Page 20 of Jack Frosting

“I think I like kissing. I just didn’t like kissing her.” He seemed to realize he had just confessed something profound and if I hadn’t been watching him, I’m not sure I would’ve picked up on it.

He seemed almost disappointed, a hint away from ashamed.

How should I word this?

“Is there someone you want to kiss? Someone else?”

After a long pause, he answered, “Yes.”

“Have you told them that you like them?”

Henry took another sip, then shook his head. “I think he-they…I think they like me though.”

I pretended not to notice but saw his face grow red.

So he liked another boy and was likely terrified. He was best friends with Trey, so I knew he had seen Eli and Gareth, but he was probably scared of his dad’s reaction. He had without a doubt never seen the basement playroom. And then all the kids at school. Thirteen was a rough age to realize you were different.

“Well, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I’m glad you talked to me about it.”

“What?! Wasn’t that the point? You’re supposed to tell me what to do!”

I chuckled, then said, “Maybe you could talk to the person that you think likes you?”

“But what if they don’t like me?”

I ignored the fact that he had just said the opposite and said all I could think of saying. “Sometimes you just have to take a chance, Henry.”

He rolled his eyes. “You sound like my hockey coach.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

I couldn’t tell him that I really planned to show him it was okay to be different. He needed to see with his own eyes that things get better.

With a little help from Grindr.

Derek made a good first impression by being on time, and I, of course, had made sure Henry was ready to witness the start of the date. We were in the driveway playing basketball when Derek arrived.

Derek was handsome and our brief conversation was nice, but I may have agreed to a date because he drove a sick car, a brand new Corvette. I didn’t even want to know how expensive it was, but Henry’s expletives were enough to tell me I had made the right choice.

“I’ll have to finish beating you later, kid,” I said, bouncing the ball to him.

“Who’s that?” Henry asked.

“My date for tonight.” I jogged over before Henry went inside or stopped watching and planted a deep kiss on Derek’s lips. Despite his hands on my hips, a good sign, I had found Derek's weak point already. He was a terrible kisser.

Hiding my disappointment, I waved goodbye to Henry and accepted Derek’s help into the car.

I was surprisingly okay with Derek’s maniacal driving, but could not accept that the entire dinner conversation was about his life. He clearly thought little of mine because any time I tried to get a word in, I was immediately interrupted. Derek also ordered for me and I hated that. It turned out being a bad kisser was the tip of Derek’s iceberg.

After dinner, in the parking garage, Derek iced the cake with the suggestion that he was fine if I wanted to blow him. He reassured me that the windows were tinted enough.

I politely thanked him for dinner and reminded him of our earlier conversation. That, despite it being Grindr, I was still looking for something more serious. He didn’t seem thrilled about the trajectory of our night, but that was his problem, not mine. The ride home was silent.

Despite already knowing I didn’t want a second date, I wanted Henry to have another look. He needed to see it could happen. Non-straight people could be happy too.

“I’ll consider a second date if you walk me to the front door.”

I was ninety percent confident that I was hot enough he’d agree to it. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy, but he was probably fifteen to twenty years older than me and frankly, my job molded my body into a muscular theme park to which he’d be lucky to gain admittance.