I've lived next door from him my entire life. Of course, the day we first met was my favorite memory between the two of us. It's really silly, now that I think more about it, but at the time it happened it was the most outrageous day of my life. It was a really long time ago- We were both five years old at the time. It was late summer in New York, the place we've both called home ever since our families moved here from Germany and Hungary in, what, the early twenties? Why they decided to move here of all places, I have no idea, considering that it's dirty and disgusting and just overall a bad place to start a new life. But anyway, I'm getting off topic here. Our friendship all started back when a little albino boy and his family had moved in next door.
His name was Gilbert, and yes, he was albino. Gilbert and his family was definitely different than all the other ones on our block, considering he had two moms. It totally explains Gil's behavior, but we'll get to that later. I just remember walking outside one day to swing in my tire swing, and looking to my left, and seeing a pair of red crimson eyes peering over the fence at me. It was a boy- I could tell by the patch of bright white hair on his head. This yellow bird had chirped at him and sat on his head, as if it were talking to him, but he shooed it away. My father warned me about boys looking over the fence at me, so of course I screamed, which totally freaked him out. He started flailing his arms, telling me to stop, and ended up falling off of it and into my yard.
Mind you, I was five, and seeing red eyes staring at you from behind a wooden fence is creepy as fuck. It even sounds creepy. So don't judge what happens next.
I grabbed the nearest object, (which happened to be a gardening hoe) lifted it over my head, and poised it, ready to use it against him if I had to.
"What were you doing staring at me, you creep?!" I yelled at the stranger.
He raised his hands up in defense. "Th-this is no way to greet new neighbors! What the heck is wrong with you, man?!"
My parents both wanted a son, so they treated me like a boy. I had this "boyish" haircut, my room was painted blue, I had "boy" outfits laid out and set for me to wear in the mornings. It confused the hell out of me. For the longest time I thought I was male, when really, I was female. It wasn't until after I met Gil that I realized I was female. Honestly, I was very disappointed. I thought that my penis would just "grow in" one day, and that it'll just get bigger when I got older. But you know. I got used to it. Except when puberty started to hit.. That was awful.. But let's get back to our story.
"What the heck is wrong with me? What the heck is wrong with you?! Your creepy red eyes were staring at me from behind a fence- Who does that?!"
"Well, gosh, excuse me, I'm this thing called albino and curious!" he retorted. "Put the shovel down!"
"For your information, this is a gardening hoe."
"For your information, I don't care- Get off!"
"First things first," I got a little closer to his face, which made him blush slightly. "State your business: Why were you staring at me?"
"Woah- Wait-" He squinted his eyes at me, and stared for a really long time in silence. The bird from earlier had flew over and tried to sit on my head, but I waved him off. Instead, he settled on my foot, which had been placed on the boy's stomach. "Are you a chick?" he asked, half intrigued, half disappointed.
Of course, being the child of confusion at the time, my face flushed. "N-no! I'm a boy!" I huffed, obviously offended. "State your business!"
"No no no- There is no way you're a boy. Your eyes are too big.. What's your name?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You're in my yard." I retorted.
"Fine." He whined. "My name is Gilbert, now what's yours?"
I blushed a bit, and bit my lip. I knew for a fact he was going to make fun of my name, everyone else does. What made him any different. So, hesitantly, I told him. "E-Elizabeta."
"That's a girl name."
"No it's not! I'm not a girl!"
Then, he opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, then quickly closed it and shook his head. His eyes quickly closed, and his face turned bright red, which was a hilarious sight due to the fact that his skin was so pale. It made me laugh a little, but then I was curious. What was he thinking about? What made him turn so red?
"Why are you so red?" I asked him, my face inches from his.
"Be-because I was thinking of something.." He muttered, turning his face away.
"Like what?"
There was a silence between us.
"Liz.. Do you... Have a penis?"
This totally caught me off guard, as it would with any five year old being asked if they had a penis. I immediately removed my foot from his stomach and practically backed up a whole meter. I raised my gardening hoe over my head aimed it directly at him then, as if I were to throw it. "Take back your question or get a black eye!"
Of course, this made him quiver even more. "I didn't mean anything by it! Buh-buh-besides…." He smirked then, boldness kicking in suddenly. "If you were a boy, you would have answered right away, right? And not get all mean and nasty?"
I threw my hoe at him then. It hit him in his eye.