RUNAWAY GROOM

Chapter Four: Good Old Fashion Sleepovers

Telling Francis how toxic my family was, was just the tip of the iceberg, I remember how much I was envious of him and his family, they were so tight-knit and close they even treated me like one of their own and I wanted to tell him what I was going through with a good moment but nothing was a better time then the time we were at a party and decided to walk around.

He was so tall next to me, we were both walking slowly, the night sky was beaming above us, the chill of the air hitting our skin. He was wearing the same leather jacket he wore when we first met, he looked so dashing he could make a girl weak in the knees.

My glasses kept falling off my face, I had to keep pushing them back, I was nervous my face was getting sweaty just because I wanted to tell a really good friend of mine what's been on my mind for a long time.

"I'm surprised there isn't a lot of smog in this town."

I turn to look at what Francis had said, In my hometown, it rained a lot and I loved the rain, the pitter-patter of the rain hitting against the window, the grey clouds making it a great atmosphere to watch a scary movie or something creepy but the thought of walking in it made my skin shiver thinking about it.

"Yeah, was there smog in Australia?" I ask.

"Not really." He shrugs.

"I just have always liked the stars, something about them, so captivating that just the idea of looking at them, makes me wanna sketch them right now."

I smiled.

"Has your family supported your drawing journey?" I ask.

"Yeah, they're my number one supporters." He nods.

"I'm your second one." I interject.

"Does your family support you?" He asks.

This felt like a good time to tell him, I also didn't want to seem like the person who just trauma dumps him because he asks me a simple question.

"Can I tell you something about my family? It's gonna sound kinda traumatic." I wonder.

He slowly nods intrigued.

I was starting to play with my fingers, a little habit I picked up growing up in a toxic household.

"Well . . . long story short, my family didn't support me when I told them I wanted to become an author." I start.

I stop to take a deep breath and stop walking, Francis stands in front of me with intrigued eyes, like he was going to hang on to every word that I said and listen and not have it enter one ear and out the other.

"After I came out to my family back when I was in middle school, it was like everything shifted, my brother didn't want to be near me anymore, my sister acted like I wasn't there, always ignored me, my parents acted like they were there for me but always were like "if anyone ever asked you what's your sexuality, just say straight." like I know were trying to protect me but I thought I was wrong about me and I almost hated that part of me."

"I thought there was something wrong with me and I thought I needed to be fixed but then something happened where I knew it wasn't right to hide from everyone in my life."

"What was that mate?" Francis asks.

"Not what, who. My two friends Liv and Aniyah, when I told them my sexuality, they didn't hate me, they embraced me, made me feel like a person who deserved to be loved and respected."

"They told me to be myself but to take it slow because I didn't want to say I was comfortable with myself when in reality I wasn't." I explain.

"That's cool of your mates, but what does that have to do with your family?"