I Ain't Gay! Chapter 4
Copyright 2013 by Heather Rose Brown

In this chapter, Tanner stresses over some of the things his parents had said, then learns about a crush Mel had ... and may still have.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

The steaming hot water pelting my back was helping ease the tension I still felt from the fight I'd had with my parents. The air smelled of tangy apples when I leaned my head back and rinsed the conditioner out of my hair. After stepping out of the shower stall, I started drying myself with one of my uncle's huge, fluffy towels while thinking about some of what my parents had said to me.

The part about me being gay was obviously some weird fixation they had. I liked girls. I'd never even been a little interested in boys. Just because I didn't have a girlfriend didn't make me gay. There were plenty of other guys my age who didn't have a girlfriend.

Of course, there were the other things they said last night, like the way I looked, dressed, and acted. I walked up to the foggy mirror over the sink and wiped at it with my towel until I could see myself. Nothing about my reflection looked efeminine, or whatever it was Dad had called me. All I saw was me.

I shrugged and pulled the towel over my head, then scrubbed at my hair until it was dry. I grinned at myself when I saw the way my tangled hair stood out like some sort of manga character, then found my comb and tried pulling out all the knots without going bald.

I was just about finished straightening out my hair when I realized it had gotten long enough to reach my shoulders. I turned my head from side to side, watching the way the damp strands swayed around my face. Had that been what my parents were getting all bent out of shape about?

As I started to blow-dry my hair, I considered asking Uncle Barry if he could take me someplace to get it cut. That idea lasted about five seconds. As much as I loved my parents, I wasn't going to change something I liked just because they had a bug up their butts.

I turned away from the mirror and looked down at myself. Puberty hadn't been very kind to me yet. I did have a few curlies between my legs, but that was about it. Not that I was in any real rush. Being mistaken for a gorilla wasn't exactly in my top ten list of things to do.

I slipped on my underpants, then pulled my jeans over them, wishing I'd remembered to pack shorts last night. After thinking about it, I decided it was just as well, since I'd already shown off my skinny legs enough at breakfast.

I next pulled on my favorite t-shirt, tugged at the bottom until I could get it to reached the top of my jeans, then took another look at myself in the mirror. The sleeves seemed a little short, but they didn't feel uncomfortable. In fact, the whole shirt was soft and comfy, which was one of the reasons I liked it.

It also had a pattern of white hearts, stars, and flowers over a purple background. Maybe the hearts and flowers were girlish, but you could hardly see the tiny pattern if you squinted at it. Plus, it was purple, not pink. Purple wasn't a girl color, was it?

I shook my head and sighed. I was letting my parents wind me up again, and they weren't even here! I'd gone to stay with my uncle to get away from their craziness. Gritting my teeth, I turned to the door, then swung it open before marching out of the bathroom, determined to leave the questions I'd been asking behind me.

=-=-=

I noticed a semi-rhythmic thumping as I closed the bathroom door and entered the hallway. Curious, I followed the sound into the studio. Mel was sitting at a table in there, pounding a huge, grey lump into a thick, green cloth.

"Where's Uncle Barry at?" I asked as I walked towards her.

Mel continued pounding as she said, "He's still down in the cellar emptying the kilns. It was hot and a little crowded with us both down there. Plus, I think I was talking his ear off too much, which is probably why he asked me to come back up here and start prepping the clay for the next order."

"What were you talking about?"

Her hand bounced off the clay like a pebble skipping across a pond. She sounded nervous, as if she'd been caught at something, when she looked up at me and said, "Nothing much. Just ... stuff."

Seeing the tension in Mel's hunched shoulders, I decided it might be a good idea to try a different topic. "So, how's beating up a lump of clay prep it?"

"Officially, I'm trying to get any big bubbles out of the clay, " she said as she smiled. "Unofficially, I'm getting out my frustrations."

I climbed onto a stool on the other side of the table and asked, "What you frustrated about?"

Mel frowned and gave the clay a solid punch as she said, "Parents."

Even though it was obvious she was mad, I could see pain in her eyes too. I leaned closer and asked, "What'd your parents do?"

"It ain't just my parents. It's Beth's too."

"What you mean?"

Mel's shoulders drooped as she said, "It's ... complicated."

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling like a jerk when I realized how personal the question I'd asked was. "I didn't mean to be nosy."

"It's okay. When I said it was complicated, I meant me and Beth were sorta ... dating."

She seemed to be watching me for something, but I wasn't sure what she was looking for, so I just nodded and asked, "How long were you dating?"

"Actually, it'd been only one date, and it hadn't really started out as one."

"I see," I said, not really seeing what she meant at all. "So, how'd you wind up having a date that wasn't a date?"

"Well, Beth transferred to my school last year. I fell for her the first day I saw her. I thought she might have liked me too, but I wasn't sure, and didn't have the nerve to ask her. Finally, on the last day of school, I talked her into skipping lunch period and have a little picnic in the girls' locker room with me. I thought we'd be okay because there weren't any gym classes scheduled then."

"Wait a minute. You got in trouble for having lunch in the locker room?"

"That was part of it. The rest was because we got caught by Mrs Brooks ... kissing."

"So, she did like you?"

Mel looked down at the clay. At first I thought she was going to give it another punch, but she just let her hand fall into her lap as she said, "I dunno. When we got sent to the principal, Beth said I made her kiss me."

"You made her kiss you?"

"No!" she shouted, shock plain on her face. "I'd never do anything like that."

"I'm sorry, I said, feeling guilty. "I didn't mean that to come out the way it sounded. So, she told a bald faced lie to your principal?"

Mel looked a little mollified as she nodded and said, "Yeah. Fortunately, Ms Jenkins wasn't really mad at us for kissing, but she did give us a long speech about it. What we did get in trouble for was skipping class, even though it was a lunch period. She called our parents and had them come pick us up and everything."

"Sounds like an awful way to spend your last day at school."

Mel hung her head as she said, "That wasn't the worst part. Me, Beth, and both our parents met up that night to talk about what happened. Me and Beth were mostly quiet as our parents talked. At one point, my dad said I was too young to be getting so serious, then Beth's mom said she didn't want me anywhere near her daughter," her voice cracked as she added, "ever."

Mel fell silent. I couldn't see her face, but I could hear her sniffling. Even though I barely knew her, I couldn't just sit there and watch someone hurting that much. The sniffling had stopped when I reached the other side of the table, but there was still sadness in her eyes when she swiveled towards me and looked up. "Sorry for venting like that."

At first, I was seriously tempted to give Mel a hug. She looked like she could use one. I wasn't sure if she'd feel funny about that that, with me being a boy and all, so I played it safe and patted her shoulder as I said, "It's okay. We all need to vent every now and then."

She smiled back at me and said, "I think I like you, Tanner."

I felt a little dazed by her smile as well as her words. "I ... I thought you liked girls."

Her smile grew into a devilish grin. "That don't mean I can't be friends with you."

With the way my family moved all the time so we could be close to my dad's construction work, I was rarely anywhere long enough to make friends. The few friends I did make would drop me pretty quickly when other kids teased them, especially now that I'd been upgraded from just being weird to being gay.

I had a feeling it would be different with Mel as I smiled and said, "I think I'd like that."