Page 82 of Crashing into Love

Selma handed Drew the phone and sat on the end of the bed.

“Hey, Gia.” Drew paused to listen. “Yeah, I did. Your mom was awesome, too. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t win.” She paused again as she walked over to lean against the wall-mounted desk across from Selma. “Thank you. What was that that I just heard about physics?” Selma gave her a wide-eyed expression, but Drew shook her off. “Yeah? Experiments? That’s awesome. You like it so far?”

Selma took Drew in. She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt under her jacket tonight, a pair of dark jeans, and her usual boots. Her hair looked freshly washed, so she must have showered quickly when she got back; unlike Selma, who had been lying around wallowing about being a moron with the woman she liked.

“Whoa! That’s so cool. Will you show me when I see you next?” Drew asked Gia.

Selma was in awe of this woman now. For all Drew knew, Selma wasn’t interested in dating her and they were about to have an awkward conversation, but she was still going to see Gia again. Selma leaned forward then and reached for Drew’s hand. Drew was confused at first, but when Selma took it and pulled Drew toward her, Drew didn’t look confused so much as surprised.

“Uh… Yeah. That’s great, Gia,” Drew said as Selma held their now-joined hands up between them and entwined their fingers, trying to tell Drew with that action that she’d been right about what Selma had wanted. “Yeah. Hey, Gia? Can I talk to you in a couple of days when I get home? I have to go now.”

Selma looked up and met Drew’s eyes.

“Yeah. I’ll give you back to your mom now, okay?”

Drew waited a second and handed Selma the phone.

“Hey, baby,” Selma said.

Drew’s hand, now free from the phone, moved to Selma’s cheek and gently cupped it. Selma tilted her head and leaned into the touch that she hadn’t known how much she’d needed.

“Mom, can I go back to my physics now?”

“Yes. I’ve got to go, anyway. I love you so much, baby. Tell Grandma I love her, too. And be good, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I love you, too.”

Gia hung up, and Selma no longer had her daughter between the two of them and would have to be a mature adult and tell Drew what was going on.

“I’m bisexual,” she blurted out after she dropped her phone on the bed. “And I wanted to say yes to you, but I was so surprised that you were asking me out… I froze, Drew. Then, Andy was there, and I didn’t know what to say, so I stayed frozen.”

“You want to go out with me?” Drew checked.

“Yes,” she replied. “But you need to know something first.”

“Okay,” Drew said and ran her thumb over Selma’s lips.

“Oh, that felt really good,” Selma muttered more to herself than to Drew, but Drew smiled warmly down at her. “I’ve known I was attracted to women, too, since I was a teenager, but then, I had Gia, and I didn’t date for a long time. The only real relationship I’ve ever had was with a guy a few years ago. I’ve put her first, and I always will. You need to know that.”

“I already did. And I get it. Is that what you’re worried about?”

“No. I’ve never been with a woman, Drew,” she admitted. “This… what we’re doing right now – what we’ve been doing – is as much as I’ve ever done with one.”

“Okay.”

“I wanted you to know because–” Selma stopped then. “Wait. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay. What did you expect me to say?”

“I don’t know. That you’re no longer interested? That you want to take it slow or aren’t–”

“I will take it slow, but that’s not a requirement. I trust you, Selma. If we’re both into something and we’re ready for it, we talk about it, and we do it. If we’re not, we don’t. That goes for everything, not just sex. I don’t care that you haven’t been with a woman before. I like you. I think that’s pretty obvious by now.” Drew ran her thumb over Selma’s cheek. “You are so beautiful. I’ve wanted to say that to you for a while now.”

“We should go.”

“Go where?”

“Out.”

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