"I think I finally get it."

"Get what?" There was something about the look in his eyes, the confidence, the surety, that had me swallowing hard.

"You." And as he smiled, it was almost smug. "I get you, Oz. You're a little, Aren't you?"

If only I had known at the time just how much those few little words were going to change my life.

The Little Of Oz Series

Of course it could. But it would wait forever. I was losing courage by the second, and I knew that if he presented me an opportunity to run away, I wouldn't willingly circle back to it.

/"I'm gay./" Two words, but they seemed to echo around the kitchen, despite the way they faded from existence as soon as they left my mouth.

His reaction wasn't initially clear; he didn't appear to have one. The game was still his primary focus, his eyes still glued to it, and his expression was still the dull, emotionless mask it had been before I had spoken.

Maybe he hadn't heard me? Maybe I needed to —

His hand lifted, pawing clumsily on the table, upturning an overcrowded ashtray. It closed around the t.v remote, and after a few seconds, the game was replaced by a black screen. His shoulders turned in time with his head.

Chapter63