October to October

{Chapter Thirty-Three}

  "It's just hard because I can't tell them what's going on," Lauren said as she leaned her head against her girlfriend's shoulder. "Even if I told them would they want to know? You're so important to me, and I can't bring it up like Monroe talks about guys from church or Ruth talks about Greg kissing her in the gazebo at the park for the first time. I can't tell them things. It's like they only get to know half of me."

  Lauren went to her classes and then to coffee with Monroe. Monroe was frazzled over her studies and wondering if she chose the right classes. It was the same conversation they had ever since Monroe had started school, and it was tiring. Lauren wanted nothing more than to go back to Joan's and curl up in the tower with her girlfriend. She found herself smiling slightly to herself as she thought of how happy she was in her relationship. She'd never felt that way before, and again the sadness that she couldn't share it with her family and friends seeped into her mind.

    After coffee; the girls went to work at the Antique Button. They spent most of their shift organizing the shelves, and hardly anyone stopped in so they ended up in the back as they sorted through some of the boxes that Janet had just returned with from an estate sale in Tennessee. 

    Lauren's phone went off suddenly, and it was a text from Joan. She said she was putting dinner on the table for Lauren, and she felt like a house wife as she waited for Lauren to get home from work. 

   "Is that Joan?" Monroe asked, and Lauren felt her  face flush as she'd been smiling like a goof ball at her phone.

   "Yeah," Lauren said slightly awkwardly as she quickly put her phone back in her pocket.

  "... Joan always acts weird around me," Monroe said suddenly as she sat cross legged and looked through an old photo book she had found at the bottom of the box. "I don't think she likes me."

  "Of course she likes you," Lauren said; truly surprised. "Joan likes everyone. Well, not Hope, but it isn't for a lack of trying."

  Monroe was staring at the black and white pictures. "I hear a lot of rumors about her from Glenn's friends. Everyone says she's gay."

  Lauren felt like someone had kicked her in the stomach. "Oh really?"

  "Yeah," Monroe said vaguely; she wasn't confronting Lauren or demanding to know. It was like she was just telling Lauren a bit of gossip which wasn't unusual for their group. "I said that I didn't think so, I didn't know for sure. I've never seen her with guys. I thought her and Henry must have something going on before he ended up with Wren."

    "Well, it really isn't anyone's business," Lauren said in what she hoped was a casual, calm voice. 

  "True," Monroe said with a shrug. "I've never date, and I'm so not gay. I'm just pathetic. Maybe Joan's just not ready for a relationship. I can completely relate to that. That whole mess with Glenn put me off dating for a long time."

  Lauren bit her tongue as she badly wanted to ask what exactly happened with Glenn and find out if it had gotten as serious as some people said it had, but she knew it wasn't any of her business. She didn't want to be nosy like Ruth. It hurt Lauren that the two friends felt like they couldn't confide in each other though. They'd been friends since they were children. Now they knew nothing about one another.

  "Hey beautiful!" Henry greeted Lauren as she came into the house after her shift.

  She grinned; Henry always greeted all of them with compliments and big smiles. She loved him like a brother, and she was so happy that he and Wren were together. She'd never seen her friend so happy. Wren was once just one of the girls in their group. She was the one that no one really noticed. Lauren had always been closer to Monroe and Ruth, but now Wren was Lauren's best friend besides Joan.