When Best Friends Kiss

The Changes - Part 1

I immediately recognized Kareem coming down the sidewalk towards The Sweet Onion Bistro. His slow strides with hands awkwardly in his pockets had always been easy to spot. The person with him, on the other hand, I wasn't sure. We were supposed to be meeting Malcolm too but the person walking beside Kareem looked particularly feminine with shoulder-length curly hair, a yellow short sleeved top with a rose on the front, and cuffed tapered jeans.

"Who is that?" I asked Alex.

"Kareem and Malcolm?"

Was Malcolm... transitioning? Why didn't Alex tell me? But, wait, it was still 'Malcolm' and not Mallory or something? "He―Uh Malcolm looks effeminate..." The other two headed inside so the host could lead them to our table on the patio.

Alex sighed. "This is why you should check Instagram and Snapchat. He crossdresses now, but he's not trans. And this is mild; you should see him online."

"So like drag?"

"No. Just regular cross-dressing. And I don't even like that term, to be honest, because it reinforces the notion that clothes are only for a certain gender. But it's what Malcolm calls it, so..."

So one gay guy called it cross-dressing and the other thought that was sexist? The LGBTQ community was so inconsistent and complex―how was someone like me supposed to know what to do?

"Oh my god, they're here!"

Both Kareem and I winced as high-pitched squeals filled the patio. Alex and Malcolm looked like 12-year-old girls as they hugged and bounced in circles.

Looking closer, Malcolm's outfit wasn't that extreme, but he'd changed a lot since high school. High school Malcolm was a plain-looking kid whose personality could only be described with the word "extra." Now, he was stylish and androgynous. His acne had cleared and his much longer curls looked diffused.

I gave Kareem what Alex called a bro hug and we sat down to tell the waitress our drink orders.

"Oh my god, girl!" Malcolm squealed. "I've missed you!"

Alex was not a girl. But he didn't even blink. "Look at you! I love your aesthetic!"

Malcolm did a hair flip. "Thank you. I try."

I looked at Kareem whose expression didn't show any surprise or discomfort at all. He had told me he and Malcolm became friends (he "guessed") since my sneaky Facebook stuff when I first tried to make amends with Alex. No one was on Facebook anymore, though, so I had no clue about Malcolm's new hobby. Was it offensive to call it a hobby?

"I was telling Liam about your social media."

"Yeah?" Malcolm whipped out his phone and started swiping. "You need to get on Snapchat and Instagram, Liam!" He turned his phone towards me to show an Instagram post where he was making babydoll eyes and poking out his lips like a Kardashian. "This one has 100 likes."

I nodded, trying to look interested. "Cool." This was so out of my zone.

"Kareem," Alex started, scrolling on his phone as well, "do you have Snapchat?"

Kareem smirked. "No."

"Instagram?"

"No."

A dramatic gasp came from Malcolm whose jaw was dropped. "Wait, aren't you kreem.man?"

"Who?"

"He always likes my pictures." Malcolm tapped his phone with wide eyes.

Kareem leaned over to look on. "Dude, that's not me."