Gary can tell immediately he'll have to do all the talking. And he really doesn't blame him. But Gary is so objectively bad at talking that he has to swallow down a nervous lump in his throat.
"They did some kinda freaky reverse-exorcism type shit to him a little while ago. And then few days later on Tuesday night he said I came over and beat the shit out of him."
She makes a face at this. Confused, mostly. But she straightens up, glances at Ryan behind him and then back at Gary. Reluctant but willing to scold him. "But… you're workin' tuesday nights." She'd been the one that got him a job at the bar she already works at in the first place. She's his ride.
"He says it keeps happenin' and it always looks like me and sounds like me and everythin'. But he’s not hallucinatin', 'cause somethin's actually hurtin' him." Gary reaches behind him and paws at Ryan's arm to get him to move his hair down Jenny can see the cut on his eyebrow. She immediately lets out a small gasp and a breathy, "oh honey." "And it was right after they did some kinda ritual on him.”
"The fuck?" she whispers, looking between them a few more times, a horrified look starting to take over her expression.
Gary looks down into his lap. She's going to be upset. She's going to be upset she didn't notice. She'll be devastated that they moved so far away to get away from someone hurting him, just to have someone hurting him again. "They broke in last night... did it to me too."
Her face falls immediately into the quiet kind of rage that, until more recent months, has been reserved for Gary's mother. "What." She says it so flatly, so coldly, it even makes Gary squirm a little bit. "The fuck that place got to do with you?" she spits out like venom.
"'Cause…" Gary trails off, shifting on the couch a little and leaning his head back against the cushions. Has to take a deep breath. Remember why he’s saying all this. With his excuse to stay in the closet of it’s not anyone’s business if nothings going on, it’s someone else’s business more than ever. "They found out I was the one he was messin' around with that they did it to him in the first place."
There's stages to understanding what it is he's actually trying to say. First is, to her, a pleasant surprise that they're together in some capacity. Shortly after the disappointment that this is some kind of haunted hate crime. And when she really gets to thinking about it- whatever it is they're trying to explain is being done to Ryan on purpose, and Gary soon too. The church's purpose. The church she doubts any kid who wasn't dropped on their head would go to if their parents didn't drag them there. She covers her mouth with her hand a little bit, eyes dating between them starting to shine with impending tears. Trying desperately to decide where the fuck to begin?
On the way getting up onto her feet Jenny kisses the top of Gary's head and squeezes his hand before she walks past him and grabs Ryan, yanking him down to reach her surprisingly strong embrace. Her arms around his shoulders, one hand gently cradling the back of his head, and falling into the slightest bit of rocking back and forth. If Gary's saying it happened last night then feels safe telling her. If Ryan's been dealing with this alone, for weeks?
"Oh, honey," she tells him. Honey dripping from her motherly accent. "What did they do to you?" It's a rhetorical question, the same one might ask upon finding a lost kitten. Jenny pulls away, her grip on his shoulders gentle but firm. "You're gonna be safe so long as you're here, 'kay? We'll figure something out." She rubs up and down the side of his arms a bit. "Just gotta put our heads together and think real hard."
