Meet me Outside
Tony looked at himself in the mirror, hating what he saw. He had never truly felt like himself, never a whole person. That’s in freshman year he had realized while watching football that he liked guys. It was his terrible secret now, that he wasn’t normal, a freak. He had tried shoving it deep inside and even dating girls but nothing could cure him from what he was.
Tony had left to go on the bus. There was the same chatter as always, but somewhere in his soul Tony felt like something would be different. That’s when Brad, the handsome football captain, sat next to him. Tony felt his heart flutter and blush come over his cheeks.
“Hi,” Brad said.
“Hey Brad,” Tony said wavering.
“Are you coming to the game Friday?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t wait to see you there. Meet me outside after the game.”
“Sure.”
Tony felt numb inside, he had never heard such a request. Part of him felt like he was overreacting to a simple request, but there are part of him already burned for Brad. He was being absolutely insane and needed to get his head back on his shoulders and out of the clouds. Not only was Brad probably not gay, but would never go for him anyways.
Besides the odd incident Tony had a fairly normal day and when home started on his homework. While working he suddenly had a feeling. It was a feeling he had felt many times before. Like a bird had a caged in his chest that needed to be released. He had felt this so many times before when he wanted to tell his family that he was gay. And at that moment he hated it, hated being put in a closet, not being who he was. He decided he would tell his family that evening.
As the family sat down together for dinner Tony felt nervous and a fear he had never felt before. After a course of food and talking about everybody’s general day he felt it was time. His heart beat fast and his palms were sweaty. His. other noticed something wrong with him.
“Tony sweetheart, what’s the matter?“, she asked. The whole family stared at him. It burst out of him in one fell swoop.
“I’m gay.”
The room was filled with a deafening silence. Then Tony’s mother spoke up.
“We love you, baby. Being gay doesn’t change who you are. We may take time to adjust but we will always love you.”
After this the family talked about their feelings and many hugs were to be had. Tony went to bed, sleeping lighter than ever before, finally a free man.
The next morning he was excited for the day. It flew by and soon enough it was time for the game. He had never seen them play better. Afterwards he went outside the locker rooms where Brad was standing with a sign that said,
“Will you Tony go to homecoming with me?”
“Yes.”
