Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 8

I haven't figured out how to get Fluffy to sit still long enough to brush her teeth, but I was working on it. "Okay, you got me there. Look, I'll pull over at the next rest stop and we can put her in the cage for a while after she goes potty. Then we can switch drivers."
    "Thanks, Jerry. Human bio break too, though. Should we wake up ol' Hairy now or when we stop?"
    "Let him sleep until we get there. He's the next driver."
    I, Jeremy Hamilton— known as Jerry— and my two best friends, Kevin Walters and Harry (Hairy, since he was a big ol' bear) O'Connor, were traveling from Oklahoma City to Key West in my new baby, a 2002 Kia Sportage. While it seemed roomy and comfortable around the city, it was currently packed to the gills with Fluffernutter's cage and food, our duffel bags, a cooler full of energy drinks and sodas, lots of snack food, and sleeping bags. It was Thursday, June 12, 2003, and we were on a Road Trip— yes, that's with capital letters— because we were driving down to be part of the PrideFest celebration in Key West.
    Our goal was to be among the three thousand or so LGBT people who were going to hold the "sea to shining sea" rainbow flag, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean along Duval Street, on Sunday. We would be there to celebrate the whole Pride weekend and staying on for another week's vacation, starting in thirty-six more hours! We were planning to drive through the night, since the total trip was 1,624 miles, according to Google Maps. It looked straightforward, and with three drivers, we each only had to drive about five hundred miles, which we were spreading over forty-eight hours. We hoped that would give us some breaks, a turn to sleep in the back seat, and plenty of time to get us to Key West. We figured we'd get to the hotel and unpack on Saturday, then head over to Duval Street and enjoy the Street Fair and the crowds, and just revel in being gay and out and enjoying the gay-friendly atmosphere. I figured we could sleep on the beach for the next eight days if we needed to, but no way was I going to miss immersing myself in the gay pride atmosphere and just enjoy being me for a change.
    The three of us were used to being together (we're lovingly called the 'Three Gay Musketeers' on campus, and we decided to embrace it). We met at our small, private college, and were the only three openly gay men there, as far as we knew. We were close friends, as well as a support group during all the times we felt isolated on our busy, rural campus. All of us knew others who were afraid to come out, since it was a pretty conservative school, with somewhat religious overtones. We ended up meeting with a lot of those men in secret, and tried to be encouraging and supportive as they struggled with their own sexual identities, and the scary idea of baring their souls to family and friends.
    I told Mom and Dad my freshman year in high school that I was gay and they said that they had kind of guessed already. Well, I'm not exactly butch; I'm more of what most people think of as a twink, although I hate that word; I'm not blond and stupid, just short. I've always been loose-limbed, I talk with my hands, and I'm very expressive. I'm also only about five feet seven and skinny, but I was on the high school swim team and am now on our college team, so at least I have a nice body. In fact, that's how I met Kevin during our freshman year; he's on the team too. We're pretty much built alike, except he's like an inch taller than me. We immediately clicked and hung out all the time, and man, we're like sharks in the water when we compete against each other. Kevin is really good-looking, but I don't think I'm anything special. He is blond with brown eyes, and I'm dark with blue eyes. My eyes are my best feature, and I generally wear eye liner to highlight them when I'm going out. Kevin doesn't have to do anything like that, and I think he's perfect as is.
    We met Hairy a couple of months later, and that's when we became the Three Gay Musketeers. I'd never hidden my orientation, since it's kind of hard for me to anyway. Hairy was out too from the get go, but he was in a different dorm and heavy into football, so it took a while longer to meet him that fall. He just fit with us and we're all close. It took a while for Kevin to come out, but it became kind of obvious, since he hung out with two gay guys all the time. He's quieter than Hairy or me, and got the brunt of the name calling and suffering—