Page 55 of My Vows Are Sealed

“Come to the bathroom with me,” I told her. I didn’t actually have to go, but I figured it would give us some privacy away from the rest of the group.

She nodded, then turned to her mom. “We’ll be right back,Eomma.”

“Okay,” Mrs. Rhee told us. “Stay together, girls.”

“We will,” I promised.

We shimmied out of the row and made our way to the ladies’ room. I pulled her into a corner so we wouldn’t be in the way of people who actually did have to use the bathroom, and she could barely meet my eyes. A knot started to twist in my stomach, but I just took a deep breath and went for it.

“I need to ask you something, and I want you to be honest with me,” I said. “Can you do that?”

“Yeah, of course,” she mumbled.

“Is seeing me and Brendan together killing you?” I asked.

Her eyes widened, and she covered a gasp with her hands before throwing her arms around my neck.

“Oh, my gosh, no,” she said. “I’msohappy you guys finally came to your senses.”

“Then what’s been going on? Something’s wrong, and I really thought it was because you liked Brendan and it hurt seeing us together.”

I heard a quiet sniffle, and a few tears wet my shirt. I tightened my arms around her, and she squeezed me even tighter. I tried to stifle a groan because it hurt my rib, but I wasn’t completely successful, and she immediately pulled back.

“Crap. I’m sorry. Your arm. It’s not better yet?” she asked.

I sighed and shook my head.Man, she was out of the loop. She didn’t even know what really happened to me that night after the dance. I should never have let this go on for so long.

“There’s alotI have to tell you. I should have told you before now, but I didn’t know how because you’ve been so quiet and distant lately.”

She took a deep breath. “There’s, um…there’s something I have to tell you too. I’m still trying to figure out what it means, so I didn’t want to say anything until I knew, but I had no idea that you thought it had to do with you and Brendan.”

“What is it?”

“It’s not…it’s not Brendan that I like. It’s Heather,” she sniffled.

Now it was my turn to cover my mouth with my hands as what she’d just said really sank in. I hugged her again, and she squeezed me so tight that it killed my rib, but I ignored it. She needed to know that it didn’t make a difference to me who she liked. I thought she’d know that already because my other two best friends were Kate and Ashton, but I guessed it felt different to her because of how we’d been raised and what my father preached from the pulpit on Sunday mornings.

“It’s okay, Nay,” I murmured. “I love you no matter what.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled uncomfortably. “I just…it’s weird. It’s not that I don’t like guys, because I do, but around the beginning of this year, I realized that I liked girls. Or at least Heather. And I guess I always just thought she was straight and that I’d see her date some guy and it’d hurt, but I’d get over it. But now…”

“Now you know she’s gay too,” I finished for her. “But she has a girlfriend. So it means there’s a chance, but there’s not. I get it. It’s how I felt when I thought Brendan asked her out.”

“I don’t know if Iamgay, though,” she countered as she pulled back. “Like I said, I still like guys too.”

“So maybe you’re bisexual, like Kate and Ash,” I suggested.

“I know it’s wrong. I know what the Bible says. But—”

“It’s not wrong,” I cut her off. “God made us all in His image. That means He made us all the way He meant us to be. I believe that wholeheartedly. I mean, could you even imagine Ash any other way?”

She giggled. “Nope. They’re Ash.”

“And do you believe God made them the way they were supposed to be?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“Then believe that He madeyouin His image too. And believe that you were madeexactlyhow He wanted you to be.”

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