this secret was too much to carry, and Dad would understand. He would love me regardless.
Ozrik snuck a hand under my shirt and glided it over my bare abdomen. Braver, I skated my palms up his arms and down his chest. After the sex introduction the previous night, I wanted more. Without thinking too hard about what I was doing, I pushed his shirt up.
We broke the kiss, and he peered down at me. “Off?”
“Yes.”
I tugged it over his head.