Icing on the Cake

~85~

You know how when you haven’t spoken to a friend in a while, it gets really uncomfortable and it takes a while for you to feel comfortable around them like you were before? It’s strange, because it wasn’t like that with Karen. I felt comfortable around her right away again.

We gave each other brief recaps of our lives over the last five years. She went on to become a journalist.

“How are things with Calum?” She asked me. I thought back to our high school days. We became close friends so quickly; we were sharing our deepest secrets with each other.

***FLASHBACK TO NOVEMBER 2011***

I was doing Karen’s hair for the third and final time for the band and choir concert. After laughing for a while, Karen got serious. She told me that her biological father neglected her, and that her step-dad has made inappropriate comments to her that scare her.

On the flip side, I more or less told her I was gay. Calum was the first person I ever actually told, but I think she knew. She was very open and accepting, and I think she knew that it’s one of the reasons I gravitated towards her.

She told me that If I was gay, she wouldn’t care. She wouldn’t make a big deal out of it or tell anyone if I didn’t want her to. It’s not that I didn’t believe her, I just wasn’t ready to tell at that time and I think she knew that. But it felt really good to hear someone say that gay people weren't disgusting abominations that should be stoned.

After the concert shows were over, her and I still talked all the time in school. We never really hung out outside of school, but I heard Karen say I was like her brother.

To this day, I regret not trying to spend more time with her in high school.

***END OF FLASHBACK***

Hanging out with Karen was great, and we made even more plans to hang out. I truly didn’t feel like she was trying to capitalize. She trusted me back in high school, and I trusted her, and that mutual trust and respect still lives on to this day.

Notes