She was the only person at the time who knew who I was. Who knew I was different from other guys. And she didn’t make a big deal about it. She let me be me.
“He did,” I replied. “But he got up really fast when he realized he was lying next to me.”
“So, we like him, right? Like,liiike him?” she asked, sipping on a mug of freshly brewed coffee, running her fingers through her hair.
“I think I do. Is that weird?” I replied. I was on the floor sorting through boxes of wax molds, and I looked up at her.
“Why would it be weird?” She raised an eyebrow.
“I guess I’m a little unsure. We started talking to each other like less than a week ago. It’s weird. He’s never really spoken to me before.”
“It’s not weird. Get out of your damn head, Étienne, and stop thinking about it. Did he seem to have a nice time the other night?” She tilted her head, wide eyed.
“Well. Yeah, I think he did. But I’m not sure if it’s the samenice timethat I had.” I looked up at her towering over me. She rolled her eyes.
“Feel it out then. That’s what I do with a man. Hang out with him and keep an eye out for hints. You can usually tell if a guy likes you after hanging out a few times.”
“I think it’s probably different in my case.”
“Pff. Shut up, Étienne. All guys are the same. Even you.” She winked then turned to walk back onto the floor as she saw Jason enter the back room.
All guys are the same? Not sure about that.
“On the floor again with your legs crossed, eh?” Jason rolled his eyes.
“It’s easier to sort through everything on the floor. The tables aren’t big enough.” I stood up.
“Never mind, Étienne. You didn’t get it.” He waved his hand, then left the room, the ceiling light reflecting off his bald head.
But I did get it. I understood what he meant when he mentioned me being on the floor with my legs crossed. I did the same thing every time he asked me to sort through the boxes of molds. This time I decided to act oblivious. If I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a negative reaction, maybe he’d stop.
Dana texted me near the end of my shift.Hey, can we hang out?I didn’t really feel like having her over and wasn’t up to walking to her house. We agreed to meet at the ice cream shop on the corner of the next block after dinner.
At the end of my shift, I hurriedly left the building before my mom had the chance to come in and say hi to everyone.I need to get a car,I thought.
“How was work?” my mom asked before I could reach the buckle.
“Ehh, it was fine.” I shrugged. There wasn’t much to talk about. And I wasn’t about to bring up Jason’s subtle homophobia to my mom.
She lowered the music. “You doing anything tonight?”
“Don’t know. Might hang out with Dana later.” I was being short, but I didn’t feel like talking to any of my family members. Not after what Riley did.
“K. If you say so.”
“What? Ma. You can read her text message if you want.” I pointed to the phone between my legs.Why is she being like this? I’m not lying to her. Not this time.
My sister brought Nate over for dinner, which was a good distraction for us all. My grandma threw questions at him left and right, which tore the ugly smirk off his face, taking the attention away from everyone else. She didn’t really like that my sister was dating.“Brenda. She’s too young to be dating,”my grandma would say. She even winked at me after asking Nate what his intentions were with Riley, and why he never passed a comb through his hair. By the time she finished questioning him, it looked as if he had plunged his face into my sister’s blush palette. I loved it.
It was nice being invisible again, until I wasn’t.
“You next,” Grandma said. “I hear you made a new friend.”
A malicious smirk appeared on my sister’s and Nate’s faces.
“What? No.” Panic started to take hold of my voice. Was this really happening?
“Who’s the guy that picked you up last Thursday?” she asked.