LGBTQIA+ | Human Stories
The Quiet Struggles of Gay Dating in a Heteronormative World
The chemistry of friends on the Kinsey scale
Aaron and I bonded through proximity. He worked at a sunglass kiosk at the mall; I worked at an engraving store that was, conveniently, directly across from him. During lulls, it felt like we could chat about almost anything. On breaks, we would grab one another food or a soda. Some people who worked at the mall thought we were a couple. I was one of those people—or at least I felt like we were on a romantic path. But there was one prodigious, meddlesome, elephant-in-the-living-room problem.
“I’m straight! Why does everyone always think I’m gay?” Aaron asked one day.
“You flirt with me more than any guy who wants to date me,” I answered with a simper.
He denied it, but the blush on his cheeks told a different story. Maybe he wasn’t as straight as he wanted people to believe. There was a chance that he was a two on the Kinsey scale. Aaron changed the subject. He wanted to talk about what we should do after work. Neither of us wanted to go straight home, but had no other plans.
“Why don’t we have a dinner date,” Aaron said.