Between Two Girls

Chapter 37

"Paigey, Paigey! Push me!" Anika yells out. Confused, Paige looks up to see her sister on a swing.

"Be there in a sec!" the bookworm replies. She stands up from the bench she and Lucy were sharing and walks over to Anika. Paige stands behind her and grabs the chains. "You ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright." Paige pulls the chains back, and gently lets go. Anika swings back, and Paige pushes her out. The whole time, Anika's going, "Wheeeeeeee!"

"You got it now?" Paige asks.

"Yep!" Paige walks away from the swing set and looks over to Lucy. Lucy's furiously typing into her phone, and the bookworm can see a scowl on her face.

"Who do you think she's talking to?" Emery whispers. "A friend she doesn't like?"

"I don't know," Paige whispers back.

"Well, ask her!" Juli says. "It's kind of pointless to stand and watch. And creepy, too."

The bookworm rolls her eyes before going towards Lucy. As she gets closer she can hear Lucy swearing at her phone. When Paige is at the bench, Lucy growls and slams her phone on the seat next to her. She crosses her arms and legs and looks straight ahead, still pissed

"What happened?" Paige asks, tentatively. She's afraid to move now.

Lucy huffs. "Eli's being a dumbass," she answers. "I'm beginning to think I should dump him and be out."

"Paigey, Paigey!" Anika calls out again. She's off the swings and is now underneath the monkey bars. "Can you lift me up to this?"

"Um . . . " Paige looks at Lucy, who nods. "Yeah." Paige goes over to her sister. She picks Anika up and doesn't let go of her until Anika's got her grip on the first bar. "I'm staying here until you're done with this."

"Aw, why do I need a babysitter this time?" Anika whines.

"I'm not taking you home all injured," Paige says. "And I don't want to explain to mom as to why I didn't watch you."

Anika swings to the next bar. "You can watch me from the bench," she says. "You can clearly see me there."

Paige crosses her arms. "I'm staying put, and that's final."

"Ugh, fine." Anika quickly swings through the row until she gets to the last one. She promptly falls down to her feet. Finally, she makes a 'ta-da' pose, complete with her hands in the air. "See? All done. Now you can bug Lucy."

The bookworm snorts. "Thank you for your consent," she says.

"What does 'consent' mean?" her sister asks.

"Wow, with all the books she's read and the words she knows, I've forgotten exactly how old Anika is," Emery muses.

"It means 'acceptance'," Paige says, to describe basically. She silently agrees with the sage. She turns and sees Lucy in the same position as before.

"So, where were we?" Paige asks as she goes back to the bench. "The being out thing?"

"Yep," Lucy grumbles. She picks off a piece of lint from her dress. "That's how pissed off Eli's making me."

Paige leans back. "Are you ready to let everyone know you're a lesbian?" she replies.

"Why would that matter?"

"In my opinion, a big part of being out is how comfortable you are of yourself," the bookworm explains. "If you're not confident in yourself, then why would you want to come out of the closet?"

Lucy pauses, and looks at Paige. Her eyebrow is raised. "You know someone like me?"

Paige shrugs. "Something like that." In the far distance, she can hear her sister shrieking with delight as she goes down a long slide. She looks around and sees that she and Lucy are the only teenagers around. Carefully, Paige snakes her arm around Lucy and pulls her in for a hug. Lucy's head rests on Paige's shoulder and hugs back.

"Yay! We have a romantic scene!" Juli cheers.

"It's not much of one," Emery responds. "It's more for comfort."

"Shush, Emery! Don't spoil it for me!"

Lucy exhales. "I really need this," she remarks. She closes her eyes and hugs Paige tighter. Unknowingly, the bookworm softly smiles.

Unfortunately for the girls, they're interrupted by Anika. "Lucy! Can you play with me now?"

Lucy laughs. "Do I have to?" she asks Paige.

"Hey, I invited you for a reason," Paige teases. "And the reason is waiting for you at the playground."

"Fine." Lucy and Paige untangle, and they both stand up. "Are you playing with us?" Lucy questions.

"Nope. I'm keeping watch, make sure you two don't get into any mischief." The bookworm smirks.

Lucy rolls her eyes. "I don't need any supervision."

"Yeah? At least you and Anika have something in common."