Lessons In Love Ch. 06

"That was beautiful!" Sunny gushed, watching Helena recover and accept congratulations from the others in the group. "Helena, you have accomplished your objective. You may leave, if you wish."

Helena looked around at the smiling faces that surrounded her, her line of sight falling on Seth's face and wondering at the despair that she saw there. "No, Sunny. If it's all right with you, I think I'll stay to help the group."

Sunny touched her shoulder. "Thank you for being so unselfish." She walked back to the front of the room, pulling a robe on and subsequently handing one to each of the participants. "Let's break for lunch now." She waited for everyone to dress before she opened the door and let three men in.

They wheeled a couple of carts in along with beer and wine and everyone dug in to fried chicken, cold, crisp salad and assorted side dishes. Helena filled her paper plate with chicken, salad and macaroni and cheese and sought out Seth, who was sitting by himself near a window.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"No. Not at all." He unfolded his legs and moved so that she could sit in the tiny space. She set her glass of Coors down and tucked into her food, stealing glances at him while she ate. "I'm very proud of you."

His soft words made her stop mid-bite. "Thank you."

"I'm really serious, Helena. You've overcome a big obstacle today."

"And what about you?"

"What about me?" He wiped his hands and reached for his fork, stabbing a pile of cole slaw. "I haven't conquered my problem yet."

"No." Helena set her fork down and grabbed her beer. "Maybe because you haven't admitted to your problem yet."

Seth stopped chewing and looked up at her. "What?"

"You heard me, Seth." She drank more of her beer and set it down, forking some salad into her mouth. "You haven't admitted your real problem yet."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Your sexual preference. You're not gay."

Seth just stared at her, his mouth hanging open, his guts twisted in fear. "What did you say?"

"You're not gay. You want everyone to think that but you aren't."

"I am too gay."

"No, you're not. You have a proclivity toward anal sex, you like older women and you're embarrassed about both." Helena watched his face pinwheel through anger, despair and desolation before he turned away. "I think you're here to find out how to deal with that."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Then why are you being so defensive?" She hissed, glaring at him. "What I don't understand is why you can't just admit what you like and ... "

"Fuck off, Helena. Just because you had an orgasm doesn't mean that you suddenly understand me."

Helena watched him walk away and turned back to the window, wondering what she could do to get through to him. Gwennie and Archer silenced their conversation as Seth stalked past, dumping his half-eaten meal in the trash and slamming the door open as he went outside.

"Wonder what the hell's going on with him?"

"Nothing more than the usual, I'd guess." Gwennie giggled, wiping her mouth and laughing heartily.

Archer shook his head, smirking as he tossed a shot of Johnnie Walker Black back and following with a swallow of Budweiser. "You sure sound different from the girl I met this morning."

She smiled. "Maybe I am."

"The girl I met this morning told everyone that her name was Bitch."

A look of fear crossed her face and he immediately regretted his words. "You're a different person now."

"Am I?"

"Of course you are." He tossed back another shot. "Especially since you'll be living in my house."

"I will?"

"I have three bedrooms in my house, Gwennie. It seems to me that you could put one of them to good use." Archer smiled. "As long as you can close your ears to the noises of people fucking."

"I do that now." She chewed her chicken, swallowing before she continued. "And one of the people fucking is me."

"Then it's not fucking, Gwennie. It's rape." He lifted his beer and took a deep swallow. "No woman deserves to be taken brutally in the name of love."

"He doesn't love me, Archer. He never did." She set her plate down, opting for her beer. "His name is Greg and I met him three years ago. I was an addict and he was the only one who seemed to care enough to help me kick the habit."

"But?"

"But he was always more interested in abusing me than helping me."

"Why didn't you leave?"

"I had no where to go."

"Well, now you do." Archer grabbed a slice of plum tomato from her plate and munched heartily. "So what do you say?"