Page 31 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

D’Vaughn curved around in her seat, her mouth set in a hard line. “You know what, Cinta? The devil doesn’t need an advocate.”

Eyes wide, Cinta sat back, hitting the back seat with a thud. The car was filled with silence for a few moments before Cinta took a deep breath.

“It’s clear that I’m not doing a good job of expressing myself—”

“Or maybe it’s just that the opinions you’re sharing are unintentionally harmful and dismissive of my feelings?”

Cinta rolled her lips into her mouth and shook her head. “I’m going to shut up.”

A thread of anxiety bubbled up in my gut and I cringed internally. The conversation had taken a turn, and in my experience the only thing that would follow was “accidental” bigotry and cries of being treated unfairly as an ally. I waited for the usual. For D’Vaughn to apologize and attempt to make Cinta feel better; to tell her that, no, she didn’t have to shut up, even though her views weren’t helpful. I was surprised when D’Vaughn merely shook her head and said, “Thank you.”

And that was it. Cinta didn’t say anything else, the atmosphere in the car didn’t suddenly become thick with tension, and nobody started crying. It was wild and amazing.

Leaning back against the seat, D’Vaughn sighed.

“Are you coming to dinner?”

Cinta shook her head. “I’ll come if you absolutely need me to be there, but I think I should sit this one out. You know how Mama Dee is about confrontations; she might take it as an ambush if all of us are in front of her.”

“Sure, but what about me? She might feel ambushed, but aren’t I the only victim here?”

“Okay, Vaughn. I’ll come with.”

D’Vaughn made an exasperated sound. “Well I don’t want you to come if you don’t want to.”

Groaning, Cinta threw her hands into the air. “Ugh! What do you want, D’Vaughn?!”

“I don’t know!” D’Vaughn cried. “I want to skip all of this and get to the part where I get to be happy and carefree! I want to plan this fake wedding and have my only concern be whether or not Kris and I are selling this well enough!”

Cinta’s eyes softened and she reached between the seats to grab D’Vaughn’s hand just as I stretched a hand across the center console and placed it on her knee.

“I’m sorry, my boo,” Cinta began. “I’m so sorry that I can’t give any of that to you. There is nothing I can do that will make any of that become a reality, but I know that on the other side of that door is your mama and she’s waiting to have a conversation that is several years overdue. I know that whatever happens, you’ll no longer have the burden of hiding who you are weighing you down. I know that whatever happens in that house, you’ll still have people who love you, and if you come home in tears, I’ll be there to wipe them away and remind you of how much I love you and how perfect I think you are exactly as you are right now, even with a snotty nose and raccoon eyes.”

That hiccup sob thing happened again, and I couldn’t even blame D’Vaughn because Cinta’s words had me choked up as well. Living as an unapologetically queer person was tough enough just stepping outside of your front door. Knowing that you had someone in your corner who was down for you one hundred and fifty percent made a world of difference. Listening to the two of them made me appreciate my family even more.

“I love you too,” D’Vaughn whispered, “even though you’re making me cry.”

“Good,” Cinta sniffled. “Now, once and for all, do you want me to come with you?”

D’Vaughn shook her head. “No. I can handle it by myself.”

I cleared my throat. “But you won’t be by yourself.”

“Exactly! Don’t play with Kris like that! She’s not just arm candy.”

Tilting her head to the side, D’Vaughn eyed me. “She is nice to look at though.”

“Especially those legs.” Cinta clucked her tongue. “Those thighs look like they’re about to pop out of her pants.”

Ducking my head, I grinned as an unexpected surge of bashfulness washed over me. “Y’all not gon’ talk about me like I’m a piece of meat.”

Cinta pursed her lips. “Now she tryna act like she don’t know she fine.”

“Game,” D’Vaughn chirped, playfulness tugging at the corners of her mouth.

I chuckled. “We going in or nah?”

Sighing, D’Vaughn shut off the car. “Only since I know ‘or nah’ isn’t really an option.”