Made of Folded Paper by Kai Wolden

Author:Kai Wolden [Wolden, Kai]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LGBTQIA Romance Fiction
Publisher: Totally Entwined Group
Published: 2022-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

I would have thought Charlie to be the type of boyfriend who was squeamish about public displays of affection, but I was pleased to find that he wasn’t. LA was gobsmacked when we casually informed him at the café that we were now dating, my arm draped around Charlie’s shoulders.

Lindsay shook her head at his shock and said, “You really didn’t see that coming? Didn’t you see how red Charlie’s face was when Iowa told us that he liked someone?” LA got onboard after that and started planning copious cheesy double dates while the rest of us exchanged glances and cringed. Cynic seemed fine with the development at first—he really did. Since his unorthodox measures had actually helped Charlie and me get together, I’d gotten over the incident in the practice room. He was conspicuously absent from the café more often, but I chalked that up to his distaste for Lindsay.

I’d never been in a relationship I was so proud to put on display. I took great pleasure in the glances we got when we crossed campus holding hands or kissed before heading off to class. I wanted everyone to know that I was dating Charlie St. James, and I hoped that people talked about us even if they said homophobic things. I’d fully embraced my new identity as a non-straight man—though I still didn’t know what label I fell under—and I liked the way it changed how people treated me. I felt that my opinion was sometimes taken more seriously in class now that I was no longer speaking from a place of straight, white male privilege. The acquaintances I’d met through Mara and Valerie now treated me as one of their own, including me in their ongoing banter about being queer. When I met someone new, I tried to mention my boyfriend as early as possible so they knew where to categorize me.

Of course, I still had a lot to learn about being a member of the queer community. One thing I had to keep in mind was that I was still extremely privileged. I hadn’t had to deal with homophobic abuse growing up or face coming out my family—if and when I ever told my mother, I doubted she would care. I hadn’t had to fight for marriage equality or the right to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public. All the rights I had now had been earned for me by people who fought, bled, and often died—mostly trans women of color, Valerie frequently reminded me. I had a lot of history to catch up on, including events that had taken place within my lifetime that I had missed. My queer friends were happy to educate me, though they did tease me sometimes, and Charlie was eternally patient. He thought it was cute, he claimed.

He was always calling me “cute,” and I joked that perhaps he meant “ruggedly handsome.” He snorted at me and said, “No, I mean cute.” Apparently he’d always thought so, ever since

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