Carly Rae Jepsen
EMOTION SIDE B (2016)
“Don’t feel good about it?”
“About what? Being discriminated since the beginning of our lives, holding the breath every time in the teenage years when the big guy in the school came to you or pretending to kiss the blondie-beauty-girl of the high school just to show your parents that you’re straight?”
“Ow, someone apparently is in the best mood of the night, run?” — says Fred, the green-eyes gay with a six pack that everyone in the table would kill for it. Not literally, but you know how the gays are.
There are four gays drinking in the straight bar. When the straight guys are watching the World Cup, we are keeping our conversation and trying to figure out what is going on in our twenties lives.
Except for Carl, who is thirty-four, has a good job as a law-counseling of the State, a car of the year, also a puppy named Samantha (yes, from Sexy and City). I even don’t know how we accept Carl in this group, but as the gay life, he came when he started dating with Fred (the six-pack), and now they are two good friends who smash their buts sometimes. Seriously that’s what they call.
About Fred, 23 years old, a barman in a straight club, working every night, waking up late, sometimes uses some drugs to keep awake, trying to get back to the study, but always in the gym. That explains the abs. Fred also is a good friend of Richard, my best friend. Richard is about to 26, maybe in two weeks. Trying to pay the college and the rent, work in a marketing company shooting some advertising campaigns, sometimes he calls me to help find out models. Not that I’m a model, but Richard shoots some campaigns of hands and feets lotions, drinks and that was the time they worked on a hot dog food truck ad, miss that day.
I knew Richard in the college, working on a project showing some old movies to this group of teenagers that had problems with the law, it was a good project, then, we had the terrible idea to exhibit Thelma & Louise. At least, Sarandon and Davis were amazing.
Richard is the one who’s questioning about feeling good to be young gay in these days, and I’m the one who answered in the bad mood.
“I mean, it’s good to be gay guys, but don’t you ever paid attention to the way we’re living our lives? Holding our cell phones as it’s the only thing we have, working a lot to show that we are not just a particular group and we have other characteristics besides our gay things…”
“Gay things, Ed, come on, that’s rude.” — Fred, the guy doesn’t like me so much.
“I know what he’s trying to say. I feel that too, Ed, society try to fit us like we are just gays, right? As we are the comedy-guys, always in the good mood, that we can drink cosmopolitan every night with our girls, shopping, whatever, madonna queen of pop, who’s your favorite diva?, right? — Says the Sex and City guy, I like Carl.
Everyone take some of the drinks, the straights yelling about something, we all look.
“I feel sorry for their girlfriends” — Richard pointing out with the cup of gin to a group of women — “they need to hang out every time with the boyfriends and have to talk to the others girls like she like each other.”
“Maybe they like each other” — Fred says staring a guy.
“Fred, don’t, he’s using a Brazilian Football teeshirt, and it’s clear that he’s straight.” — Sometimes Carl has the power of a big dad in all of us.
“I would bet a drink, Carl”- Sometimes I really want to shake this damn Fred and ask why he’s so snob. Maybe it’s the eyes and the six-pack and pecs (yes, he has the whole gym body package).
“If you do not kiss this guy until we leave this bar, you pay my Uber. Ok?” — Carl really knows the child he used to date.
“Ok” — Then, we saw Fred trying to do everything to start a conversation with the guy.
We saw Fred trying his best, including taking their sweater and “accidentally” show the abs. Then, I was in the restroom and the brazil-teeshirt-guy came into my box, he looked into my eyes, a few seconds, I would say. He tried to kiss me and the only thing I said was “not here man”. He gave me his number.
Backing to the guys, Fred already called an Uber for Carl, Richard is texting to the ex-boyfriend, Carl is sexting with a guy in Grindr and Fred is quiet, with his ego.
I sat down, take some beer and thinking, this table really can describe the whole gay culture, with Carly Rae Jepsen playing in the background.