State Of Grace

Chapter 10 - The Other Side Of The Door

"Well it sounds to me like you have strong feelings for this girl, and if she likes you too then I think you can trust her to be at your side while you're going through all of this stuff," Danny smiled at Gracie.

His advice was solid, but Gracie was still confused. This was something she'd have to figure out by herself.

"How do I figure it out though? I mean, at the time, with Jason I liked him and when we kissed it was great, but it was great kissing her too."

"Well, when I was figuring that stuff out I-"

"Wait, what?" Gracie cut Danny off, she had no idea, "Are you gay?"

Danny burst out laughing, "Yeah, isn't it obvious? The pride flag didn't tip you off?" He pointed to the flag that hung off the corner of his headboard.

"I thought that was just because of your moms," Gracie blushed, embarrassed she hadn't realized sooner.

"What, did you think me and Ethan were just really good friends?"

"Ethan's your boyfriend?!" Gracie was shocked, she had been completely oblivious. "Oh my God, all the time I've spent with you guys and I had no clue! Wait, when did you come out?" She turned to face him directly, crossing her legs and looking at Danny in complete awe. Finally, she had someone to get advice from, someone she already had an immense amount of respect for.

"Last year, not long after Riley and I got fostered. I think I always knew, so I did all of those 'are you gay?' quizzes online, and then I met Ethan. It kind of just happened. And don't get me wrong, I shoved it down at first. I pretended to be straight, I thought, or I hoped it would just go away. Then I tried to convince myself that I was bi and I could stay in the closet. I even dated Amy for like a week, and Ethan was dating Elle, we went on a double date to the movies and when the girls went to the bathroom we had our first kiss," Danny smiled as he thought about that day, and Gracie was amazed. "Amy and Elle were so supportive, and after that, we both came out to our families and then went public at school. We were really lucky."

"What did the quizzes say?" She asked, wondering if she should try them herself.

"You're missing the point," Gracie looked at Danny in confusion, "The point is that no matter how you identify, nothing will change the way we see you and we'll always be there for you."

"Right, yeah. Thank you, Danny," Gracie reached her arms out and hugged her foster brother, "But you won't tell anyone, right?"

Gracie shuddered at the thought of Amy getting her hands on this information. It was abundantly clear that the girl could not keep a secret. It wasn't that she thought people would judge her, even though the wrong people might, she just didn't want people to know all of her business when she hadn't even figured it out for herself yet.

"Of course not, now, about those quizzes," Danny pulled his computer onto his lap and started typing away.

After hours of filling out various sexuality quizzes across the internet, Gracie had her answer. The internet decided she was: 'A Homosexual/Gay/Lesbian female.'

"Okay but you can't compare Zac Efron and Kristen Stewart, that doesn't mean anything," She tried to convince Danny—and herself— that all the quizzes were wrong.

"Sounds like denial to me," Danny teased her, "No but seriously, this stuff doesn't mean anything. Only you can know who you are."

She was still confused, but at least now she had someone to talk to about it. She felt so much better than she had earlier in the day. Gracie went back to Maia and Riley's room where they were looking through photos from the night before, she sat down on her bed and switched on her phone. She'd kept it on silent all day, and now she had dozens of missed calls and texts from Rachel. She wanted so badly to call her back and tell her she was sorry, but that wouldn't be fair. Not when she was still so confused and had kissed someone else.