Draw the Line

by Laurent Linn

  Lev laughs so freely, so relaxed. It’s kinda contagious.

  Laughter comes from all around. I’m in a room full of gay guys . . . still trying to wrap my head around this.

  LaTrina reaches behind one of the crooked red velvet drapes taped to the wall and reveals a big shopping bag, explaining it’s filled with “a few trinkets for tonight’s lucky winners.” Then she starts the game.

  I’m so distracted hoping she doesn’t pick on me that it takes a while to focus. Tossing out funny one-liners here and there, she announces number after number and it seems forever until someone hollers “Bingo!” at last. It’s a guy at the back of the room.

  LaTrina peers at him over the crowd. “Congrats! What’s your name, honey?”

  “It’s Curtis—”

  “LIAR!” she screams, then slaps her hands over her mouth, pretending to be shocked.

  Everyone cracks up.

  The poor guy turns bright red.

  Eyes wide, she says, “I am so sorry, y’all. But I was born with a condition called Honesty Tourette’s. Instead of cussing, I yell my inner truth.”

  I smile at Lev.

  “I apologize, dear,” LaTrina says. “Now, what’s your name again?”

  He laughs and shakes his head. “You sure you’re okay?”

  She nods and mouths, Fine.

  He inhales. “All right. It’s Curt—”

  “LIAR!” she screams, then covers her mouth again.

  I bust out laughing.

  Tossing her hands in the air, she says, “Oh, screw it.” She reaches in the shopping bag, pulls out a tiny baby bib that says WHOSE BOOB DO I HAVE TO SUCK TO GET A DRINK AROUND HERE?, and tosses it across the room at the guy.

  This. Is. Hysterical.

  She goes back to her balls and we speed along through the next game.

  Up close, LaTrina’s emerald satin dress is so impressive, made of a tight-fitting corset and flowing skirt that’s short in front but long in back. With a shiny silver belt, noisy silver bracelets, and those dangerous-looking black boots, it’s almost like a superhero outfit—but with even more flair, which is saying a lot.

  Drag queens could definitely give serious cosplayers a run for their money. Hmm . . . drag queens and superheroes. Seems like LaTrina needs to make an appearance in Graphite’s world. That’ll be fun to draw.

  Gripping Lev’s shoulder, I whisper in his ear, “Thanks for bringing me.”

  He wraps his arm around me. “I knew you’d have fun.”

  I shut my eyes for just a moment, letting his arm make the room and the chatter fall away. Then I open my eyes again.

  It’s almost like I’m outside myself looking down at us, seeing a guy holding me. And all of me, inside and outside, is amazed.

  One last squeeze and he lets go.

  Glancing up, I catch the guy seated next to me watching us, smiling.

  This may not be the “real” world, but it’s pretty damn real for me.

  After many games of not winning, Lev and I finish one bag of popcorn, then start on another. My bingo cards have sucked all night and I haven’t even come close until the card I have now. But the other guys at our table have done all right. Their prizes, a solar-powered toy hula girl and a Pope-shaped soap-on-a-rope, are proudly displayed in the center of the table.

  “Here we go . . . another spin of my orb!” LaTrina twirls her plastic globe, opens the top, and reaches in.

  I look down at my bingo card. Finally, I just need two more numbers to win.

  Having almost won three times so far, Lev’s poised with his green marker. “I’m so close! G-seven. Just need that.”

  Each time LaTrina announces a letter, she makes it stand for something. “G,” she says, “for . . . ?”

  People yell out various things all at once: “Gay?” “Gaga?” “Gluteus maximus?”

  “G,” she says, “for Gird Your Loins . . . three! G-three, anyone?”

  From around the room comes a massive “Awwwww.”

  “Shoot!” says Lev.

  “Yesssss!” says the guy next to me as he whips the cap off his marker and stamps his card.

  Lev bumps my arm. “Hey, you have it too! Hurry! Mark it, mark it!”

  How’d I miss that? I fumble with my marker and stamp a red blob on the G-3 square. There’s one possibility now I could get bingo, if she calls I-40.

  LaTrina wiggles her fingers. “Okay, I’m goin’ in.”

