Being gay is a curse when the homophobia you grew up with was so bad that you're homophobic yourself. Especially when you're into unavailable guys like your roommate, whose girlfriend is everything you're not (though appearances can be deceiving). S...
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Joey wouldn't stop referring to Nate as the mystery despite knowing his name and it made me laugh every time. I knew he and Soren wanted nothing more than to meet my boyfriend, but they didn't ask. Perhaps they suspected that I might turn them down for Nate's sake and perhaps they just didn't want to seem pushy—either way, I agreed, now was probably not the time.
While Soren and Joey were teasing me about Nate, Nazy must be thinking she was slick, but I definitely saw the look on her face before she fled to the bathroom. Whatever her text message said, it had absolutely ruined her mood. Kylie's meaningful glance while entering the living room only proved me right. So after saying goodbye to Kylie, I kicked Joey and Soren out of the apartment with the promise of inviting Nate over next time and walked over to the bathroom.
When I knocked on the door, Nazy called out, "Almost done!"
"I don't need to use the bathroom. I was just wondering if you were doing okay."
I was met with silence.
"Nazy?"
"I'm fine."
"Sure you are," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
I wasn't sure if she'd heard me, but she still added, "I don't want to talk about it."
Letting out a sigh, I pushed myself away from the door. "Okay."
She stayed in the bathroom for a few more minutes before she finally came out to find me in the living room, but I didn't look up as she sat down next to me on the couch. I didn't want to make her feel like she was obliged to talk to me. I hoped she knew that she could, though. I always felt like it was more uncomfortable to talk to someone I didn't know. It was easier to unload onto someone who had no idea who you were or what you were talking about. Building up the courage to talk to friends or family was just like bracing yourself for the inevitable judgment. It would change everything. They'd never look at you the same way.
I didn't know if Nazy would agree, though.
She was very quiet for a very long time.
I eventually decided to just let it go because I had no idea how to approach this, and lowered the volume of the TV. Time to change the subject. Or start one, I guess. We weren't even talking about anything prior to this.
"Hey, you didn't get my joke earlier, did you?"
"What joke?" she asked.
"About, um... me not having balls."
She turned to look at me with a frown.
"It's—I... I'm transgender."
Her eyebrows flew up. "Oh. Well... that explains it. That's pretty funny, actually."
I let out a chuckle. "Yup."
"That reminds me..." She paused to shift on the couch, turning to face me. "It was so out of the blue at the time. A while ago, Nate asked Jackson and me what our opinion on transgender people was."
