It was like nothing I had ever worn in my life.
“Oh,” Mom said. “What’ve you got there?”
I held it up. “I like it.”
“You do?” There was this thing in her voice. “You sure it’s okay for homecoming?”
“Yeah.” It was bright, and colorful, but I knew it would be okay.
Mom grabbed the wrist to look at the price.
“You sure you want to spend this much?”
“Yeah.” It would eat up most of my final paycheck, but still. “I can wear it again.”
Mom held the sleeve up to the light and watched it shine. “Can you, though?”
“Why?” I asked. “Is it too gay?”
Mom blinked at me.
“No.” She blinked again and let the sleeve fall. “No.”
I wondered what Shirin Kellner considered “too gay.”
I wondered why I thought that.
It was an ugly thought.
“You’ll look very handsome in it,” she said. “Come on. Let’s try it on and see if you need it altered.”
“Hey,” Chip said as we walked to our bikes after practice Wednesday. “What’re you doing now?”
“Headed home.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Landon’s busy. Plus I quit my job.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You were right. I need to find something that makes me happy. Hopefully soon.”
“Oh. Cool.” Chip ran a hand through his hair. “You wanna come over and study, then? My mom’s making empanadas.”
“Oh. Thanks. But I can’t. I’m watching Laleh.”
Chip let his hand fall. “Oh.”
I felt kind of bad, letting him down.
Especially since he hadn’t even mentioned Trent.
“Want to come to mine instead?”
He grinned.
“Yeah.”
