Road To Happiness ✔

ELEVEN

Two weeks in a row, Hugo found himself sitting in the meeting room of the university's GSA. This time, they all sat around the large table, picking at the food Rose had brought with her. It was quieter than last time. Hugo couldn't understand it, but it seemed that doing anything a little different from the norm set them off. It also didn't escape his notice that some of the crazier people weren't there. He wasn't sure if it was Rose's doing or if they just couldn't come, but he wasn't going to complain.

"How have we all been this week?" Rose asked and got mumbles in reply. Hugo nodded at her, but he didn't think she saw him. "You all look a little down, so we're going to go around the table and say something that made us happy during the week."

He gave a confused smile. The group seemed more like a therapy thing than anything else. Rose had told him that they usually just talked a lot, which didn't bode well for him, but he could just listen. As the others began to speak, he jotted down something in his notebook.

'I spent the night at my friends' apartment. We had a movie marathon.' He shrugged and smiled when Rose read it out. Most of the others had good grades or family time or other little things that made them happy, but the night he spent with Renee and Stefan had been great in comparison to the day that came before it.

It had been chill, eating pizza and watching movies. He didn't have to talk about what happened any more than he already had. Stefan didn't pester him and neither did Renee. They seemed to understand that his silence meant he wanted to forget it had even happened.

He and his father hadn't spoken more than a few words since he got back after work the day after, something he was grateful for. No speaking meant no arguments and no panic attacks. It meant he could wake up in a mostly good mood if he hadn't had any nightmares the night before, which hadn't happened in a few days.

The last to speak in the little circle around the table was a man named Anthony. Rings and bracelets covered his hands and arms, all different colours of the pride flags. "I know it sounds superficial, but I went shopping over the weekend," he said, his hands moving wildly as he spoke. "My counsellor told me that buying new and better fitting clothes can make you feel more confident, so that's what I did. She was right. I got some tighter jeans and new shirts and I actually like how I look. I was worried people would be able to see my binder underneath, but I think I'm fine."

"That's lovely, Anthony," Rose said, smiling sweetly at him. She continued to talk, but Hugo was no longer listening. He looked down at his clothes. Baggy jeans and too-big hoodies. He looked like a child dressing up in his father's clothes. He couldn't imagine himself in tighter clothing. He'd worn baggy stuff since high school so he could hide away in it.

Anthony did look confident in his clothing, but Hugo hadn't seen him before he went shopping, so who knew if it actually made a difference. Hugo pushed thoughts of new clothing away as the topic changed to something else. There was an event coming up in a few weeks, one Hugo hadn't heard of before, but promoted LGBTQ+ awareness.

He didn't contribute much. Writing took too much time and effort and he didn't know much about what happened at the university to add to the group's plans. Instead, he listened and nodded along whenever Rose asked if the plans sounded alright to everyone. He wasn't sure if he was going to go seeing as most of it revolved around public speaking, but it sounded nice enough.

"We've still got a couple more weeks to organise this, and then at the beginning of next semester is the pride parade!" Rose said. The people around him let out excited gasps and looked to each other with big grins on their faces. "I'm looking into getting our group a spot in the march itself instead of watching from the sidelines. I'll let you know how it turns out when I hear back from them, okay?"