Electric High

When I first came out of the closet, the first thing my flamboyant-I’ve-already-been-out-of-the-closet-since-I-was-thirteen-best-friend Jun did was drag me to a gay parade/carnival that took over the whole Main Street and the park.

How embarrassing.

There were helicopters flying about, shooting live footage all over the tv. If my mum were to see that, she would die. It’s a good thing I was wearing a hat though. Imagine, mum sitting around with her little old lady friends watching tv, when all of a sudden her kid is waving and making out with another boy in the middle of the road. She would have a heart attack and kill me. But it’s not like I’d do that anyways…

~

“Come on, Emile. Stop being such a killjoy. This is fun. Enjoy yourself. Besides, the whole thing isn’t a giant, gay, promiscuous orgy. There’s games and stuff. It’s like a normal, family environment.”

I snort. “Yeah, minus the whole parade down there,” I jerked my thumb behind my shoulder, “waving signs about gay people.”

Jun shrugs. “Yeah. Minus that. Who cares? We’ll just stay here then.” he says, pointing at the park.

But just as he says that, he sees a boy waving a sign above his head screaming. He’s holding a sign that says, “Hey mum, guess what?” with a blue shirt that I can’t really read, but I do see the word, “gay” on it. Talk about being blunt. Jun giggles and stares at the boy. “Ooo. That boy is fine.” he sings. “We should go meet him.”

“No way. Are you crazy? He’s like, attracting the most attention.”

“So?”

“SO.”

“What? Afraid mummy will see poor little Emile? Don’t be such a pussy. Come on. He’s cute.”

I shrug. “So what? There’s plenty of other cute guys here.” I mumble. “On this side of the park.” I emphasize, motioning my arm.

“No. You have to meet a boy here. He’s perfect.”

“You date him then.”

“No way. I’ve got my eye on him.” he says, pointing at another boy with dark brown hair sitting by himself. “He’s got muscles. I bet he’s got perky nipples.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re gross.”

“Trust me. You’re not going to think it’s gross once you get the hang of this stuff.” Jun winks. “Come on. We’ll go get my boy first, and then we’ll go get yours. I don’t think we’ll lose him so easily.” And he’s off, grabbing my arm and dragging me over to the brown haired boy.

“Hi. I’m Jun, I think you’re cute, and you should stay right here.”

The boy is speechless.

“I-”

“I’ll be right back. Do you have a boyfriend?”

“N-no.”

“Will you be mine?”

“Jun! You barely know him!”

“I know. But I want to get to know him.” He smiles his dazzling white smile at the boy, and the boy blushes furiously, biting his lower lip. “So?”

“I-I… maybe we can go get coffee later… or something.” He mumbles, flushing. Jun squeals and kisses his cheek.

“Here’s my number. If I lose you, you’re calling me. Okay?”

The boy nods and smiles shyly. I inwardly “awh” because he’s ridiculously adorable.

Jun runs off.

“What’s your name?” I ask him.

“Jorge.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him.” I laugh quietly. “I’m Emile. I have to go, but I guess I’ll be seeing you later. I’ve got to go find Jun before he does something we’ll both regret.”

Jorge laughs and nods. I wave to him before running to find Jun. He’s already talking to the loud-mouthed, blackette.

When Jun sees me, he yells, “AHA.” particularly loudly, and grabs my arm, pulling me towards him. Startled, I flail and smack him in the face, and he winces.

“He’s very jumpy, but he’s a good kid. And he’s cute.”

Jun holds my arms and the blackette looks me up and down like I’m about to be bought. I feel uncomfortable and squirm in my captor’s arms. “Yes, he is very cute. And he’s got a nice little bum. What’s his name again?”

“I’m right here you know. Don’t talk about me like I’m being bought. It’s not like Jun’s selling me.”

The boy laughs. “I like him. He’s got a good sense of humor and sarcasm. Let’s try this again. What’s your name?”

“Emile.” I spit, disliking the boy more and more by the minute.

“Emile.” he drawls, smirking. “Cute. I’m Carter. Want to go on a da-”

“No. I don’t. I don’t like you. You’re way too crazy. Who the fuck would wear that shirt and hold that sign?”

