Thursday 5th December 2013
Locke took a deep breath and looked up at themselves in the mirror. They scraped their shoulder-length dirty blonde hair back into a ponytail and shrugged to themselves at their appearance. It was as good as it was going to get.
Today they were meeting up with their best friend, Mick. It was going to be the last time they would see each other before Christmas, so they were going to exchange presents. Additionally, Locke was planning on coming out to Mick. Locke picked up the gift bag which contained the present they had bought for Mick: a book about dogs, as well as the carmine-red woollen scarf they had bought for Gina before leaving their bedroom.
Locke and their parents arrived at the café and gardens they had agreed to meet the Schumacher family at. Locke climbed out of the backseat of the car, pulling their coat around them against the biting wind. The Reid family hurried towards the café to seek shelter from the weather, where they saw the Schumachers had already arrived.
"Hey Mick and Gina," greeted Locke, giving each of them a quick hug. "Hello Uncle Michael and Aunt Corinna," they continued giving each of them a wave.
"Merry Christmas, all," announced Locke's father, Colin, to which the rest of the congregation returned the greeting. Everyone started catching up with the other family, explaining anecdotes that had occurred in the months that had elapsed since they had all seen one another.
"Should we exchange gifts?" Michael asked the group, to which everyone of course nodded in affirmation. The group all passed the gift bags across the table to their recipients and once everyone had their presents they commenced with opening them.
"Thank you so much Locke!" said Mick gratefully, pulling Locke into a hug. "I can't wait to read this!" He started flicking through the pages, occasionally stopping to admire certain breeds. "Look at how adorable Australian Shepherd Dogs are!"
"The colour of this scarf is lovely. Thank you!" said Gina, draping it around her neck.
Locke then opened the present that the Schumacher siblings had given them. They carefully peeled back the tape that was securing the paper to reveal a CD of the most recent Arctic Monkeys album, AM.
"Thank you so much you two!" exclaimed Locke with glee. They had loved their previous albums, as well as the other music that Alex Turner had been involved with so they couldn't wait to listen to this.
It was at this point that a waitress came over asking them what they would all like to order. The adults all ordered coffee, with the exception of Locke's mum, Julie, who ordered a cup of tea.
They all also ordered cake, with Michael choosing lemon drizzle, Corinna and Julie choosing Victoria sponge and Colin opting for coffee and walnut cake.
The children all had milkshakes, which Mick choosing vanilla, Gina choosing banana and Locke choosing strawberry. They all chose chocolate fudge cake, as they had seen it on the way to their table and all decided it looked delicious.
Locke looked to their right where Mick was seated and followed his gaze out of the window.
"It's raining!" they said excitedly. "Can we please go outside while we wait for our food to arrive?"
"It's very cold out there though," said Julie unsurely.
"We'll wear our coats, I promise," pleaded Locke.
"OK, fine. But don't take too long otherwise you'll catch a cold," their mother decided. Locke quickly grabbed their coat and stood up, looking to the other two for them to follow. Mick stood but Gina remained seated.
"It's too cold. I'm not coming out," laughed Gina. "Have fun in the rain."
The pair wandered outside and went around a corner to an artificial pond in the centre of the gardens. They both sat serenely watching the raindrops rippling on the surface of the gloomy water, reflecting the dreary sky back up. They remained in a peaceful silence until Locke spoke up.
"Mick, I've been meaning to tell you something," they said quietly, chewing on the inside of their lip.
"What is it?" asked Mick, placing a gentle arm around their shoulders.
"I'm non-binary," they continued at their previous volume. "I'd like to go by Locke and use they/them pronouns." Mick pulled them into a full hug and just held them without saying anything for a few seconds.
"I'm so proud of you, Locke," he said, with a smile. "Have you told anyone else yet?" Locke shook their head in response, to which Mick nodded understandingly. "Don't feel pressured to."
"Thank you, Mick," they responded, resting their head on his shoulder. The rain started pouring down harder, but neither made a move to go indoors until a shout came from the entrance to the café around the corner.
"Come inside, you two. The food is here, and you're both likely soaked," called Colin. The two jumped up and ran indoors, suddenly realising how hungry they were.
A/N-
Thank you so much for reading! I've been working on this for a while and I've a had a boost in motivation recently so I'm making some proper progress with it. I'm going to try to post chapters regularly but when school starts again it may not happen as often.
The song this chapter is named after is linked at the top, as will be the same for every chapter.
Thank you to my friends, without whom I doubt I would've started writing again or had the confidence to post this:
Valentine 🖤
YOU ARE READING
Victory Over The Sun
FanfictionLocke Reid is a non-binary racing driver. They are preparing to make the leap to F1 for the 2021 season. With their best friend, Mick Schumacher, they are going to make their debut and become the first ever non-binary Formula One racing driver. Here...