  Lev chants under his breath, “G-seven, G-seven, G-seven. Pleeease!”

  She pulls out another ball. “I . . . for I am so ready to get outta these damn heels.”

  She called I! My turn to chant under my breath. “I-forty, I-forty, I-forty, I-forty.”

  LaTrina hears—she’s so close by she could reach out and touch me. She bats her lashes at me. “I recognize your face. What’s your name?”

  I clear my throat and squeak, “Uh, Adrian.”

  “UhAdrian, now that’s a unique na—” Her smile fades and she stares at me. “Are you the Adrian?”

  What? My stomach drops and I glance at Lev, who just looks at me wide-eyed.

  I shrug. “I don’t know?” Who does she think I am?

  “Call out the number!” someone yells from across the room.

  Her smirk and composure snap back as LaTrina puts her hands on her hips. “Calm your nerves, honey.” Pretending to check out the ball in her hand, she peers over at my card on the table. Then she holds the ball up in the air, waving it and blocking the number with her fingers. “I-forty!” She quickly drops the ball back in the plastic globe.

  What? “BINGO!” I yell, quickly stamping the square and knocking sequins all over the place.

  “Woo-hoo!” Lev says.

  “Bingo!” a girl screams at another table.

  “Sorry, dear.” LaTrina points to me. “This cutie said it first.”

  Lev and the guys at my table clap and say, “Yaaay!”

  LaTrina puts out her palm. “Verification!”

  I hand her my card. In one motion she glances at it and tosses it over her shoulder. “Looks good!” She reaches into her shopping bag but bites her lower lip. “Oh, dear. We’re out of prizes.”

  I stare at her empty bag. Oh, well. At least I won, even if she did fake the number.

  “Hold on,” she says, “you ain’t leavin’ empty-handed.” Fingering her bracelets, she chooses one and slips it off. “For our last prize of the night, something near and dear to a queen’s heart: tacky plastic jewelry.”

  She hands me a thin silver band with little stars etched around the outside.

  “Think of it as protection, like Wonder Woman’s magic bracelets. I always do.” She twists her forearms back and forth, making her jewelry clink and tinkle.

  I slip the bracelet onto my left wrist.

  A boom-boom-boom comes over the speakers, like someone tapping the mic.

  LaTrina rolls her eyes. “I hear ya, I hear ya! Well, boys and girls, not only have we run outta prizes, but we’ve run outta time. Hope you’ve had fun, and thanks for having me!” She opens her arms wide and curtsies.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” says the voice over the speakers, who I now see is a guy standing by the doorway. “The ever-lovely, and long-winded, LaTrina!”

  We all applaud as LaTrina flips off the microphone guy, then saunters over to her table of friends. The chatter starts up again. All at once, the fluorescent lights flick on and the solar-powered hula dancer twitches her hips, making the sequins on the table jump.

  Blinking in the garish light, I say, “There goes the magic.”

  Lev snaps the cap on his marker with a pop and turns to me. “How does she know you?”

  “I have no clue.”

  “She totally gave you that last number,” the guy next to me with the bleached-blond hair says.

  “You noticed that too?” I say. “I have no idea why she’d do that.”

  The other guy grabs the hula girl and Pope soap from the table. “I think she likes you.” Bo
th guys get up.

  Lev loops his arm through mine. “She’d better not.”

  “I bet she was just giving me crap,” I say. “All a part of her act, right?”

  The guys smile and wave as they turn to go.

  We say bye to them and I sink back in my chair. “That was a trip!”

  Lev checks out his phone. “It’s after nine o’clock. That hour sure whooshed by. My face so hurts from laughing.”

  I rub my cheeks. “Mine too.”

  People are heading out, so I stand and pick up little Jimmy’s painting from the table. From my lap, glittery sequins tumble to the floor. Lev gets up and spins in place, raining more sequins around our feet.

  As we head to the door LaTrina waves me over to where she and about five of her friends still sit.

  “Uh-oh, what now?” I whisper to Lev.

  “I knew it.” She nods, her rhinestone earrings swinging against her neck. “You are the Adrian.”

  “Sorry?”

