Page 13 of The Secret Experimentation
“Do you have any cousins?” I find myself saying.
“I did.” He turns his eyes toward me and there’s a deep sadness filling them now.
“Are they…?”
“No!” he hurriedly replies. “I mean they could be. Don’t really know. My family kicked me out when I told them I was gay. They were…are part of a very religious community. Not like a cult, but more like an every-Sunday-church-confessing-sins group. When I left after my parents told me I either had to fixitor be dead to them, my entire family supported their decision. Cousins included.” A bitter smile turns his mouth up. “They must have skipped the bible chapter where Jesus talked about acceptance and forgiveness. Anyway, I left Boston and moved to New York.”
“How old were you?” I hiss through my teeth, enraged by his family’s ignorance and insensibility.
“Seventeen.”
“Fuck!” I look at Mel, so tiny, and not defenseless, but still so easy to overpower. How could a family kick their teenage son out because of his sexual orientation? The fury inside me feels like a giant bonfire.
“It’s fine, big guy. I didn’t tell you to make you angry.”
He looks worried now. I want to somehow fix his past and feel so damn angry I can’t.
Before I can open my mouth, he adds, “Even though my family sucks big hairy balls, it was a long time ago.” He taps my clenched fist, and I automatically grab his hand, squeezing. Long time or not, it shouldn’t have happened. I fucking hate those bigots who preach about love and unity, but are just a bunch of phony bastards.
“I survived. I had some savings from my summer jobs. And met Sam and his cousin Ty when apartment hunting.”Sam.The odd antipathy that I feel toward him lessens after knowing he’s been there for Mel when he needed it. “They took me under their wings. Became my new family. Years after, I bumped into Jordie and Asher. And the rest of you. I’m grateful.”
I’m seeing Mel in a different light. He’s still the colorful, perky, and sassy guy I met a few weeks ago, but not only that. There’s a deepness to him, an optimism that clashes with his sarcastic side. He’s an incredibly strong human being.
“It’s been a long time since anyone’s fussed over me like this. It’s ironic to think I needed to go against a puppy snatcher to have it.” He says it’sironic, but it feels more tragic. “It’s nice, though. Thank you.”
He shouldn’t thank me for taking care of him. “That’s what friends do.”
“Friends, eh?” He nods my way, snorting for some weird reason. I think we can be friends. I like him. And God knows I need more of those.
The stiffness in his body has faded away, his face looks more relaxed too. The painkillers are finally kicking in.
“Okay, friend. Your turn.” He yawns, snuggling further into his pillows.
“What else do you want to know?”
He thinks about it for a few seconds. His sleepy eyes fall on my forearm, lying on the sheet between us. “Your tattoo. Why a bear?”
“I was kind on the heavy side growing up. Heavy like an avalanche.” His eyes widen with incredulity. “It’s true. They called me Yogi in school. It didn’t help that I was also aloof and silent…like a bear.”
“Really? Never thought that about you.” I usually don’t care for sarcasm, but the way Mel uses it? It’s different and entertaining somehow.
“What happened, then?” he asks when I don’t continue.
“Hmm?”
“Something must have happened for the transformation to begin.”
“Nothing major. Sophomore year in high school the new football coach convinced me to do the tryout. I was…fat, but still a big motherfucker. I became a linebacker. Started exercising and eating properly. Then nature did the rest.”
“Oh, I thought there would be a girl involved.”
“A girl?” I repeat confused.
“Yeah. Like you liked her, but she didn’t notice you. So you started training and she finally did. But you realized she was a superficial bitch…something like that.”
I raise my eyebrow at him. “Definitely no girl.”
“Kudos to you, big guy. But that was anticlimactic. I guess reality is rarely as dramatic as movies. You know like when the main character chases after his love, all disheveled and lost. And when he finds him, lifts him in his arms and kisses him like there’s no tomorrow.” The hand that he has raised to follow his words with wide passionate swings falls to the bed once again. “You’re doing your eyelash tremble. Did I shock you?”
