unpopped: chapter seven

After accidentally admitting to maybe being queer Delilah ran through a list of Janelle Monae songs and asked if I’d ever thought about getting a nose ring. There are so many qualifiers to being queer. Is it just a performance nowadays?

I had grown exhausted from the day and walked home. Now I’m sitting on the couch and waiting for Lydia to get back from reporting. Even though I don’t have any social media besides an account on Cherry I kept getting notifications from Apple News that Pioneer is one of the day’s top stories.

Everyone wants to know where this underground group came from and what their goals are. One of the New York Times opinion columnists opined that college kids have too much organizing power and not enough of a sex life.

He writes that “Today’s college students are bombarded with constant news updates and nonstop communication. Instead of being able to enjoy one another’s company they are busy curating the image of the life they want. In previous generations, there wasn’t the pressure to perform finding something wrong with the working establishment. Young adults’ mission was to have fun. I believe technology led to the embitterment and sexual frustration of the youth that builds into demonstrations like what we saw today.”

I text the article to Delilah and laugh out loud. It’s kind of iconic how off-base adults can be about this stuff. I hope Lyd publishes her article soon. The clip of the interview that I witnessed is a million times more rooted in the truth than this Harvard grad’s “thoughts.”

LOL that dude has no clue. He just wanted to put in the Times that he laid pipe in college.

Delilah texts back and I laugh out loud. I hear the front door open and a pinch of guilt leads me to text Delilah again.

You still haven’t told me the backstory to you and Lydia….

I see the three dots typing for a minute. Then they go away. Then this message delivers.

Ugh I’ll tell u tomorrow over coffee. 10am?

Perfect.

*

“Erin it got fucking nuts.” Lydia flops onto the couch next to me. Her cheeks are rosy with sunburn and her eyes drooping a little from lack of sleep.

“What do you mean?” This is the first time since I started hanging out with Delilah that Lydia has initiated anything but a fight with me.

“A bunch of Triple X people threw vibrators at the cops and they legit brought in like riot gear people. It was so insane. The local news came in and I’m sure if it has lasted any longer they would’ve had someone from Chicago helicopter in to cover it. Cooper got some really incredible shots.” Lydia pulls her laptop out and shows me some photographs of the blonde girl standing on the table in front of the cop, the cops in riot gear with a vibrator being thrown at their shields, and the faces of shocked students on the quad.

“Wow, those pictures are incredible Lyd. You and Cooper are going to have an amazing issue this week.” I give her a squeeze.

“Thanks, Erin that really means a lot.” Lydia’s eyes start to get watery.

“Hey, I know things have been weird the past few weeks. I honestly still don’t know what Delilah did or what exactly happened and I know that’s shitty of me but I’m kind of getting swept up in the excitement you know? I finally have somewhere to anonymously publish my writing and Delilah has a way of making me feel special.” I look at Lydia’s face and remember all the late-night talks we used to have. We haven’t talked to one another like this in almost a year. When did this distance stretch between us?

“Trust me. I know Delilah can be invigorating. We were best friends.” This is the first time Lydia’s revealed even a hint of what went down between her and Delilah. Do I ask her about it? Or should I wait until Delilah tells me tomorrow? Fuck I have to say something.

“Oh,” Alright I’m the biggest idiot in the world.

“We went to Pine Hill together. She was really quiet and I didn’t have friends so we always got paired up together for group projects. We bonded over the Twilight books and started hanging out on the weekends. I think she had heard about a Stephanie Meyer book signing at the Book Nook downtown and that’s what initiated the outside-of-school hangouts. From then on we were basically inseparable.” Lydia sighs. This is a loss she’s still mourning.

“That’s pretty iconic your friendship started over Twilight.” I try to make Lydia laugh.

She goes on, “We would eat lunch together, sign up for classes together, and we even co-wrote a Twilight fanfiction together. When Fifty Shades of Gray came out we had a joke that E L James stole our idea. Because we were so close and Pine Hill is the kind of all-girls school that thrives on rumors people started saying that we were lesbians. Classic kind of gossip that comes about when two people care about each other. I guess it didn’t help that our fanfiction was kind of gay.”

Lydia pulls her sweatshirt sleeves over her hands, “I thought because we had been through so much the rumors would just blow over. It’s not like we hung out with anyone else. I was obviously wrong about that. She told the whole school that I was a lesbian freak that was obsessed with her. The bullying got really bad. People would ask to switch gym periods if I was in class with them because they didn’t want to share the locker room with me.

“You’d think a school just for girls would be more supportive and not really care that much about one of their classmates being gay. It was extra stupid because when we got to college half of the girls that bullied me came out as being gay. It just makes me sad. And I didn’t say anything because Delilah had told me she was queer so I just transferred schools. Now she’s the president of a sex positivity club. It’s just weird to see I guess.” She shrugs her shoulders.

My heart is racing. I have no idea what to say.

“I’m...I’m so sorry Lydia. That’s so fucked up.” I try to wrap my arms around her.

“It’s okay. I guess her new club is kind of helping out my journalism career so whatever. I know I can’t tell you to not be friends with her and I don't want you to stop being Frida Nipple but I just want you to be careful.”

She gives me a hug and I have no idea what I'm going to say to Delilah tomorrow.