Coffee, Cats, and Connor

Home

I take down the top box and use the scissors to rip the tape off. Kass takes the second. This box is full of pictures. I take them out one by one and I recognize some of the other people in the pictures. A lot of them are pictures of her and her two sisters, Elizabeth and Kameryn. She's a middle child, like me. Some of them are high school friends. Some other family. But no college pictures. She spent 2 years at college, and there's no pictures to show for it? She was very involved in high school, I know that, and would assume for college, too. No extra-curriculars, no sorority, no friends at a party or even a boyfriend picture? Maybe they're in another box, or just on her phone. I realize how much I don' t know about why she dropped out of college. 

 "This is a great picture of you," I say, smirking obnoxiously, as I pull out a picture of her and a group of friends probably at least 5 years old.

"Hey, that was from freshman year, you can't hold me to anything I wore, said, or did with my friends," she retorts. "I mean, c'mon, think back 6 years. If you don't cringe then something's wrong with you. Freshman year was nobody's strong year."

I think back a while, and yeah, she's right. "Fair enough."

We unpack like this for almost 3 and a half hours and I can tell Kass is in her prime-putting one thing here but then moving it there and dedicing it looks better there. I don't find it boring one bit; I find it fascinating to watch the gears in her mind turning.

We are close to finished when Ricky comes to the door. "Hey, um, we're gonna order a pizza, why don't you guys come out and tell us what you want on it?"

I walk behind Kass, into the living room/ kitchen area, which is pitch black.   

"What the hell?" Kass says. 

The lights flip on and we all yell, "SURPRISE!!!" 

Kass is on the verge of tears from happiness/shock. There's streamers and balloons everywhere, a banner that displays 'WELCOME HOME KASS" on it, and a cake on the kitchen counter.

"Oh my god, you guys. You didn't have to do this for just me," she's smiling.

"We didn't do it for just you. Because you're not just you to us. You're our super awesome best friend who we all love a lot," I say, noticing that she really is crying now. I pull her in for a hug, which lasts a few seconds longer than I think it should've, but it wasn't awkward. "Aw, don't cry, you don't wanna get tears on the cake!" 

We all laugh, eat lots of cake (it's red velvet, which I know is her favorite), and talk about random stuff. All of us are scattered around the living room and kitchen now. Kian brings his girlfriend, Becki, over to Kass and I. 

"Hey, I love the decorations! Who knew you guys had it in you?" Becki jokes around with Kian and I. "I'm Becki."

"Hi, I'm Kassidy, thanks so much for coming!" 

"This might be a random question, but do you guys like running?" Becki asks to Kass and I. 

"Yeah, I did cross country in high school," Kass says.

"So was I," I add.

"I was asking because Kian and I are planning to do a Color Me Rad run tomorrow morning. Its a 5k but it not focused on the running aspect as much as people throwing paint at you. It's gonna be a lot of fun and we were wondering if anyone else wanted to do it. Everyone else said either they were busy or 'ew, running'. Would you guys be interested?"

"I'd love to! I've always wanted to do one of those," Kass replies.

"I'm in too," I say.

"Great! Wear white and I'll see you in the morning!" she smiles and checks her phone for the time. "Aw, I should head home now, but it was great meeting you. I can't wait for tomorrow!"

After that, Kian drives Becki home and Trevor and Sam also leave. The rest of us drift our seperate ways as it gets later and I walk Kass to her new room. 

"Well, I hope you had fun. I had fun all day, helping you move and stuff-"

"Con, I can't believe you did this for me. I've had parties in the past, for example, my graduation party. Full of proud, old relatives and friends who were just glad to be done with school and get far, far away from our town. But this party was different, yes it was for a different reason and it was smaller, it felt more real. I'm probably making no sense but it felt more genuine, maybe because a graduation party is tradition and expected-this wasn't expected. And sure my parents put work into my graduation party and they were proud of me, but this from my friends. You guys didn't have to do this but you did anyway. Thank you. I've never been so happy to know that I have friends I can rely on."

I hug her, tightly, and again, much longer than the standard best-friend hug. I know I will do anything to see the smile that I saw on her face tonight. She looks 'up' at me, only shorter by an inch and a half, and I notice how blue her eyes look, which reminds me of the first time we met. I tuck a piece of loose blonde hair behind her ear and say goodnight and that if she needs anything she knows where to find me.

I walk down the hall to my room and get ready for bed. I lay under my comforter and re-live the suprise in my mind. I see the expression on Kass' face, the streamers being thrown everywhere, and the happiness everyone felt in the room. 

Today was probably one of the happiest days I've had in a long time. Now I can't stop re-living the past, and that is not a place I like to go. 

Hey guys, it me. I posted the first chapter of this story 3 or 4 days before Connor's coming out video, so that explains the delay in Chapter 2. I was debating this story a lot in that time. I chose to continue it because I am still very excited to write this and I have a lot of ideas. I support Connor 100% because sexual preference should not affect the way you look at or think about someone. I still am in love with him, that hasn't changed. I can't stop it just as much as he can't stop being who he is. So, I am moving forward with this story with complete love and support for Connor. 

On another note, I went to TYLER OAKLEY'S SLUMBER PARTY and it was unbelievable. Sadly, I didn't get to meet him but the show was hysterical. 

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Attached in the media section:

The Internet Slang Challenge | Marcus Butler (5:16~Connor's middle finger 'trick')

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Btw this chapter was considerably long for me, they all most likely won't be this long.

If you read this far, comment "color me rad" and I will love you forever! 

And with that, comment below, vote for this story, and queue Connor's outtro!