How To Be Straight

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CHAPTER 4

[ Derek ]

Whatever was unfolding in front of my eyes had to be the most disturbing thing I had ever seen.

It was hard to imagine that Calvin was actually gay. When he told me, I smiled and nodded to be supportive, but it wasn't like I actually believed he was gay. How could he be? I mean, we were best friends. I would've known!

But the way Calvin was responding to the French foreign exchange student in the passenger seat made me rethink things.

He let out a loud obnoxious laugh in response to something the French guy said. It wasn't even all that funny, but it succeeded in making Calvin giggle.

"Derek, did you hear that? In France, they serve five course meals for lunch!"

I barely glanced up at Calvin's reflection in the rear view mirror and rolled my eyes. "Nope, sorry. I couldn't get past his annoying accent."

Calvin gasped. "Derek!"

"Calvin!" I mocked him as I leaned back in my seat and propped my legs up on the console separating the driver and passenger seat.

The French guy laughed. "It is okay, Calvin. I know plenty of people like him back home."

"Irresistibly beautiful boys?" I countered with a sloppy grin.

He glanced back at me and returned the smile. "Irresistibly jealous boys."

"Jealous?" I rolled my eyes once more and scoffed. "What do I have to be jealous about?"

Frenchy shrugged carelessly. "That your boyfriend finds me more interesting than you."

I swore I felt my stomach sink to my knees. Boyfriend? How sick was that?

Calvin must have felt just as weird as I did, because he was quick to clear up any misconceptions, "Whoa, whoa, Nicolas ... We're not together."

He drew his brows together in a more-than-confused expression. "I'm not sure I understand."

"Then I'll clear it up for you," I interjected. "We're both very straight."

Calvin sent me a quick glare but smiled at Frenchy when he spoke up again, "What he means by that is that he's very straight."

"Straight?" Frenchy questioned, brows still sewn together in confusion.

How could Calvin possibly be attracted to someone who couldn't even understand simple terms? "Yes, as in we're flaming heteros."

He finally seemed to click the pieces together. "Ah, you mean heterosexual." He paused to chuckle at his little mistake, then returned his attention to me. "You don't seem heterosexual to me."

Unconsciously, my jaw clenched tightly and my hands balled into fists. "Say it again and I'll punch the shit out of you."

Frenchy's lips pressed together in a thin line. "I apologize."

Shaking my head and slouching back in my seat, I scoffed. "I'm just tired of you two giving each other love stares. It's really rude. The least you could have done was play some music or something."

Calvin tore his gaze away from the road for a moment and motioned toward the center console. "I've got some CDs in there."

"Thank God," I muttered under my breath. If I had to hear Calvin giggle in response to something stupid Frenchy said one more time, I was going to go insane. Reaching into the center console and sifting through the discarded receipts and old iPhone chargers, I found a few CDs and nearly had a heart attack when I looked at them more closely.