"Luke! Chloe's here!!!" Liz hollers up the stairs.
"We're going to be late," Chloe moans, plonking herself down on the nearest seat and sighing.
She'd finally got fed up waiting on the drive and had decided to come in to see if that would have the effect of speeding him up.
"Hey, Luke's told me how great you've been. I think he's really lucky to have such an understanding mum," she tells Liz, meaning to have told her this days ago only never having had the chance.
"I'm trying!" Liz says chirpily, sounding slightly shrill even to her ears.
"Must be hard, because in my family I'm black, my parents are black, we're all black, you know what I mean?"
"I think so..."
"Oh did you see the flyer?!"
"What flyer?"
Chloe digs in her bag, handing Liz a crumpled folded up piece of paper, "For the Art Show. His name's really big! Would you come on already?!" she calls up the stairs to Luke.
"The Gay and Lesbian Centre...when did this happen?" Liz reads out, her tone unmistakenly confused.
"Oh my god, you mean he didn't tell you?"
"He doesn't tell me much these days..."
"Promise you won't tell him I told you otherwise he'll stop telling me."
"You don't have to yell, I heard you the first time!" Luke says, bouncing down the stairs. "And I don't know when I'll be back," he calls over his shoulder to his Mum as he closes the front door behind them.
"Luke!!!...Be careful!" Liz adds to the silence in the house.
~~~
"You're really good at that!" Chloe calls up to a girl who's hanging one of Luke's drawings.
"Thanks. I like you guys bracelets."
"Oh they're just for friendship. He's not my boyfriend or anything," replies Chloe as Luke carefully frames another picture.
"I figured."
"You can tell I'm gay?" Luke looks up, his tongue still stuck in the corner of his mouth where it always is when he's concentrating.
"You're here aren't you? I'm heading down to the Diner to get a drink, you want to come?"
"Sure!" says Chloe getting up straight away.
"What are you doing? She thinks you're a lesbian!" Luke whispers urgently to his friend, pulling on her sleeve.
"Well, can't I be one of the cool people too?" asks Chloe with a grin.
"You're a freak," Luke tells her, grinning back.
Geordie arrives a minute later, eyeing up the framed prints that are now hanging up on Luke's section of the art show. "You know you have real talent," she tells him.
"Really?"
"Mmmhmmm, you should develop it, maybe think about going to art school?"
"I've been thinking about that."
"Well if you ever need a recommendation...."
"Thanks," Luke smiles, expertly fastening down a frame. "Do you think Michael's going to come?" he asks, unable to stop himself.
Geordie sighs, "Don't expect too much from Michael."
"What's too much?" Luke asks, already knowing the answer only to have it confirmed by Geordie.
YOU ARE READING
Queer as Muke
Fanfiction"The thing you need to know is, it's all about sex. It's true. In fact they say men think about sex every twenty-eight seconds. Of course that's straight men. With gay men it's every nine." Twenty nine year old advertising executive Michael Cliffor...
