STRAIGHT // A LGBTQ+ SHORT STORY

Straight

The chatter coming from the locker room could be heard from miles away. Arwood High School's varsity hockey team was currently full of adrenaline after beating their rival school. Team captain, Jordan Miller, was on top of two of his teammates' shoulders. When his feet contacted the floor again, he was submerged in a fruity orange liquid. Once again, he had pulled through and led the team to victory, scoring 5 out of 7 goals made. There wasn't a young man in that room without a shitty grin taking up the lower half of their face. After they began to calm down, shower, and get dressed, Jordan's best friend, Dez, yelled out, "Jord, we celebrating at Moe's tonight?"

"Yeah," Jordan replied, "I'll catch up with you guys later, still gotta dry off and stuff."

Dez nodded as he turned around, wrapped his arm around his boyfriend's waist, and walked out of Jordan's sight. Per usual, Jordan took his time getting ready. He liked the quiet, yet echoing space. It was his favorite place to think. After Jordan was all dressed, he collected his belongings and left the foggy, humid, room. On his way out, while spinning in the revolving door, Jordan felt as if everything was in slow motion. His eyes connected with a pair of aqua orbs. Jordan's heart raced as he was in a trance and couldn't look away from the human before him. As he started to calm, he scanned the face holding the magical globes. His throat tightened and he started to sweat. The human had a soft jawline, long wavy brown hair, and sculpted eyebrows. Jordan's mouth hung open, frightened from his realization. Jordan had just experienced "love at first sight" with the absolute last person he expected to. A girl.

He nervously looked at the ground. Jordan's mind was racing with thoughts, telling himself that he can't be heterosexual. All of this happened within the span of seconds. Jordan looked back up to the pretty girl and couldn't see those two things that caused him to be in this position in the first place. In front of her inviting eyes was a black box with a clicking lense. Flashes were going off in quick bursts. Jordan did nothing but stand there completely stunned. She lowered her camera and smirked at Jordan. He attempted to push a straggling piece of hair behind his ear while blushing. With a swift movement, she turned her body and walked off, leaving Jordan's mouth gaping behind her.

Jordan shook his head, trying to knock himself out of his current hypnotic state. He did a few double takes to try to simultaneously recall what just happened and erase it out of his memory. He frantically looked around, making sure no one saw the events that just went down. He sighed in relief when there wasn't a body in sight. He tossed his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the school's front doors. But there was something Jordan didn't notice.

Peeking out behind a filled trash can was a large, tan, muscular man. This man was 18 years old with straight brown hair. His face was red with anger. Veins were protruding out of his face and neck. His fists were tightly clenched at his sides. This man was none other than Jordan's boyfriend of two years, Ben. He had seen the moment Jordan had with that girl. He had seen the way Jordan looked at her in a way he had never looked at Ben. To say Ben was upset would be an understatement. He had never felt so humiliated and stupid in his entire life. He wasn't going to let Jordan get away with this. In no way was Ben heterophobic, but he was not going to be dumped by his boyfriend because of a girl. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but Ben was going to give Jordan what he deserved.

Jordan drove to Moe's Shake Shack as fast as he could so he could just forget about that girl. "That girl." Jordan just then realized that he had never seen her before. He had no idea who "that girl" is. Realizing this made his shoulders drop and him relax. A small smile crept onto his face in alleviation. He's never going to have to confront that experience ever again. That was the first and last time Jordan would ever have to see her. As Jordan pulled into his "unassigned assigned" parking spot, his teammates ran out to his car. They playfully hit and joked with him as he got out. He jumped on the hood and glided across, successfully and smoothly landing on his two feet. He pushed open the glass door and his eyes were bombarded with checkered patterned stools, countertops, walls, booths, tables, napkins, and flooring. The interior was very tacky, but the food and hospitality made up for it. Jordan slid into his usual booth. He was chatting with his friends about his sick plays from a few hours ago when a large, chubby man approached them.