A month later, Landen had a new girlfriend named Sapphire. She had a younger sister named Braelyn. Sapphire and her sister lived in the next town over. Landen and Sapphire were old friends, growing up. Braelyn and Jaycee were about the same age, give or take a couple months.
Sapphire was a few inches shorter than Landen with long brown hair and baby blue eyes. Braelyn was a couple inches taller than Jaycee with short dark brown hair and cloudy blue eyes. Braelyn was a lesbian too, but no one knew that except Sapphire and Landen. Jaycee never met Braelyn, but Landen had. He thought she would be the perfect rebound for her.
Sapphire and Braelyn were meeting Landen and Jaycee at the park in town. Both girls were swinging at the edge of the park. Jaycee was hiding in the pavilion while Landen went to go meet up with his girlfriend and her sister. Jaycee was feeling a lot better about her break up with Dylan, but she wasn’t over him. She didn’t think she would be anytime soon.
Landen had returned with both girls a few minutes later. Sapphire was wearing a white tennis dress with blue polka dots and black ballet flats. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she was wearing makeup that was barely noticeable. Braelyn was wearing jeans, a black hoodie with a Classic Chevy muscle car on it, sneakers and a blue baseball cap. She was labeled as a stereotypical lesbian, but she was terrified to come out as one.
Landen had told her that Jaycee was a lesbian too, but she was way out about it. Sapphire figured Jaycee would be good for her sister. Braelyn couldn’t stay in the closet forever, and maybe Jaycee would help her with coming out.
“Hi, Jaycee. It’s good to see you,” Sapphire said.
“Good to see you too, Sapphire,” Sapphire hugged her, and Braelyn cleared her throat.
“Right. Jaycee, this is my sister,” she put her hands on Braelyn’s shoulders.
“’Sup. I’m Braelyn,” she said, and extended her hand.
“Jaycee,” she accepted her hand. “You don’t look like a Braelyn. You look more like a Carter or a Kyle or a Logan. Seems to fit you more since you’re a lesbian.”
“How’d you know I’m a lesbian?”
“Sapphire and Landen told me,” Braelyn shot her sister a death glare.
“You told her?”
“Hey, she’s a lesbian too,” Landen pointed out.
“But I’m way out of the closet.”
“And you can’t hide in there forever, Braelyn,” her sister told her.
Braelyn’s eyes skimmed over Jaycee. She was wearing grey skinny jeans, a black Hollywood Undead T-shirt, a grey denim jacket and black Converse. The blue in her hair was fading to green, and the black was fading to grey. She was leaning against the pavilion, blowing bubbles with her gum.
“I guess I’ll give it a shot.
“Great!” Sapphire cheered.
“Wanna come over to my place? You won’t get judged, and these two can have time to themselves since his roommate’s at work ‘til late tonight.”
“Don’t give me any ideas, baby sister,” Landen said.
“Hey, Dylan won’t care. He hasn’t gotten any action in over three months,” Landen shook his head in agreement. “All right then. Braelyn and I will be at my house, and y’all can do whatever y’all want,” Jaycee grabbed Braelyn’s hand, and started pulling her in the direction of her house. “See ya.”
“Bye,” they called.
The walk to Jaycee’s house was silent. Her parents weren’t home. Her mom was at work, and her dad was working a tour as security for a week. Her house was as dead as a graveyard. When they got back, she threw her keys on the kitchen counter after unlocking the door.
“My mom’s at work and my dad’s working a concert tour, so we have the place to ourselves. Want a drink?”
“Depends what you mean by ‘drink’?”
“Soda, water, alcohol, you name it.”
“Soda. You got rum?”
“I got every type of alcoholic beverage. Beer, whiskey, rum, tequila, take your pick.”
“Pepsi and rum?”
“Sure thing,” Jaycee pored a glass of Pepsi and rum for Braelyn, and handed it to her. “Here ya go.”
“Thanks,” she took the drink.
“Welcome,” Jaycee grabbed a bottle of Coke, and started up the stairs. “Come on. My room’s upstairs.”
Braelyn followed Jaycee up to her room. She opened the door to a room with white walls and red paint splatter everywhere. She repainted her walls a couple weeks ago. She had so many reminders of her and Dylan written all over her walls, so she repainted the walls to cover everything up.
“Looks like you had a murder scene in here,” Braelyn pointed out.
“I like horror movies and crime dramas and stuff like that. Just ignore it. Everybody else who steps foot in my room does,” she sat on her bed, and Braelyn looked around the room. “You gonna sit down, or are you gonna keep staring around my room?”
“Sorry. It’s just interesting,” she sat down on the other end of the bed. “So, how long have you been out?”
“Since third grade and I’m gonna be a senior this year,” she took a sip of her soda. “But I was bi up until, like, sixth or seventh grade.”
“Damn. That’s a long time.”
“Yeah. What about you? How long have you known?”
“Since middle school, but no one really knows. Just my sister, Landen and a couple really close friends.”
“Well, judging by the way you look, it wouldn’t be much of a shocker. Nobody was really surprised when I came out because I look and act gay.”
“You don’t look gay. You look bi maybe, but not gay.”
“Give it time. You’ll see it,” she took a sip of her soda.