36. Gale
Gale
Gale
My ears buzzed, even as the room fell silent. All eyes turned to Ozrik and me as the TV screen went black.
Charles must not have registered the complete gravitational shift in the room. He must not have heard my heart doing all it could to expel itself from my chest.
How had that kiss been captured on film? I didn’t have a camera in the Jeep. Not on that trip. That was long before Charles intervened with his camera crew and requirements.
My lips went numb. I wanted to speak but couldn’t form words for the life of me, not that I knew what to say. I feared that if I found my voice, I would scream myself into hysterics.
I could run, but my legs had turned to jelly.
If only the floor would open up and eat me alive.
How?
How, how, how?
Three weeks. The show would be broadcast to tens of thousands of people in three weeks. Everyone who subscribed to CineVision or had a remote interest in storm chasing would see it and know. Any chance I had of keeping my personal life personal would be flushed down the drain.
The entire population of Elk City knew about the upcoming show. News of its release had worked its way around the rumor mill weeks ago, especially since the cast were all Elk City locals.
Everyone would know.
And then what?
For all I’d clung to that closet door, barely brave enough to stick a foot beyond the threshold, it had been yanked from my hand.
I closed my eyes, hoping that when I opened them again, it would have all been a dream.
At its simplest, for a thunderstorm to exist, it required moisture, instability, and a lifting mechanism to start the process.
The combination, although often resulting in something manageable, could at times produce devastation in nature.
Recorded instances of natural disasters went back centuries.
I believed that thunderstorms were also part of the human condition. They had been recorded throughout history in many forms. War was a fine example. The recipe was similar. It required two conflicting views and a catalyst to start the process.
Then, boom.
The result could be equally catastrophic.
In the conference room at CineVision, Charles had mixed a deadly concoction, but in my paralyzed state, it wasn’t me who exploded. It was my team.
In an instant, a voice, dripping with venom, sounded. “What the fuck is that?” Ozrik said, and anyone looking on would think he’d raised an army.
Several people shoved their chairs back and stood, forming a united front.
I sensed the tremors of an earthquake radiating off Ozrik’s body. The tension in the room rose to new heights.
“You can’t do that,” Olivia shouted.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Lex.
“Dude, not cool. The fuck are you thinking?” Vern.
“Called it.” Jazz was the only one still sitting.
“You’re not airing that.” Maggie.
“Since when is it okay to broadcast a person’s sexuality without their permission?” Noah. “That is a violation of Gale’s human rights.”
Charles piped up. “I have contracts that give me permission.”
“You can’t out him on national television.” Elliott.
“I can do anything I want.” Charles.
“Now, everyone, calm down.” I might have been the only one who heard Dennis.
“The hell you can.” Ozrik launched across the table, and Noah had enough sense to snag the back of his shirt before he collided with the producer and wrung his neck.
But Ozrik’s response started a riot.
Shouting. Cursing. Demands for cancellation, lawsuits. Threats of quitting the show.
Through it all, I couldn’t move. I could barely take air into my lungs. My chest ached. My head spun. Somewhere, on the periphery of my mind, I realized that every person in the room, save Jazz, had taken my side.
Every single person knew the truth long before Charles aired it on the screen.
Was I surprised? Not really. Ozrik and I had done a shit job at hiding our relationship. But at the critical moment of exposure, when my brain short-circuited and refused to join the battle, I realized that I had a team of friends who had gone to war for me.
That had never happened in my entire life.
A sharp whistle penetrated the chaos, and Dennis’s voice boomed over everyone’s. “Enough. Everyone, sit down.”
The shouting stopped, but no one sat.
The air snapped and sizzled.
Ozrik spoke, still seething and with barely contained hostility. “You edit all of that out, or I’m walking.”
“Me too,” chimed in several other people at once.
“You crossed a line, Charles,” Ozrik continued. “If you do this, you have no show.”
“I will call every newspaper from here to Canada and be sure they know what this shitty network is all about,” Olivia added. “They’ll drag you through the mud.”
“Now hold on,” Dennis said, hands extended like he was trying to calm a group of wild animals.
“No.” Ozrik’s tone brooked no argument. “You have the power to stop this, Dennis. It’s your company. If you let this type of thing happen, there will be consequences.”
The silence in the room was deafening. I couldn’t take it anymore. Somehow finding the ability to stand, I got to my feet and croaked, “If you’ll excuse me. I need… the bathroom.”
Ozrik touched my arm, but I shook him off, not unkindly, and headed on shaky legs to the exit.
It was Charles who called out. “Gale? Now, hang on a second. We can talk about this.”
I ignored him and stumbled up and down endless hallways until I found what I was looking for. The bathroom was as pretentious as the rest of the building.
At the sink, I splashed cold water on my face, doing all I could to bring my temperature down so I could think.
I didn’t hear the bathroom door open, but I sensed Ozrik’s presence the same way I had on the day we first met, in a similar bathroom many floors below.
