“Your friend from high school?” Jack nodded. “Yes, I remember him.” He remembered, too, that Ulric had only started getting into punk and goth fashion after he started hanging out with the other boy. It wasn’t the clothes (or piercings) he minded, but changing your appearance for someone wasn’t usually a good sign. Had Jesse gotten him in trouble … ?
“He’s the reason I wanted out of town.” Ulric has to take his chance to breathe, make sure he was still able to continue.
He’s looking Jack in the eyes for the next part despite the screen. “He wasn’t interested. Wanted to get closer to Gail.”
‘Asshole!’ Mira thought to herself, brows furrowed as she glanced away from the screen, looking off to another direction. If she ever met this guy in the future, she’d gladly track him down with her motorcycle. The same way Ulric had thrown Mason in the trash. Then again, maybe she was just thinking too darkly over this. But she’d let no one, no one, ever hurt her family. She’d been hurt too many times in the past to ever let something like that happen to one of her loved ones.
Mira took a quick glance up at Ulric to make sure he was okay before tightening her hold on him, giving him a little squeeze for some comfort. He needed this right now.
Katelynn had continued listening in, rubbing her husband’s back soothingly as best she could to calm his ire down. She wanted to learn the story and get all the details before passing judgment, trying to assess the situation as best she could.
When he began mentioning the story, her eyes grew quite large, feeling a stab of annoyance hit her. “Horrid young man…If I had known that I wouldn’t have let him into our home. Oh my poor baby„” Her heart went out to her son, knowing her daughter would have just kicked the man if she knew. But she was so devoted to Vycter at the time that she doubted anything happened between them.
Plus Gail was very devoted to her brother.
“Wasn’t int-” It took Jack a moment to realize what Ulric was getting at. When he did, however, his eyes widened sharply.
Oh.
Ohhhh.
He supposed it shouldn’t be such a surprise. Gail had been pursuing Vycter since she was a little girl, but Ulric had always kept his romantic interests to himself. In high school, he’d dated at least one girl that Jack knew of, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have been interested in boys too. Even so, the blue man mentally kicked himself for being blind to such a big part of his son’s life.
“Ulric, why didn’t you tell us?” His voice was much softer now. He instinctively reached out to the screen, wanting to comfort the young man. “We could have helped."
How, he wasn’t sure. But it was all he could think of to say.
Jack Maple 