Grace
It had been nearly a week since my outing with Evelyn, and thankfully, I hadn’t heard anything about meeting her mom. Even after we had a decent time together I had no faith we could repeat the feat for any meaningful amount of time. Brianna and Jack had planned a meet up in our chat, but both Evelyn and I had other plans so they had gone without us.

My parents had returned to town the previous day, and, given today was a Sunday, we went to church together.

As I sat with them in the pews, I couldn’t help but stew on all of the complicated feelings I had been accumulating since last week.

I thought about how they would react if I came out. They probably would try to convince me otherwise, try to get me to marry a man anyways, and certainly they would withhold their love for me until I acquiesced to their demands. If that was true, was there any love in the first place? I didn’t know.

I thought about how Evelyn’s mother would react to similar news. I didn’t know much about her, but my impression was she enthusiastically supported her daughter on all fronts.

The comparison did no favors to my family.

I thought about Brianna; no one noticed when she did not attend mass. In the brief conversation I had with her parents after the sermon, they did not ask about her at all, despite the fact I talked to her far more often than they did.

I wondered if she was going to come out soon. I knew she had been applying to jobs outside of the church circle. Would my parents demand I disavow her if she did come out?

Most importantly I wondered what it would be like to be more like Evelyn. I felt like she just did whatever she wanted to, everyone else be darned. While I didn’t want to make anyone upset, it was intoxicating to know I could, at any time, do whatever I wanted without considering how my family would feel.

I had a lot on my mind, and when we went out to post-mass brunch at a diner with our group of assorted community members, I just swished pieces of my vegetable omelet back and forth across my plate while I half-heartedly listened to my parents bragging about how well my little brother, Joshua, was doing in school.

I nearly jumped out of my chair when I heard a bright “Hey, Grace,” from behind me. I turned around to see Evelyn walking over to our table. She was wearing a black sundress with thorned roses on it with matching rose earrings. The fact that I’d never seen her in a dress in addition to her strangely cheerful attitude had me convinced this must be Evelyn’s twin sister. Who also had red highlights. And knew me. Maybe it was her… What was she doing?

I gave her a confused greeting, and she plowed forwards, introducing herself to my mother beside me. “Hello there ma’am, I’m Evelyn, a friend of Grace’s. How do you do on this fine day, in a wonderful establishment such as this?”

I half-glared, half-confusedly stared at her, trying to figure out if I should be mad, or if I should be furious. Her mockingly pretentious tone would be enough to be offensive, but that she chose to spout utter nonsense in such a voice brought her act from artificial to cloying.

Somehow, my parents didn’t take offense. They greeted her with enthusiasm, inviting her to join us. She sat on the other side of me from my mother, where there had been an empty seat prior, and they chatted amiably across me while I looked between them bewilderedly.

After my parents got dragged into another conversation down the table, Evelyn turned to me and leaned in to whisper, “Holy shit, your family is so funny, I was totally just trying to annoy you. How did they respond to that straight-faced? Do they do improv?”

I glared at her, feeling the urge to defend my parents but strangely not irritated that she’d come over just to bother me. It was kind of cute. “No they do not do improv, not everyone assumes the worst in others,” I shook my head and wagged my finger in front of her face

She grinned like I’d walked into a trap, “Ohhh,” she said with mock understanding, “If I’d wanted to get that treatment I should have told them I’m gay, that makes sense.”

“You’re not– Well…” I felt my enthusiasm for defending them drying up, and even stranger, I wanted to join her in having fun right now, “Yes, that’s precisely correct,” I said, using a tone like I was a schoolteacher imparting wisdom on her pupils.

She laughed, “I’m almost sad I’m not having any success riling you up,” her smile and tone turned flirty, “but this is fun too.”

I smiled back nervously. What was happening? Was this really the same Evelyn?

She ordered a stack of blueberry pancakes when the waitress came by, asking for extra syrup.

