Page 38 of March

This meeting must be the longest meeting in the history of meetings. Maybe even longer than meetings where leaders of nations decide if their country goes to war. Either that, or you’ve completely forgotten about me. I’m going to assume the former.

What’s your favorite color? I realized we’ve done favorite movies, books, TV shows, and foods, but not favorite color. Mine is gray. Is that weird? My mom always said it was weird that gray was my favorite color. When I was in high school, I had a ton of gray clothes. One day, she went through my closet, counted the ratio of gray to other colors, and said it was something like eight to one. We went shopping the next day, and I became the proud owner of red shirts, blue shirts, and a few yellow ones. She even got me a navy-blue skirt. You should know that I hate skirts. I hate wearing them, I mean. I have no problem with other women wearing them, if you are, for example, a woman who likes wearing skirts. I’m honestly not sure how I ever thought I was straight. Even then, I was giving signals. If I look back at the posters on my wall, I remember putting up an obligatory poster of some teen heartthrob because the other girls all had the same poster, but I didn’t really stare at it and think that I wanted to date him or do things with him. I don’t remember thinking about that with women, either, but when I had boyfriends, it always felt off. I probably should’ve figured it out then, but it took a long time. I’m glad I did, though, because I’m good now. I love who I am and that part of me. I kept it from my parents, which I shouldn’t have done, but I didn’t know how to tell them. I have two older, perfect sisters who both married and started having kids by thetime they were twenty-five. My mom just kept waiting for me to tell her I was seeing someone, but I never introduced Sean to them as my girlfriend. It helped that we never lived together, so we didn’t have to pretend to be roommates. After Sean and I broke up, there wasn’t much of a point in telling them. I wasn’t seeing anyone, and my oldest sister was going through a divorce, so the focus was on her and the kids. I had no plans of telling them until I’d found someone I saw a future with. Then, you happened, and I realized that I wanted to tell them this story. I wanted them to know that I’d met someone who made my heart race and that I’d been so excited that night because you seemed to be someone I needed to know, to be with, to tell them about. I know that sounds crazy because it was a few hours, but those few hours made me realize that I needed to tell them who I was, so I did, and they were fine with it. I told them about you, and my mom said that she thought it was sweet that I wanted to find you. I haven’t told them that I’ve found you yet, but I will. Having them know this part of me is so nice. I never thought I’d feel relief like this, but I do, and now that I’ve found you, it’s like everything is falling into place.

Bryce

She had to reread that one because it was significantly longer than the emails they’d been sending so far. It was also more powerful and told her more about Bryce than just learning about her favorite movie. She went to respond, but there was a knock at the door, and she looked up at it.

“Anyone in there?” someone asked.

“Uh… Yeah. One second,” she replied and tucked her phone into her pocket because she really did need to pee now.

Sophie hated that there was only one bathroom in the place. It made things way more awkward than they needed to be. Once she washed her hands and opened the door, she rushed past thewoman waiting without saying a word and got back to her desk. There, she opened her email app on her computer this time and began typing.

Bryce,

Kelsey might be into Megan? Interesting. That’s a development I wasn’t expecting. Do you really think she might be looking for something more than friendship? If Megan has just started dating someone, it could be that Kelsey sees her spending more time with someone else and is jealous, but not in a more-than-friends kind of way. I know when Monica started dating Bridgette, I got a little jealous. We’d only just reconnected as friends, and I already don’t have too many of those these days, but she became a lot less available when she and Bridgette got together. It doesn’t mean that I want to date Monica. So, maybe it’s just that. I don’t know. You’d know way better than me, obviously.

Sophie

She hit send and went to reply to the second email.

Bryce,

It indeed was close to the longest meeting in history, but we’ve, unfortunately, had longer. This time, there were pie charts and text that was far too small for anyone to read from the back of the room, so it was exciting, to say the least. Have I mentioned that I hate my job? I do. I hate it. Monica helped me get an interview with Arnette Assets. I should have asked her a year ago, but well, you were a distraction for a long time there. Anyway, it’s all scheduled, and I’m nervous because this is a big chance for me. I haven’t been able to find anything else, and now, I have a real shot to do something I liked before, and I wouldn’t have to leave New Orleans.

About my favorite color: it’s green. Like that dark-green of evergreen trees. Is it just called evergreen, then? Probably not evergreen-green, right? I don’t know, but that’s my favorite.

I think it’s amazing that you told your parents, Bryce. Coming out is a big deal, and it’s different for everyone. Realizing you are gay can take time, and telling the people you love can be the scariest thing you ever have to do. I’m so glad that meeting me somehow got you to do that and that they know you better because of it. They sound like good people if they’ve accepted you and support you. My parents do, too. They’ve never had a problem with it, which is a big deal sometimes in the South. My mom came from a strict Catholic family, where being gay was a sin, but she met my dad, who is all sorts of Southern Baptist, and they fell in love. It wasn’t accepted by my mother’s family at first, but she didn’t give him up. They got married, and then I was born, but they still didn’t accept it. It wasn’t until later that her mom finally came back into her life and began supporting their marriage and me as a result. I didn’t even meet my grandmother and grandfather until I was four years old. Then, they started spoiling me. They still tell me that I’m too light-skinned sometimes because they’re both from Mexico, and with my father’s pasty-pale complexion, I ended up looking lighter than they’d wanted of their grandchildren. We laugh about it now and make fun of my dad when he tries to pronounce Spanish words. It’s funny. It’s family. I love them, so I’m happy that you’re able to be your full self with your family now, too.

Sophie

By the time Sophie sent that message, she’d received a reply from the first one. This was how it had been ever since their first exchange last night. It was slightly exhausting and disorganized but also a lot of fun.

Sophie,

At some point during our emails, you stopped responding with ‘Your Sophie’ and just left it at ‘Sophie.’ Should I be concerned about that?

Your Bryce

That was the first time she’d used that sign-off in an email.

“YourBryce,” she said to herself. “God, I hope so.”

CHAPTER 14

She couldn’t keep doing this, but she couldn’t do anything else, either. Bryce stared at her phone and read the latest email from Sophie.

Bryce,

Yes.

Your Sophie

That was it. Just a simple yes. Yet, it meant so much to Bryce. They had stayed up again, messaging each other over email, which was getting a little ridiculous, communicating like that, but neither of them had said as much to the other. Bryce wanted nothing more than to hear Sophie’s voice, to see her face, and to move past emails, but they’d settled in these past couple of days, and it was working for them. It had been at least until Bryce had finally messaged Sophie around four in the morning, asking her one question.

My Sophie,

Should I come for a visit?

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