Page 38 of The Rebel's Guide to Pride

Too bad Sawyer and I weren’t.

She hadn’t brought up the post. I’d expected her to call me a simp again, and then we could go back to being good. However, she completely disregarded any mention of speakeasies when she dropped off the decorations from last Saturday.Which meant she was bottling up her emotions and would explode the moment I got in the way.

But I wouldn’t give her a reason to. The next speakeasy had to be perfect. Bigger and better than the last one. Nothing could go wrong. Then I’d prove to her just how seriously I was taking this. I may have joined the QSA with ulterior motives, but I wasn’t that same Zeke. I’d spent too many years being afraid and quiet—I was anything but that now.

If only Sawyer could see how proud I finally was.

With a sigh, I locked my phone. The dolly wobbled under my weight as I sat up to peer into the reception lobby. Mom had just finished up with the customer and was on the phone. The brake repair had been our first job of the day, and it was already lunchtime.

Things were slow. Too slow. My hands were itching to take something apart and put it back together. If nothing else came in soon, I’d resort to tinkering on my dirt bike until the rec center’s program meeting tonight. The engine warble could be fine-tuned—

“We have a tire alignment coming in,” Mom called, breezing back into the shop.

“Thank god,” I muttered.

She laughed and dropped down onto a shop stool. “You have at least an hour to keep messaging your new boo.”

“Nobody says that anymore.”

Despite the secondhand embarrassment over her outdated lingo, I couldn’t stop my grin. Mason had been out with his friend when I’d Van Gogh’d the donkey. He’d messaged as soon as I made the post and said he wished he could do something that brave. Then we’d stayed up late DM’ing. Everything I wasdiscovering about him made me crush even harder. And if he was out last night, that meant he wasn’t grounded anymore and maybe he’d be at the speakeasy…

“Have you asked yournew booout yet?” Mom continued with a gleam in her eye.

“Stooop,” I said, throwing a grease rag at her.

My face must’ve been neon red judging by the way she smiled at me. I had to make the first move since Mason wasn’t picking up on any of the hints I’d dropped. “If it matters,” she began, nudging my foot with hers, “he was very nice and polite when I met him.”

“Youwhat?” My voice pitched high; I was unsure of where she was going with this.

“Remember how the shop is endorsing his grandmother’s campaign?” I nodded, still in shock. “She had some signs for me to put up, and Mason helped me load them into the SUV. We had a nice chat, and he—What do you kids call it? Passes the vibe check?”

“Oh my god.” My stomach twisted at the thought of them talking. “What did you tell him?”

She held her hands up in surrender. “Calm down. I didn’t say a word about you. But if you want to know what I found out…” I waved my hand, urging her to get to the point. “Jeez, okay. He’s very sweet, smart, and knows his politics. Said that helping the campaign would prepare him to run for Congress one day.”

“Oh,” I said quietly as my heart plummeted.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh…” If he was into politics, then he’d find out how much I didn’t know. “I’m kinda dumb,” I admitted, not meeting her eyes.

“You’re not dumb.” She threw the grease rag back at me, and I ducked. “Sure, you might’ve done some dumb things with your grades, but that doesn’t make you stupid.”

“I meant about politics and…stuff.”

Talking about it made me uncomfortable. Cohen dragged me for being a bad gay, and Sawyer was so condescending about the QSA. They made me feel worthless and…

“I’m trying,” I added hastily. “Watching the news and trying to figure out what it all means, but it kinda goes over my head.”

“That doesn’t make you stupid,” she said, the teasing gone from her voice. “I’ve seen how youaretrying, and that’s what matters. No one expects you to know everything or have the perfect solution. You tried to make our town better with the QSA’s Pride Day. That’s more than a lot of people do. They just sit back and accept whatever happens. Just keep paying attention, and you’ll keep learning.”

Her words were reassuring. “I definitely don’t accept the Family First ordinance,” I said forcefully.

“A lot of people don’t,” she said. “Just look at what happened last night in the town square with that statue. The campaign against his reelection is gaining traction. He’s threatening to punish the person who vandalized it if they’re caught.”

“I’m glad someone called him out,” I said without remorse.

The chances of me getting caught were slim, even if I’d posted the picture. No one saw me do it. Besides, the rush I felt knowing it pissed him off was worth it. Mom had just said I didn’t need to have a solution. But if I’d gotten him this shaken up, I really was doing something right.

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