You Can Hide A Lot About Yourself

My mom pulls in the mall parking lot. We're waiting for my cousin, Clarissa in an old Jeep Grand Cherokee with two of my friends in the back seat. The windows are rolled down letting in a nice breeze. But it's not enough to get rid of the tension on the inside. As soon as the car's off, my mom sighs and leans back on the headrest. She's nervous. My two friends, Ray and Bob look a little apprehensive as well buy at least their happy to be here. I'm sitting in the front seat next to my mom, buzzing with excitement.

"Frank. Boy's I want you to listen to me. There may or may not be protestors out today. Whatever you do please, please don't say or do anything stupid. I know you guys need to see the world for what it is and that's why I agreed to bring you guys here."

"Mom, I know. I've seen it before-"

"But you haven't seen it in person. Seeing it on the tv is nothing compared to seeing it right in front of you."

It was quite the shock when I told my mother that I was also interested in guys. She's seen a lot happen to people because of their sexuality. She accepted me but was beyond scared of what I'll face in the future that I have now admitted to.

"We'll be okay, mom. I promise." I say to her, reaching a hand out to calm her down.

"Yeah, Mrs. Iero. You have nothing to worry about. We look after each other." Ray spoke up.

"We have Frank's back no matter what. Nothing bad will happen to him, Ray and I will make sure of that." Bob said. He doesn't say much so that sentence meant a lot to me.

My mom looked at all of us and smiled. Just then Clarissa arrived with her husband dropping her off. We all got out of the Jeep and saw Clarissa with a huge flag with an equality sign on it.

"Hey, guys!" She said. "I bought us some stuff for as to march with. I thought the flag was suppose to be smaller but..."

We all laughed as she handed it to me.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile so much." Ray whispered to me." I didn't know it was possible but my smile managed to stretch even more. "I wish you would smile more like that around us, but hey, I'm just glad to see you smiling." I felt guilty for not smiling as much. My friendsmakes me happy and I should express it more even if it's just giving them a smile.

"I like your shirt, Frank" Clarissa points to my shirt. "You're finally wearing color." She laughs. It was a tiedye shirt with a heart on the front.

"Well I had to find something gay to wear, didn't I? It's an Equality March come on!" I said and everyone laughed. Clarissa said goodbye to her husband and we were getting ready to go to a park where the march was suppose to be. Everyone got in the Jeep, my cousin up front and me squeezed in between Ray and Bob.

My mom started the car.

"Okay. Let's get this show on the rode."

Notes

Please comment, rate or/and subscribe to let me know you want more.