(?)Friend

Vierundzwanzig

We hugged before I headed inside my house.

"Hey, you're back?" I heard my dad call from the living room.

"Yeah!" I went and leaned on the wall next to his seat. "It was amazing."

He looked me up and down and then made a sour expression. "Why would you wear that?"

My eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I thought you didn't want to be a girl anymore." He reached over and pulled at my dress.

I stepped back. "What? I can wear a dress without being a girl."

"Look, Clair. We went through so much trying to understand you and get used to you but this is just more confusing. If you're gonna be something else than a girl, don't act like this and dress like this!"

My legs felt weak.

He called me by my old name.

"My name isn't Clair."

"The hell it is!" He yelled, getting up from his chair. "Who did you even go on a date with, huh? What boy wants to go date a girl with a buzzed head and no chest!? Or what girl wants to date someone who wears dresses and refuses she's a girl!?"

She.

"I went with a girl. She loved my dress."

"Then she's probably a lesbian!"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Wha-What's wrong with that!? Oh, I forgot! You can be whatever you want! A tr@nny? Yep! A le$bo? Yep! A fu€king truck, for God's sake!" He took a break from yelling to catch up on breathing.

I realized my cheeks were wet with hot tears. "Dad. I thought you loved me."

"I loved my little girl. Trust me, your mother and I tried to get with this stuff, but we can't. It's just not who you are!"

My mother holding my younger brother were on the staircase now. I saw my mom crying, which broke my heart over again.

I tried to get words out. Any words. They didn't come. I was speechless. Instead, I turned around and stormed out of my house.

I began walking to no destination. I needed to get some air.

What the hell just happened!?