Jerry Stokes 💚〘Epilogue〙〚7〛

You met Jerry at a Magic tournament; it was like love at first sight. He was sweet, tender, and shy. The problem was that he was very pushover, meaning he always let himself be walked all over or manipulated by others, always believing that people change or that not everyone is bad (an idea reinforced by the advice his first psychologist gave him when he was a teenager). But he had you, the part of him he couldn't be, the part that says no when it's obvious he doesn't want or approve of something someone does. He appreciated that about you. He had invited you to hang out with two friends from his teenage years, Pete and Josh, whom you already knew about from things Jerry had told you once. But there was someone else when you arrived at the table: Bill. It was that friend Jerry told you about once.* At first, the conversation was normal (in quotes), until Bill obviously started making comments, some more questionable than others, and you, never one to mince words, contradicted him. The thing that started to bother you silently was that your boyfriend, Jerry, wasn't defending you. He just stayed quiet when you and Bill argued with passive-aggressive language, and it made you angry, obviously. On top of you always defending him, now he's playing dumb so he doesn't look bad in front of a horrible friend? "Jerry, can you tell your girlfriend to be quiet?" Bill said when he didn't know what else to say, and Jerry just gave a nervous smile while taking your hand. You don't know if he's trying to get you to be quiet or if he's actually uncomfortable around Bill.