Minutemen | Camren

Your Gay is Showing

I grab my lunch tray and scan the cafeteria for Dinah. After standing there for about a minute, I spotted her in a far table in the back, sitting alone. Shuffling past the popular table (where I could practically feel Austin's glare on me), I make my way over to my best friend. Honestly, I'm surprised that Austin hasn't done anything to Lauren in revenge yet; Brad probably has been keeping her safe.

"Hey, Chancho." Dinah greets with her mouth half full.

"CheeChee, that's disgusting." I cringe, looking away.

Dinah merely rolls her eyes and dives back into her food.

I see Normani had just bought her lunch and was looking for a place to sit. "Hey, Normani! Over here!" I call across the cafeteria, feeling like taking a risk.

Dinah does a spit take with her sandwich and watches the situation with wide eyes. The whole cafeteria stops what they are doing and looks at me and Normani back and forth. The only sound in the room was Dinah's coughing.

Normani smiles at me and raises an eyebrow at Dinah's red face (whether that was her blushing or from coughing, I have no idea). She begins walking over to our table, causing people to emit many gasps, which in turn makes me roll my eyes.

Oh big deal, someone was about to sit with us. Was it really that hard to believe?

Everyone watches intently as Normani puts her tray down and sits across from me and Dinah. More gasps were heard.

Okay, that's it.

"Shut up! Don't you people have your own things to do!? The fact that you're taking the time to watch US tells me that you don't have a life!"

I almost chuckle at the amount of jaws hanging open at my words. Honestly, I'm not sure where all this courage is coming from either. As if it were a habit, my eyes manage to find Lauren's. She was beaming at me, that hint of pride coming back in her eyes. And I definitely wasn't imagining it this time.

I find myself starting to smile as well. We stare at each other from across the cafeteria, none of us wanting to break away. Eventually, I'm the first to turn when I hear Normani speak.

"Hey." She greets simply.

Dinah stutters out a nervous greeting before grabbing my shirt, pulling me forward. "I can't believe you just did that!"

"Why not?" I shrug. There wasn't any real harm done. Besides, Normani was the one who willingly chose to sit with us. She could've easily said no.

"You know I can hear you guys, right?" Normani asks.

"It's not anything bad about you!" Dinah immediately exclaims. "There's nothing bad about you, you're gorgeous!" Her eyes widen when she realizes what she just said. "I mean, no! Not that you aren't gorgeous! I just meant that-mmph!"

Before she could embarrass herself any further, I shove the rest of Dinah's sandwich in her mouth. She can thank me later.

"Uh...thanks? I think." Normani says. "You're not too bad yourself, Hansen."

Dinah was clearly in no position to speak, so I decided to be a good friend and do it for her. "What Dinah meant was that she couldn't believe that you just sat at our table. You basically gave up any chance of being popular by sitting with us. And most people don't do that."

"I don't care about that kind of stuff. This whole social hierarchy is so stupid." Normani says.

For the rest of lunch, the three of us get to know each other. I even managed to crack a couple jokes, although no one laughed at them. But in the back of my head, I know that one person would've.