The Butterfly Effect

𝖝𝖛𝖎 | 𝔞𝔠𝔱𝔢 𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔦𝔰: 𝔰𝔠𝔢𝔫𝔢 𝔰𝔢𝔦𝔷𝔢

Beth opened her mouth to tell him off too but stopped herself when she realized Nathan had said all there was to say. She grabbed Miguel's hand to march up the stairs and turned back to look at him again.

"Welcome back, Andrew."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

July 2nd, 2020

 12:11 P.M

York Mills Arena, Toronto, Canada

"You suck, dude," Zaire taunted as he dropped the puck on the ice. "I was better off bringing Kian out. I should've known better than to skate with a British man."

"I didn't even know what hockey was until I got here, bro. Lowe me, man." Jordan chuckled. "Where is Kian anyway? He wouldn't turn down an invitation to play."

"Don't know. Went over to invite him and heard him and Madison getting freaky at eight in the morning. It sounded amazing. Kind of made me want to join in." He sultrily licked his lips.

Jordan and Moses laughed along as Javier grimaced. "You're disgusting," Javier said.

"I think the receptionist was checking you out, Jay. You've got an admirer." Moses said, noticing how Javier's face scrunched. "Why that face?"

"What face? I didn't make a face."

"You made a face." Zaire skated over to the bench and sat next to Javier. "C'mon, you know you have to talk about it now."

"So, three months ago, when I had that conversation with Madison, I was convinced I was bisexual. I thought I was still attracted to women but with a more male-dominant attraction. I based all of that solely because I was attracted to Lucy, but I genuinely don't think I've developed any other feelings for girls since Lucy."

"And you're confused if you're attracted to girls or just basing it off of your attraction to Lucy?"

"Yes." He rubbed down his face. "This is stressful."

"Javier with his third identity crisis for the year. That must be a world record," Moses commented.

"Have you tried anything with any other girls since Lucy?" Jordan asked.

"Well, I was panicking the night before Kian's birthday, so I set out to hook up with one girl at the yacht party to see if I felt anything."

"And?"

"Zilch. I kissed about three girls, and I felt absolutely nothing. It was like kissing a cardboard box. It was such an awful experience that I apologized to each of the girls after. Now I'm thinking I was never even bi. It might've just been­­­­—"

"Compulsory heterosexuality. I've read about it. It's basically when a queer person feels obligated to conform to societal norms by rejecting gay or lesbian labels," Jordan states.

"How do you know so much about this? You might know more than Javier. Nigga, are you gay?" Zaire suspiciously raised an eyebrow.

Jordan rolled his eyes and returned his attention to Javier. "I think that's what happened. Labeling yourself as gay comes with harsher treatment. Usually, with bi people, it's more acceptable because people see it as just a phase you're in before you're fully straight or fully gay, and that's not true. It's up to you to decide what you identify as."

"I'm gay," he smiled and then immediately groaned.

"What's the problem?" Moses inquired.

"I already did a whole Instagram post about being bisexual, and now I'll have to come out again as gay. I can't take this."