Page 108 of Pride High 2: Orange

Silvia began peeling at the paper. “I hope it’s not a VHS tape of some band I don’t like,” she joked. “Oh wow! Headphones! And they’re really nice!”

“I can’t wait to check them out,” Anthony said, scooting closer to see as she unboxed them. “I’ve only had earbuds before. Or the old fashioned headphones with cheap foam pads.”

“The kind you get with a Walkman,” Silvia said with a nod. “That’s what I’m using at home, and they’re falling apart. This is perfect!” The new pair were the type used in a recording studio. “I’ll look like Princess Leia while wearing these.”

“Even more reason to upgrade. I wouldn’t mind borrowing them from you sometime to test the difference. Or actually… Be right back.”

Anthony ran from the room and returned with a portable CD player. A Sony Discman, if she wasn’t mistaken. “A Christmas present from my parents,” he explained when handing it to her. “I really need to use my store credit at Right Round, because I only have one CD. And it was a present from my older brother.”

“Garth Brooks?” Silvia asked after popping open the lid and noticing the disc inside.

“Yup. I’m starting to wonder if he actually loves me.”

She laughed. “It’ll do for now. Let’s check out the difference.”

They plugged different pairs of headphones into the CD player before passing them back and forth to listen, and sure enough, there was a huge leap in quality with the newest.

“I’m officially jealous of your present,” Anthony said.

“Only because you haven’t seen how amazing mine is,” Silvia said, grabbing the VHS tape and handing it to him. “Let’s watch it together.”

“Yeah, okay!”

Once the VCR was whirring, they settled into the couch cushions. Soon an upbeat melody began that sounded like it was played on an electric panpipe, if such a thing existed. The lead singer, Andy Bell, pranced onto stage wearing a blue suit jacket glimmering with sequins and what appeared to be bike pants. He was flanked by two backup singers in heart-covered petticoats. Anthony looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Give it time,” she insisted, grabbing the remote to turn up the volume.

“I love the sparkly red boots he’s wearing,” Anthony commented.

“I like his massive ring. It’s so big that, if it had a hinge, you could keep a sandwich inside.”

Anthony laughed when the singer turned his back to the audience and began shaking his rump while singing over his shoulder. She had reacted the same way before falling under his spell completely.

“Do you recognize the keyboard player?” she asked. “That’s Vince Clarke.”

“Why does that name sound so familiar?”

“He was one of the founding members of Depeche Mode.” That got Anthony’s attention. “He only worked on their first album, I think. He wrote ‘Just Can’t Get Enough.’”

“Huh. That explains why their first album sounds so pop.”

A couple of songs into the concert, Andy Bell took off the suit jacket, revealing a white dress shirt with long tails that were wrapped around his waist and tied just beneath his rib cage. The bike shorts were actually a skin-tight singlet, a triangle of sequined tassels covering his package. Andy didn’t seem at all self-conscious, even though the natural curves of his body were on display for everyone to see. Nor did he try to hide his sexuality, because he was obviously gay. His movements were ladylike and feminine, if such terms had value anymore, which Silvia was beginning to doubt.

Anthony was no longer laughing. He stared at the screen as if transfixed. “Wow,” he breathed at last. “He’s gorgeous. I’ve never seen anyone like him. Except… Cameron has this friend, Charles, who is trans. But this is different.”

“How so?” Silvia asked, genuinely curious.

“He isn’t dressed in women’s clothes. Gymnasts and wrestlers wear the sort of stuff he’s got on. His hair is short, and I don’t see any makeup. But hefeelslike a woman.”

“Andy Bell,” Silvia said in reverent tones. “He’s something special.”

“He really is,” Anthony said, reaching over to squeeze her hand, although his eyes remained glued to the television. “This is an amazing gift. Thank you.”

“I knew you’d get it,” Silvia said.

That was part of the reason she wanted to hang out with him tonight. Anthony must have searched his soul for much longer than she had recently. She waited until the concert ended, relieved when he offered the perfect segue.

“I’m an idiot for not giving Erasure a chance sooner,” Anthony said. “Especially since the lead singer is gay. That makes the love songs so much more meaningful to me.”