The Club

The advert

I was just laying on my bed, staring mindlessly at my phone. My thumb carried on swiping down and down the list of videos. I had stopped paying attention to my screen quite a while ago. The house was silent, though that wasn't a suprise. The roommate that I had found online hadn't shown up for the past 3 months so it was just me, all by myself, driving myself crazy. My thumb stopped it's rhythm as my weary eyes spotted something very familiar. The rainbow flag. Although it said "ad" underneath I tapped on it and clicked my volume up.

"The club! An LGBT meeting spot for over 18's, here we have a bar and restaurant as well as a seating area designed for sitting and chatting! So if you want some new LGBTQ+ friends pop on down! We'll be glad to see you!"

With that the video faded to black. After my parents found out that I wasn't their perfect little boy and I was actually gay, they decided they didn't want to see my face anymore and kicked me out. To begin with I stopped looking at pretty much anything gay, hoping they would take me back but nothing happened. So I decided that if they didn't want to accept me then I don't give a shit about them. Of course it still hurt but I distracted myself from that and carried on with with my work and university course. I didn't get to know many people as I feared they would have a similar reaction to my parents. 'but surely other LGBT people wouldn't hate me for being gay, right?' I thought. That video planted a seed in my mind. I didn't believe I wanted to go there at the time but it stayed on my mind and eventually I couldn't ignore it anymore.

*****

"Pheeeee! C'mon, you know I won't go on my own and I know that you want me to make more friends, so just come with me! It'll be fun!."

"Fine! If you stop fucking pestering me about it!" I bothered my best friend phoenix about coming to the club with me because I am incapable of being a human being while in social situations. So we talked and decided on a time to meet before heading there. I was insanely nervous yet somewhere deep inside a flicker of excitement persisted.

*****

The large glass doors seemed to loom in front of me. Almost as if they were telling me to go away. The brightly coloured sign above the door simply read 'The club'. You could tell it was new because the paint hadn't faded or chipped yet. I stood there for what felt like hours, just staring through the door, unable to move and go inside.

"Shit this was a bad idea..." I mumbled under my breath.

"Oh no way! You wouldn't let me say no, you can't just drag me here and then just say no!" Phoenix grumbled placing a firm hand on my back. "You are not wasting my time on this when we both could have been studying." She carried on as she pushed me through the door. The small bell at the top of the door rang out. A group of five people sat round a small, round table in the sitting area. They seemed to have been arguing before I was so rudely pushed in. They all turned in unison towards the door and stared straight at me and phee. I stood there very uncomfortably, unsure what to do or say, 'this was definitely a mistake' I thought. One of the group stood up and walked over the shiny wooden floor towards us. He was one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen. Chiseled abs, a gorgeous smile and kind green eyes.

"Hi there! My name is Hayden and welcome to the club."