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became even more morose when he spilled coffee on his ugly orange and yellow striped shirt. Gerard offered him his napkin.
Edison pushed up his geeky glasses and wiped at his shirt, but it was all in vain. The stain would be permanent. One good thing about wearing black, thought Gerard. Is that you can get dozens of stains on your clothes without them showing.
“Now I’m going to have to buy a new shirt.” Whined Edison.
“Oh.” Said Gerard tonelessly. He hated shopping.
“Would you mind if we stopped by a store?”
“Fine. Whatever. But I thought you wanted to go the arcade? You realize that we won’t have enough time.”
“Yes. I realize that.” Answered Edison irritably. They both threw away their drinks and headed out the door.
Gerard and Edison went out into the busy street, the late afternoon air refreshing to their senses. It was unusually loud, but that was because they lived in a big city and they were on the main drag. As they walked, they said nothing. Edison had his hands in the pockets of his corduroy trousers and looked at the ground.
“Edison, are you ok?” asked Gerard.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine. Thanks for coming with me Gerard.”
“Sure. Where are we going? Sears or something?”
“No.” said Edison quietly.
“J.C. Penny’s? Where?”
“A consignment shop.”
“Oh. Goodwill?” asked Gerard.
“Look, Gerard, your mom has money has money to buy you clothes from stores like Hot Topic and places like that. My parents don’t have enough money so we always have to get our clothes from —”
“Edison, it’s ok. I’m not going to judge you by the way you dress or where you get your clothes. It’s ok. Sometimes I get my T-shirts from Goodwill too. Pretend I didn’t say anything.” They kept on walking in silence until they came to a little store. It wasn’t Goodwill, and it was located in an alley.
Edison seemed embarrassed about the whole thing, but he didn’t say anything more. The store looked old and picked over and it smelled kind of funny. The “We’re Open” sign was faded. AS Edison pushed open the door a little bell dinged letting whoever was inside know that they had a customers. When they entered, they were consumed with the smell of an old basement. Gerard gagged a little. There was elevator music playing in the background, and no one was at the cash register.
“Just us I guess.” Said Gerard.
Edison looked at the floor and said softly
“You can go home, you know. You don’t have to watch me pick out my clothes.”
“You asked me to come. I thought you wanted me here!” retorted Gerard. Edison, still looking at the floor shrugged.
“Fine.” Said Gerard with an edginess to his voice. He headed out, slamming the door behind him.
The air had turned frigid and cold as he walked home. He felt annoyed. Edison has never acted like this before. Is it because he found out that I’m gay? He walked and walked, taking the long way home but walking fast so that he got there before dark. HE kicked whatever was in sight. A soda can, a bottle of beer, a recycling bin. He became paranoid. What if Edison didn’t want to hang out with him anymore because he was gay? He still had Shelley as a friend, but what if she started acting weird too? No. HE knew she wouldn’t. But he needed a friend his own age. At
