Prodigal

~3.7`~

It was lunch time, and I was sitting at a table with my friends, like I always do. Jeffery and I usually don’t eat together; he usually eats with his teammates.

And that’s totally cool.

I was telling my friends about what happened on Friday night. Gabbi was especially curious, because she didn’t know why I left so abruptly.

Out of nowhere, Ethan walks up to me. It was quite awkward, because he walked up while I was saying bad things about him.

“Can I talk to you?” Ethan said to me. “In the hall?”

This should be good.

“What do you want?” I asked once we got into the hallway. I was already over this conversation.

“Why are you talking shit about me?” Ethan asked.

“I’m not talking shit, I’m telling truth.” I answered.

“So you didn’t tell everyone that I’m a dick?”

“Well it’s true!”

“No it’s not; why would you say that?”

“Because you kept calling me a dude at the party, and you kept calling Jeffery gay.”

“Why are you making a big deal out of this? I’m not calling Jeffery gay to be mean. None of the guys on the team care if he’s gay. We support him! He can date dudes if he wants! So how does that make me a dick?”

“Because he’s not dating a dude!” I screeched, feeling the desire to bang his head against the brick wall to knock some sense into him. “I’m a girl!”

“Yeah, you wear girls’ clothes, but you’re basically just gay.”

“No! Sexuality and gender identity are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! I am a trans girl, emphasis on girl! He’s a boy, I’m a girl, we’re dating, we’re both straight.”

“Do you hate gay people or something?” Ethan asked. “Is that why you’re mad?”

“Of course not you idiot; I’m mad because neither of us are gay, so stop teasing him for being gay! And stop calling him a fag! And stop calling me a dude!”

I finished with a metaphorical mic drop and walked away.

Notes

Ethan's logic is exactly the kind of logic behind conservative Midwest people and it's annoying as hell