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“Plus, we have great security,” Mom reminded me. “All of the EPD and EFD will be there, plus Brentwood is sending in some backup officers.”
That did make me feel better, if only a little bit.
“Will anyone from school be there?” Dee asked.
I shrugged. “Van, Ronnie, and Shelly will be there, but other than that, I have no idea.”
Mom glanced at the clock and smiled at us. “It’s showtime.”
Ten
Kiyana
Mom and Dadhadn’t said much on the way home from La Belle. Mom mentioned how much harder things would be for Stefon, Dad made a dumb joke about me “turning him gay,” and that was that. It would have been easy, with just the three of us in the car, to tell them. But something held me back. It was like if I never told them, we could still be the family we’d always been.
When we got back to the house, I went to my room, turned on my TV and waited up past midnight to hear from Stefon, hoping he’d call or even tap on my window again, but he hadn’t so much as texted me. With my eyelids growing heavy, I sent him a message saying to call me if he needed to talk, turned my phone on loud, and fell asleep.
My phone did ring, but not until the next morning.
I got up, rubbing my eyes, and swiped to answer. “Stefon? Are you okay?”
“I think so. Can you meet me at Halfway Café?”
“Of course. I’ll be there in half an hour.” I hung up and hurried to get ready, getting dressed and doing my hair in record time. I grabbed my purse and went downstairs where my parents were passing time with my grandparents in the living room. Grandpa was reading a newspaper—like a real, big newspaper with crackling paper. Grandma was knitting from balls of yarn in her purse. Dad and Mom were sitting across from each other at the coffee table, playing a game of chess.
“Where are you heading?” Mom asked as I reached the door.
“Going to meet the girls at Halfway Café,” I said.
I thought that was it, but she kept talking. “That’s good, you getting support. You and Stefon have been together such a long time. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to break up right before going to college together.”
I paused, my hand on the doorknob. I’d spent so much time acting like Stefon and I were dating that I never imagined how to act when we broke up. “It’s been rough,” I said, not facing her until I could compose my features and not give away a lie. When I did, her hands were off the chess board, and she was giving me a concerned look. “Just be sure to stay clear of that pride parade. Stefon will probably be there today.”
My chest felt tight, making it difficult to breathe. “Sure. See you later.”
I walked out the door into the summer heat, immediately feeling better. I’d been so used to hiding around my parents, but with Stefon coming out... it made me feel more vulnerable. I didn’t have the cover of a relationship anymore. And I wouldn’t when we went to college either.
What would it be like to have a guy ask me out and not be able to say, “Sorry I have a boyfriend?”
Would I be able to ask girls out? Would people hate me if I did?
It was so new, so foreign. And part of me wanted to be mad at Stefon for ruining the charade, but how could I be upset at him for owning who he was?
I drove across town to Halfway Café and parked next to Stefon’s car. I could see him through the café’s big windows, sitting at a table with two cups. He knew my coffee order so well I never even had to order for myself.
Taking a breath, I pushed through the doors and went to sit with him. My eyes raked him over, looking for signs of harm, for signs of pain. But he looked light. Free in a way that I’d never seen him be before, even that night he climbed through my window.
“Hey,” he said, smiling at me. Even his smile looked easier.
“How are you?” I asked, hoping my assumptions were right.
“I’m great. My parents on the other hand...”
My stomach sank. “What did they say?”
“They didn’t. Not really, anyway. We didn’t speak at all on the ride home, and when we got inside, Mom said she was just crying because she wouldn’t have grandbabies.” He rolled his eyes. “As if I was thinking of babies at eighteen anyway.”
“But then she calmed down?” I asked.
