"Try some," Aurora says. She gently hands me her cup of tea. I take a sip slowly, swish it around in my mouth, then slightly gag.
"All it tastes like is hot water," I say.
"I thought you'd really like that one," she complains as I hand the drink back to her. I decide to stick to my hot chocolate and stare upward at the sky as we sit outside on the coffee shop's patio. The owners have recently added heat lamps, allowing us to enjoy the outdoors, even as a cold autumn ushers in.
Aurora and I decided to get together for a quick coffee after school. It isn't much, and it certainly isn't an official date by any means, but we don't have the luxury of seeing each other every day anymore so we're doing our best to work our schedules so that we have time to meet up. It's strange. I almost feel lonelier now that we are dating. I would see Aurora every day if I could.
"You're free this Friday, right?" Aurora asks as she cups her palms around her warm cup of tea.
I nod.
"Let's go out somewhere, then."
"Like on a date?" I ask.
"Like on a date," she agrees. "What do you want to do?"
"I don't know," I think. I'm already the indecisive one in this relationship. It took me ten minutes to figure out what I wanted to order, and the only options I was considering was hot chocolate and cider. I'm still not sure if I made the right choice.
"The pumpkin patch recently opened up. We don't need to go buy pumpkins or anything since that's expensive, but we could go take some pictures, go on a hayride, that kind of autumn stuff. What do you think?"
"Let's do it!" I exclaim.
"I'll drive us," Aurora offers.
"Are your parents okay with that?" I wonder.
"I have my own car now. Haven't you noticed it outside my house?" she asks. "I have to get to college somehow. I can't walk like I did with high school."
"Oh! Yay for that, then?"
"Unless you meant if my parents okay with us going on a date, and I told you already, they were a little bit shocked, but they were happy to know it was you, considering we know each other already. They did grill me about the two times you spent the night though..."
"We didn't do anything," I murmur grumpily. "You wouldn't even let me sleep in your bed, even though it's a double."
"Hey, I'm sorry! Sometimes my mom likes to send the cats into the room in the morning to wake me up," Aurora argues. "It's not like you invite me over to your house."
"Well, there's more people!" I argue.
Aurora giggles. "So pumpkin patch it is, then?"
"Yeah, it's a date," I agree.
Our fingers are interlaced as we walk back toward the neighborhood. I'm cold, probably because Aurora at least gets to wear whatever she wants and I'm in my school uniform, wearing nothing but a skirt and a light sweatshirt. Aurora seems to notice I'm shivering, and she pauses as we walk to shrug off her warm coat.
"Come on, you'll be cold," I argue.
"It's a ten minute walk, Callie. I'll be fine," she says as she drapes it around my shoulders. It's warm, I think, and as I put my hands through the sleeves, I realize it smells like her too. A part of me just wants to hold onto it for myself.
"I think I'm going to tell my parents today," I decide. "About us."
"How do you think they'll react?" Aurora wonders.
"I don't know. I think they've come around, but maybe that's because I wasn't dating anyone yet," I think.
"Well, let me know how it goes," Aurora says, squeezing my hand a bit tighter.
We get to the corner where we separate. It's always my least favorite part of our walks together. My feet come to a halt, and I turn to face Aurora, getting ready to say our good-byes. Standing on my tiptoes, I cup her cheek and lean in to kiss her. I can feel the pounding of my heart as her hands fall around my waist while she kisses me back. This was a point in our relationship I never thought we would quite get to, but here we are now, kissing on a random street corner where anyone could witness us.
My heels return back to the ground, and I shyly take off Aurora's coat.
"Thanks," I say.
"I'll see you Friday," Aurora says she turns and walks off. I wish our time together didn't have to end so soon, I think miserably.
It's at dinner later that night, while I'm picking at my food, that I decide to outright say it. Finally I've convinced myself that it will be different from months ago, when I was first coming out. Hopefully my parents won't be as surprised or react too strongly. So while everyone eats happily and talks about their day, I speak up.
"Um, I have a date on Friday," I say.
There's some nods, before my family realizes the implications of this. Both Oliver and Olivia already know of the situation, though not the date, specifically, so they act slightly surprised, but nowhere near as surprised as my parents.
"With whom?" my mother inquires.
"Are you dating someone?" my father asks.
"Oh, um, do you remember Aurora? I brought her by once to study last year," I admit.
"Have you been dating that long?!" my mother exclaims.
"No, no!" I assure her, waving my hands. "Well..." I think, because maybe technically we were already kissing each other that time.
"Callie!" My mother's doesn't particularly sound upset. She just seems surprised, judging by the fact it's me, who has been so hopelessly single all my life, that the very prospect probably seems ridiculous to her.
"Isn't she a year older than you?" my father asks. "I thought she was going away to college."
"She's going to community for right now," I answer. "And we just started dating officially. We had a little bit of a falling out last spring and summer, but we've made up now."
"So you were dating before then?" my mother asks.
"No. Kinda. Uh. Not really. It wasn't official. She wasn't out. I was barely out. But things have changed now so..."
"I couldn't tell when I met her," my mother murmurs.
"Not everyone has to look gay to be gay, Mom," I growl.
"Sorry," my mother says, and I breathe a little easier. I feel a bit more comfortable now that she corrects herself these days. "Um," my mother continues. "Is she also a lesbian or..."
"She's bisexual," I answer. "She's only dated guys in the past."
"Wow, you really stood out to her, huh, Callie?" my father teases.
"Why aren't you two saying anything?" my mother asks, swinging her head to look at my younger siblings snickering away at my parents' comments.
"Callie already told us," Olivia answers. "We both knew about her girl drama long before you two."
"Just how long has this been going on?" my mother asks, narrowing her eyes at me. "What were you doing in your room when you studied that one time?"
"Nothing!" I squeal, my voice rising five octaves in the process. "We really were just studying. And nothing's been going on long. Like I said, we just started dating." I don't dare tell them Aurora and I have practically been dating since February, especially because my mom will remember in an instant the night in March I slept over at her house, and I'll be questioned far beyond my comfort zone.
"Where are you going on your date?" my father asks in an attempt to break the tension.
"To the pumpkin patch that just opened up," I state.
"Aw, how romantic," Olivia teases.
"Are you driving?" my mother asks.
"No. Aurora is going to pick me up."
"Oh, good. I can meet her," she says, and I gulp. I should have told Aurora to pick me up at the nearest street corner rather than my home because I can already picture the inevitable awkward conversation between Aurora and my mother as soon as she steps into our home.
"Well, congrats to you," my mother states. "Your father and I's first date was at the movies, and he spilled soda all over my dress."
"I cleaned it up," my father argues.
"Hopefully your date will go better than that," my mother says as she shoots him a glare.
I smile weakly because my mother could hound me on the fact she isn't comfortable with me dating yet, that she hadn't expected to deal with my sexuality again, more openly like this, but she's strangely supportive. She isn't gushing over the idea, for sure, but she doesn't seem to treat it as excessively strange besides the fact this is my first relationship.
I head off to bed after dinner, feeling a bit calmer. I text Aurora to let her know I've told my parents and that they didn't seem to make too much of a big deal about it. I warn her they'll probably want to chat with her when she comes to pick me up, but she seems to take the news positively and states she'll happily converse with my parents.
I go to bed with a smile on my face, hoping the days will pass quickly as our first official date approaches.