Being open minded... When a long time friend came out and flat out told me he was gay... I was a bit shocked... He'd dated some of my female acquaintances before... And so my first reaction was "You're kiddin' me..." But... He wasn't... And he is... Now... I don't know if it's in the genetics as some will argue... Or if it's surrounding influence.... And I don't care... This guy was one of my best friends prior to his discovery... And I wasn't about to loose him simply because he's gay... In fact... It actually kicked up the honesty and forth right levels in the relationship... And any anyone who knows me will tell you that those factors are the primary ones that matter to me...

I paged J.P. with the intentions of giving him a piece of my mind... As I had in so many voice mails I'd left... I was highly upset with him because he'd been blowing me, and another person he claimed to be close friends with, off... For no apparent reason, and with no explination what so ever... And I didn't understand why... And I was rather livid about the entire disappearing act he'd pulled... So I was going to tell him a bit about it... And for the first time in a few months... He actually called me back... I was stunned outta my mind, but still livid... After I answered the phone he said my name and I went off on him… "What the hell do you think you're doing? Where do you get off fucking blowing me off? You know I can't stand that kind of shit... What’s your fucking problem, son? I know you’re not stupid! Not naturally at least…" and on and on, uninterrupted for about 3½ minutes solid… Then I realized that he’d yet to say anything other than my name and I inquired if he was still there… He was… His reply to my inquiry was “Meet me somewhere...” To which I went off again lecturing him again, but was interrupted again, with a “So is that a yes..? It would give you the chance to yell at me in person...” I was rather huffy-puffy in my agreement to meet him...

We agreed to meet at Waffle House, have a meal and just talk... When I pulled into the parking lot, and don’t see his car I go off on a rant as to how he better show up or I will swing by his house before I went home that night and chew him out... But once I got some more frustration out of my system, I figured I'd finish my cigarette and wait on him in my car a total of 10 minutes... And if he didn’t show up then I was gone... Sure... He was farther away than I was... But not 10 minutes farther... He suddenly popped up outside my window and startles me... So I threw open the door, and climbed out of the car “What’s your damn problem blowing me off..? What got into your hard little head? I thought we were tight! Obviously not beca... ” and before I was even finished getting out of the car he abruptly took me into one of the biggest hugs, and begin apologizing for his ignorance... Which softened my mood a little bit... And we went in and grabbed a booth tucked away in the corner...

After the waitress got out orders and brought us our drinks, I started out rather coldly, as I was still mad, "So tell me… What have you been doing all this time that you've been blowing me off, ignoring my pages and ignoring my voicemails... What was so important for you to toss me to th’ dogs?" and He started telling me of trips to the beach, and trips to clubs and places I’d never heard of before, and parties, and how his job situation was, and every other little thing... He kept mentioning two guys we mutually knew, one who graduated with me who was rumored to be gay or at least bisexual, and another who directed our school's flag core a few years and who was openly gay... And I expressed some desire to see those two people and inquired as to weather or not the guy who graduated with me was in fact gay... J.P. verified the rumors, which gave me some startle as it was, because I'm not one to believe rumors and at one point the guy dated my closest female friend... Well... I repeated what he'd just verified in the form of a question... I needed to be told it once more for it to finally sink in... And that's when J.P. told me he was as well... I about dropped my fork... And so once again I repeated what he'd just said in the form of a question and sat there in total shock as he once again verified my question... I didn’t know what to do... I had pulled a double at work earlier that day, it’d been an emotional night, and I was just generally worn out... But energy from the chiaoticness of the entire situation seized me and I went into a bit of a frenzy of disbelief...

My very first reaction was “You’re kidding me...” Then it became a “When did this come a/b..? HOW did it come a/b..? But not in too many details...” and J.P. went into multiple explanations... Leaving out all the details that I didn’t need to know, which I’m thankful for... So any ways... Eventually I got used to him being gay... After all... This removed any stress I might have had that he'd develop feelings for me... Which can ruin a relationship... Though I love J.P. to death... I could have never seen myself dating him... He's a great person, sure... But totally not my type...