The Homo Society

It came as no surprise when Kelsey called me that Friday evening and canceled on our plans. It was almost like clockwork. That was the way things had been between me and her for awhile; saying we'll do something but then she bails herself out at the last minute. She tried to play it off as if she were truly upset by it, and maybe she was, but I just couldn't see it that way.

"I'm really sorry, King," she said on the phone with over-forced empathy.

"I'm sure you are," I whispered with sincerity. I was far more saddened by this than she could possibly know. I was just looking to have one true friend in my life and yet she keeps inching away from me. I realized then that maybe I'm looking for friends in the wrong people.

"Maybe something next week?" She asked as I made my way to my bed and opened up my laptop. I pulled up Declan's email as she made another apology.

"It's fine," I said gazing over the email. The meeting didn't start for another hour. Maybe I should go... But no matter how much convincing myself I tried, I just couldn't muster the courage. "Yeah, maybe something next week."

"You're sure you're okay? I hope I didn't ruin your night," she replied. I stared at the email a while longer before answering. Connections and friendship. That's the point of it, Declan had said. It was pretty obvious that I was no longer a priority in Kelsey's life and maybe it was me who needed to start breaking away from her and sever the awkward ties that I still clung too. Maybe new friends would be best; people who get me way more than she ever had.

"Yeah, I have something else I can do tonight. See you Monday."

I didn't give her anytime to say anything before hanging up. I knew she wouldn't be angry. I decided to get ready then and ten minutes later I was all set to leave. I had kept on what I'd worn to school, a tee shirt and jeans, but fixed my hair and reapplied deodorant and brushed my teeth. Declan lived in the same suburb sub-sect of the city I did, so I didn't have to walk far. I put on a sweater and headed out the door.

It was early spring but the death of winter still lingered on everything in view. Grass was still growing in the brown spots that heavy snow had left and trees were still bare. The air still had a chill but I could brave it as long as I kept my arms sheathed in my sweatshirt sleeves. I walked maybe another twenty minutes before actually coming to the right neighborhood. I spent another ten minutes just on Declan's porch. I couldn't find the power to knock on his door. Luckily he opened the door and found me sitting on his porch swing.

"Just going to sit out here in the cold?"

"It's not that cold," I said softly. Declan rolled his eyes.

"You'll catch a cold out here. Please come in, okay?" I looked up and met his eyes. Green orbs of hope, that's what they were. They seemed unnaturally calming and it made me deem him trustworthy some time ago. I stood with a blank expression and followed him into his home. He lead me to a flight of stairs, opened a door on the side of them that revealed the staircase to the basement. I followed him into the dim room.

There were already five other boys in there, and only two of them that I knew. One was a Freshman who was in my Advanced English class with me. He was only about five foot six but he filled that short body to the brim with intelligence. He was cute in a sort of way that you might look at someone younger and see an adorable innocence. I recalled that his name was Alphonse. The other boy that I knew was a Junior in my school as well. I thought we had a class together Freshman year. He was Asian, which I always found oddly intriguing, and was attractive in the way that one might admire fine china - no pun intended. His name was Cyrus.

"Hey, Kingsley," a third one greeted me. I had never seen this boy in life and I regretted to inform him of such, but again, luckily Declan took notice of me. He could sense I didn't know some of these guys and assured me that we all go to the same school. One boy was a Sophomore named Forrest, another was another Sophomore named Stuart, and then the third was a Senior named Samuel. I greeted them with smiles.

"How many more to show up?" asked Stuart. Now that I looked at him I did recognize him. He was tall with brown hair usually hidden by a beenie. He dressed nice but you never really could take notice because he was always running back and forth to classes from the science lab where he spent most of his time. I'd heard kids rudely dub him as 'Lab Rat.'

"Only three actually responded, but there could be a few more. I mean, after all, Kingsley showed up unannounced." I smiled at him.

Time proved Declan to be right. By nearly a quarter after seven, six more guys had shown up. Only one from our school, a boy named Lukas, whom I had no recollection of in the slightest. The others were from our rival high school across town. They were each handsome or attractive in some way. I couldn't help but feel that Declan had singled out the attractive gay guys or if perhaps he'd only been aquatinted with the cute ones.

When we were sure no one else was coming, we each took a seat in various spots in the room. Four of us squeezed onto the couch, two each to the arm chairs on either end. Declan pulled out some bean bag chairs and all but me occupied them. I was much more comfortable toward the stair case, ready to leave if my heart desired.

Declan had us all introduce ourselves by stating our name and something we liked to do. He went first with saying, "I'm Declan and I like to play guitar." He then had the five guys from the other school go next. There was Tyberius who liked to sleep, Finn who liked to play fantasy RPG games, and Prosper who liked to play football and was in fact on the football team. London liked to write poetry. Matthias liked to run.

Of course it then turned to our school. Lukas liked to volunteer at animal shelters, Cyrus liked to dance, Alphonse liked to film, Stuart liked science (go figure), Samuel liked cats. Forrest liked to watch TV. Then it was my turn and I was having trouble speaking. I looked to Declan for help but his eyes were somewhere else. It was actually Alphonse who met his eyes with mine and helped me gain enough courage to say something.

"I'm Kingsley. I don't like much at all."

"Oh, come on. You like something," laughed one of the other boys. I tried to think hard. I didn't like to read or write or swim or do anything really. I didn't like school and I didn't like anything recreational. I didn't like anything.

I settled for, "I don't like to do anything. I'd much rather do nothing all day."

The rest of the night continued on like this. We kept doing things like this. We would say something, maybe something we were good at in school or pets we'd had or what we planned to do after high school. By the end of the night, I felt aquainted with most of these guys. I mean, they were still very much strangers, but when I looked at them I didn't see people I didn't know. I saw potential friends that I didn't know yet.

And at the end of the meeting and everyone was going home, everyone said good bye to me. I felt sort of special for a moment. It was nothing really, everyone was just being friendly but I knew why. They could see how introverted I was and how shy I was behaving. They wanted me to feel more confident and after they all said their goodbyes to me, I really did. For a minute I felt like I was the center of attention and I sort of liked it.

"Have a good night," I told Declan when I was finally leaving. He didn't say anything right away but he smiled big at me.

"I'm really glad you came."

"Me too," I agreed. I left his house and began the journey back to my own.