I Ain't Gay! Chapter 5
Copyright 2013 by Heather Rose Brown

In this chapter, Tanner reveals a couple of personal issues to his new friend, then Mel asks what could be a life changing question.
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Friends. One of the cutest girls I'd ever met wanted to be friends ... with me.

"Hey," Mel said as she poked me in the chest, "did you hear me?"

"Uh ... no," I said as I tried pulling the huge grin stretched across my face into something resembling a normal smile. "What'd you say?"

My new friend hopped off her stool and pointed at a grey lump of clay half-plastered across a heavy square of cloth. "I said, 'You wanna take a turn getting out your frustration?' "

What I really wanted was to hear more about the girl she'd had a crush on. I felt a teensy bit jealous of Beth, and wondering if Mel was still interested in her. On the other hand, I could tell my friend was still hurting from what she'd already told me, so I nodded, letting some of my earlier grin sneak back as I said, "Sure!"

Once I got settled on the stool, I made a tight fist and swung at the clay.

"Not bad," Mel said as she patted my back. "You must have been thinking about something that's got you pretty mad."

"Yeah," I said as I took another swing, "my parents." I pulled back my fist and held it there for a second, then let my arm drop to the table. "They're the reason I'm here."

"Dang," Mel said as she leaned against the table. "They shipped you off to your uncle?"

"No," I said as I shook my head. "I left."

"You ran away?"

I had to think about that. I did storm out of the house, but that was after calling my uncle and packing some clothes. When Uncle Barry arrived, Dad carried my bag out for me, and Mom insisted on giving me a hug before I left.

I shrugged and said, "Not exactly. It was more like they were driving me crazy, and I needed a vacation from them."

My friend nodded as she said, "I can relate. What were they doing?"

"They kept going on about me being gay."

"Oh jeez. I'm so sorry to hear that. It seriously sucks when parents can't accept their kids are gay."

"Actually, I have the opposite problem." Mel gave me a confused look, but didn't say anything, so I said, "They keep on pushing me to accept I'm gay, but I've never been interested in guys at all!"

Mel seemed to wrestle with the idea for a couple of seconds before she said "Ah, got it ... I think. You're mad at them because they won't accept you only like girls?"

"I ain't exactly mad. I mean, I was last night, but now I'm mostly just frustrated with them."

"That makes sense," my friend said as she nodded. "Even when my parents have been driving me crazy, it's hard to keep a good mad going more'n a couple days."

She gave the clay a smack and said, "I think Mr Lumpy here could do with getting knocked around some more. Got anybody else you're mad at?"

At first, I drew a blank. Then I thought of the one person who'd gone above and beyond the call of duty to make every moment of my existence a living hell. I drew back my arm and narrowed my eyes at the clay.

"Yeah," I said in a low voice as I let go.

"Holy crap!" Mel shouted as she jumped back. "Who was that you knocked into next week?"

"Stuart Steward," I said, my initial anger giving way to surprise when I saw how far my hand had sunk into the clay.

"Heh, the guy so bad, they named him twice?"

I smiled at the joke as I tried yanking my hand free, then yelped when icy pain shot up my arm.

Mel looked worried when she asked, "What happened?"

"I'm kinda stuck," I said, wondering how many more times today I was going to make myself look like an idiot in front of her.

Just as I was about to try pulling my hand out again, Mel grabbed my forearm and said, "Let me try something," then started peeling the clay away with her other hand. Instead of letting go when my hand was free, she lifted up my arm and started pressing different places on my wrist as she said, "Let me know where it hurts."

I winced when I felt a twinge and said, "Right there."

After pressing a couple more places, my friend lowered my arm to the table, then said, "You'll probably be okay, so long as you don't try bowling with that hand, or punch lumps of clay that look like Stuart Steward."

I grimaced worse than when Mel found a sore spot on my wrist. "I really hope he'll leave me alone next year. He came after me like a homing missile last fall, and was on my case practically every day up until school let out for the summer."

Mel sighed as she said, "Some guys can be such jerks. I had something like that happen a couple years ago. It got to a point where I just couldn't take it anymore and told a teacher. She talked to a guidance counselor, who talked to the guy who was harassing me."

"Did that help?"

"Yeah, he left me alone after that. I also found out he'd been acting that way because he thought I was pretty."

I chuckled and said, "I doubt that's why Stuart was going at me all year."

My friend looked at me for a long moment, then said, "Could you stand up for a minute?" When I got to my feet, she guided me by the elbow to a spot a few feet away from the table.

"What you doing?" I asked as she started walking around me.

Instead of answering, Mel just lifted some of the hair on the back of my head. I felt a weird, but nice tingling as the hair fell to my neck. When she faced me again, she said, "I could see him thinking you were pretty. With a few more curves, I think just about any girl would be jealous of you."

"Girl? I ain't a girl."

"Then why do you wear girl clothes?"

"I do not!"

"You do too! I used to have that exact same top."

The burst of anger I'd felt a moment ago faded as I asked, "What's a top?"

Mel opened her mouth as if to answer me, then closed it again and seemed lost in thought. Eventually, she said, "We're friends, right?"

Even though we were yelling a minute ago, I still liked her, so I said, "Yeah, of course."

She nodded and said, "As your friend, will you trust me enough to try something?"

Although I hadn't known her very long, I still had a feeling deep down inside that I could trust her almost completely. Still, there was that almost part, which is why I said, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Good," my friend said as she smiled. "Then come with me to my house."