Writing Academy-My Assignments

Assignment 1-LGBT+

I was at work one day, going through some recording equipment with a coworker. My mind was heavy as I worked.
"Chris," Jason, my coworker, got my attention. "Huh?"
"You're crossing wires," I looked around and realized I was tangling stuff up. "Sorry."
"You've seemed kind of stressed lately. You okay?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I looked away from Jason to untangle the wires, about to go back to thinking when Jason spoke.
"You know you can tell me if there's something on your mind," Jason was trying to be friendly, but it was bugging me now.
"I know, Dad," I joked with my much older coworker.
"That's good, Son," Jason joked back. I laughed, but that word, son, felt like he wasn't referring to me. It was just a joke, though. That was Monday.
The week went by normally, with me ignoring any misgendering from anyone. One day, it just went too far.
Matthew, my boss, said something while we were live on the Internet in front of something-thousand people. He mentioned I said I wanted unscented lotion for Christmas-which is entirely true and I had told him that-and Matt went off topic and asked the viewers watching if asking for general lotions (just saying "unscented") or asking for specific types of lotions is weirder.
"From a guy to another guy," Jason added.
"Right. Does it change if it's boy-boy, boy-girl, or girl-girl," Matt said before restating the question to the viewers.
That was it. I acted normal on the outside, and just yelled at Matt a lot in my head.
Once we weren't live, I excused myself and went to the bathroom.
Why couldn't I just admit it? I had admitted to myself years ago that I was transgender, and identify as a girl. I just couldn't admit it to many other people.
There was a knock on the door.
"You okay in there?"
Jason.
"Yeah..." my voice cracked.
"Matt and Steph are working," Jason referred to our bosses.
"Shouldn't you be working?" I asked.
"Shouldn't you be working too?"
I sighed and opened the door. "Yes."
"Something on your mind?"
I nodded.
"E-earlier today...uh, Matt mentioned the lotion thing," I started.
"Did you not want him to?"
"No, that was fine. I do want unscented lotion," I clarified.
"Th-the..." I didn't know how Jason would react to me coming out. The older man waited patiently for me to continue.
"I-it was actually something you said..." I admitted. "If it's w-weirder from a...to..." I started crying.
"Okay, it's okay," Jason started rubbing circles on my back. "Calm down." He thought about what he had said earlier.
"Did I misgender you?" Jason figured out.
"..." I didn't want to answer.
"It's okay to say yes. I won't get mad or anything."
I nodded.
"Chris...so you identify as a girl?" Jason was being really quiet. I just nodded again.
"Okay. It's okay, I'm sorry..." he apologized to me.
Matt poked his head in. "Everything okay? Jason, what did you do?"
My body tensed up at hearing Matt's voice.
"Chris has just been stressed a lot lately," Jason covered for me.
"Is there anything I can do?" I shook my head.
"Okay," Matt left.
"Want me to tell them?" Jason whispered.
"No," I barely whispered.
"Are you going to..."
"Not today," I had already gone through a lot.
"Okay. Want me to leave?" Jason asked, getting ready to leave.
"Wait, I'm coming," I said as I splashed water on my face and dried it off.
We went throughout the day as we normally do. Just a little different. I felt a little bit less stressed about being transgender after telling someone.