Chapter 6

“Monica? Wha…what’s happening?”

“You need to get out of here.”

“No, I’m not leaving you.”

“You have to. It’s…

“Its some of the church members, right? The protesters?” Judging by the sounds of their chants, they weren’t real close. Probably on the sidewalk at the edge of this smaller parking lot.

“It is, but it’s even worse… I think it’s my parents… I think they are part of the group.”

“What the fuck? Are you sure?”

“Yes. Them and the neighbors. They have signs.”

“Are they coming towards us?”

“No. They are staying on the sidewalk. Get in the car.”

I checked the rear driver side door and it was unlocked. Monica got in the driver’s seat while I sat behind her. She started her car but didn’t drive away.

“I thought this little lot would be safe, but I guess not. The only way out is towards the group…towards my parents.”

“Keep your head down, Steph. Do you hear me? I don’t want my parents seeing you. Please?”

“Ok. But what about you?”

“They probably already know it’s me. I’m sure of it. My mom stared so hard. I’m…I’m fucked. No reason for you to be too.”

“Then go. Don’t stop. Just drive right past them and keep going. My car is parked over in Davis Hall’s lot. It’s far enough away that we should be ok.”

Monica reversed out of the parking spot and put the car in drive. She paused for just a second before driving forward. I used my hands to cover my face, but I couldn’t help but peek through my fingers. Monica approached the group, and from what I could see, there were about 8 people yelling and holding signs. Just as we drove into the exit for the lot, Monica hit the brakes. I could just see through my fingers that it was Monica’s mother blocking the right side of the exit. Monica turned her head and I assume the two made eye contact. I heard her mother screaming “No! No no no no no!”

Monica drove around her and steered to the left. Once we were onto the street, Monica accelerated away as fast as the little four cylinder would go. She took the second left and once she was behind the cover of a building, she pulled over to the curb. Her shoulders shook as she cried. I squeezed between the front seats so I could get to her. I held her as the tears continued. She was trembling and sobbing so hard that she was shaking the car. After a few minutes, she began to calm a little.

“I don’t want to leave you. Let’s go somewhere… anywhere. A park, a restaurant, hell…go to my house.” I offered.

“I’ll be ok. Thank you though. Go get your car and get out of here.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t… I don’t know. Curl up into a ball and die.”

“Don’t talk like that.”

“I’m not going to do anything stupid. I promise.”

“I’ll meet you somewhere. Just say where.”

“It’s ok, Steph. I’m going to have to go home and face my parents sometime. Unless they are blind, they obviously know that it was me in that parking lot kissing another woman.”

“I’m afraid of letting you go home alone.”

“It’s ok. They won’t hurt me. At least not physically. Go. Get in your car and go home, Steph.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“Please. I’ll be ok. Please go before they come marching down this way. I’ll wait until you pull out, ok?”

“Ok. Call me if you need anything. Anything.”

I kissed her before exiting her car and jogging over to mine. I pulled my seatbelt on as I was backing out and hurried out of the lot. Monica pulled away behind me and she followed me onto the freeway. We exited onto the ramp that would take us towards our area of town. At the stoplight I took a left while she took a right. I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I knew her parents were very conservative, but I would have never thought they’d be so full of hate as to be chanting such horrible things at another person. Not just any person either, but their own daughter!

I pulled into the garage at home and prepared myself mentally. It was going to be a long night of acting like everything was alright. I was worried sick about Monica and how her parents might treat her now that they surely knew her secret. I checked my appearance in the rear view mirror and made sure I looked…normal, I guess.

Luckily, the rest of the afternoon and evening went smoothly. We usually watched a movie or two on Saturday nights, and tonight was no different. Rachel and Nathan spent the night in as well and joined us for the second movie.

It was late by the time we finished and I snuck off to the bathroom to check my messages. I had sent Monica one earlier, but I hadn’t received a reply. That worried me, but I tried to think positively. Paul and I stayed up a little longer and chatted with Rachel and Nathan for a while and it was around midnight when we finally went to bed. Thankfully, Paul didn’t try to initiate anything sexual as I wasn’t in the mood for that at all.

It was around 9:30 in the morning on Sunday when I finally woke up and got out of bed. I immediately grabbed my phone to see if Monica had messaged me. Nothing. I got dressed after a quick shower and made my way downstairs to the kitchen. Paul had just returned from picking up breakfast and while we ate we talked about what we wanted to do for the day. I felt like I needed to keep busy or else I was going to worry myself to death. Paul, on the other hand, didn’t have plans to do anything. Most of the chores were done and there wasn’t anything we urgently needed from the store.

So we decided to spend the rest of the morning relaxing at home, well, at least one of us was going to. I was acting like I was relaxing, but I was really going crazy. I was thinking about what I could do to pass the time when the doorbell rang. I hopped off the couch and went to see who was here.

“Hey…I uhm…can I come in?”

“Of course. Are you ok?”

She looked like she’d been up all night and it was obvious she had been crying.

“I…I didn’t know where else to go. I’m sorry.”

I put my arm around her and led her over to a chair to sit. Once seated she began to tear up. I grabbed her the box of tissues from my desk and knelt beside her. Paul came over with a concerned look on his face.

“What’s wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?” Paul asked.

“Uhm, my parents and I got in a huge fight and…uhm, they kicked me out.”

