Page 72 of Unstoppable You

“Please. I love secrets.” I wiggled my eyebrows and pulled my blankets up, propping my phone on them.

“I sprayed on some of your cologne before I left because I really like the way it smells.” I hadn’t even noticed, but holy shit, that was cute.

“So you like the way I smell?” I asked, smirking. Her cheeks went red.

“Don’t make it weird, James.”

“You’re the one who admitted to stealing my smell.”

She made an offended sound. “If you were here, I’d throw a pillow at you.”

“I wish you were here,” I admitted.

She sighed. “Yeah, I kinda wish that too. So you could distract me and I wouldn’t have to do this whole fucking identity crisis.”

She let out a little laugh that was mostly without humor.

“Can you reschedule the identity crisis for another time?” It wasn’t a great joke.

Her lips formed a sad smile. “Not really. And the fact that I am having a crisis means that there’s a crisis to have. Right?”

I didn’t follow. “What?”

She huffed. “The fact that I’m even questioning my sexuality means that it probably isn’t what I always assumed it was. Like, people who are straight don’t sit around thinking about kissing people of the same gender all the time.”

I wanted to be careful with this. “Some do, I’m sure.”

“Right, but they would probably like ‘no, definitely not’ and that would be that. You don’t continue to question if you’re already settled in who you are.” She had a point there.

Delaney let out a frustrated noise. “Why is this happeningnow? Why couldn’t I have figured this shit out years ago? Like, what the fuck?” I knew exactly how she was feeling.

“I don’t have an answer for you, but I get it. I get all of this.”

She was quiet for a while and then she started to cry.

“I think… I don’t think I’m straight.”

I nodded and waited.

“Being with you just…it made sense. For the first time. I wasn’t forcing myself. It felt right instead of wrong.” Holy shit. I couldn’t believe I was getting to see her have this revelation in real time.

“I understand. The feeling right instead of wrong.” Fuck, did I understand.

“Does this mean I can go to Sapph now and they won’t kick me out?” She laughed.

“They would never kick you out, but now you can feel comfortable there. It’s your space. It’s a place for people like us.”

“People like us,” she repeated. “I don’t think I’m ready for the word yet. To say it or to even think it. I know a word shouldn’t be that scary, but I need some time to adjust.”

I nodded. “That’s fine. Your label should fit you, and not for you to fit the label, if that makes sense.” For a brief period of time, I’d assumed that I was bisexual because I was still so attached with the idea that while I might have feelings for women, I could still date and be with men. That lasted for as long as it took for me to realize that I had exactly zero romantic and sexual attraction to men. Ever. Delaney might go through a similar journey, especially since she’d been in a relationship with a man for four years. Letting that go was a lot.

“God, can we talk about something else. Anything else.”

I thought for a moment. “I read that romance with the cucumber and the tomato.”

She gasped in shock. “You did not!”

“Idid.”

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