  A skinny guy in a turtleneck sitting next to LaTrina gestures to the group at their table. “We all know Kobe.”

  Oh.

  LaTrina eyes me. “I recognize you from that video he sent. You were screaming at the guy bashing him.”

  I freeze. They’re all staring at me.

  That horrible phone video from Boo.

  LaTrina puts her hands on the table. “He told me about you.”

  I swallow. “What did he say?”

  Even through her mask of makeup her expression is serious. “He said if it wasn’t for you he’d probably be dead.”

  I look at a surprised Lev, then back at her. “He did?”

  “You came to his rescue.”

  One of her drag friends snaps her fingers. “You must have the balls of a drag queen. Fierce!”

  I shake my head. “I—I don’t know about that. It was kinda terrifying.”

  The skinny guy says to Lev, “You’ve got a brave friend, there.”

  Lev puts his arm around me. “He’s pretty awesome.”

  People clear the tables around us, folding and banging the chairs.

  I fiddle with my new bracelet and say to LaTrina, “So, have you seen Kobe in person?”

  She shakes her head.

  “You should,” I say. “Just go see him no matter what he tells you. He’s in bad shape but really needs to laugh.”

  Someone flicks the lights on and off.

  LaTrina stands and says, “Jeez! We get the hint.” Then she grabs my wrist. “Okay, I’ll go see him. But maybe out of drag. Don’t wanna frighten any children. Or small animals.”

  I smile.

  She lets go. “See ya round, the Adrian.”

  Lev and I make our way through the building and out the front door into the chilly night. An almost-full moon peeks over the trees and a few people hang out talking by their cars.

  I inhale a deep, deep breath. “Okay. Mind officially blown!”

  He takes my hand and laces his fingers through mine. “She’s right, just like I told you in the car. You are a hero.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that.”

  “No one else did anything that night,” he says. “I sure didn’t.”

  “But—”

  “You’re special.” With his free hand, he brushes his hair out of his face. “Can I tell you something?”

  My heart pounds faster. “What?”

  “I’ve liked you ever since I first saw you last year.”

  Three guys bust out of the lobby, laughing and chatting, and walk around us into the lot.

  “C’mere.” I pull him around the side of the building, away from the floodlights and into the shadows, and lean against the wall. “I’ve liked you for a long time too.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, way really.” I take his other hand. “So what made you, ya know, kiss me in the cafeteria?”

  “Between what you did at Boo and that cute hair, I was finally pretty sure you were gay. And when you walked into my car door—”

  “Hey, you opened it in—”

  “Anyway, I just couldn’t take it anymore and had to let you know how I felt.”

  “You need to shut up now.”

  He blinks. “Why?”

  “Because it’s my turn.” Spinning us so his back is to the wall, I focus on the glints of moonlight in his eyes. Then I kiss him, as only the Adrian could.

  THE MORNING LIGHT SLIPS THROUGH gaps in the curtains and makes a soft shadow pattern across my bedroom ceiling. It’s like a work of art, transforming with the sunrise. I can’t see the bedside clock, so I lift my head to peer over Harley, curled up in a ball next to my pillow. This is a first—I’m wide awake even before my alarm goes off. On a Monday morning.

  Sitting up, I scratch Harley behind her ears. She stretches and yawns, tilting her head at me.

  “I know, you’ve never seen me excited to get to school before, have you?”

  She puts her paw over her tiny face and shuts her eyes. Clearly, she doesn’t care that I get to see Lev this morning.

  I hop up and go to my drawing table. Nothing like seeing your art fresh the next day after you’ve created it. Especially first thing, when your brain is blank and you can almost look at your creation like it’s not yours.

  Wow, that’s even better than I remember. I spent so much of yesterday sketching Oasis, my superhero version of Lev, getting his hair and costume and face just right, but no drawing could compare to the real thing.

  Still wrapping my brain around that I’m, well, not boyfriends, but something-romantic-I-don’t-know-the-word-for, with Lev. Lev!

