My Gay Best Friend

Liars

⌞ Vincent's POV ⌝

"What about him? Six O'clock. Blonde surfer boy vibe with flowing blonde locks and eyes that shine with the reflection of the sea." she said in an exaggerated dreamy voice, leaning her cheek against her folded hands and pretending to swoon.

I turned in my chair checking out my six O'clock. He had shaggy blonde hair, was pretty tall, and his eyes were really blue.

"Not my type." I said blankly turning back to face her. I watched her nod appreciatively as if she could totally understand my choice.

Of course, she didn't really understand. She didn't know anything.

I decided today would be the day I would tell her.

With confidence I stared her in the eye and told her, "He's not my type. You are." Using the adrenaline from my confession, I propelled myself forward, leaning over the table we were at and placing my hand behind her neck. I pulled her in for a kiss pressing my lips against hers hard. 

But in actuality I didn't do that. I only sat there staring at her; imagining crazy scenarios where I would tell her the truth and everything would go well and we'd just run off into the sunset together. Happy ending. 

In reality, If I told her now, it would not go well. If there was anything in this world, V hated more than her father, it was liars, and I've been lying to her since we were six years old.

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She had moved in next door to my place and my dads were forcing me to befriend her. Back then I still thought girls were weird. We met and were allowed to play at the playground together, supposedly without supervision.

Even so I knew that Ely was definitely watching us. Out of my two dads he was extremely over protective.

We sat on the swings and talked for a while. I asked her, "Why do you only have one mom?" and she asked me, "Why do you have two dads?" I responded pretty seriously and proudly, "They're gay."

She nodded as if she could completely comprehend what I was saying, but I was sure she couldn't. I wondered if she even knew what 'gay' meant.

"Are you gay too then?" she asked me this with a straight face, as if gay was something I could inherit. I thought about it for a moment before I simply shrugged my shoulders and nodded, "Yup."

In that moment I was just thinking "Girls are weird anyways, two dads are good, I'll just do that."

I wasn't thinking hard about it or even considering if I'd ever liked a boy or not.

"I'm jealous." she said kicking a stone and staring at the ground. I leaned my head completely horizontal about falling off my swing so I could see her expression, "About what?" I asked my confusion clear.

I couldn't think of anything she'd be jealous of... Maybe my sneakers? When I kicked rocks they glowed in the dark, and yeah, that was pretty sweet.

I was surprised when she finally showed me her expression. She looked sad, as if she was just about to cry, but she was smiling.

That was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen a 6 year old do. That's when I knew she was stronger than most people.

"I don't have... any dads... And you have two." she told me tucking some hair behind her ear looking a bit more shy than she had before.

I knew she was sad despite the smile because her eyes were frowning. I thought about my shoes. If she was super jealous of them I would probably let her have them. I mean, I had another pair like this at home anyways.

I wondered if the same exchange could be made with parents. I knew Ely was listening so even though I wasn't really planning to give him away I made sure to talk extra loudly so he would hear what I was saying.

"You can have one of mine if you want, Ely is super annoying." As a kid I always enjoyed bullying Ely.

To my surprise my offer to give away my dad made her laugh. It was a pleasant sound and it made me feel warm inside.

"I don't think that's how it works, but thanks for the offer. You should really cherish your dad."

After the single play date my fathers had started to pressure me even further to play with the neighbor girl. It was extremely annoying. Ely was especially enthusiastic about her. He'd go on and on about how nice of a kid she seemed like, how well behaved she appeared to be, and how good of an influence she would be on me.

Of course it was only annoying since he wouldn't even have fancied her so much if he hadn't been eavesdropping that day and heard her defend him. My dad was a sucker for anyone who was kind hearted.

For a while the next girl neighbor was the topic of interest every dinner. It was infuriating. My dads always did this when they wanted me to do something. They wouldn't directly tell me to do it, or physically force me. They'd talk about it for the entirety of every dinner every day. That was how they got me to do a lot of the things they asked me to do and I didn't want to do.

How long I could go without having to do the chore just depended on how long I could go without cracking, but after 2 weeks I couldn't take anymore. I agreed to go on another playdate with the girl and my dads set it all up.

We'd set the date for tomorrow at 3:45 and when we met at the park and I saw her again, I was strictly business. I told her we'd meet here every Friday at this time to keep my dads off my back.

She was never late, not once.