Page 2 of Chance Encounter

“I… I…” I don’t know what to say. I thought about the way he looked at me in the locker room earlier and then the way he got into the kiss. He wanted it. How could I have been so wrong?

“Got nothing to say? Yeah,” he sneers. “Because you know you shouldn’t have kissed me or even attempted it. I’m not a fag.”

“But I thought—”

“Whatever you thought was wrong. Now, why don’t you get the hell out of here?”

I stumble back, my head spinning. What the fuck just happened?

Turning on my heel, I see the door to the barn is wide open, and everyone is standing there witnessing what is now the worst day of my life. They stand there with disgust on their faces, and their phones pointed straight at me.

It’s amazing how in the course of a matter of minutes, your world can be turned upside down.

All I know is I will never forgive Chance for calling me out and embarrassing me in front of our entire team. It isn’t until Monday morning at school that I realize that multiple people have uploaded the video of Chance and me. Everywhere I look, I’m no longer the guy who won the championship but the guy they find revolting. Their mouths in a sneer, or the whispers they didn’t try to hide.

When I thought my day couldn’t get any worse, I stepped inside my house after a day of ridicule by my peers to find my parents sitting in the worn-out kitchen waiting for me.

“Is it true?” My mother asks, her voice breaking on the last word.

I don’t bother asking if what’s true. It can only be one thing. “Yes, I kissed Chance Reed, and yes, I’m gay.”

“Son,” my dad’s voice is gruff, making my back stiffen. “You know a real man only has sexual desires for women.”

This is why I’ve kept my secret for as long as I have.

“I can’t help who I like, and that happens to be men.” Tears well up in my eyes. “You don’t think I’ve tried to like girls? That my life wouldn’t be easier?”

“Then you need to try harder,” my dad spits out.

“It’s not that simple,” I croak out. I look at him, hoping he’ll understand, but I find nothing but revulsion.

“No son of mine is a homosexual,” he barks.

I look at my mom, hoping to see something different in her eyes, but her eyes won’t meet mine. Her fingers tangle in a loose string from her shirt.

My dad stands, and the chair he was sitting in falls to the floor. “You’ve put shame on our family, and because it’s my responsibility to take care of you until you're eighteen, I will do so, but the day you graduate from high school, I want you out of this house.”

Looking at my mother again, I hope she’ll say something. Maybe even stand up for me, but she doesn’t. Instead, she looks at the floor.

I can’t believe this is my life.

Not only does the town think I’m disgusting, but my own parents now want nothing to do with me.

Last night was my biggest regret.

1

MADDOX

I curse my brother,Garrison, for what feels like the thousandth time since my snow machine ran out of gas a couple of miles back. Is it that difficult to stick the damn nozzle in the tank for two minutes to fill it up?

Obviously, if you’re Garrison Blackburn, it is. He believes he’s God’s gift to womankind. He loves to pick up drunk women from the only bar in town, The Ice Box. They all think he’s so chivalrous that they repay him by letting him stay in their beds, which works for me since if he isn’t in their beds, he’s on my couch being a complete and total slob and asshole.

The sound of a twig snapping in the distance has me stopping to check my surroundings instead of staying in my head. I can’t believe I got myself caught out this close to dark. The temperature is going to drop drastically, and I’m going to be in a world of hurt if I don’t find someone to give me a lift either into town or back to my place. And fast.

One thing everyone knows here is that Alaska is no joke. If the elements don’t get you, then the wildlife will.

Another snap has me turning around and tripping over a log buried beneath a foot of snow. I don’t have to look at my ankle to know I’ve messed it up. Back in high school, during my senior year, I broke my ankle in the championship game, that has left it susceptible to injury. Like today. Now I’m truly fucked. What was I thinking, not checking to make sure my snow machine had enough gas during this particular cold snap? While the high is normally in the twenties here this time of the year in Polar Bear, Alaska, it’s been hovering in the single digits as the high this week.

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