Page 43 of The Friend Scheme
“That’s so awesome, man. You’re so dedicated; it’s really inspiring.”
“You’re dedicated, too, just, for games. You playedSkyrimfor fourhundredhours, remember.”
“Right. I guess it’s similar. Yours is cooler, though.”
“I was thinking the same about yours. But okay, your turn. What’s something you really love?”
He thinks about it for a second. As he watches the city, I find myself gazing at him.
He truly is so handsome.
Perfect, even.
I mean, he’s not. There are slight bags under his eyes, his lips look really dry right now, and he has quite a few moles. He looks perfect for a real person, is what I mean.
I shouldn’t take for granted how cool it is that he wants to be friends with me.
He’s so different from most of the guys I know who are a part of this world.
I hope he thinks the same thing about me.
“Okay, I’ve thought of something,” he says. “I was going to saySkyrim, because that’s my favorite game. But you already know I love that. So there are these books called the Bartimaeus trilogy. I read them over and over and over as a kid.”
“Dude!” I say. “I’ve read those!”
He beams. “You have? You’re not just saying that?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you like that. I love them.”
“Me too,” he says. “They’re my favorite. I loveHarry Potter, but I kind of like that these are a little less known, you know? It feels like they’re mine, in a way. I’m not sure if that’s stupid.”
An ocean breeze hits us, and his eyelids flutter.
“It’s not. I totally get that. It’s less fun to love something everyone loves, for some reason.”
“For sure,” he says. “I can’t believe you’ve read them. We have so much in common; it keeps happening.”
“Yeah, it’s weird, right?”
I start feeling a little daring.
I mean, he’s my friend. He’s already come out to me, and he came here, just to support me.
I want to tell him about… me.
I’m not expecting more than his friendship. I think he’ll be okay with it. As far as I know, there aren’t any homophobic gay dudes. That’d be stupid.
I have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.
How do I even do this? What should I say?
I think about starting withWe have something else in common, but that feels too obvious. This is my first-ever coming-out, but still, I don’t want it to sound totally naive.
“Um,” I say. “I think I want to tell you something.” I stretch my arms out in front of me. “Fuck, I’m really nervous.”
“Dude, it’s me. Don’t be nervous; you can tell me anything. You know that, right?”
I exhale. “Yeah. So you know how I said I likeDonnie Darko?”