After the waitress left, Josh, who I didn’t know had been watching us from across the table, stepped in with a clearing of his throat, “Hello m’lady,” he said with an entirely serious expression and a tilt of his head.

I hadn’t told Evelyn much about my brother, but this was about par for the course for him. While I would never be unkind to him, we weren’t exactly the closest, especially because of our four year age gap. His weird interactions with women and his tendency to be rather full of himself didn’t help.

Evelyn giggled and continued her act, “Yes hello good sir, you must be the honored Joshua, this fair maiden beside me has regaled me with many of your countless achievements.”

He gave her a self-satisfied smile and said something about how great he was. I tuned out of his side of the conversation, focusing on how Evelyn was having fun toying with him. I wasn’t sure if she realized he was trying to hit on her, but she definitely had to realize he wasn’t in on the joke.

They continued until Josh got distracted by someone else down the table asking him a question. I managed to finish my food, and Evelyn devoured her short stack of pancakes in record time. She paid, surprising me when she paid for me as well, and left a generous tip. It hadn’t escaped me that my mood had picked up considerably when she joined us. I was thankful she’d shown up; maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.

While everyone else was still settling their bills we headed out to the parking lot together.

I spoke first, “I would never condone such behavior, but I must admit it was enjoyable watching you make fun of my brother.” My smile fell when she looked at me with a confused expression.

“What do you mean? We were joking around, just like you and I were.”

I covered my face with my hands. Oh gosh she was serious, it was kind of adorable.

I sighed, “No he’s just like that all the time.”

“Oh no,” she responded with wide eyes.

“Exactly.” I'd reached my car, but I realized I didn’t want her to leave.

“Oh, is this yours? I actually walked here, would you mind giving me a ride back to my place?” she asked me with a shy expression.

I agreed, happy to spend a bit more time with my unlikely friend. While we had gotten off on the wrong foot, we were quickly growing closer, and I was in the mood to do something a bit rebellious. Maybe I had the courage to stand up to my parents and be myself.

 

Evelyn
I don’t know how this happened. I had walked into the diner, craving sweet pancakes after a poor night of sleep followed by getting out of bed at noon.

I hadn’t been feeling like myself, and when I saw Grace from behind, I impulsively strode over, hoping to hear her annoyed lecturing again. It turned out better than I could have imagined, and now we were driving to my apartment together and I didn’t want her to leave once we got there.

Normally social situations stressed me out and I had a tiny social battery. With Grace, however, I felt like I had a lot more energy, and we could talk for hours. Or at least I could listen to her talk for hours while we cuddled.

Fucking hell, I did not need my introduction to being an out lesbian to be crushing on a straight woman.

Not that I was crushing on her. I just liked spending time with her as a friend, and maybe she was a bit pretty. It’s not like I was in any position to date anyways, given I was unemployed. Ugh, I did not want to think about how bad my dating prospects were.

As we neared mine and Jack’s apartment, I listened to the soft piano medley coming from the radio, trying to think of a way to extend this. I figured I could try to casually invite her in when we got there, and maybe I’d throw in a sly wink. Or maybe that was a terrible idea. I could do this though. ‘I am smooth,’ I thought to myself.

Wait, oh shit, we had already arrived. “Um– did you want to, fuck…” I cursed, forgetting what I was supposed to be saying.

She blushed brightly, hesitating, “Oh, well that’s okay, if you’ll have me,” she said, forcing a smirk.

Her face, still red, grew confused, “Wait, what about Jack?”

Huh? Had she realized I’d wanted to invite her in to hang out even though I’d trailed off? Damn, we really were on the same page today. I felt like I was on a roll with this many social interactions without embarrassing myself, though I always found something to feel self-conscious about laying in bed afterwards.

I smiled, feeling confident, “Don’t worry about him, he’s probably in the living room playing Mario Kart or whatever, we can just go to my bedroom.”

She gaped at me like she wasn’t sure if I was real, “Are you sure?”

I stepped out of the car and beckoned her towards me, “Yes, I’m sure. Come on, hurry up.”

