Romeo to your Romeo

I.

Unexpected friendships are the best ones.

Anonymous

Me and Aleks are a secret couple because none of us came out of the closet yet. We are not prepared to accept who we are. We are afraid of homophobic people and the bullying. And we decided to keep it a secret and we hide it in our ways. Aleks has a fake girlfriend and I flirt with some girls of my class. Sometimes we have secret dates, sometimes we cuddle, sometimes we stay at each other house for watching Netflix or a new movie or playing videogames. Reading romance books aren't my favourite books but, I wanted to know how it feels to be loved. That day, when Aleks saw that I was reading a romance book, he was like, are you gay or what? We weren't together, yet. We were just friends, best bros, good mates. I don't know why I started to read Romeo and Juliet. Maybe because of that presentation we had in English about The Globe theatre and how is William Shakespeare related to that. From all the romance books I decided Romeo and Juliet. Literally there are a lot of books, like Eleanor and Park, Carry on, Red white & royal blue, Heartstopper, and so on. Maybe because it's a classic and a very well-known book. I have a classmate, Martin, who reads a lot of books, of course once he was reading Shakespeare. I didn't know that Argentinian people know a lot of literature. Technically he's not Argentinian, he's Slovenian just like I am, but his grandparents left Slovenia because of the war. At first, I was like why is he reading Shakespeare, and why Romeo and Juliet? Later that evening, after school, I texted him in snapchat, why does he read romance. We were at the same bus. When, he received the text, he was reading, with no problem with people, mostly boys, looking at him like a stranger. I felt bad, but I didn't admit it, so I took the choice to ask him. He took out his phone and red the text, his face was neutral, like always. Sometimes I don't know if he's angry or tired, sometimes he does not express emotion, I wonder why.....He knew that I was in the same bus as he is, and was searching for me, obviously not being  that obvious. We made eye contact, and he put this face like he was saying: is  there  something wrong about it?. He responded that he likes these types of books. Why? I insisted. Because I feel like I'm one of the characters. Wanna talk this face to face? I am not comfortable talking with a person when we are literally in the same place. I agree on that. When the bus stopped at one station, he reserved a seat next to him. And he looked at me with a face which it meant, come, it will be better.

- So why do you read romance? Aren't you worried about what others will think about?

- First of all I have already answered to that, and second I don't give a fuck about what others think about.

- But aren't you worried about not having friends? I mean male friends.

- If I am being honest, I don't care if I don't have enough male friends, is not the end of the world. It's the same as having female or male friends, is not a big deal. Besides, who said that boys must have male friends and girls must have female friends? No-one, and is not something that's written in stone.Why you ask? Would there be any difference if I have more girl-friends than boy-friends?

- I don't know.  It's not very usual for a boy having more girls as friends than boys.

-   It's that I have three sisters and one mum, and I'm used to be around girls.  And because I know how to treat them without them being uncomfortable being around a boy that treats them as shit

- Do you remember once in class we discussed about bullying?

- Yes

- Well, you were bullied, aren't you afraid to be a victim off that again?

- Sometimes yes, sometimes not. If I am being afraid of people judging me about things I like, I wouldn't be confident to read romance in public.

- Wow

- What??

- Talking to you is different.

- Emmmm, thank you? What do yo mean with that?

- No, really. You say very smart things.

- Really? If you say so...

- Yes, people should talk with you more.

- Why do you think that ?

- Because you say things that a therapist would say.

- Thak you

- Can I ask you something?

- It depends ....

- Can we become friends??

Silence. When I look at Martin, he is shocked.

- Aren't we already friends???

- I don't know....

- Why do you want to be friend with me?

- You are different than Aleks and other boys.

- Thank you. I warn you, once you start talking, hanging with we, you will change.

- Eeeee.

- I'm joking.

- What???

- You'll get used to this.