This choice: Chris and Debra find themselves in uncomfortable situations • Go Back...Chapter #56The two find themselv in uncomfortable situations by: Kirafair   After sunset, Chris and Tara readied themselves to meet the guys at a beach bonfire. At her urging, he slipped on some denim cutoff shorts over his bathing suit. He briefly wondered why he let Cheryl talk him into buying them u the first place. They were very tight. Like painted on tight. Emulating Tara, he turned away from a mirror to look over his shoulder.
‘The shorts do make my butt look cute’ he admitted
Each touched up their makeup going for a smokey look around the eyes. They then met up with the guys along with a couple other members of their family. Chris sat with Tara to his right and Mike on the left with a roaring fire at his feet. Chris sighed contentedly.
As part of the swap project, by necessity Chris had adopted some feminine mannerisms. Walking and sitting properly were givens. But he had subconsciously picked up many more the past few months. Working closely alongside female secretaries, paralegals, and engineers had an effect. Little things such as how he moved his hands while talking or how he moved hair away from his eyes. To the people around the fire, he acted no different than 'her' cousin Tara.
An attractive and vivacious young woman
Chris obviously didn’t think of himself that way and it was about to become a problem. When Mike tentatively wrapped an arm around his shoulders, Chris naively considered it nothing more than a friendly gesture. His teammates on the soccer team did it all the time.
*****
At the same time, Debra was pacing back and forth in her bedroom. Over and over again, she started to send a reply to Shannon Miller’s text yet was unable to finish. Her initial impulse was to do nothing. In effect to ‘ghost’ Shannon. Much simpler to avoid having what was likely to be a difficult discussion. Yet, Debra felt this wasn’t right. A thought kept popping up in her head. She should act like an honorable man would.
Debra finally settled on a course of action. She composed a simple text ‘We should catch up. I’d be glad to ride over to your house tomorrow if good for you’
*****
A little past noon the next day, Debra had finished all the odd jobs needed doing around the house. As the 'man' of the house, she put work before leisure time. With all obligations fulfilled, now she had time for the daily soccer drills.
Debra completed 20 consecutive foot dribbles and with a flourish rifled a kick into the upper corner of the backyard net. She took a measure of pride with how her skills were improving. Perhaps Chris’ suggestion to try out for the girls' team in the Fall wasn’t such a bad idea.
A familiar female voice shouting “Nice shot” from behind caused her to freeze in place. It didn’t belong to Cynthia Jackson. She turned to see her fear was confirmed.
Shannon Miller was here.
*****
At that precise moment, Chris and Tara had accepted an invitation to play beach volleyball with a couple guys. To make it fair, Tara was paired with Adam and Chris with Mike. While this was sort of new to him, Chris had played some during gym class so he wasn’t completely lost. Actually, his innate competitive nature led to ‘Debra’ playing fairly well. After each winning point, he would give Mike a double high-five. Chris got so enthused that on occasion, their chests lightly bumped together. Much like he did with his soccer teammates after scoring a goal.
In retrospect, Chris realized he had been sending the wrong message.
It was match point. Adam spiked a ball that Mike barely deflected. Chris made a tremendous diving dig that set up Mike for the winner. Jumping up and down in elation, he closed for a congratulatory high-five. Immediately after slapping palms, Mike grasped his shoulders and moved his head closer.
It all happened so fast. Chris slowly recognized what was about to occur. Mike was going to kiss him. By instinct, he quickly turned his head to the side at the last second. Their moment of triumph had turned awkward.
Very awkward.
Mike tried to shrug it off, but he was clearly embarrassed. Chris was left wondering why a guy would ever want to kiss him. For her part, Tara thought it entirely normal and encouraged him to accept it. When Chris pointed out he had a ‘boyfriend’, she was unfazed.
“C’mon Deb. It’s like that line from the movie/play Grease” she laughed “Summer fling don’t mean a thing”
It left him feeling very conflicted. Unfortunately, the affair put a damper on their afternoon fun. Chris continued to hang out with the guys but Mike was noticeably subdued and distant.
*****
Debra had been mentally preparing for a frank discussion with Shannon but never received a reply to her offer. That moment was now. In the past, she let her actions be guided by what she thought Chris would do. Except this time, there was no precedent to draw upon.
To her surprise, Debra was able to summon the confidence to tackle the situation head on.
“Hey, you surprised me,” she said with a modest degree of warmth. Shannon appeared slightly disappointed after a very platonic hug at which point Debra invited her to sit in a nearby lawn chair.
