Something About Him

The Bar

"Dude dude dude dude dude dude dude dude dude!"

I chose to ignore my suitemate as he ran into my room.

"DUUUUUUDDDEEEEEE!" he said again, "Get up!"

"Marc, I need to study," I told him, "Leave me alone."

"Nope," he said, spinning my chair around, "It is your birthday and we are taking you out."

"I told you guys," I groaned, "I don't care about my birthday."

"But I care about drinking and getting laid so we're gonna go out and find a hot chick and tell her it's your birthday so maybe you can loosen up a bit."

I sighed. "There's no way I'm getting out of this, is there?"

"Not a chance."

The next thing I knew I was standing in a crowded college bar with my three suitemates; Marc, Ryan, and Nico. Upon arrival, Marc, being the most outgoing of all of us, began scouting out the hottest girls for us to pick up.

Ryan went to get us some drinks, but Nico and I were fully aware that he might find a girl to make out with before he got back from the bar. Ryan, after all, was the one that all the girls liked.

Nico and I had never had his luck. Nico was the shy one who never spoke unless spoken to and hardly even said anything then. Marc had taken him under his wing and he pretty much followed along with whatever he said or did.

And then there was me. As much as I hated to admit it, I was the dorky one out of the four of us. I was the one who tried to flirt, but ended up tripping over my words every time. This tended to lead to me getting friendzoned by any girl I found attractive. Sure, that was annoying, but, unlike Marc, I genuinely enjoyed having female friends. It was fun having the female perspective on things sometimes. Not to mention, girls always seemed to be better wingmen.

Anyway, knowing myself and my friends, many things from this night did not surprise me. And then, of course, there was one thing that did.

Marc had to find me a girl. Not surprising.

He found a set of friends for the two of us, making it a point to whisper to me, "Don't blow this for me. They're gymnasts."

These girls were hot, don't get me wrong, but they weren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer. Again, not surprising. This was exactly Marc's type. Me, not so much.

"I'm gonna go get us some drinks," I told my girl, Kelley. Really, I just wanted to get away from the table for a minute.

"Rum and coke please," I told the bartender, "and um...a glass of water," I added, glancing at Kelley.

I leaned against the bar waiting for the drinks, until I saw a familiar face appear beside me.

"Whiskey. Rocks."

"Hey, you're in my sociology class," I acknowledged, "You're the girl who always sits in the front row and asks a bunch of questions."

"Is that my legacy?" she asked, sarcastically.

"I'm Brandon."

"Eli," she replied.

"That's pretty."

"Thanks."

"So are you a sociology major or something?" I asked.

"Social work," she corrected, "On the pre-law track."

"That's neat," I said, honestly impressed, "Does that mean you want to be a social worker or a lawyer?"

"It means I have options," she declared, "What about you?"

"Architecture," I said, "Not too many options there."

"Fewer options means the path is clear," she admitted.

"I like your way of saying 'if you fail at one thing you have absolutely no skills to fall back on.'"

That got her to laugh.

"Hey, do you maybe wanna get out of here?" I suggested, "There's a really good pizza place down the street."

She sighed. "I think you're getting the wrong idea."

I've heard this speech before. It was definitely not surprising. This was the I-Just-Want-To-Be-Friends speech.

"You have a boyfriend?" I asked.

"What? No."

"You're really focused on your studies right now?" I tried again.

"When did this turn into a guessing game?" she laughed.

"Am I right?" I asked, "I know you're trying to tell me you just want to be friends. I thought I'd try to guess the reason."

"I really don't think you'll guess this reason," she hinted.

"Oh really?" I tempted, "What's the reason then?"

"I'm transgender."

And there was the surprise.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm a man," she continued, "I was born female, but I am a man and I'm in the process of transitioning."

"I don't think I understand," I admitted.

"I figured so," she stated, "Just know that I'm telling you this so you don't waste your time on me. You can continue your night and find an actual girl to...take to the pizza place, I suppose."

"But-"

"I'll see you in Sociology, Brandon," she said, taking her drink and walking away.

I stared at her. Him? Him. I stared at him in awe. What had just happened? Confused, I picked up my drink and Kelley's and headed back to the table.

"What the hell took you so long?" Marc asked when I returned.

"Sorry," I said, hanging Kelley her water. I spotted Eli with some people in the crowd and, even with a very drunk Kelley sitting next to me, couldn't seem to take my eyes off of him. There was just something about him.