Tea For Two

2

Disclaimer: This is an original work of fiction. These characters belong to me, as well as their lives. Do not steal them from me.

Thanks. Enjoy.

~~~

Knock. Knock-Knock.

"Oh, Hell no." I grumble, pulling my head off of my pillow. I glance at my cell phone on my bedside table. It's Monday, and 6:30 a.m. Oh Hell no.

It's my job to answer the door in the mornings because my bedroom is closest to it. My parents always claim that they can't hear when someone knocks on it, but I think they're full of shit.

Knock-Knock-Knock.

"God! All right, I'm coming!" I say as I wrench myself out of bed.

I get to the door and open it to find Emily standing on the other side. She looks incredibly tired and annoyed. I imagine I look the same, only shorter.

"Hey Emily. What can I do for you?" I yawn.

She rubs her eyes as she replies. "My stepdad was wondering if you could take me to school? I don't have my own car, and he and my mom both need one."

"Uh, yeah, sure." She starts to walk away, but I'm not done, so I grab her arm before she goes too far. "But listen, I don't drive. I usually walk."

"Walk?"

"Yeah. It's only a mile to school."

"A mile. Nice," she smiles. "So what time should I be ready?"

"Come back in an hour. We'll leave then." I say, scratching the back of my head.

"Cool," she replies. "Oh, and August?"

I pause in the middle of closing the door. "Yeah?"

"Nice bedhead." She gives me a tired thumbs-up and walks away.

"I'm glad someone likes it," I mumble as I retreat again to my room.

~~~

Fourty five minutes later, I'm listening to Ed Sheeran and trying for the third time to flatten my hair.

For other girls, this is an easier thing to do- just pull out the flat iron, get it done. But I have a pixie cut, my hair only an inch or two long at the most, and it just isn't that simple. It takes a lot of time to get right. And I just am not getting there.

"Screw this," I mutter. I get some gel on my hands from the small tub in my mirror cabinet and rub it all over, making other bits stand straight up like the rebellious ones in the back.

Perfect. Now Emily won't be the only one whose hair attracts stares today.

Two days have passed since Emily and my first cups of tea, and I am beginning to worry about how she's going to fit in at our school. Not only is she as tall as half of our basketball team with hair as bright as their penalty lights, she's going to request to try out for our 'men' only baseball team...and she's an open lesbian.

To say the least, Emily has major lady balls.

I hadn't explained to her on Saturday about how I wasn't out of the closet yet, not to anyone but her. And especially not to my parents.

But as I'm standing at the counter in my kitchen sipping on a milky cup of breakfast tea on our first morning of school together, I'm starting to wonder if telling her anything was a good idea. I hardly know Emily- what if she makes friends with other people and tells them? What if my secret gets out? As I'm quietly having a panic attack over this, I hear Emily knock on the front door again.