Page 29 of The Road Ahead
It was obvious Teresa was on the verge of dumping Brad then and there, but I knew how much she was looking forward to today and I didn’t want that to be ruined for her. “Brad, I know it’s hard to comprehend when it’s new to you,” I said, trying to keep my voice even and non-judgemental. “I’m AMAB non-binary, which means I was assigned male at birth. I haven’t had any gender affirming surgery, so even though it’s none of your business, for the sake of educating you, yes I do still have male genitalia. Just like men who have considered themselves straight all their lives can have bi or gay awakenings later in life, so too can gay men. Cooper has discovered that he’s attracted to peopleregardlessof gender. If I was AFAB, I’m sure his feelings would be the same, because it’smehe’s attracted to, not what’s between my legs.”
“I don’t understand why you people have to make it so damn complicated,” Brad muttered.
I took a deep breath, holding back my retort about his use of the phraseyou people, and continued on as calmly as I could. “We’re not the ones making it complicated. We love who we love. There’s nothing complicated about that. It’syourneed to classify and label everything that makes it complicated.”
“Me?” Brad turned to look at me in consternation. “You’re the ones using all those fancy terms!”
“Because you were nosy andasked,” I told him. “If you’d minded your own business, you’d still be ignorant of those terms.”
“Besides, if I’d just said I’m queer, you probably would have flipped your shit about me being woke or something,” Cooper growled.
“Whatever, dude,” Brad mumbled. “Sorry I asked.”
“You should be,” Teresa told him.
I was sitting behind Teresa, and I reached through the gap between the seat and the door to squeeze her shoulder. Iappreciated her support, but I also didn’t want her to cause a fuss on my behalf and make everything worse. I’d learned the hard way that getting angry wouldn’t change the mind of someone like Brad. In fact, it would likely just make him double down. The chances of him actually learning anything from my explanation were also pretty low, but not non-existent.
We fell into an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the drive to the festival. I reached out and took Cooper’s hand again, enjoying the comfort it gave the both of us. After we parked, we joined the line for entry and security. Teresa still looked pissed off, and I bumped my shoulder against hers. “Wanna get a henna tattoo with me?” I asked. I knew it was something she’d wanted to do, but hadn’t had a chance to yet.
A tentative smile crossed her face, and I was glad to see it. “Yeah. That’d be great, Rio.”
We scanned in and went through security and headed towards the green where the markets were located. “What’s the plan?” Brad asked as he noticed the direction we were going.
“Rio and I are getting henna tattoos,” Teresa told him in a tone that clearly said she didn’t care what he did.
Brad huffed. “How long will that take? I want to see DJ Misfit’s last gig and it starts soon.”
“Then you’d better hurry,” Teresa said dismissively.
“Terry, come on,” Brad said. “Don’t be like that, babe. I said I’m sorry.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she held her temper in check. “Brad, I’m really not in the mood. Just go and see your DJ and we’ll find you later, okay. I just need a little space.”
For a moment, it looked like Brad was going to argue, but then he just nodded. “Alright. Text me when you’re done.” He stepped forward to give her a kiss, but Teresa turned her head at the last minute so he got her cheek instead. His jaw tightened, but he walked away without saying anything else.
“I’m sorry,” I said, reaching out to take her hand.
“For what?” she asked, looking genuinely shocked.
“I don’t like being the cause of trouble between you two.”
“Oh, Rio, honey.” She pulled me into a hug. “This is not your fault. I swear.” She kissed my cheek and then started tugging me towards the markets. “Come on. Let’s get our tattoos.”
In the end, all three of us ended up getting tattoos, and we walked around afterwards, holding our hands out at the sides so we wouldn’t smudge the drying henna. Cooper had a blocky, geometric pattern covering his forearm, while Teresa and I had opted for a combination of vines and flowers on the backs of our hands. We still had an hour to go until the next show we wanted to catch, so we grabbed some iced coffees and did another lap of the market stalls.
I’d ducked into a clothing stall and was flicking through their range of T-shirts when I came across the perfect tee to get for Cooper. I couldn’t help but giggle as I found one large enough to cover his stupidly big muscles and took it up to the counter.
“Nice choice,” the woman serving me said as she rang me up. “It’s such a cute design. It’s been very popular.”
“It’s adorable,” I agreed, handing over my card. She popped the shirt in a bag for me and I left the tent, looking for where the others were. It didn’t take me long to find them—Cooper really stood out from the crowd. As I crossed to them, I really took note of the red highlights in his hair and I wondered how I’d ever thought his hair was just plain brown. In this kind of light, it was almost as red as Teresa’s.
I slipped up behind Cooper and wrapped my arms around his middle, shoving the bag into his hands as I did so. “What’s this?” he asked, turning to look over his shoulder at me.
“It’s a present for you,” I said, kissing between his shoulder blades.
Cooper pulled the shirt out and I heard him laugh, then he turned in my arms and kissed me. “It’s awesome. Thanks, Rio.”
“Ooh, I wanna see!” Teresa said, tugging on her brother’s arm.
