This Love, This Hate (A Lesbian Romance)

TSTH Chapter Twenty-Five

This Love, This Hate

Chapter Twenty-Five

                Two hours later, Zoe found herself laying in Raine’s bed with her curled into her, forming around her perfectly as she always did. Zoe absent-mindedly ran her fingers through Raine’s long, gorgeous black curls, alternating her eyes between Raine and the view of the treetops outside the window across from the bed as Raine slept peacefully near her, each deep soft breath gently warming and cooling the nape of Zoe’s neck. What had made Raine keep making her way deeper and deeper into the dark, peaceful water earlier that day? Was her mind really as clouded as she said? Zoe couldn’t understand it, though she certainly put on a different face for her. What was even on her mind that much? Zoe had barely dwelled on this a minute before she realized just how much had been plaguing her beautiful…whatever she was to her.

                It was so strange not requiring a title to be established with a girl. Every girl before her, Zoe had been with mainly for the label as if having a ‘girlfriend’ backed up the fact that she was a self-proclaimed out of the closet lesbian. “More like halfway out of the closet.” Zoe muttered to herself. How out of the closet can you be when your own mother doesn’t know the truth?

                Raine stirred next to her and Zoe held her closer, wishing she could dive into her mind and rid her of everything that was plaguing the thoughts in that beautiful head of hers. She bit her lip and texted Malarie, wondering how she and Jesse were doing. It was so weird that they were suddenly a couple now. Jesse had never even mentioned any sort of romantic inclination towards her whatsoever but somehow today they were an item. She smiled slightly at the thought nonetheless—they both deserved to be happy and if they found that in each other that was perfectly fine with her.

~

                “I’ve got to say I’m surprised.” Jesse mused as he watched Malarie weed and tend the garden adjacent to the house near the hammock outside.

                “Why?” Malarie asked, turning to look into his eyes. Wow, he was gorgeous.

                “A pretty girl like you fancies getting elbow deep in dirt. It’s really something.” Jesse elaborated with an amused twinkle in his eyes. “What else about you is going to blow my mind? I mean, besides the obvious.”

                “Oh? What would the obvious be?” Malarie pried as she wiped her brow and sat back on her heels to focus her attention on him.

                “Your beauty, your caring heart, your bedroom skills…” Jesse counted off, purposely trailing off to grin evilly at her.

                “Hey! We aren’t mentioning those!” Malarie exclaimed, tossing a glove at him and letting out a surprised laugh.

                “So you don’t deny it!” Jesse teased as Ms. Farr called them inside. They shared a wordless glance and both hopped up and rushed in, thinking something was wrong.

                “Mom is everything---who is that?” Malarie asked, stopping short and causing Jesse to nearly run into her as they came face to face in the living room with her mom and someone who was much, much younger than her usual selection.

                “Christ, how old is he?” Jesse blurted before he could stop himself.

                “Jesse, Malarie, this is my new boyfriend Paul. He’s twenty-four, not that that’s any of your business.” Ms. Farr introduced, “Paul, this is my daughter and her new boyfriend Jesse, though he was just dating her twin Zoe. I guess it’s a twin thing?”

                Malarie forced a laugh and looked Paul over in held back disgust, “We thought something was wrong, mom.”

                “Everything is fine! I can’t wait for Zoe and Raine to meet him tonight at dinner.” Ms. Farr gushed.

                “I’m sure he is.” Malarie groaned before dragging Jesse back outside and shooting her twin a heads-up text.

                “I think Zoe spoke too soon.” Jesse noted once they’d shut the door behind them.

                “About what?” Malarie pried, turning to curiously arch her eyebrow at him.

                “When she was being all over-bearing with us, she was wishing that she had a new boyfriend. I think she may not have known what she was banking on.” Jesse explained with a warm, remembering smile that made Malarie feel like he was definitely smiling at more than the conversation he was referring to. She shook off the thought and forced a bright smile his way instead.

                “Hey boyfriend, why don’t you help me finish this up so we can go on a real date?” Malarie asked with a glimmer in her eyes. Regardless of Zoe, her mom’s new boyfriend or anything else, she still had more feelings than she could wrap her mind around for the man before her.

                “I can’t argue with that.” Jesse agreed with a fond smile at his new title, one he could never have with Zoe.

~

                “Zoe, I can’t believe you convinced me to come do this.” Raine whined, tugging at her slimming black dress as Zoe drove them over to the fancy upscale restaurant her mother had chosen everyone to go and eat at, “I look hideous.”

                “You could never look hideous. You’re stunning, especially in that dress.” Zoe denied, resting her hand on Raine’s thigh and gently squeezing, “You’re absolutely perfect.”

                “No one else has ever thought so.” Raine argued softly with her eyes pointedly looking out the window to avoid Zoe’s retaliatory gaze.

                “Has anyone else ever mattered?” Zoe asked with a slight vulnerable inflection in her usually gruff voice.

                “Now that I think about it…no.” Raine admitted, resting her hand over Zoe’s and smiling slightly before biting her lip and looking timidly over at Zoe, “Has anyone else ever mattered to you like I do?”

                “No, never.” Zoe murmured honestly before they both fell in content silence. A few minutes later after much internal battling, Zoe grinned anxiously and turned to look at Raine at a stoplight, “I want to tell my mom about us tonight, Raine. I want her to know what you really are to me.”

                “Oh Zoe, I—” Raine began as Zoe began going through the light once it changed to green. Suddenly she saw bright, white-blue headlights that cast Zoe into a silhouette and stopped short to scream, “ZOE FLOOR IT!”

A/N: Oooh cliff hanger ending. What do you guys think is going to happen or about Ms. Farr's new man? Let me know your thoughts! I'll have more up soon!