John didn’t say anything, and for about five minutes they sat and watched the game in silence.
But John was angry. If this was the attitude Carter had to deal with, no wonder he was in the closet. It washorrific.
“I’m going to head back home,” John said, rising abruptly and putting his half empty beer on the coffee table.
“What? The game just started,” Luke protested.
“Yeah, I don’t think I want to watch it with you.”
“Why the fuck not?” Luke asked. John looked at him. He had to know why given the discussion they’d just had, but John decided to spell it out for him anyway.
“I’m gay. It’s better out there for me now than it used to be, but there are still plenty of bigots and assholes who would rather see me slit my wrists than see me walk down the street holding the hand of another man. I don’t want to be friends with those kinds of people.”
“I’m not a fucking bigot,” Luke said, standing up and puffing out his chest.
“Well, you talk like one and I don’t like it. Have a nice life.”
John walked up the stairs, moving toward the closet to head back to Builder Falls, but when he opened it he was met with towels rather than the interior of Owen’s store.
Resisting the urge to kick the wall, John walked back downstairs to ask Luke to open up the portal and let him go home.
“I need you to open your portal thing,” he said, finding Luke standing in the kitchen and throwing the dip into the trash.
“Take a fucking taxi,” Luke growled, not looking at him.
“Don’t be an asshole,” John said, clenching his fists and crossing his arms. “Open up the portal so that I can go home.”
Luke rounded on him, and before John could process what was happening the werewolf was stalking toward him and slammed him back into the wall.
“You come into my house and call me a fucking bigot, and now you want me to help you? Fuck you, John.”
“Get your fucking hands off me,” John growled, pushing at the much larger man looming over him. It was like pushing a wall, but Luke backed off.
“Now let me go home,” John said, breathing hard. Even though Luke still looked angry and dangerous, John wasn’t scared. Luke might be a bigot—whether he admitted that to himself or not—but he wasn’t going to hurt him.
“Fine,” Luke snarled. He turned on his heel and stormed out of the kitchen, and John could hear him jogging up the stairs like an angry elephant. John followed, finding Luke in the upstairs hallway holding the portal open and sporting a look that was more hurt than angry.
John felt bad. If Luke’s prejudices were as culturally ingrained as they seemed, then was John being unfair in expecting him to realize that his beliefs were wrong after just one angry conversation?
John wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he’d been the victim of enough bigotry to know that he didn’t want anything to do with it.
“Take care, Luke,” John said, walking toward the portal. He was sad. Luke had been a good friend over the past few months, and John had been sure that they were going to be friends for a long time.
“Go fuck yourself,” Luke said, his voice low and angry. John looked away, stepping through the portal and into Owen’s store, the door slamming shut behind him.
It felt very final.
Heading back to the fire exit, John pushed open the door and stepped outside. The door snapped shut behind him, locking him out of the store, and for a second John just stood there.
What a fucking awful night.
***