My panic attack that day had been the result of traveling in a car for two hours while crammed between people I barely knew.
Like the first time, Ozrik stood beside me at the sink. I raised my head, meeting his gaze in the mirror. Water droplets fell from my nose and chin. I clung to the edge of the counter, trembling with the force of my grip on the porcelain bowl, fingers bloodless and aching.
Anguish swam in Ozrik’s eyes. “It’s my fault.”
“No.”
“Yes. I threw my headcam on the dash, but I didn’t turn it off. It was an accident. I swear.”
“Doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.” I ducked my chin and drowned myself in more cold water. My insides were an inferno, and I couldn’t douse the flames. Was this hell? Had God truly forsaken me? It certainly felt like it.
“Are you mad?” he asked when I came up for air.
“No.”
“Gale—”
“Let me think.”
“If you want to walk out, every one of us will follow you. Charles has no right to—”
“Let me think, Oz. Please.” My voice warbled.
He became a silent sentinel, gaze never straying. Once my heart rate returned to normal and the internal shaking subsided, I shut off the water and stood with my face tipped, dripping into the sink.
Ozrik handed me a wad of paper towels and rested a comforting hand on my back.
I dried hastily and found the garbage receptacle, then I leaned against the counter, exhaustion making my limbs heavy. I could have slept for a thousand years.
“This past month has been incredible,” I whispered, fearing my honesty would break the fragility of what we had become.
Ozrik moaned. “Please don’t break up with me. I’ll fight for you, Gale. I’ll—”
“Let. Me. Talk.”
I didn’t mean for the request to come out with an edge, but it did, and maybe it was from years of suppressing who I was and never getting a say.
Maybe it was from living in the shadow of an outspoken sister, who told me what to do and never asked.
Or maybe it was from years of abuse in school, suffering under the cruel torments of bullies simply for being different.
Ozrik clamped his teeth shut and nodded.
“I didn’t think I could live an authentic life or have a relationship or be…
” I stared at my hands, splaying my fingers.
“Be comfortable in my own skin. This past month has proven me wrong. I’m not stupid.
Subconsciously, I knew that everyone had figured us out.
They just had enough decency not to say it aloud because they respected that I wasn’t ready.
Owning it is… a whole lot harder than I expected, but it’s nice to be… accepted.”
“Charles has no right to—”
“I know, Oz. I know.”
But Ozrik was angry and couldn’t pack away his fury. “You should be allowed to come out on your terms or not at all if you so choose. He shouldn’t have—”
“I know.”
He was about to speak again, but I held up a hand, asking him to wait.
“I’ve been here before, Oz. At the seminary.
Minor differences, but in essence the same shit.
My choice was taken away, and I had to scramble to deal with the consequences.
I ran. Back then, it was a solution that made sense, but I’m tired of running.
I’m tired of being afraid of my own shadow. Of being fake.”
“Gale—”
I lifted my gaze and shook my head. “What happens if I don’t run this time, Oz? What happens if I stop being a coward for five minutes and look in the mirror and be proud of who I am? It works for you. Why can’t it work for me, too? Is it going to change what people think of me?”
“Not the people who matter. Your true friends and your family will love you anyway. The rest of the world can go to hell. Their opinions mean nothing.”
I pondered his words for a long minute.
“I can’t promise that there won’t be negativity, but…
” Ozrik shifted, stared at the floor as he bit his lips, and swiped a hand over his jaw with a weary sigh.
“I’m going to say something. Hear me out.
For the record, I don’t agree with what Charles did.
This is not me trying to change your mind or tell you what to do. I’m simply pointing something out.”
“Okay. What?”
“Do you know how badly we need more positive queer representation on television? We could be that couple, Gale. We could give some poor closeted tween the hope you never had.”
My eyes misted, and I nodded.
Ozrik took my hand. “But not unless you are one hundred percent on board. If you say no, we’re going to march into that conference room and raise our own storm.”
I let Ozrik pull me into his arms and hold me. “I love you, you know.”
Pulling back, I stared with incredulity. “You what?”
Ozrik cradled my face. “I love you, Gale. You snuck into my heart when I wasn’t looking. Together, we make lightning.”
I mirrored his smile. Was this my life? “I love you, too.”
“Zap.”
“Zap.”
The kiss we shared was soft and full of promises.
When I woke that morning, I wasn’t anticipating being the face of queer romance on a television show I had originally wanted no part of.
I wasn’t expecting the guy I’d been dating to declare he loved me, but God worked in mysterious ways.
All these years, I’d been praying, asking for the strength and courage to be myself.
Maybe this was His way of telling me I was ready, and it was time.
When this CineVision Entertainment thing started, I didn’t think there would ever be a day I would have a boyfriend, be out to my dad and sister, and have a handful of supportive friends ready to go to war for my right to come out on my own terms.
Everything became crystal clear, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
I took Ozrik’s hand and dragged him from the bathroom. “Come on. It’s time I have my say.”