"So now you acknowledge my existence, huh?"

"I've never done anything less."

"Liar."

"I swear!"

"Big, fat, liar-"

"Look, I'll call more, okay? I just have something to say to you."

Mia grows quiet. I usually never have anything to say.

"It's going to be weird. And I don't want you to think any less of me."

"Like I think much of you anyway," Mia replies, but her voice is softening, and I know that she's listening.

I take a deep breath and look out the window. It's not yet dawn, but it's going to be, and already the dusty becomings of a new day are clearing away the night breeze. The campus is finally starting to get quiet, ready for a morning of sleep.

Gay people are sissies.

"I like someone."

"And?" Mia prompts. "Someone I know?"

"Yeah." She doesn't say anything further and simply waits, listening--out of character, but comforting.

"I like Felix." And there it is, something that I'd been trying to hide for so much of my life, out there in the open, to one of the people that know me the best. But then again, not anybody really does.

I'd expected something dramatic, something to accompany the rhythmic pounding in my chest, but in the end, they were just words. And words can't do much, not when you don't let them affect you.

"Okay." She's more silent than I thought she would be, absorbing information and just letting it...sit there. And so we sit.

Birds are starting to chirp a bit, just a few, but the buildings surrounding me are still quiet and breathing even sighs of sleep. Finally, Mia says something. "You know, that makes a lot of sense."

I laugh. She joins in, a split second after a pause. It's not even funny, but then again, in a way, it is. The mere thought of me being anything else other than what people perceive me to be is ridiculous, but the logic is there, and once I see it, I can't unsee anything. Neither can Mia.

"On my fifth birthday party," I say to Mia conversationally, "I told my mom that I wanted a pair of these sparkly pink socks."

"Dear Lord."

"And they were fuzzy."

"Daniel Pearce. Fuzzy pink socks."

"My mom told me she could get me a toy car instead so I changed my mind."

"You despicable thing."

"I never told anyone that before. I'd almost forgotten about it."

"Well, I'm honored to be the first," she says, and I can tell that she means it. "Does Felix know?"

"That I like him? No."

"He doesn't know anything else either?"

"No."

Mia becomes quiet. "Are you ever going to tell him?"

"I don't know."