My misspent youth of folly; part 3

After high school I became best friends with the twin sister of my only girlfriend. Stacey and Stephanie Bernhardt, Best friend; former girl friend. Stacey and I were both kind of counter culture kids stuck behind the Orange Curtain. Although I never came out to her, she figured I was gay. So there were were; the goth and the gay, and weren't we a pair!

We really bonded when Steph got surprise married to some guy, even though she was still telling her parents that we were "going steady"... yeah, right out of high school... all of us 18. So Stacey was the one that called me and told me, and then accompanied me to the wedding. From then on we were inseparable. Stacey and I did everything together. Eventually we build our own cool group. Stacey, Halla, April and I...

We would hang in my garage, or at one of their boyfriends houses... or that one night at Staceys' when her parents were out of town... We all decided to hang out there and drink... in the enclosed spa. A couple shots in and we're all pretty happy... a couple more shots and I'm walkin Stacey out into the back yard for some air... I sit her down on the kids card table and I sit across from her on the plastic slide. For some reason she thinks it is the perfect time to pull the Sharon Stone leg cross and winds up falling right through the table, legs straight up... I cant stop laughing and pointing long enough to catch my breath and end up screech-vomiting while laughing through tears... well... you get the drift... pretty average teenagers.

Well, one night when I got off from my shift working the counter at Ross, Stacey, Halla and April were all waiting for me in the parking lot...

"What's goin on?" I asked.

"We're going to try out the Denny's on El Toro tonight... I hear it's less crowded and better atmosphere than the Alicia Denny's... that place has been taken over by the high school kids... bleh..." said Halla in her French Lebanese way...

So we all piled into her dodge colt hatchback with the tinted windows and drove the seven or eight blocks to the Dennys. Now when they say the place had better ambiance what they really meant was that instead of the horrid wallpaper of most dennys, this one actually had some nice aged wood paneling instead. Still... it was Dennys.

"What can I get you kids" Jan asked as if bracing for yet another smart ass kids comment.

"An All American Slam for me Jan" I responded... and then coyly whispered "up against a hard wall" to my friends...

As we waited for and then ate our food, the girls decided that it would be a fun game to go around the table and tell our deepest darkest secrets... Hehehe... wont that be fun... they all asked with some sort of evil knowing in their eyes. I cant remember what Aprils was, but we giggled and then moved on to Stacey... and she described some sordid affair that barely skirted the law in her youth...

Halla however, burned her darkest secret deep into my cornea insuring that I shall think of that ill placed cucumber and carrot always as tools of depravity!! Which, by the way, turns out to be a fantastic excuse as to why you wont eat those things... Give just enough information like I just did, and trust me, they wont want you to continue!! Halla... Shocka!!!

And then there was I.

They all turned to me with anticipation...

"I was locked up in a mental hospital for 8 months once..."

"Yeah, we already knew that one... has to be deeper... something you have never told anyone..." Halla said, pressing me in the direction she wanted me to go.

"Well shoot, I was raised by hippies and had a pretty cool and weird life... wait, I was in special ed from 1st grade to 10th... did you all..."

"Yes, we went to high school with you... duh..." said April... I left out the part about her being my reluctant senior homecoming date didn't I... Yes, she asked me if I was going to ask her to dance... yes I said not to this music... yes she went and danced alone. I was an awkward gay teenager... leave me alone!!

Anyway...

"Well, I guess I had a pretty good childhood. I don't really have any secrets like that..."

"Alright, come off it, we found your video tape Shane. Jason found it in your VCR when he was hangin out in the garage." Halla blurted out, bringing all conversation to a stunned silent stop.

All motion seemed to slow down... the couple by the door that seemed to be moving this way, did his head just jolt in my direction... had they overheard? The waitress seemed to be pouring that water at the next table for an eternity... Why was everyone suddenly staring at me... Why was everyone in the restaurant suddenly staring at me??

"What video?"

"You know what video, your face just turned scarlet." Halla said... leaning slightly back as if she was in complete control and was only waiting for me to stumble before exposing and destroying me, right here... in Dennys.

"Its not mine... I was just holding on to it for someone..." Yes. I actually used that defense when they confronted me with porn. I know, I cant believe it either.

"Shane... If there is anything you want to tell us, you should. You are my best friend in the whole world, and there is nothing you can say right now that would change the way I feel about you." Said Stacey.

"uh... well... " as I glance around... no one is near... "i'm gay".

"Cool!" hailed Halla, "I love gay guys, they have always and will always be, a girls best friend."

Stacey leaned over and closely whispered "you know, I've known for years... I was just waiting for you to tell me."

So when I came out, every one of my friends and their boyfriends liked me, and liked having a gay guy around. Which seems weird to me, now as I think back on my time in Orange County. Somehow I managed to having a completely positive coming out experience in one of the most christian/republican intolerant locales in the United States.

But still... at a Dennys?? You ladies couldn't have taken me down to the Little Shrimp in Laguna Beach? I had to find that place all by myself!!!