“What the hell? Who kicks their daughter out? I should go over there and…” Paul was livid.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but please don’t say anything to my parents…please.”

“He won’t, and neither will I. I’m so sorry, Monica. Can I get you anything? A drink? Have you eaten yet?”

“Thank you. I’ll take some water, but I don’t have much of an appetite right now.”

“I understand. I’ll get you some water, sweetie.”

I stood and walked to the kitchen to retrieve a glass of water for Monica. As I was filling the glass from the door of the fridge, Monica walked over next to me.

“I’m so sorry to just show up like this.” She whispered, “but I didn’t know where to go.”

“It’s totally fine. I’m happy you’re here. There is nothing to be sorry about.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. If I wouldn’t have gone to that stupid gathering…if I wasn’t gay…none of this would have happened.”

“Stop that. Stop it right now. That is who you are. That’s what makes you…well, you. If your parents can’t accept that then, I feel so sorry for them. You’re incredible. Don’t let anyone else tell you differently.”

“Thank you so much, Steph.”

Monica set her glass down and wrapped her arms around me. I know I shouldn’t have those kind of thoughts about her with all that she had going on, but it just felt so good to have her pressed against me and to hold her in my arms.

As I stood in our kitchen hugging Monica, my hand slowly rubbing her back, Paul walked in to check on us.

“Is there anything I can do?” He asked.

“Do you have things in your car?” I asked her.

She nodded, “I packed up as much of my stuff as I could. It’s all in there.”

“Anything you need right away?”

“All of the stuff I might need is in a duffel bag on the passenger seat.”

“Paul, can you go grab that bag, please?” I asked him.

“Take it up to the spare bedroom. I’ll make sure the bed is ready and you can get settled in.”

“What? No. I can’t ask you to do that. I’ll call a friend and crash on their couch or…”

“Absolutely not! Besides, you’re not asking me to do anything. I’m telling you, you’re staying in our spare bedroom.”

As Paul went outside to retrieve Monica’s bag, I led her up to the spare room. I pulled the Murphy bed out from the wall and grabbed a couple of pillows from the closet.

“You can stay here as long as you need to, ok?”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude.”

Paul appeared and set her bag on the end of the bed.

“Is this all you need? You don’t need any of your clothes brought in?”

“I think I’ll be good with this for now. Thank you, Paul.”

He patted her on the shoulder, smiled warmly at her, and went back downstairs. I reached over and pushed the door shut. I sat on the end of the bed and Monica sat in the middle and flipped onto her back.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“Ugh…I just can’t believe it. So…I got home yesterday after the incident, and of course they weren’t home yet. I was nervous as fuck all afternoon and just sat around losing my mind about everything. That evening, they finally strolled into the house and I just knew it was coming. They called me downstairs and were acting really weird. They asked me what I had been up to earlier that day. I told them I was just hanging out with a friend then came home to work on school stuff.” She explained.

“They asked who I was with so I lied and told them it was just a girl from school named Beth. She’s here from New York, so they don’t know her or her parents, so it seemed like a safe answer. They asked if she was a blonde and I said no her hair was brown. They looked at each other and then asked if I was driving my car. I told them yes, I dropped a couple girls off. I figured maybe the didn’t actually see us, but we’re just suspicious, you know. They asked if I was friends with a blonde girl and I told them that several of my friends had blonde hair. Then they asked if I was at the university. I was like, Beth lives in the dorms, so yeah. Fuck, my stomach was in knots and I was sweating like crazy. Then they looked at each other again and told me to go back to my room.” She continued.

“Then dad knocked on my door and told me I was going to church with them that night. I told him I wasn’t. I had stuff to do and planned on meeting up with some of the girls later. He said I’d have to cancel my plans. That pastor Scott really wanted to talk to me. I asked what about and he told me it was in regards to some things they had heard. I pressed him about these things and then from out in the hallway my mother yelled ‘your sinful ways!’ “

“My dad said I was going to church and that was final. I said no, I wasn’t. My mom started going off about how I needed help and they were going to save me. I asked what this was about and dad calmly said that I should know what it was about. I played dumb. He then told me that he wouldn’t deal with such disrespect in his house and that my fucking ass was going to the church. I told him no, I wasn’t and to please leave my room. He said I was going and grabbed my wrist. It didn’t hurt, but still…not ok. I told him I’d call the police if he touched me again. My mom then came in and started praying. My dad told me to look at what I was doing to my mom? How I was breaking her heart. I asked how I was doing that? He said it was because I was, and he hesitated several times before saying this, but he said it was because I was one of those fucking queers. One of those fucking dykes. My own fucking parents said this to me, Steph! What the fuck?! I began screaming at them to leave me alone and it just devolved into all of us screaming at each other.”

Tears were streaming from Monica’s eyes as she laid on the bed. She took a deep breath and wiped at her cheeks before continuing.

“After the argument, they left and didn’t come home until late. This morning, they woke me up early and again insisted that I join them at church. I refused again and we got into another argument. My dad then informed me that they were going to church and that pastor Scott desperately wanted to speak with me. I told them no. He said if I didn’t want to go that pastor Scott agreed that it would be best if I left. He supposedly told them that I was bringing torment and sin into their house, and if I continued to live there that I would cause them grave danger. He said I had destroyed the family. They left, I packed up my shit and now I’m here talking to you.”