A Beginner's Guide To Salad by Jennifer Joyce

Author:Jennifer Joyce [Joyce, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-01-10T23:00:00+00:00

My new-found knowledge gave me the confidence to ring Jared as soon as I was back in my office to invite him out for a drink after work. We met down in reception and walked across to The Bonnie Dundee, which was as empty as ever. We sat by the window and I decided to get straight to the point.

‘I’m trying to lose weight.’ Jared looked taken aback by my sudden admission but I kept going, explaining about the reunion and the bullying I’d suffered while at school. For some reason, I kept Zack to myself, not wanting to admit I was doing this for a man. I no longer felt embarrassed about pointing out my figure with neon fat signs to Jared, as there was no possibility of him finding me attractive whether I was fat or thin.

‘I was bullied at school too.’

I choked on my diet coke, snorting bubbles out of my nose. Jared wasn’t the kind of person I expected to be a victim of bullying. He was gorgeous and in fantastic shape. Had he been really ugly as a child? But then I remembered his sexual orientation. Kids could be cruel little shits and would use any slight ‘difference’ to pick out a kid to torment.

‘I was into ballet. It’s all I wanted to do when I grew up. I was pretty good too but I broke my ankle when I was seventeen. It was a bad break and it weakened my ankle and destroyed my career.’

I found myself reaching across to give Jared’s hand a squeeze. ‘I’m so sorry. That must have been hard to deal with.’

‘It was. The worse thing was, I almost gave up myself, a few years before. The bullying got so bad that I was going to give up dancing. I was battered on an almost daily basis, always outside of school and with a crowd watching and laughing. I just wanted it to stop. I loved ballet, loved how it made me feel when I performed and I’d worked so hard since I was little, but I couldn’t take it any more. It was the humiliation more than the actual punches and kicks.’

‘What made you decide to keep going?’

Jared smiled, his whole face lighting up despite his story. ‘I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t give up something I loved so much. I wanted to dance more than anything and so that’s what I did.’

I stared at Jared with renewed awe, more out of admiration of his strength and commitment than his beauty this time. I wished I was as strong as Jared, that I could be who I was no matter what other people thought of me. I also wished that Jared wasn’t gay because right at that moment, more so now that I knew him a little better, I wanted to throw my arms around Jared and kiss him.

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