Read One Voice 02 - Here Without You for Free Online

sister at his aunt’s house and make the trip back to New Hampshire. Before the meeting, Nate got real quiet, and Casey and I had no trouble figuring out exactly why. We knew the dude, and we knew he always fought feelings of low self-esteem, especially in the academic department. Boston City College was an academic environment, and Nate felt out of his element.
    Casey and I had thought we’d fixed these insecurities in Nate over the course of last year, our senior year in high school. We’d studied together an embarrassing amount, and as a result, Nate’s grades had skyrocketed compared to his freshman and sophomore years. Fact is, dude, if you’re reading this, you’re supersmart, and the only one who doesn’t know it is you. Just saying.
    But Nate slipped back into his old insecurities quick enough.
    So even before we headed over to Ledyard Hall, Nate was basically silent and sulky, and it was clear that he was suffering from his old insecurities to the umpteenth degree. But I didn’t let him off the hook and say “Why don’t you skip the meeting and head home now?” I wanted him there. We needed him to be there. He needed to be there with us.
    So we dragged him over to the meeting, and as I expected, we only got five returning members, not including us. I guess two of the kids who’d come last week either had other plans or weren’t committed to the concept.
    “Well,” I joked as the three of us entered the classroom. “Our first task is going to have to be a focus on recruitment, huh?”
    My five loyal members, along with Casey and Nate, laughed a bit uncomfortably. Then we pushed the tables to the sides of the room and formed our chairs into one circle. Once we were all facing each other, I made an announcement.
    “And so, in the interest of openness and out of the love and pride I feel in my relationship, I’d like to officially introduce to you my family. You have already met my partner, Casey. And now I would like to introduce you to our partner, Nate.”
    Yeah. The room was pin-drop quiet for a full minute, and I noticed Nate had turned alarmingly pink. I also noted that Casey reached over to where Nate was sitting in the chair beside him and took his hand.
    “I hope that Nate will be able to be here for many, in fact, for most , Sunday evening meetings to offer his support and help to the cause—acceptance of everyone’s sexual orientation and choice of partners.”
    Five sets of staring eyes slid from me to Casey to Nate and then fixed on me again. One by one, they nodded. Small nods—but nods nonetheless, except for one dude.
    “That’s fucked up,” he said, and then got up and left. Casey turned bright red, and I worried he might bolt too, but Nate hung on to his hand, which kinda settled him down. As long as I knew Casey, though, he hated to be the subject of controversy, because being noticed in a negative way made him feel like a target. At that moment, I was more glad than ever that Nate was with us.
    One girl thankfully muttered, “To each his or her own,” as he walked out, and, armed with that hint of approval, I figured it would be best to get our minds on the business at hand.
    “I wasn’t joking when I said that recruitment would be our first task. And I feel confident that we’ll capture the interest of the LGBTQ community here at school if we make ourselves noticeable enough. But I’m not satisfied with that.”
    I am sure that Casey and Nate knew exactly where I was going with this, but I got more “this guy is warped” looks from the rest of the small group. The four of them were examining me as if I was a science experiment, which might not seem super overwhelming in terms of numbers, but they were the majority.
    “Everyone here, as well as everyone on campus, deserves to have his or her sexual orientation and gender identity respected. This cannot happen without straight allies.” I took a deep breath and then glanced at Casey, who made an effort to smile, and