Finding love as an asexual teenager is hard enough. Being an anonymous internet celebrity? Even harder, but it's fun as long as it stays anonymous. Eve didn't expect her Twitter account to blow up, and now that 'DukeCockroach' has millions of follow...
But the moment I opened my email and looked at the files Charlotte had sent me, I knew I wouldn't have to find another artist at all. This was exactly what I needed. After looking at all the images (multiple times), I replied to Charlotte's email with a very simple 'let's do it!'
It didn't take long for the artist to come up with ideas. Only a few days had passed when I received another email—from Nick, apparently—with more 2D attachments, and I was in love—even if they were only sketches, I was in fucking love. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of opening the email in class and looking at my screen a little too intensely.
My phone was snatched out of my hands by my History teacher. I didn't even see it coming.
"Wh—"
"You can come get it later," she said cheerfully.
I sighed and squinted at her as she put it on her desk, before muttering to Tamara and Leslie, "You've gotta be kidding me... She better give it back to me at the end of class. I need to show you guys something important."
"Ooh, what is it?"
I gave them a mysterious smirk and then whispered, "Merch."
"Oh my God, yes!" Leslie squeaked. "Finally!"
Tamara hushed her before Miss Give Me Your Phone got angry again and then grinned at me just as excitedly. We were all too eager to sit still and the end of the class seemed hours away, but after thirty-five very long minutes, the bell finally rang and I all but ran to the desk at the front and asked for my phone back, adding an overly saturated apology for disturbing her class to appease her. She gave me a disappointed look, but couldn't find a good reason to keep my phone with her, so I plucked it out from between her bony fingers and hurried into the hallway, where I immediately opened the email and showed it to my friends.
"Oh, I love these!" Tamara whispered, while Leslie pulled the phone closer to her face to inspect one of the designs and added with a soft smile, "They're amazing, Eve. And I love that you're not just doing memes and stuff but also, like... positive messages."
"Of course," I said, smiling at her.
"I don't care about your preference so why should you care about mine?" she read out loud.
"I really like that one because I was referring to sexuality when I said that, but it can apply to pretty much everything. "
Tamara nodded approvingly, but Leslie fell quiet. I quietly put the phone away and watched her purse her lips thoughtfully. Neither I nor Tamara said anything as she contemplated voicing her thoughts.
"You know, I've been thinking," she said finally, pushing her hands inside the pockets of her jacket and looking down at the floor. "I used to kind of envy you for knowing what you wanted, Eve, but... I really just... I don't want to be confused anymore. Before you guys brought it up, I'd never even thought of the possibility of being, you know... "
"Gay?" Tamara asked.
She nodded and looked around to see if anyone was listening, but nobody was. Nobody cared. They were just moving from point A to B, paying attention to nothing but their own friends. "I've never really liked anyone—like, had a crush on them—but you were right. I do like girls. I am attracted to them. I just don't know if I like guys or not, so... I don't know. Maybe I'm bisexual with a preference or something, or maybe I'm just gay, but..."
Tamara gave Leslie a smile when she paused.
"...I guess it doesn't really matter."
"You're right," I said. "It doesn't matter. We'll love you no matter what."
"I never doubted that," she giggled, "but it's nice to hear you say it."
I stomped her in the arm. "Just shut up and tell me you want the preference hoodie."
"Um, hello? I expect to be the first to get it."
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