Page 10 of Drag Me Up

“I’m Theo,” he says and holds out his hand for me to shake. “Clarence and Eli sent me and Ash out here to help with the stuff from the car while they put together your bed.”

I look behind the mountain whose hand I’m shaking to see a person behind him wave exuberantly with a bright smile on their face.

“I’m Ash,” they say pointing to their chest. “He, she, they, whatever I’m feeling on any given day if you’re wondering. Today started off a “he” day, but with all the sweaty men surrounding me, I might be shifting to they.”

He fans himself dramatically while gawking at Theo’s backside as he is pulling my suitcases from the trunk of my car. “Just kidding. It’s most definitely a “he” day. A very verygay“he” day, but “he” nonetheless. I’m nonbinary, genderqueer, fluid in all ways, whatever word you want to use. I’m very go with the flow about it. Just ask for the pronoun of the day and try not to fuck it up. That’s all I ask.”

Ash saunters to the other side of my car and starts pulling items from the passenger side of the backseat while I am standing here catching flies in my mouth. Have I ever met someone who is nonbinary before now?

Have I accidentally misgendered someone based on my internal prejudices and stereotypes?

“Close the trap, Teach,” Jackson’s voice calls out from above me. I look up to see him hanging out of what I believe to be the kitchen window. “Ash does that to everyone when you first meet him. You get used to him. He has a pin he wears when he goes out that says to askfor his pronouns. Now come tell us which wall you want to mount your glorious television that I’m going to be conscripting for games on so we can get this party going.”

All in all, it takes four hours from the time I woke up to be sitting on my futon in my new living room sharing pizza with my new friends. Theo and Clarence both work at a kink club nearby that is apparently also owned by the landlord of this place. Theo is security while Clarence works reception. Ash is a bartender there as well as working with Jace and Eli at the small bar at the bottom of the hill. Clarence is also apparently a drag queen.

“Come see the show tonight,” he insists as he snags the last piece of bacon and mushroom pizza. “It should be a chill night since I took the planned shows off the rotation for the month.”

Eli and his roommate Spencer stop talking and snap their gazes to Clarence when he says that.

“What do you mean no planned shows for themonth?” Spencer asks, looking worried for some reason. “Doesheknow he’s not performing for a whole fucking month? And did it have to benow? Couldn’t it have waited a few weeks?”

While he’s firing off questions, Eli is hurriedly cleaning up their mess and gathering up their things. I’m not sure what the issue is, but it’s obvious it bothers them that Clarence made this judgment call. I look at Clarence and see his annoyance shift to something that resembles worry.

“I didn’t even think of that when I told him lastnight,” he says apologetically. “The crowd was so awful, especially to him, and I only thought about keeping my performers safe. Those guys last night were not there for a good reason and I wasn’t thinking about anything but upping protections by canceling.”

Spencer nods his head as if he understands what Clarence is saying, but Eli just looks pissed.

“Do you have any idea what you set off last night?” he yells as he gets in the taller man’s face. “He was drinking! He was at Pegasus, by himself, drinking alcohol and flirting with a married man. Whatever happened at Mister Drag triggered a full on manic episode!”

He leans back against my kitchen counter, looking torn as he mumbles, “I don’t even know if he is fucking alive right now…”

Looking at the clock on my microwave, I decide it might be time to call this little party before things get too serious and I learn things about my new neighbors that I don’t want to know.

“I think things got a bit too heavy here for a yay, new neighbor shindig,” I say as I head to the fridge to grab the last beer. I’m not usually a drinker and don’t keep any in my home since I stopped living with Syl, but one of the guys brought over a case to split between all of us. “It’s about dinner time, and if I’m going to go to this club tonight, I need to shower and unpack some clothes and stuff before I go.”

Turning to Clarence, I ask, “Show starts at eight, right?” He nods while still watching Eli pacing in mykitchen. “Great, so that gives me a couple hours to get everything together before I go.”

Everyone seems to take the hint except for Jackson, Spencer, and Eli. The latter two are whispering heatedly by my fridge, but Jackson flops next to me on the futon and turns on the television.

“Best part about these trailers? All utilities, including internet, are included.”

Pulling up Netflix, he starts flipping through the choices on my watchlist, and I hope he doesn’t pick something that will screw up my algorithm again. Sylvia wanted to watch the Walking Dead and didn’t switch over to her profile and for six months, all I was getting were zombie recommendations.

A text notification chimes from someone’s phone, but I ignore it in favor of heading back toward the bedroom to unpack a change of clothes. I don’t really mind having people hanging out here, but I don’t want to intrude on whatever has them so worried.

“Lucky says he’s home and he’s not hurt badly,” Spencer’s voice carries down the hallway. “What constitutes badly and why did he have to add that on to his text message? I swear that boy has been gearing up for a spanking for weeks now.”

“I really don’t want to know anything about you spanking my nephew, Spence,” Eli sighs and I hear the front door open. “At least we know he’s alive and home. I’ll see if Doc can come by the house in the next week or so for testing if he’s not willing to go in to the clinic this time. I fucking hate this time of year.”

“Give it a couple weeks,” Jackson pipes up as I hear my front door opening. “If he’s just starting a manic phase, you’re in for a lot more than a single night of drinking. Better to wait for it to pass before you call in Doc. You know the brat will only do something more reckless if you come down on him, right?”

The sound of my door closing has me releasing the breath I was holding. It sounds like their roommate is bipolar. Remembering some of the crazy shit Eric pulled before my mom convinced the doctors to try lithium for him, I hope their friend is at least getting treatment.

9

MATT

I never did make my way to the Monarch Room for the drag show last Saturday. I got a flat tire on River Road and almost had a semi take me out while I tried to change to the spare. I was covered in mud and God only knows what else, so I called that trip a failure.

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