I can’t believe I didn’t know.Fucking suburbs, we’re so sheltered there.. .” “Huh?”“There’s a neighborhood! Right around the corner from here, a gay neighborhood! They call it the village. How’d we miss it all this time?”“Cuz we’re antisocial losers?”“Exactly! But no more. We have to go, we have to go to- day! How do I look? There are bars and coffee shops and... and... others!”“Other what?”“Other gay people! We might be able to go dancing, maybe they won’t care that we’re sixteen. Can we go? I know we’re supposed to go to the gallery, but... please? We can walk from here! Oh, my God, I’m so nervous, I’m going to have a heart attack!”And so begins your lifelong traipsing up and down Church Street by the side of Bernadette.Bernadette learns to flirt. You don’t. Instead, you bargain for time: girl bars for her at night, galleries and art stores for you during the day.At the Chamber Gallery one day, you stand in front of a painting for so long that Bernadette gets bored and begs to meet up with you later.“Sure, go,”
