The Butch Lesbian

Phone Call

***VOLLIE'S COLLECTIVES, 1 PM***
I entered the front door, knowing I was a crap ton of hours late, but also knowing that Mrs. Willis wouldn't even give a shit anyways. Instantly, I saw Aidan behind the cash register, as usual, and Elle leaning against the counter munching on an apple. I stared at her for an eternity before she walked toward me.

"Hey, why so late?" she finally said, between a couple of bites.

"Alarm," I lied, trying to look away to hide my subtle blush.

"Ah. Should probably try to find a better way to bullshit your way out of life next time." She used her finger to slowly turn my head until it faced her completely, then smiled.

"Hate you" was all I could say to that.

The days of summer were slowly winding down, but the weather certainly showed otherwise. The raging sun was burning the skin off people, so customers were coming in quicker than ever though service was slow. 

"Kacii!" Aidan yelled out to me, waving his hand frantically to grab my attention. 

"Yeah?" I screamed back, still trying not to blush as Elle secretly slipped her hand inside of mine.

"Dad called. He wants you back," he shyly smiled—trying to hide his disappointment under layers of positivity.

"Wait...what?" I was filled with both shock and fear.

"It sounded kind of urgent... I really hate to say it... but..."

Another customer approached the long line of buyers.

Aidan immediately gave up and passed the buck over to Elle. "Elle, how about instead of just standing there, could you please help?" He sassed, hysterically rolling his eyes.

"Bi***. She tossed away the utter remains of the apple. Whatever. I need a raise," she sighed, triggering us all to crack up.

Before I knew it, I locked eyes with my now emotional older brother.

"What...what's wrong?" I hesitated, starting to get incredibly worried.

"It's...it's...it's just that...summer's completely over...and I don't know what I will do without you. It just happened all too fast...and with that one phone call, all I can do now is just cry. Over my baby sister, going home." Aidan rested his arm on my shoulder. "Dad told me on the phone that it's your choice."

"My...my choice for what?"

"Your choice to go home or stay."

***AIDAN'S CONDO, 5 PM***

Aidan offered to give me a lift, which was unusual because he'd generally come back from work much later than me. When we entered the house again, the sweet aroma of freshly baked cookies filled the air. Aidan and I instantly recognized the scent and followed it directly to the kitchen, where Devon was busily snacking on chips while waiting for the cookies to finished baking.

"Help yourselves once they're out," Devon said as we entered, pointing over to the immense oven.

"Thanks," we said at the same time. 

Everyone in town knew that Devon was an amazing baker, chef, artist, inventor, writer, and so on. He was absolutely talented—and for that—was able to steal my brother's heart.

Lo and behold, just as all things this day seemed to be going weirdly, everything got a whole lot more quirkier and awkward when Aidan and I were met with why another surprise.

"Hey," a voice chuckled behind me.

Before I could react, Devon lunged forward and tackled the person to the ground. "Hey to you too, Travis!" 

I stared at his face, terrified for the next few seconds. "Why...why...why are you here, exactly?"

"How about here to see my beloved cousin?"

"Stop it! Damn you!" Devon tersely replied.

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Aidan teased, laughing.

"No! Not at all..." Travis stuttered, knowing that he was losing.

"Oh shut up. We all know the real reason why you're here." 

"What do you want from me!" Travis shouted, his face flushed red with fury.

"Firstly, there's nothing I'd want from your sorry ass but a sweet and innocent apology. Secondly, I'd sincerely appreciate it if you were to shut the fu** up and get out of our damn house forever. And lastly—admit it—you only did whatever the shit you did to me for personal reasons."

Inside joke. Yes, nailed it.

"Wha...what?" Travis almost cried out loud, causing all three of us to giggle uncontrollably.

"Just agree. Your momma probably wants you home for supper before 6, sweety," Devon joked.

"Fine."

Devon pulled him up forcefully as he helped himself up. 

Travis looked me in the eye.

Oh no.

"In exchange for a kiss...?"

"Hell no."

He immediately scurried off after we pushed him out. What a loser.

"Oh and uh, Kacii..." Aidan nudged me.

"Yep?"

"You might want to take this..." He handed over his phone, with my dad on the other end, waiting for me to pick up.

Just breathe Kacii, just breathe.

I stepped into a quiet room and finally answered. "Hello...?"

"Kacii. I don't even know where to start."

"Dad, look. I know you already hate me, are going to permanently kick me out, take back all that lent money from you, and stop funding the rest of my college year, but I just have to say—"

"Kacii, I'm sorry."

"Wait...what?!"

"I said I'm sorry. Your Uncle Rafael...umm...he actually told me the reason why he had been single for so long. We all had reasoned that it was because he was a charismatic man that was always on a one night stand, but boy were we wrong...he's gay. Nothing more to that story, actually." He chuckled. "But damn, made me think. A whole lot. The last week your mother was in tears. Why? She was concerned about the likelihood of losing you over this entire 'gay' thing. Thought that you would get messed up. Never come back. Be a college-drop-out. Have your crippled life slip out of your hands because of your stupid, arrogant parents. Now, we don't want that to happen. From day one we all knew you were different—to be honest, really. I still recall your seventh grade year—you probably can't remember this—but you told me that there was this person you could not get out of your mind. Well, as a typical father, I asked who this 'mystery prince' was. You were silent. In fact, you were bawling your eyes out the next day. I had no clue until your freshman year in high school. Realized it from a friend. For the first few days I was stubborn and refused to even address it in front of your mother, but once you finally just said it, it all tied up. All this time, it was true. No lies. The worse part was coping with the anger and frustration. Thinking that you'd turn out different than those other kids out there made me think that you were going to be endangered if I were to do absolutely nothing about it. So, I decided to take some time without you. You would've never guessed it, but I've learned a whole lot since that very day—the day you came out."