{Cameron}
“Now that he's asleep…” I looked at Preston, “Do you like him as more than a friend?”
“I mean, yeah… but not in a romantic way?”
“Um, what?” I raised an eyebrow, and squinted,
“It's difficult to explain.” He sighed, “There are different types of attraction. There's alterous or queerplatonic attraction, which is wanting to be emotionally close to someone, aesthetic attraction, which is thinking someone is cute, sensual attraction, which is enjoying the physical feel, not in a sexual way, of someone, platonic attraction, which is basically wanting to be friends with someone, and you know what romantic and sexual attraction is.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ve never heard of that before. Sooo… what do you identify as?”
“Aroace... I've identified with it for a while, but for whatever reason, I've been in denial, and I keep forcing myself into relationships that I don't want.”
“I feel that. I'm bisexual, maybe pansexual? I haven't really figured myself out yet, but I used to have a lot of sex with ladies, even though I didn't enjoy it whatsoever, because I thought for whatever reason, that would stop me from having urges for dudes.” I laughed, “Boy was I wrong… What you have for him… would you be able to call it a crush?”
“No, they have their own terms. There's squish for platonic, mesh for alterous or queerplatonic, swish for aesthetic, and lush for sensual attraction.”
“Okay,” I nodded, “So what term could you use?”
“I could use mesh or swish,”
“Oooh, so you think he's cute.”
“Oh shush.” His face turned bright red, and he looked at Tyler, “It's those stinken green eyes… and his long hair… and his stupid ass smile.” He moved his hands to cover his face, while he gushed, “Don't you like him too?”
“Yeah, I do.” I confessed, “I swear to god, he has to have some sort of spell that puts me in a trance every time I look at him.”
“Probably.” Preston chuckled,
“Can I ask another question?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“If you wanted to have a relationship with him, what would that look like? Since you don't like him romantically, I don't think you'd want a romantic relationship, would you?”
“Some people do, but no, I don't want a romantic relationship with him. That would probably crash and burn on both sides. But there is this thing called a Queerplatonic Relationship, or a QPR which is a relationship that you basically get to build you ground rules of. Usually partners would call each other their Zucchini, or QPP, for Queerplatonic Partner, instead of girlfriend, boyfriend, or Date Mate.”
“So, if you can build your own ground rules, could you be in a QPR and a romantic relationship at the same time?”
“Yeah, a lot of people do that actually.”
“Really? That's cool.”
“I know, I had never desired a relationship before, and now that I’ve learned about QPRs, I’m desperate.”
“Well then ask Tyler out.” I advised him, and he laughed awkwardly,
“He won't like me.”
“You won't know until you ask.”
“I guess… I'm just scared that he'll never want to be around me afterwards.”
“Trust me, he isn't like that. I kissed him a while ago, and nothing's been awkward since.”
“Still… I don't want to take chances.”
“Well, then how about I be your wingman?”
“You're willing to do that for me?”
“Yeah, I don't see why not.” I shrugged,
“Thanks. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”
“I will.”
ns 15.158.61.8da2
