Timothy’s Terrible Prompt Stories - 1. Prompt 352 I can’t believe you asked him that!

“I can’t believe you asked him that!“ My best friend Jasper looked annoyed when I laughed.

“You know my policy: ask me a bigoted question, and I’ll do my best to insult you back.” The funny thing was I had the feeling the guy hadn’t meant to be offensive. And for other reasons I didn’t want to be harsh on him. But if he was too stupid to know that ‘fag’ was a bad word, he deserved what he got.

Especially since he’d come up to me out of the blue and asked: “So, Nelson, are you a fag?” Jasper and I had been sitting on the grass by ourselves, talking, and this dumb jock saunters over. When I look up at him, he blurts out his question.

So of course I stand up and shoot right back at him, “You want me to report you for that, straight boy? The polite word is gay, you stupid asshole.” I paused dramatically, “Or do you ask because you want to suck my dick?”

I almost expected him to take a swing at me, but he just turned around and walked away. Not that it would have done him any good, since I’ve done self-defense classes ever since I told my parents at age thirteen. It’s part of why no one messes with me, before and after I came out to everyone last year by being the Prom date of the guy who is the school’s GSA President. So this sort of dumb question two months before the end of my junior year was unexpected.

Oh, friends like Jazz knew from the start. I’ve never been ashamed of who I am. My parents, being lawyers, made their views clear to the school when they enrolled me. The principal politely told them that since two of the teachers were openly gay, anti-discriminatory policies were already in play. And indeed, I’d never suffered more than the occasional snide or teasing comments similar to normal high school fooling around. At least, not apart from the Clayton incident.

Jasper was shaken, “You know he’s straight. Rob has been dating one of Carolyn's friends for almost two years. According to her, he’s a stud and awesome in bed.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don’t do guys in the closet, or straight studs, since I prefer to top. But anyway, he’s not the one I like.” The topping part was a bit of bluster since technically I was a virgin and wasn’t sure what I preferred.

However, the last admission caused Jazz to drop the subject of Rob, and ignore me bending the number one rule of our friendship: No talking about our sex lives! I didn’t want to know what he and his girlfriend got up to in bed, and he didn’t want any details of my conquests. This suited me fine, since there weren’t as many as he imagined.

“What’s this Nel? You in love? Spill the beans, man!” Jasper got up to slap my shoulder with a happy grin. He might not want to hear the icky details, but he cared about me being successful in the dating game.

I’d been following Rob with my eyes until the moment I saw him meet up with his two-years-younger brother. Eric looked pissed and worried at the same time, and he pulled Rob aside and was obviously giving him a piece of his mind; his clever, sharp-witted mind which lived behind the cutest face imaginable and above a body to die for.

Yeah, I’d been crushing badly on this sweet young freshman for several months now. But I’m cursed with a non-existent gaydar, so I had no clue whether he might be interested. He certainly wasn’t out, but maybe I’d just been shown the reason why.

I turned my back on the arguing brothers, both of them tall, blond and handsome. But where Rob was a muscular baseball jock, Eric was a slender cross-country runner. However, most of his merits came from intellectual stuff, which was why he had caught my attention in the first place. We were both part of the drama club, and his skills as an actor and a writer of short plays were already the talk of the school.

Jasper squeezed my arm, and I scowled at him. But I had never lied to him, and I wasn’t about to start now.

“I like Eric. But you better keep your mouth shut about it. I’m not going to ask the younger brother of a homophobic prick on a date. And in any case I doubt he knows I exist and I…”

Halfway through my rant Jasper’s face got this weird expression, which gradually turned to horror. He held up his hand to warn me, and a few seconds later I heard a familiar voice.

“Nelson, I apologize on behalf of my stupid brother.”

I froze and my desperate eyes met Jasper’s amused green ones. He looked like he wanted to fall over laughing, but he knew I’d kill him if he gave the game away. Trying to compose my face I slowly turned.

Two pairs of earnest blue eyes looked at me, but of course I only cared about Eric. The guy I secretly adored continued his explanation.

“At the beginning of the break Rob for some obscure reason decided to ask me the same question he subsequently asked you. My reply was: ‘Are you trying to insult me or elicit information?’ When he didn’t get the point, I sarcastically invited him to ask the question of someone he knew was gay and see how they liked his dumb act. I didn’t expect him to do as I suggested. Unfortunately, you were the victim of his stupidity. For which I can only beg your pardon.”

Eric made as if to leave, but Rob grabbed hold of his arm. “Not so fast, little brother. You’ve had your say, now I get to make amends too.”

“I got the point, and I’m sorry I hurt your feelings with that word. So I asked Eric nicely the second time, just now. He admitted to being gay, and I suspect he likes you, Nelson. So would you please invite my brother out on a date?”

Stunned silence met his words. Eric flushed, paled and flushed again. He turned on his brother and punched him in the guts. As Rob bent over in pain, Eric stormed off, shouting, “I can’t believe you asked him that!“