“A kid who’s mum won’t accept me for who I am.”

I roll my eyes. “That’s everyone here.”

Carter frowns. “Not unless your mum is the biggest lawyer around. I’ve told her a thousand times that I’m gay, but she doesn’t want to accept it. She thinks it’s just a “phase” and I’ll get over it. She brings random sluts to the house trying to set me up with them. I’ve been trying to get her to accept me for who I am for the past five years. That’s why this year I’ve come up with this.” He says, motioning his attire for the day.

“She tells me that no son of her’s will ever be a “useless cock-sucker” that will “ruin her life for being a worthless faggot” She says that it will ruin her career. So today, I decided, “fuck it”. This is who I am, and she can’t change it. So I made that sign, bought this shirt, and I’m trying to get on tv. I don’t care if it ruins her. She’s been hiding me for the past five years, but with me out here getting this much attention, she can’t anymore. This is me, and she can’t change that.” He finishes.

“You’re mum… she’s the one working on that huge case going on right now that’s all over the tv, isn’t she?”

He nods. “Imagine what everyone will think once they see me. She’s spent her entire life campaigning against gays and finding something wrong with the people she’s against in court. Half the time, she takes on a case just because the person she’s against is gay, and almost ninety percent of the time, she gets them into trouble with the law for something they haven’t done, or finds a petty thing that they’ve done and blows it all out of proportion and gets them locked up for good. I hate it. I hate her so fucking much.”

I bite my lip.

Jun looks awkward.

Carter looks frustrated.

I push away from Jun and walk over to Carter, slipping my hand in his.

He looks down at our fingers, and he looks up at me, confused. I smile and lean over, kissing his cheek.

“Come on.” I murmur in his ear, and tug him towards the crowd where all the television crews and cameras are.

I push my way through, still keeping a tight grip on Carter’s hand.

When we get to the front, I pull him with me. He looks at me, and I grin back at him. His lips break out into a huge smile and he grabs his sign and pulls his jacket off.

“Remember me!?” he yells at one of the television anchors. She’s more of a gossip television host. He rips his aviators off, and she gasps, bustling over to him. He holds his sign out and sticks his chest out. “Guess-fucking-what mum!?” he screams into the camera.

Voices erupt all around, even louder than before, and Carter leans over, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me towards him. I blush and hide my face in his shoulder and he laughs. I feel him bend down and he whispers in my ear, “You still up for being my boyfriend?”

I nod, muffling my giggles into his shoulder. He whoops and pulls me away, before planting a large, wet kiss on my lips. It’s probably safe to say, my mum will kill me when I get home.

~

When I got home, everything was all cool and chill until after dinner when mum was watching her gossip television and Jun and I were playing Xbox in my room.

Mum saw what happened out at the gay parade on her stupid gossip television. She yelled at Jun for taking me to a gay parade and took away my Xbox for listening to Jun and making out with “that horrible lady’s son”. I tried to tell her that Carter wasn’t a horrible person, but she wouldn’t listen.

After she finished her “lecture”, she pulled me into a hug and told me that she would “get over not having grandchildren”, and that she didn’t think that Carter was bad person, she just was a bit pissed that he had said, “guess-fucking-what”, and his language was unacceptable.

We went back to my room and I called Carter. He told me he got a beating from his stepdad and asked if he could stay at my house. Permanently. I asked mum, and she said yes, “Because that lady is a horrible, horrible person and doesn’t deserve to have children.” Then she said, “Besides, Jun practically lives here too, so what’s one more person? As long as he helps around the house.”

Because it’s true. Jun’s at my house at least four times a week, sleeping, eating, and calling my mother “mum”. At least he does all of our laundry.

After that, she went to the bathroom, came back out, and threw a box of condoms at my head and told me “no glove, no love”.

I almost died of embarrassment.

Jun cracked up beside me, but she threw a box of condoms at his head too and told him the same thing. He stopped laughing and went red in the face.

Carter came over later that night lugging behind him three suitcases.

Oh we used protection all right.