not today | joshler

Twenty Three

Twenty Three

The group of girls stared at the couple two tables down in Kati's Kafe. They didn't know they were a couple; maybe just two friends hanging out after school.

Well, they were best friends and boyfriends. The girls just didn't know that.

When all four of them walked to the oak table, the two boys looked up at them.

"Hey, I'm Isabelle." one girl with dirty blonde curls and brown eyes said. "Do you guys want to head out to a club or something with us?"

"Sure." The boy with dyed blue hair said with a tiny smile. "Do you?" He asked the other boy with fluffy brown hair.

Before the boy could answer, Isabelle answered for him. "He doesn't need to come; you can just come with us."

Instead the other boy grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together– his were so much thinner.

"We go together." He said, proudly.

The girls's faces turned to disgust. What made them feel disgusted by them? Just because they held hands?

"You ungrateful faggots! How can you both do that? It's against the Bible!" A different girl with bright orange hair shouted, causing heads to turn.

Kati's Kafe was always a peaceful and positive place, but the girls disrupted that positivity by their hurtful words against the two boys.

A waitress came to talk to them, most likely about making them leave, and said, "Leave them alone or please get out. They're in love; sex doesn't matter." She said softly. Her name tag read Eliza.

Isabelle spat on the floor. "This is the last time I'll be coming here if these gays are allowed." Then, she stomped out with the rest of her friends.

Eliza sighed and looked apologetically at the two boys that she was so familiar with. They came here a lot for dates and regular hang outs.

"I'm sorry about that, you guys. That was very disrespectful of them." She said and grabbed a napkin to clean up the spit. "Can I get you a refill, Tyler?"

Tyler looked down at his glass of lemonade; it was incredibly hot outside. "Yeah. A-And it wasn't your fault; you didn't have to apologize."

"It's okay." She said, throwing the used napkin out and taking Tyler's glass. She turned towards Josh. "Can I get you anything else?"

He smiled, crinkling his eyes at the corners like they always did. "I'm fine, thanks."

Eliza nodded with a smile and walked away, calling out an order of lemonade in her soft voice.

Josh found another reason to stay alive: nice people like Eliza.

He also found another reason to end his life: strangers hating him for being himself.