Tea For Two

9

One of the boys- Jonathon, the shortstop- groans as we walk into the den and sit down beside each other on one of the big leather couches.

"Seriously, man? You only invite two girls and they're gay for each other."

I feel my face glow red.  I glance at Emily, and she's giving me a sort of awkward sideways smile. Does she really have to tell them everything? I adjust myself so I'm leaning just a bit away from her.

"I didn't invite August," explains Kyle. "Not really. My dad wanted her to come."

"Why?" asks G, the second baseman whose name is long and laborious to pronounce, and I've long since forgotten it. He's looking incredulous, and I don't blame him. "It's a team party- she's not part of the team."

"My dad wanted to thank her for helping me out," shrugs Kyle, carefully sitting himself down in a huge La-Z-Boy recliner. When he settles himself, he slips his crutches together on the right side of the chair. I can't imagine having to take so much care to do the smallest of things like sitting down- I've never even broken a bone, so I've never had to be careful like that before. I guess I'm just careful before I get hurt rather than the other way around.

"Whatever," says a voice from the kitchen. Aiden, the catcher, walks into the den holding a red Solo cup, and leans casually over the back of the couch that Emily and I are sitting beside one another.

Well, actually, we're less sitting than uncomfortably perched beside each other, while leaning away from the other. I don't like it, as I've very rarely sat next to her since she became my girlfriend without holding her hand, but no matter what Emily's told these guys, I'm just not ready to be open around them.

"Chill," says the left fielder, Chris. He's sitting right next to me on the couch, though he is far more relaxed than I am, and he lightly punches me on the shoulder. "We all know about you two."

"Really," I say, openly staring at Emily now. She's looking sheepish, and I don't want to be irritated with her, not when she looks like this. It's hard to be mad at her- I hope we never fight.

"Yeah," says Aiden. It seems to me that the only time he ever really gets more involved with things than just a one word answer is when he's on the field. I'll make sure to watch him at the next game.

"While we're on the subject, I'd just like to point out that I'm not gay."

Michael, the center fielder, snorts. "Yeah, and while we're telling obvious lies, I'd just like to point out that I'm Jesus Christ."

I can't help it- even with how serious this conversation has gotten me- I laugh. I've never heard Michael string together a sentence that long, much less that funny. He's just a quiet guy.

"Seriously, though," says Emily when we all finish laughing. "She's not a lesbian."

"So, what," says Chris. "Are you just messing around or something?"

I know what he's hinting at, but I decide to play dumb. I put on this really innocent face and look at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

Emily laughs and smacks me upside my head.

"Hey!" I say, rubbing the back of my head.

"You're evil," she says. "Just tell them."

"Fine," I say to her. I turn to the boys, who are all watching us like we're a mildly interesting but slightly confusing TV show. "I'm not experimenting. I'm bisexual. I mean, I haven't come out to my parents- or anyone, really- yet..."

If crickets chirping when no one has a response to you happened in real life, this would be one of those times. The whole team is looking at one another, and one of them shrugs.