Quarterback Is Gay Tease

Vinny embraced his homosexuality. As I was still ‘discovering’ my sexuality, I had feared being “guilty by association” if I were to have a gay friend.
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Miles and I grew up together. We lived within about 5 blocks of each other; went to the same elementary school, and our moms took turns carpooling us to/from school. We also hung out after school at the library or in Miles’s basement playing videogames.
When we were young and innocent, we were all socially “equals”. However, as we transitioned into junior high and then high school, the natural order sorted Miles clearly into the A-list due to his inherent good looks, athletic ability, and his parents’ vocations. I, although intellectually gifted, lacked athletic ability and did not come from an affluent family, and thus was relegated to either B-list or C-list.
Both of us wound up going to a college prep school in the city. Miles quickly fit in among the ‘cool kids’. Admittedly, I probably would not have been able to hang with the cool kids on my own merits, but I rode Miles’s coattails. We were best friends, and he did his best to include me, although I was aware at times of rumblings, “why does James have to be here?”
Our high school’s dress code was sport coat and tie for the males, and dress shirt and plaid skirt for the females. There were only occasional exceptions, such as during Spirit Week, when ‘casual clothes’ were allowed, depending on the theme of the day. Also, on Fridays, members of the football team were allowed to wear their football jerseys, given how Friday night football was essentially “life” in Pennsylvania.
Miles had been our football team’s quarterback since sophomore year. In our junior year, he led us to our first PIAA championship. From that point on,...