Gabe’s body grew taut.
He knew it was worse as well, probably because Brody already gave Gabe his name, and me bringing up the reason why Gabe was so pissed earlier would definitely be a worse topic of discussion.
“I was a sophomore. He was a junior,” I continued. “He wanted to have sex with me. I wasn’t ready. He pushed it. I pushed back. He took offense to that and decided to lash out. And rearranging my clothes after I fell asleep watching TV with him at his parents’ house, taking pictures of me, lying to his buds that he did me, and sharing those pictures was how he did it.”
None of this made Gabe any less tense.
In fact, the opposite.
Times a million.
But we were there.
We had to share this stuff.
So might as well get it all out.
“Those pictures made the rounds,” I went on. “Life got really awful for a long time. Mom flipped her shit. Went to the principal, who told her, since the event that started it didn’t happen on school grounds or during any school activities, there was nothing he could do. She went to Christian’s parents, who refused to believe Christian was behind it, even if the picture showed me on their couch, and it was clear I was dead asleep. She then went to the school board, who told her there was nothing they could do, using the same excuses as the principal. So she finally took me to visit the cops, where I told them I’d been sexually assaulted in my sleep, and I had the pictures to prove it. Things went a lot faster from there.”
Gabe didn’t say anything, he just stared at me, the rage back in his eyes.
I couldn’t help him with that until he had it all, so I set about giving him the last of it.
“In the end, Christian was so humiliated, after he explained things to a judge, who wasn’t super thrilled by his shit, and he paid his consequences, which included a stint in juvie, his parents had to move him to another school. My friends made sure everyone at that school knew he was bad news, so he didn’t have much fun there, either.”
Gabe remained silent.
“Jen was the ringleader of that,” I said sadly. “She really had my back when all of that went down. I still appreciate it, and her being so strong for me is part of why I’m so incredibly bummed she was weak for Sheldon, and she ended up where she did.”
Somehow (I knew how, because Gabe was that guy), he managed to remain incensed and still tuck my hair behind my ear affectionately.
I kept going in order to be done with it.
“Mom encouraged me to push the sexual assault thing, so I didn’t back down. I don’t know what the different definitions of sexual assault are, but the cops said that exposing a woman without her consent, photographing her and disseminating those photos is a version of it. At my age, it was also producing and distributing child pornography. Christian was also underage. He was still pretty fucked.”
“Good,” Gabe grunted.
Yes, it was good.
“In the end, his parents had no choice but to come to terms with what he did, and they made him write me an apology. He did. I read it. It read like someone was making him write it. But he did it.”
“You know all of this is only making me want to be certain he isn’t still pulling this kind of shit, right?”
I sighed.
Then I nodded.
“Denise,” he said.
Oh God.
He was going to tell me.
My stomach clenched.
“Denise?” I whispered.
When I said her name, everything about him changed, and it was not a good change.