  Saturday night, we finally peeled ourselves away from the wall of the LGBT center—that was mind-blowing—and drove back, my body buzzing and both of us talking like crazy. We were starving, so we stopped in a Taco Bueno. But we were instantly reminded we weren’t surrounded by people like us anymore and were thrust back into the effin’ real world. A table of jocks hanging out there decided to announce to the whole place that we had some silver sequins stuck in our hair and, wow, isn’t that pretty. Like fairy dust. So we took our burritos and ate in the car.

  As Lev drove me home, I told him all about the mysterious locker notes. When I mentioned I thought it could be Manuel Calderón writing them, Lev said he doubts it because Manuel’s a wrestler. Wouldn’t he be on Doug’s side?

  But I explained about Manuel thinking Buddy’s a dick, so maybe he thinks worse of Doug? Plus, he seems so awkward and shy. I told Lev how he gets all weird and blushes when he talks to me.

  Lev said he’d better not have a crush on me, or else.

  “Or else what?” I asked.

  He smiled. “Or else I’ll get LaTrina on his ass.”

  That’d be a sight.

  Thinking about these notes got me fed up, so last night I wrote my response at last. I’m going to leave it in that brick wall this morning:

  I think I know who you are. Why won’t you just talk to me?

  I’m sick of stupid games.

  Blasting the soundtrack to Star Wars Episode IV, I zip around and get ready for school.

  While we’re having our granola in the kitchen, Mom says she likes that I’m finally wearing this white button-down shirt she bought me a while ago. When I tell her it suits my mood today, she smiles.

  I can’t help smiling myself.

  I speed-walk to school to meet Lev early at his car in the parking lot like we planned. There he is, leaning on his trunk. As soon as he sees me approach, his face turns into one big grin.

  Maybe I’ll melt right here on the asphalt.

  Or I’ll just wave, which I do, and say, “Hey!”

  He steps forward but reconsiders and leans back against the car again. “Hi!”

  I get it, I want to throw my arms around him, too. But obviously, that ain’t happenin’ here.

  He points to my wrist. “You’re wearing it.”

  I twist LaTrina’s bracelet. “Yeah. Haven’t taken it off.”

  He looks d
own at the ground, wavy strands of hair blowing over his face. “Does that mean you’re still glad you went with me on Saturday?”

  I reach my foot forward and tap the tip of his shoe with mine. “Definitely. Are you?”

  He taps my foot even harder. “Absofreakinlutely.”

  We lock eyes, then look away.

  My insides tingle.

  “Thanks for coming so super-early.” When I told Lev my plan on the phone last night about writing a note back, he offered to be my lookout.

  Surveying the lot, I say, “You got a good spot. We can see everything from here.”

  He pulls his hair back behind his ears. “Did you write the note?”

  Some car arrives and parks in the row behind us.

  “Yeah, all set.” I pull my French folder out of my backpack and hand it to him so it’ll look like we’re just talking about homework. I placed my note inside.

  He opens the folder and reads my note, gripping it so it doesn’t blow away—it’s such a windy morning.

  He nods. “That’s great, short and to the point.”

  I glance over at the Dumpster by the cafeteria, but no one’s near it.

  As soon as the girl behind us locks her car and moves on, I crumple the note into a tiny wad and slip it into my front pocket. Putting the folder back inside, I hand my bag to Lev and take a deep breath. “Guess it’s now or never.”

  He scans around. “Coast looks clear.”

  At a slow and casual pace, I make my way to the Dumpster about two rows away. Next to it, Doug’s parking space is empty, so I need to act fast in case he pulls up.

  Ugh—the stench is beyond nasty back here.

  Stepping behind the Dumpster, I spot the missing brick and cram my note as far inside the gap as I can. Little pieces of mortar crunch as I twist so it stays in place.

  When I get away from the gross wall, I take a quick look back—you can only see a tiny bit of white poking out.

  Across the rows of cars, Lev gives me an all-clear thumbs-up. My pulse going a mile a minute, I hustle back to Lev’s car. A few more people walk through the lot, but they’re paying more attention to their phones than to me.

  Lev hands me my backpack and says under his breath, “Success?”

  I exhale and say, “Yes. Disgusting place to leave a stupid note. Maybe it is someone’s idea of a joke after all. Did anyone see me?”