How They Met, And Other Stories - A Collection of GLBTQ Short Stories

By David Levithan

Published in 2008 by Alfred A. Knopf

One Valentines Day during physics class, David Levithan decided to write a story about love to entertain his friends. The tradition carried on and from it bloomed this amazing collection of stories, all about love. Each one takes an in-depth look at all the different stages of love, from the familiar to the unrequited. This is a great, fun, and sweet read.


“Starbucks Boy”
The first story in this collection addresses the natural phenomenon that occurs in every neighborhood Starbucks- the cute boy behind the counter. Gabriel’s summer job babysitting the bossy and domineering Arabella takes an interesting turn when he encounters the Starbucks Boy during the 10 year old’s daily coffee run, but this time Gabriel decides that it could be something more.


“Ms Lucy Had a Steamboat”
Ms. Lucy had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell, Ms. Lucy went to Heaven and the steamboat went to—
All her life, Lucy knew she was different. The only other Lucy she could relate to was the one in the elementary school song. When Ashley comes to town Lucy falls head-over-heels for her, however it doesn’t take long for Lucy to realize that Ashley isn’t doing the same.


“The Alumni Interview”
Meeting his closeted boyfriend’s father is awkward enough for Ian, besides the fact that his boyfriend’s father is the alumnus interviewing Ian for his first-choice college. Ian must brave the interview all while trying to understand why Thom’s father won’t let his son be who he is.


“The Good Witch”
Damon thought he was taking a safe date to prom by asking Sally, a girl he knew from math class, so that none of his seven friends-who-are-girls would get offended. That was until Sally came downstairs on prom night dressed as Glinda the Good Witch: Prom Edition and started hitting on him in an “amateur seductive” way. But there was another reason why Damon didn’t want to be with Sally: Damon is gay.


“Lost Sometimes”
Dutch and Eric are extremely attracted to each other and a little too over-enthusiastic about showing it. In fact, they have done it just about everywhere-- school, burger king, you name it. But at prom Eric starts to realize that he isn’t just satisfied with a physical relationship and he wants to hear those three little words.


“Princes”
With Jon’s brother Jeremy’s Bar Mitzvah coming up, Jon feels even more separated from his family. He commutes to New York every day for his dance school and falls hopelessly in love with his teacher Graham. With the support of his friend Miles, Jon fights for the right to bring Graham to the Bar Mitzvah and Jeremy comes through for Jon in more ways than Jon thought possible.


“Breaking and Entering”
Unable to let go of his boyfriend Cody, who went off to college, Peter breaks into Cody’s house using the hidden key under the flowerpot. With the help of Cody’s mother in Cody’s old room Peter learns that he must say goodbye to what they had and learn to start anew.


- Posted by Hannah