Embarrassment

This is a really embarrassing story for me... just thought I would practice sharing. It is kind of long, I suppose, but it makes me laugh everytime I think about it. And also shudder. Gross. Here we go!

I went to a color guard competition back in May. Or April. You get it. Color guard is the flag-twirling, rifle-wielding, sabre-spinning sport that combines dance with props. Like rhythmic gymnastics, but in a more group-friendly setting. They usually perform with the marching band to bring color to the whole show.

So we were at the state competition, and I have to sit by myself a little bit while the rest of my friends that I came with performed. After they got their scores, we traded sides of the stage, facing the back of the performances, towards the judges. So we were basically seeing the entire competition backwards.

I was sitting next to my friend, and a girl that I kind of felt bad for sat behind me. I felt bad for her because, well you know the socially awkward people? She was like that. She blurted out things that were somewhat relevant, but also offensive, she had her dad do her hair instead of one of the other girls, and I could see that she could be insecure. But I shrugged all that off and tried to be her friend.

As the competition wore on, the girl kept being really friendly. Like, really friendly. Somewhat awkward friendly, you know? Since she sat behind me, she liked to hug my throat from behind. I honestly didn't think much of it and tried not to keep cool and pretend that I wasn't in the least bit uncomfortable.

Then when the competition was over, the girls were finishing up gathering the equipment when one of my friends came over and took me aside and said, "(Name redacted. Me :) ), she's bi."

My mother recently went through a hard time where she found out that she was bi-polar. My life was entirely involved with the whole social spectrum of bi-polarness, so I assumed that she was saying the girl was bi-polar. Yeah. Blissfully ignorant little me.

So I said, "Yeah, my mom is too!" getting an awful weird look from the friend.

We went out to the car we came in, and the friend that told me began telling the other friends in our group. The girl had, while they were changing and sorting equipment, told my friend that she was bi. The girls seemed immediately disgusted and promptly began freaking out. You can see my confusion. Bipolar isn't something that is disgusting.

So I thought more. Bi?

OH.
BI.

Hold up--I don't have anything against people with a sexuality different than mine. I think do whatever you want, make choices you want to make, be who you want to be. Civility, respect, traditional values that show common courtesy to everyone. But I had no idea that I was, ignorantly, not saying no to her advances by not saying something. I know it's okay to not want to be flirted with if I don't want to be.

I instantly said, thinking back to the awkward hugs that really were awkward, "She was flirting with me?!"

The friends burst into laughter. I was weirded out too, and tried not to think too much about it as we finished out the night.

Embarrassing? Yeah...