Secretly In Love [Completed]

Chapter 5

Ariel sat on the subway, feeling her brain spinning out of control after the angry conversation she had with her dad, just the day before. She felt her hands ball up into fists, just by simply thinking about her father. Suddenly, the subway door slid open, as the conductor threw two young men into the back car.
"Stay in here, ya fucking faggots!" He shouted, slamming the door closed behind him. The two boys stood up, and hugged each other.
"Guess that wasn't gonna end well, was it?"
"Nope." The two joked. Ariel stood up.
"What the hell just happened?" She asked. The two looked over at her.
"The conductor saw us holding hands and dragged us back here." 

"Well, aren't we all used to that?" Isabella asked, leaning forward, glancing at the two boys.
"Yup." Fred replied. He and Dean sat down across from Isabella and Ariel, as the subway rolled on. They kept talking.

"Are you guys from here?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, okay."

"What about you guys?"

"Well, of course."

"I didn't know. For all I know, you could be a police officer that's trying to arrest us."

"No offense, but I'm gay, and my partner is right here. Do you really think I'd be a cop?"

"Nope." Ariel replied, crossing her arms. She glanced at Isabella. The train came to a halt at another stop, as the back doors opened. Two more people stepped into the back car. A girl and a boy. Well, the boy looked like a girl, sort of. The girl looked like a girl, minus some smaller features. The two sat down next to Fred and Dean.

"Uh....aren't you two straight?" Dean asked. Fred elbowed him.

"You don't just ask people about their sexuality before you get to know them!" He cried.

"I'm just asking! This car is for people like us. If they're back here, there must be something 'wrong' with them." Fred replied, air quoting the word wrong.

"No. I don't know yet. But, I am transgender." Ziggy said. Fred and Dean looked at her. 

"This is my sister, Paige." Ziggy said, gesturing to Paige.

"Hi." She said, her voice sort of low.

"She was a boy, but she underwent a sex change. She's a girl. I'm Ziggy. Please, call me him, because I can't afford a sex change, so I'm still female."

"Well, hi Ziggy. Hi, Paige." Fred said, extending his hand. Ziggy shook his hand, and shook Dean's hand. They also shook Paige's hand. Everyone introduced themselves. Isabella and Ariel soon had the best idea.

"So, you two are gay and you two are transgender?" Ariel asked. Fred and Ziggy nodded. 

"Look, my girlfriend and I were thinking about starting this organization called "Hands For Love." We needed some help." Ariel said.

"Oh? What is it about?" Fred asked. Isabella pulled out some flyers from her purse and handed one to Fred, Dean, Ziggy and Paige.

"It's an organization that will provide housing for teens and kids who are kicked out of their houses for being gay, lesbian or transgender. It will also provide a support group so they have someone to talk to. Plus, it'll be a place for our community to hold meetings." Ariel explained, as each of them scanned the flyer.

"We went down to the police station to ask my dad for a permit to start this up, but he refused, saying he didn't support the "gay stuff." So, we left and decided we'll do it anyways, without a permit."

"Well, getting turned away for being gay is pretty common now. But, you seem to know what you're doing, so we'll defianetly help you guys out." Fred said.

"You can count on me, too." Dean added.

"Same here." Ziggy replied, as Paige nodded.

"Really?" 

"Of course. If there's one thing I hate more than the president, it's his crummy laws against us. If we can take the first step to a better world, this is it." Dean explained. Isabella felt joy rush through her veins, as she hugged each person.

"Where's your guys' stop?"

"Oh, we were just going to take a small tour of the town together." Fred said, putting his arm around Dean.

"Same here." Ziggy said, hugging Paige. 

"What about you guys?"

"We were heading home." Ariel said. 

"Okay, do you have a specific location as to where you want this to start?"

"Do you guys have a phone?"

"Well duh. It's 2018."

"Okay, here's our phone numbers." Ariel said, pulling out her phone, as did her new friends. They wrote down her phone number, and then Isabella's. They got off of the subway and departed.

"Holy shit...." Ariel said, looking at the tall building that was now theirs.

"How much did this damn place cost?"

"About 23 bucks."

"Damn! That fucking cheap!?"

"This is the oldest building in our town, you know."

"Well, yeah, but you would think it's like, what, 100 dollars?"

"Nope."

"Huh. I'm actually quite shocked the guy sold it to you. He would've figured out-"

"You can't just assume shit about people when you look at them. So, thank god he didn't."

"Hm. Alright, well, I'll text everyone." Ariel said, pulling out her phone, and typing something.

-----

"Okay, are you guys ready?"

"Yup." Ariel replied. Isabella took a deep breath and inserted the key into the keyhole and unlocked the front doors. She took one more deep breath and pushed the doors open. Everyone walked in. 

"Oh. my. god." Ariel said, speechless.

"Now I know why it was so god damn cheap."

The building looked very old, as there was a huge living space, about half the size of a football field. Nearby was a staircase that had a whole bunch of doors. Across the hall from the main entrance was an old kitchen, dining area that was about the same size as the lobby, a main public restroom downstairs and a couple upstairs. It looked like this is what they wanted, except for one problem, it was wooden, the walls were ripped, the windows were cracked and shattered, the restrooms were gross and broken, and everything looked like it was going to collapse. Everyone had a meeting in the lobby.

"Okay, we're going to have to do everything we can to clean up this damn place. We have to do everything we can to make sure this place looks welcoming and inviting. So, we need to organize ourselves."

"Fred and I can paint the walls and add some carpeting." Dean said raising his hand.

"Paige and I can do the food for the kitchen, fix the windows and make a sign for outside."

"We can handle the furniture for upstairs and down here."

"That sounds like a plan, yo!" Ariel said clapping her hands together. Everyone put their hands together in a circle and counted from 3 to 1 shouting:

"Hands For Love!!!!"

It was time to get to work.