Oh, Green World!

Lifestyle Changes

I was sitting outside the nail salon today while my mom was getting her nails done, reading a book. They had a nice bench and everything, it kicked ass.

A girl came over and sat down next to me. She had blond hair, really pale skin, dressed really nice. I didn’t recognize her from anywhere, and felt kind of uncomfortable around a stranger.

I kept reading my book; I didn’t think she wanted to talk.

“Can I tell you something?”

I wasn’t expecting her to say anything, let alone tell me a secret.

I glanced up from my book and looked at her. I noticed she had a beauty mark on her cheek.

She spoke very softly.

“Hmm?”

“Can I umm... Can I tell you something? I know this is weird. From a stranger, and all.”

“Um... Sure, go ahead. Of course.”

She stared at the bench, pondering.

“I um... I don’t really know how to say this, or why I’m telling you this. I know you don’t care; I just had to tell someone.”

I nodded my head.

“I...”

She stared at the bench.

“I’m gay. I haven’t told anyone.”

I nodded my head and she started to cry.

I hugged her.

“You’re not alone in this.”

She kept sobbing into my shirt, yelling broken sentences about seeing a priest on TV who said that gay people were a gift from God and that even though she never believed in anything before she finally did, and she loved it, and she felt loved, and she fit in, wherever that was.

I started crying, too.

We both pulled away and giggled a little, looking at each other’s faces covered in blotches and tears.

I didn’t tell her that I was gay, too.

I didn’t say anything, really.

She started laughing, and pointed at the parking lot.

A motorcyclist had his girlfriend on the back of his bike, and instead of driving with both hands, he was driving with one and rubbing her thigh with the other.

“The things people will do for love,” she muttered.

“He’s getting laid.”

She laughed and nodded her head.

“Oh, yes, most definitely.”

“Unless he crashes.”

She laughed and looked at me before standing up.

“I... I have to go.”

I felt a tinge of disappointment, but remained where I was.

“Okay.”

“Thank you for... Everything.”

I shook my head.

“It’s no problem.”

She turned around to leave, but before she did she turned around, as though she remembered something.

“Are you afraid of the meteor?”

I looked up from my book and my nodded my head.

“Of course.”

“Have you changed your lifestyle at all?”

“No.”

“Don’t you think you should?”

“I don’t know, maybe.”

She shrugged and walked away.

My mom came out an hour later, and, upon seeing me, immediately asked the question I knew she would ask:

“Who was that? Your girlfriend?”