Alterity

Chapter Twenty

Upon describing my family—meaning my father's—views on the LGBTQ+ community, a lot of people tend to immediately assume that he's super religious or something. Actually, not the case. Is he conservative? Absolutely. Do his negative views on people like myself stem from anything obvious or noticeable? Nope! He just doesn't fucking like gay people!

As a kid, I was always much closer with my dad than my mom, but once I turned about eleven, that flipped around. My mom isn't nearly as up tight as my dad is, but she has a bad habit of remaining silent in moments where I would kill for her to take a stand against his bullshit. So that leaves me at a total loss as to what to do. My instinctive response is to just hide my homosexuality from my parents entirely—my sister Maya is the only one in our family that knows—or at the very least until I am out of the house and living independently. But then what?

Erik is actually the only other gay person I've gotten this close with, and I don't mean physically. I've known other gay or LGBTQ+ people at school, sure, but I make a habit of avoiding them. I'm not proud of this but other people that are closeted—at least from their family—will understand. You've got to protect yourself, you know? If that means hiding who you are, so be it. You do what you have to do.

I sit at the table, eating a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with strawberry jam—a little more than thirty minutes to kill before I need to leave for school. My phone vibrates, and, after sucking some jam off my fingers, I pull it out of my pocket and see that I have a message from Erik.

Erik: Hangout at my place after school today? ;)

I smile.

Me: Yesss! I'll check with my parents

Erik: Awesomeeee! See you at school!

"What are you so smiley about?" Asks Dad, sitting down in the chair across from me.

I shake my head. "Nothing. Can I hang out with a friend after school?"

Dad raises his eyebrows. "Which friend?"

"You don't know them." I say.

"Ohh. Is this a female friend we're talking about?" He says, nudging my arm.

I laugh. "No, it's just my friend Erik. I've hung out with him before."

Dad nods. "Right. What do you guys do anyway?"

I shrug, thinking of something to say. "Play video games, mostly."

"Would really love to see you going out more, Leo. Going on dates and to parties and all of that."

"Someday." I say.

Dad frowns. "You're almost sixteen. I'm not sure what you're waiting for."

Being more-than-done with this conversation, I stuff the last bite of egg into my mouth, pretty much swallowing it whole, swing my backpack over my shoulder and leave for the bus stop. Getting to TDS requires 2 busses and a train ride, then I can walk the rest of the way. School busses are only able to pick up the students that live closer to the school. It's a bitch. Worst part though is the walk from the Blue Line station to TDS, especially on a cold morning like this one.

I squint my tearing eyes as much as possible—while still being able to see—and put my gloves hands up to my mouth to try and block the stinging winds from robbing my cheeks of skin. When I arrive at TDS, Erik stands just outside the front entrance in his favorite t-shirt, lightly bouncing up and down and rubbing his hands along his small, goosebump-riddled arms.

"Are you crazy?" I say, pulling him inside with me. "It's freezing! Where's your jacket?"

He points his finger up. "In my locker. Was waiting for you."

"You're cute." I say. "But next time, I'll meet you inside. Ok?"

Erik laughs. "Ok. Did you ask your parents about coming over?"

I nod.

"And?"

"My dad didn't really answer the question, but he didn't say no either."

Erik claps his hands together the way that hearing people so often do. "Awesome! I can't wait! And guess what?"

"What?"

"You'll get to meet Aiden tonight!"

My mouth drops open and I practically jump up and down I'm so excited. "Really??"

"Yes!" Says Erik.

With Aiden being the most important person in Erik's life, meeting him has been on my mind for a while now. I've seen the pictures and he's adorable, but more than anything, I'm just eager for this experience. I have never met a low functioning person before. I mean, I've seen a few around school but I don't think it counts, since I never really knew any of them personally.

"He's going to love you!" Says Erik, looking over his shoulder to be sure no one is watching, then kissing me on the cheek. "I'm sure of it."