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"Your dad is dead? Why didn't I know that?"
"Are you one of those fans that memorizes trivia about the band members?"
"No, idiot. You're my friend, and it sounds like something that's really impacted you. Just surprising information to just drop."
"Sorry I didn't tell you," I say sarcastically.
"So..?"
"So what?"
"Therapy. Are you gonna give it a shot? You hold in a lot of feelings. It's unhealthy, you need to let it out."
Let it out.
How the fuck do I do that?
Callum
My heart thumps in time with the music and crowd. My first pride. I'm not nervous exactly… just, overwhelmed. Not in a bad way.
This is just. A lot. It's so colorful. I feel kinda bad for my attire, I do not fit in at all.
Echo's friend Charlie looks amazing. He's decked out in color and sparkles that somehow work with his darker aesthetic. I'm not sure what Echo called his fashion, but it's actual fashion unlike my plain tee and jeans.
Echo looks cute too, he's got glitter in his hair and on his cheeks. Pink, purple, and blue like the bi flag colors. He's gorgeous as he sparkles in the sun, the only color on him.
I spot a vendor selling flags and buy two.
"What's this?" Echo asks as I hand him one.
"I felt like I wasn't colorful enough," I say as I tie the rainbow flag around my neck like a cape, copying many others I see walking around. "And you should have something to match your sparkles."
"Can you help me?"
He doesn't need help to tie the flag but I do it anyway to be close to him. I think that might be why he asked at all.
"There you go, all set. You look very proud." I say.
He smiles, "So do you."
Fans stop and ask us all for photos, even Charlie oddly enough. Ruder ones ask intrusive questions but Echo shuts them all down. I'm sure the blind items are going to love that.
Kellen and Oliver have on matching shirts that read Still Bi in the colors of the flag. I admire how they've taken their sexualities and discovering them in stride. After they came out publically they've claimed their identities strongly.
I want to have that confidence. I have to promise myself that no matter how my family reacts, I'll do that for me. I will claim my identity for those who can't. I can no longer allow the perception of other to control how I live.
Nobody's opinion about me matters other than mine.
Not even Echo's, though I won't pretend I don't care. I just have to try not to. I have to learn how to live my life for me.
That includes loving Echo, but also loving me. I deserve that as much as anyone.
Being here, at this place filled with love and joy and pride. I feel at home. It might be silly, but this is the most comfortable I've felt with myself in a long time. It feels okay to be Callum here, no matter what that means.
"You don't know me." Echo says.
"Huh?"