“Wow, you’re really eager.” She looked around before pinching herself on the back of her hand.

‘What was that about?’ I thought as I ran ahead, opening the door to my apartment and striding over to Jack, who was right on the sofa like I’d expected. “Hey there goof, I’m having Grace over, don’t bother us.”

He gave me a surprised expression, “Oh I thought the two of you would go over to her place most of the time, doesn’t she live alone?” He paused for a moment, considering. “Whatever, I’m happy for you, just don’t be loud; I don't want to hear you.”

I gave him a confused stare for a moment before shrugging and heading into my room. I didn’t know what Jack’s deal was or if he was still replaced by an alien or not, but I had about fifteen seconds before Grace finished greeting Jack and got to my room, which was a bit messy.

I didn’t have the time to clean the whole thing, but I could straighten my bed and throw all of the clothes on the floor into my laundry hamper. I quickly finished up and peeked my head out to see a very embarrassed Grace listening to a very serious Jack.

“...and make sure not to hurt her, she’s a lot more fragile than she seems and I care a lot about her,” he told her while she nodded animatedly.

“Hey Grace, I’m ready.” I didn’t want to know what they were talking about. Whatever it was, it was certainly something embarrassing for me.

She squeaked before waving awkwardly at Jack and following me into my room. I sat down on my bed and she sat next to me. There wasn’t really anywhere else to sit, given the only other piece of furniture in the room was one night stand.

She took a deep breath, “Evelyn–”

“Please, call me Eve, we’re close enough now,” I interrupted.

Her cheeks already had a cute pink tint to them, but my comment made her whole face and a large portion of her collarbone and neck to gain a similar hue, for some reason.

I was starting to think I hadn’t been as successful in socializing today as I’d thought.

“Eve, what are we doing?” She let out a shuddering breath.

I had no idea what she was so embarrassed about. I thought back to all of the interactions leading up to getting here, but I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Did the aliens get her too?

“Um we’re just doing whatever, I don’t know, we don’t have to plan it all,” I stammered out, not as confident as I felt earlier.

“But your boyfriend… He’s right there?”

I stared at her, disbelieving.

She continued, “I mean of course I know being poly is a thing, and that’s okay, my parents definitely wouldn’t understand, but I get it, it’s just–”

I placed a finger on her lips, silencing her.

I looked around the room, thoughtful, like there was some clue hidden in front of me to decode what I’d just heard. “So the aliens got you too…” I muttered, feeling the sense of loss that came with knowing my two closest friends were forever lost to me.

I dropped my hand from her face and she watched me, looking like a wildlife photographer observing a wild deer.

“You’re supposed to abduct cows, not deer, Grace, that’s like the thing. You know, the thing you’re supposed to do. Yeah.” I didn’t really know what I was saying, but how could you blame me?

Would the aliens come for me next, or would they slowly replace every other person and I would be stuck as the last human on earth, doomed to never be truly understood, to be locked behind an impenetrable barrier of communication? I might’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed.

“I need a hug,” I heard myself saying.

To my surprise, she leaned over without any hesitation and pulled me into her arms, my face resting on her upper chest, and my arms loosely around her waist. I knew she was an alien, human Grace would never do this.

“I think you should go,” I told her. Even if the aliens hadn’t gotten her yet and this was just some weird misunderstanding, I suddenly wasn’t in the mood for socializing right now.

I hated that I was like this, but sometimes I abruptly crashed, and I wasn’t able to socially function anymore. Usually, there were signs beforehand signaling an incoming crash, but I was terrible at seeing them, and I often ignored them if I got caught up having a good time. “I’m really sorry,” I told her, pulling out of her embrace and lying down, curling up on myself.

“It’s okay, Eve. We only ever have to do what you’re comfortable with,” she gently rubbed my back before leaving and closing the door. I heard her talking with Jack for a minute, and then the front door opened and closed. Even if she would’ve declined, I wish I’d had the courage to ask her to stay with me and cuddle. I hated myself.