Member-only story
I Was Forced to Come Out of the Closet When I Was 16
But this is not a sad story.
We were kissing on a friend’s bed.
She lifted her head and asked me, “Is it okay if I leave you a hickey?”
I said no because my parents would see it.
We’d been dating for exactly one month, but neither of our parents knew. Our friends knew, and anyone who saw us holding hands in the school hallway knew, but neither of us was ready to come out.
She was — is — bisexual, but I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t even know I liked girls until a couple of months before we started dating.
If my parents saw a hickey on my neck, I had no idea how they’d react.
Anyway, the kissing continued. Eventually, she lowered her head and started kissing my neck, and a few moments later she met my eyes, and with fake worry, she said she’d “accidentally” left hickeys.
My eyes widened, and I got up to look in the mirror. Sure enough, two dark marks were in visible spots on my neck.
Hours later, we were in her room. She asked me if I was angry with her, and do you know what I did? I kissed her.
I was pissed, I was scared, I was worried, but I kissed her.
