“To A Close Friend, I never told you about the time a group of people threatened my friends and…”

To A Close Friend, I never told you about the time a group of people threatened my friends and myself because of our orientation. It was 10 years ago and we were on the beach. My friends were behaving loudly and flamboyantly, I did not think much about it because it is a liberal-minded area. However, after 30 minutes go by, a group of college-age boys started screaming toward us. We quieted down and finally could make out the words. "Fag!" They were yelling at my friend in a deep, drawn out way. My friend started laughing and yelled back "idiots" in a drawn-out tone. I grabbed my friend and told him to stop, but my friend did not care. "We'd kick your ass so bad," one of the college boys shouted. At this point, me and another in the group gestured to leave. "Yeah right," my courageous friend said, making a dismissing "pshh" sound. At this point, everyone in our group except my courageous friend started heading to the car. My friend eventually followed after us, still shouting at them. The college boys yelled insults like "fags" and "pussies" as we made to the car. The only person who disagreed with running was the courageous friend and to this day I can't decide if he was brave or brash. - Your Close Friend