The Girl With the Rainbow Hair

Chapter 6

I stand there for a moment, just absorbing what happened. When Justin leaves, the store seems all too quiet. I walk over to where Julie Grace is sitting in a booth. She stood up when I made it over to her.

"Sam, look I'm sorr-" I cut her off with my hands on either side of her face, kissing her with such force she has to sit back down. My knee finds its way to the seat beside her, nearly straddling her. I realize that we're in a very public, very homophobic place. I finally leave her face, my lips instantly missing hers. She disentangles her hands from the hair that's on my neck and looks up at me.

"Um, sorry?" She asks.

"For what?" I ask back.

"Well, for kissing you. But I don't think you minded too much," she smirked at me, and I blush intensely.

"Soooo... Now what?" I say after an awkward silence.

"Although I do like being this close to you, I'd prefer that your leg not pinch mine," she looks down at my knee next to her thigh.

"Oh yeah, sorry," I stand up and sit across from her.

There's an awkward silence before she says, "Now what?"

"Well, ah, I really like you... I've never asked a girl this, but will you be my girlfriend?" I ask her as I look down at my finger that's drawing figure eights on the table. I look up, my bright green eyes meeting her beautiful brown ones.

"Sam... Of course!" She nearly yells, a wide grin spreading across her face. She catches my hand mid-eight and intertwines her fingers with mine. I grin back at her, just enjoying the moment. When the door signals another customer, I quickly get my hand out of hers.

"Nobody can know, okay?" I whisper. She nods, looking sad. I want to let everyone know, but I know all the names I will get called, all of the dirty looks I'll receive.

"I gotta go," she stands up as I get up to ring the person up. I've upset her.

"Julie, wait," I call as she starts to leave.

"I seriously gotta go. I have a dentist appointment. I'll see you after work," she winks at me and leaves, leaving me standing there with my heart beating at a million miles an hour.

I continue my day like normal, when Beverly shows up an hour before closing. "Hey Sam. Linda asked me to help lock up tonight."

"Yay! Time will be over before we know it. I already have everything done, anyways," I say with pride.

"Like... Everything?" She asks surprised.

"Yep. I already swept, washed the dishes, stocked everything..." I read off the list in my head. "I just want to get out of here on time."

"Ohhh, someone must have a hot date," she jokes.

"Well, actually..." I trail off, letting a slow smile take over my face.

She sees the look on my face and breaks out into a grin. "Aww my Sammy has a date! Is it that girl that you're always talking about?"

I blush, "Yeah that's her. She'll be by later and you can meet her."

"Ah I'm so excited I get to see her!" She exclaims. We pretend to try to get some work done for the rest of the night, but we really just chit chat about little things.

"It's time to lock up. Where is she?" Bev asks me.

"I dunno. Let me look and see if I see her walking over here," I tell Bev. Julie lives about half a mile away, so she usually doesn't mind walking. I cup my hand around my eyes and peer into the darkness. The parking lot is empty.

Just when I start to turn away, Julie jumps in front of the glass door and shouts "BOO!"

I scream and jump back, falling flat on my butt. She walks in laughing like it's the funniest thing she'd ever done. Beverly was laughing equally hard behind the counter. They exchanged a high five and she helps me up.

"Julie Grace, this is my second mom Beverly. Beverly, this is my douchebag friend Julie Grace," I introduce them. Julie slaps me playfully on the arm and says "Hey! I'm not that bad!"

I just smile and we continue to laugh for a while.

Bev looks at the clock on her phone and says "time to go home girls!"

Julie and I stand outside as she locks the doors. "See you tomorrow mom!" I call as we walk to my car.

"See you then! Oh and stay out of trouble," she winks at me when I look back at her.

I feel my face get red again. It's pretty easy to embarrass me. I hold the door to the passenger side open for her.

"Aww thank you," she smiles up at me. "I'm a gentleman," I reply, then hop into my side of the car.

"She knows, doesn't she?" She asks me.

"Yeah. She's the only one. She's really cool about it. If anyone else knew though..."

She takes my hand and looks at me. Even though it's dark in my car, I can see her perfectly. "Are you sure that everyone's going to react as badly as you think?"

"No offense babe, but you came from California. They're a lot cooler about these things than small town Alabama."

"Well if you think so, we can stay in the closet. At least for a little while," She says.

"Thanks Jules. You're the best," I kiss her cheek. "So what's the plan for tonight?"

"I was thinking we could catch a movie?" She asks.

"The closest movie theater is 45 minutes away," I reply.

"Oh.. It's cool... We don't have to, it was just an idea..." she trails off, looking down sadly.

"It's a long ways away. So we're just going to have to get dinner while we're there," I say smiling.

Her face immediately lights up. "Yay! This is like our first actual date."

"Yeah I guess so," I laugh. "A few months ago, I never though I'd be going on a date with a girl. Let alone such a pretty one."

She blushes and says "Hey now, you're pretty cute yourself. Oh and I told my dad I'm spending the night with you. That's cool right?"

Normally, I would be upset that someone just invited themselves over without asking. However, this someone may wind up making out with me. "Totally cool," I say, leaving the parking lot and heading for the big city.