The Greatest Lie Part 4

"That’s flattering, but that’s not what you meant at the time." He knew I was right, and shifted his approach.

"Allie, I get so much out of being with you. In you I find a part of me that I cannot find in myself. You bring me closer to my soul."

"O Christ," I said. "That’s great. For my whole life, every time I’m with a girl, I dream of being her, and now that I finally am becoming one, I find a guy who wishes he was me."

"That’s not what I said, it’s not what I meant."

"Jon, it’s hard enough to be me, without you wanting to be me too."

"I don’t want to be you, but you help me get in touch with a side of me I never really knew, and I want to know better."

"Jon, I really like you as a friend, and I’d love to help you understand yourself better, but I can’t have a lover who is taking mental notes on for his passive roles while making love to me. Just like you, I need someone who helps me find myself. And I think I am straight, and I want to find someone hetero, and you’re not. So we just don’t fit."

Jon looked downcast. "I don’t want to lose you."

"So don’t. I don’t want to lose you either." And I didn’t. I had important plans for Jon.

"Listen, I’ve been thinking about my project, and I want to integrate it with an outreach program by the Alliance. You know, Minneapolis has a law forbidding discrimination based on gender identity."

"Yeah, so."

"Well, what do you think the cops are doing to the T-girls down on Hennepin every night."

"You mean other than busting them for prostitution and drugs? C’mon, I feel bad about your friend Daylene, but you’re picking a losing battle."

"Maybe so, maybe not, but it’s a battle worth fighting. Besides, it gives me an in to the community to enable me to collect the data for Finch."