Short Stories (bxb)

Remake Pt. 3: Birthdays and Princesses

"I'm really happy you invited us over today."

     I glanced over at Lizzie from where I sat at the edge of my pool, swinging my feet through the water.

    "Well, yeah," I said, offering a smile. "Why do you sound surprised?"

     She shrugged. "I don't know, you've been spending a lot of time with those other guys."

     "Like, a lot of time," Becca emphasized from where she lay sunbathing on a lounge chair. "We were starting to worry you'd disappear."

     Which made me feel pretty guilty. "Aw, no way," I said. "I'm not group-hopping. Just kind of getting the best of both worlds."

     "Why now, though?" Peter asked. He was on the other side of the pool, floating on his back. "You've been friends with Aiden forever. What changed?"

     I got a lot gayer. "Nothing changed. I just wanted to see him more."

     Becca snorted. "The way you say that, you make it sound like you're in love with him."

     "Ooookay!" Joey exclaimed, climbing out of the pool and breaking into some kind of random spazz dance. We all stared, horrified, as he moved in a way that reminded me of an epileptic flamingo.

     "Joey," I said, raising my eyebrows. "What the hell are you doing?"

     "Having your back," he whispered, though I was pretty sure everyone could hear him. "I'm making a distraction."

     I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing.

     "Dude!" Joey whisper-yelled. "You're blowing the cover!"

     "Joey," I said, a massive grin on my face. "I love you so much. You are a complete moron, and I love you."

     He finally ceased his flamingo-seizure-dancing. "Well now our cover's definitely blown."

     "I'm sorry," Lizzie interrupted, holding up a hand and blinking in confusion. "What on Earth is happening?"

     "Joey is trying to help me hide the fact that I'm insanely gay and in love with Aiden."

     The pool deck went silent. Joey blinked at me, his eyes saucer-wide. "Woah," he said. "You just did that."

     Yes I did. It was completely unexpected, to both my friends and me. I'd been planning to sit down with them some day and have a serious discussion, but this just seemed so much more appropriate. It was like ripping off a bandage. Something about watching Joey, who was so academically gifted yet so lacking in any form of common sense, do whatever that was to keep my secret safe, made it a million times easier to just blurt it out. He was such an idiot, but he really did have my back—he had throughout my entire self-discovery—and knowing that gave me a weird sense of comfort and enough confidence to just say it.

      "Wait, I can't tell if you're being serious or not," Peter said, staring at me with wide, confused eyes. "Are you actually gay?"

     I laughed—which was insane, because I would've never imagined myself laughing mid-coming-out, but there I was, giggling like a fool. "Extremely," I said.

     Peter turned his gaze to Joey. "Are you gay, too?"

     Joey seemed to just be coming to terms with the fact that I'd actually done that. "No," he breathed, but he was staring at me, not Peter, and there was pride in his eyes. "Just Noah."

     "And you're in love with Aiden?" Lizzie asked.

     "Unfortunately, yes."

     She nodded slowly. "Everything makes so much sense now."