The sound of soft giggling stirs me out of my sleep. I turn around to see Rayden grinning and kneeling next to my bed. "Hi sissy," I smile.
"Hi, Addy. You have a stranger in your bed," she says cutely, pointing to Macy. I look behind me and smile at the beauty sleeping next to me with her long hair sprawled out everywhere.
I pull Rayden onto the bed and start tickling her. Her laughter fills the room. "She's not a stranger silly, that's Macy. You don't remember her?" Ray shakes her head no. How could she? She was only one or two when Macy and I stopped being friends. "That's because you were a baby when you met her. But she remembers you." She looks at me, confused.
Macy stirs awake and opens her eyes to the two of us. "Hi Rayden," she says. My little sister smiles really big.
"Hi Macy"
"Hello to the three of you!" My mother's voice booms from the doorway. It's only the first night, and she's already caught Macy in my bed after telling me she needed to sleep in the guest room. She gives me a disapproving look, and I know I'm in big trouble.
"You two get ready for breakfast. Dad and Camden are cooking. Let's go, Ray, give them some privacy."
My little sister jumps off my bed, waving at Macy, grinning as Macy waves back. Mom shuts my door, and I lay back down next to her, not wanting to get out of bed yet. I'm watching the fan spin as I feel her gaze upon me. "She's mad I slept in here, isn't she?"
"Yeah, not at you though. I promised her we would sleep in separate beds."
"So, your parents know you're a lesbian?"
"Have you seen my parents? Yes, they do."
"I've known you since we were ten. I saw the signs. So I'm pretty sure it was easy for them to spot it as well."
"Whatever."
"So they don't want us sleeping in the same room because they think that we would...."
"They're hoping yes. Well... Dad is. Mom made the rule that we have to sleep in separate beds." I sigh, staring at the ceiling.
"But why?"
"Because, Macy, I've had a huge crush on you since we were kids." I quickly cover my mouth after the realization of the accidental revelation of my feelings sets in. "Shit. I did not mean to say that."
"It's fine," she says, chuckling. I turn to face her and sigh heavily.
She shields her nose with the blanket. "Jeez Adelaide! I see now why we stopped being friends! Your morning breath is atrocious!"
"Oh whatever! You know what's horrendous, this morning hair you have here," I say, pulling a strand of it. She slaps my hand away as I bring my mouth close to her face and breathe all my dragon breath onto her.
"Oh my goodness! That's disgusting! Get away from me." She pushes me away from her, but I pull her arms with me, still blowing my breath in her face. We lose our balance, and I fall flat on my ass off the bed with her on top of me.
She looks at me and smiles shyly, "sorry."
We just stare at one other, not moving. I feel her leaning in closer to connect our lips, but when she gets to mine, her lips brush across mine, and she whispers, "go brush your teeth, asshole," She jumps off of me and prances back to her room.
I stare at her round ass for a minute, sad to see her go. Grunting and laying my head back on the floor. I lay there flat, realizing that even if she's happy now, it won't last. Dr. Low mentioned that Macy would constantly go in and out of the depressive episodes, and wanting the drugs to ease her pain from it coming out of her system. Last night's episode was just the beginning.
I shower, brush my teeth, and head down to breakfast. Camden and Rayden are back from uncle Roger's house because we have school tomorrow. When I get to the kitchen, I notice Macy hasn't joined them yet.
"How'd you sleep?" Mom starts, and I feel as if she's about to give me a lecture.
I let out a breath. "I'm sorry, but she had a really bad nightmare, and she didn't want to sleep alone. Nothing happened though."
She nods her head. "I know. Just keep it PG while we're home please."
"It's not even like that." I roll my eyes.
"Oh, but it will be." Dad walks in, smirking, and winks at me.
Mom slaps her arm. "Alex!"
She rubs the sting away. "What? It's a miracle she's waited this long to have..." another smack is administered to her arm.
"Leave my daughter alone! She waits as long as she wants to. Right, Sweet Pea?" I look at both of them, irritated that they want to bring my sex life up at the breakfast table.
They both start laughing, and Camden joins them. I kick his chair for joining in on their teasing. "Shut up Cam, before I beat your ass, you little twerp."
"Language young lady," Dad yells across the table, "And leave my son alone!"
"He started it!" I tell my dad, and she just ignores me.
"Dad, it's because she's homophobic!" Camden says, sticking his tongue at me.
"Cam, you know that's not true, why would you even suggest something like that?" I asked, confused.
"I don't know, maybe because you didn't stand up for your own friend when people were bullying her for being gay."
"Camden, I know I've made some questionable decisions in the past couple of years, but you have to know I'm not homophobic... right? I mean look at the people who raised us, they taught us how important it is to accept and respect everyone, regardless of who they love. I couldn't care less if you liked a female, male, gender-fluid or non-binary person. Hell you could like a tree and I wouldn't care, because it doesn't change who you are."
I try to be encouraging about the topic because I know my brother feels something more for his friend Miguel. The fucking blind can see the way he feels, but I think he just wasn't ready to talk about it yet.
"So you guys would still love me, even if I didn't like girls?" He questions softly, looking down at his plate as if he's deep in thought.
My parents both look at each other smiling. "Camden, we'll always love you. You not liking girls could never change our love for you. If you choose to have a label, be unlabeled, no matter what, we'd still love you. I'm sorry if our actions made you feel otherwise, but our love for you in this family is never-ending. You're our little baby boy, the only one in the house." My dad says.
"Besides, we'd be hypocrites if we disowned our own children for being who they are and who they want to be." Mom chips in, leaning over to hug and kiss Camden's forehead.
"Just don't come to me for sex advice, I don't like penises," I say laughing, making a face of disgust. He shoves me, and I ruffle his hair showing him some extra sisterly love.
Rayden randomly starts laughing from her side of the table and picks up some eggs and throws them at Cam, dissipating the thick air after that deep conversion, but it misses him and hits mom instead.
"What the heck little girl! That's it!" Mom picks up a piece of toast with jam on it and smashes it all over Rayden's face. Dad starts laughing at her, and Mom turns to her, slamming the same piece of bread into the side of Dad's cheek. "You think this is funny?"
"Oh, you'll regret this later, Momma bea..." Dad is cut off by a handful of eggs in her mouth, stopping her from saying the nickname she gave Mom so many years ago.
The whole table is in a fit of laughter when I see Macy in the hallway leaning against the wall and smiling at our silliness. She's used to the queen bitch side of me at school, but not this family-oriented side. I wave her over to take a seat next to me. The table's laughter dies down, and everyone screams good morning to Macy, wanting her to feel just as at home as we do. She says her good mornings and sits next to me, grabbing food from the center of the table to eat.
The family continues with breakfast, chatting about their weekend as my mother wipes the jam off Rayden's and Dad's faces.
Once she was done, my dad pulled Mom down onto her lap, and they sat like that, eating for the rest of breakfast. Macy and I exchanged looks while eating and smiling at each other. I look to my parents and back at her, wondering if someday Macy and I could possibly share the same passion they have for each other. I just need to get past my fear of what others at school think of me, like Dad said.