“There’s no easy way to break news this so I’m just going to say it. I recently started seriously dating another girl”
Shannon was left speechless, so Debra continued. “It didn’t seem right to inform you via a text last night. That’s why I offered to bike over and see you today" She paused to let those words sink in before adding
"I doubt there is any good way to do this. I’m sorry” she said candidly
Shannon slowly regained her composure and they began to talk. It soon came to light she’d heard the gossip about the fight with Sloane at the big party. Likely assumed the path to securing ‘Chris Jackson’ as her boyfriend was assured.
“Who is she?” she said curtly
Not for a second did Debra hesitate. “Debra Burns”
Shannon struggled with this revelation “I didn't know, ummmm, you knew her well” she tried to say diplomatically. The idiotic class status was rearing its ugly head again. It was unfathomable that a ‘cool’ guy could be in love with a ‘nerdy’ girl.
Debra explained how ‘he’ and ‘Debra’ worked together on an extra credit project and the events at the party. Shannon was feeling very distraught at this point and went to leave. For a moment, Debra considered it wise to say nothing. But a recurring theme of their conversation was a lack of understanding among their classmates. Even in this age of social media, nobody stopped to truly know one another.
She asked Shannon to stay. Her reply was caustic. “You don’t have to be nice to me Chris. I can handle myself”
“I believe it. But if you would like to stay and have lunch, I’d like to hear all about your swimming trips”
“Why?”
It was if Debra was doing her Presidential campaign speech again. “I really want to know! We only have one more year at Wheaton and maybe one day after you’ve become an Olympic medalist, I can say to people ‘I know Shannon” Debra was becoming quite impassioned by this point “Not just ‘Oh, I went to school with her”
Her plea worked. Debra made sandwiches and they talked about her trips and ‘his’ University project. In a somewhat better mood than before, she added one last comment before leaving
“You’re a really good guy Chris. Debra is a lucky girl”
Not only was Debra pleased with how this situation was resolved, but Shannon’s parting words echoed in her mind long afterwards.
*****
When Chris and Tara joined their new friends for the next night's bonfire, everyone was there with one notable exception. Mike was conspicuously absent. Chris pulled his cousin Adam aside and asked for his whereabouts.
He shrugged “said he wasn’t in the mood”
Chris mulled it for a few moments. He couldn’t shake the feeling he was partly at fault. Maybe he could still fix things. He turned to Tara and whispered “I’m going to talk with Mike. Be right back”
She offered to come along but he refused. Only ‘Debra Burns’ could make amends.
Luckily, Mike was sitting on the porch staring out at the ocean. After taking a deep breath, Chris stepped forward. Startled by ‘her’ sudden appearance, he jumped up and exclaimed.
“Debra! What’re you doing here?”
“I’m here to talk if it's okay?”
Mike pulled out a chair but he still had a hangdog look. They exchanged apologies yet Chris felt his own was inadequate. He drew upon his shared experience with Debra to explain
“I feel really bad that I gave you the wrong idea. Not sure if it’s a valid excuse but until a few weeks ago, I never had a guy express any interest in me. I’m still a newbie when it comes to all this”
Mike was surprised “You? I find that hard to believe. Honestly, I was just beating myself up for screwing up the very first time I expressed interest in a cute girl”
Chris was touched by his confession. “Good looking guy like you and no girlfriends? Now that I find hard to believe”
They talked for a while longer. It turned out ‘Chris’ and Mike shared a lot in common. Liked by classmates but insecure around the opposite sex. Sensing they had reached a good place, he suggested they return to the bonfire.
Mike extended an elbow and Chris giggled while accepting his gallant gesture. As the two headed for the beach with elbows linked, an unexpected thought popped into his head. Mike had kept insisting ‘she’ was very pretty and it was finally beginning to sink in.
Chris stopped and adopted a fairly decent ‘come hither’ expression.
“Can we try that kiss again? We did make a great team”
It was a pretty good kiss. Not quite as good as ‘Chris’ was capable of but decent nonetheless. He then realized Mike was being truthful about being attracted to ‘her’. This sense came not from his bones or deep within the heart. Instead, it was definitely palpable and pressing into his navel.
Mike had an erection tenting the front of his shorts.
For diplomatic reasons, Chris pretended not to notice. But the thought that another man was sexually attracted to ‘her’ was gaining traction.
What’s next?
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