MUD - An LGBT+ Story

Neon Summer

This would be the last summer where at the back of my mind would be the prospect of returning to school, the final year, Year 11 is now the only thing between me and freedom. The days during school holidays are on a different time scale compared to when at school, I'm convinced, when on holiday the days whizz by so carefree that if you're not careful they will evaporated right in front of you. In contrast school days drag on in a sense of never ending repetitiveness. There was still one week of the summer holidays left and I had agreed to go shopping with Jen, although had virtually no money but browsing clothes will be fun and it will be nice to hang out with her as I secretly liked her fashion choices.

We met in the town centre and Jen stood out from the crowd wearing a black and red check shirt over a My Chemical Romance t-shirt and black ripped skinny jeans. This time I also noticed lots of ear piercings "hi cool piercings! Did they hurt" my voice unintentionally mimicked like I was actually in pain "nah, just stung a little" Jen didn't change facial expression "how you doing? Enjoying summer break?" We started walking "yes been good, chilled not had chance to see Him, I went on family holiday then He's away now" my family went to Mallorca along with most of the UK it seemed, it was fine but also wasn't exactly thrilling plus I never get a nice sun tan my skin is either snow white or red so end up spending most of the holiday applying gallons of sunscreen "how's your holidays been?" I asked "mostly sitting in a dark room avoiding sunlight" the sarcasm sparked from her words but I knew it wasn't meant in a hostile way and laughed "where shall we go first?" I sensed we were walking aimlessly "know a place just round here gonna get you to try a few new styles" Jen grinned, at last some emotion I thought and was up for trying stuff on, could tell she had rejected the plain blue t-shirt and jeans combination I was wearing. We entered the first shop an independent place selling goth and punk things, the fashion was daring for me as Jen came alive in excitement "look at these boots!" Picking up a pair of black platform boots which had studs round the edges and yellow laces, I liked the laces. Jen started to pick up a few bits of clothing and handed them to me "go on release your inner goth!" I smiled took the clothes and went to get changed. Tentatively I stepped out of the changing room wearing white ripped skinny jeans, the rips were all down the legs and was a significant struggle to put on, accompanying them was a white t-shirt which had a Blondie black coloured album cover picture and the words Blondie, over this was a black denim jacket that had a chain looping down and from one of the pockets "OMG owning it! Jen exclaimed as she looked around "not sure about the white jeans" I said whilst looking in the mirror "hmm maybe" Jen spoke in a way that she was thinking of something "but I like the top" I added not wanting to sound too negative "lets look somewhere else!" She sounded excitable, returning to the changing room I struggled to get the jeans off which put me in a state of panic "what kept you? Jen asked "bloody jeans" I laughed and we headed to the next shop. This had more colour and noticed some vibrant neon tops and again Jen picked up some clothes and I went to try them on, this time black skinny jeans and a mesh neon pink top, which was see through, and a black shirt over the top, I buttoned up the shirt as I felt too shy wearing the mesh top. Jen looked "no! Open the shirt it's hiding the pink!" I hesitated "oh it's okay there's only us around the mirror nobody else can see" She spoke insistently, I looked sarcastically "no one except the girl on the till over there and the CCTV!" teasing her with a sly smile and unbuttoned the shirt she smiled "now tuck the shirt in, not loose" I followed what she said and after a little adjusting from her, looked in the mirror again and it was great! The pink colour really popped and there was something cheeky I liked with it being a mesh see through style "wow nice! I should go shopping with you more often" I giggled "one of my talents along with being a corpse" she spoke with a cold whit and I liked it and laughed together the thought that Jen was actually seeing my chest through the mesh never crossed my mind until afterwards. Leaving the shop, having not bought anything we headed to get food, we went into a quaint LGBT friendly cafe which had rainbow bunting around the walls, the tables were painted in various LGBT flag colours and the guy at the counter serving the tea and coffee made me glance at him slightly longer then I should have and wasn't prepared for such magnetism. Gathering my thoughts took a sip of my tea and noticed the look on Jen's face as she looked at me then glanced over to the guy "how's things going with Him? You guys seem to be getting on well around school?" Jen was starting to quiz "oh yeah we are good friends" sounding vague as ever "just friends? I mean the way you looked at that guy over there I know you're into guys" Jen said in a reassuring way yet I was still shocked at being so direct I mean am I into guys? "Umm not sure" I stuttered "it's cool! Just ya know, nothing happened with Him, no kissing?" Jen continued with the questions "nope" I spoke hesitantly as my mind raced through showers and tickling but wasn't going to say all this and maybe deep down I wanted some things to still be private "and you've never thought about wanting to kiss Him?" Jen said quickly and to the point, I was starting to become embarrassed by this yet trusted Jen "not really thought about anything like that" shyness was wrapped around my words now "not even hugs?" Jen continued and this time she could tell my body language had become tense "don't worry about it you could be somewhere on the Ace spectrum, you deffo have some vibes" She spoke calmly trying not to intimidate me any further and took a sip of her fruit smoothy. I smiled in a way to look like I understood what she said yet truthfully confusion was in my mind and looking down noticed the table was painted with black, grey, white, and purple stripes.