I Like That About Her

by Aleks Mitchell

  Chapter 15

  I had never felt this way before. It was like Chandler was my drug and I couldn’t get enough of her. I wasn’t sure if that sounded crazy, but I guess love does make you a little crazy sometimes. I was definitely in love. There was no doubt about that. I loved Chandler so much. I know we hadn’t been dating that long, but I just felt this connection with her that I hadn’t ever felt with anyone before.

  I loved Jason, but this was a different kind of love. This was the kind of love that brought butterflies to your stomach. The kind of love that made you feel sick to your stomach at the thought of losing that person. I couldn’t imagine losing Chandler.

  “Ready for our last game?” Riley asked as she sat down next to me to stretch.

  “More than you know,” I replied. “Keeping up with soccer and the play has been a serious pain in the ass.”

  “I can tell. I’ve barely seen you recently. Especially since you’ve been hanging out with Chandler more.”

  I looked up at Riley, guilt written all over my face. She was right. I hadn’t spent much time with Riley since I started hanging out with Chandler. It only got worse after we officially started dating. Riley would understand if I explained it to her, but how could I do that without coming out to her? I wasn’t sure if I was ready to tell Riley yet.

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I know I’ve been kind of AWOL lately. We’re definitely long over do for a sleepover.”

  “You don’t have to apologize, Faith. I get it. We can be friends with other people.”

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you and I aren’t best friends anymore, which you still are. You’re my best friend, Riley.”

  “Don’t worry, girl,” she smiled. “I know.”

  I smiled back, even though inside I felt like complete crap for lying to her. If she was my best friend then I should be able to tell her the most intimate details of my life. Maybe I would tell Riley. After all, she had never had anything against gay people. She would probably just be shocked at first.

  I hated that I even had to go through this. I guess this was something I would have to go through for the rest of my life; coming out over and over again. Straight people didn’t have to come out, why did I have to just because I was gay? I wished that I could just say this is who I’m dating without having to explain further as to what I am. Why does everything and everyone have to have a label? People shouldn’t have to have labels.

  After the team got done stretching, coach gave us a final pep talk before the game started. We were playing against Maple Shade. They were a great team so we had to play our best. This was it. One last win and we’d win the championship.

  The game had just started and they had already scored a goal. They had the ball in their possession and were getting ready to score their next goal. Ali managed to steal the ball from them and sent it down towards the opposite side. Lynn got the ball. She dribbled the ball closer to the goal until she had an opening to pass it to me.

  After I got the ball I dribbled it closer to the goal and kicked it into the goal before any of Maple Shade’s defense players could stop me. We scored our first goal of the game, making the score one to one.

  The game remained tied the rest of the game. Everyone was trying their hardest to win, making it almost impossible for anyone to score another goal. The ball kept going back and forth between both teams. If someone didn’t score soon the game would have to go into overtime.

  The ball was down on our side, in the possession of Maple Shade. I had a chance to look up into the crowd. I saw Chandler and Andy sitting together. Chandler waved at me excitedly and I smiled a goofy smile. I turned my attention back to the game, as hard as that was.

  Maple Shade went to shoot the ball, but Taryn managed to block their shot. She threw it to Ali, who passed it right to Riley. Riley passed it to me, but two of Maple Shade’s players started heading towards me. I kicked it back to Riley.

  “Shoot it!” I yelled at her.

  Riley had a wide opening for the goal. She kicked it towards the goal, harder than I’d ever seen her kick before. The ball hit the back of the net, scoring a goal in the final seconds of the game.

  Our team erupted in excitement. We had won the championship!

  I ran over to Riley and hugged her tightly.

  “That hurt my foot!” she exclaimed excitedly.

  “Who cares?” I smiled. “You just won the game for us!”

  “We won the game for us!” she smiled.

  I looked up into the crowd and smiled at Chandler. She smiled back, mouthing the words “I love you”.

  “I love you too,” I mouthed back.

  “You are seriously amazing at soccer,” Chandler said from beside me. “You should play pro.”

  “I don’t think I’m that good,” I laughed.

  After the game we went to her place to hang out. We were sitting in her room. The TV was on, but we weren’t really watching it.

  “You don’t give yourself enough credit,” she smiled as she put her arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer to her. “When are you going to face that my girlfriend is an amazing bad ass?”

  “I’m not sure if bad ass is the word,” I smiled as we closed the space between us.

  When we pulled apart I sighed. “I’m so glad soccer season is over. Now I can focus on the play.”

  “What about basketball?” she asked curiously. “Doesn’t that start soon?”

  “It does, but I’m not going to play this season.”

  She tilted her head in question. “You’re not?”

  “No,” I smiled.

  “But I thought you wanted to play so you could put it on your college applications. You were hoping to get a scholarship and everything.”

  “I know, but I’m choosing to focus on what’s actually important to me. I like basketball, but I love theater. I want to focus on the play, especially since I’m planning to go to college for theater.”

  I smiled, waiting for her response. I hadn’t told her about my decision to pursue acting yet and I knew she would be surprised.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah!” I smiled. “Life is too short not to do the things we actually want to do. You taught me that.”

  “That’s amazing!” she smiled as she got up onto her knees and hugged me tightly, a little too tightly. “I’m so proud of you!”

  “Well, you’ll probably be the only person that is. My parents are going to flip when they find out.”

  “I’m sure they’ll get over it,” she shrugged. “They’re your parents and they love you. They’ll want you to do what makes you happy.”

  “Hopefully,” I smiled sadly.

  “They will,” she said confidently. She lifted my chin gently, kissing me passionately.

  Chandler slowly pushed me back until she was straddling my lap. I placed my hands on her hips, pulling her as close to me as possible as our kiss got more and more heated. I lifted her shirt slightly to get some kind of skin to skin contact between us. I wanted to feel as close to Chandler as I could.

  Chandler pulled back, catching her breath. She looked down at me, smiling as she pulled her shirt over her head, revealing her toned stomach and a black bra. “Better?” she asked slyly.

  “Much,” I smiled, pulling her back down into my lips.

  Just as she was about to push me back onto my back, her door swung open.

  “Hey, Chandler, we’re,” Michael stopped when he saw us. “Home.”

  “Dad!” Chandler exclaimed as she jumped off of me.

  “Chandler,” he smiled.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I live here. Remember?”

  Chandler grabbed her shirt and pulled it over head quickly.

  “Hi, Faith,” he smiled at me.

  After a moment of looking at him with my mouth hanging open in shock I responded, “Hi.”

  “Are you staying for dinner?” he asked casually.

  “Sure,” I respond
ed carefully.

  “Great! Dinner is in a half hour.” He smiled at both of us before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

  Chandler and I both looked at each other in shock.

  “What just happened?” Chandler asked me.

  “Honestly, I don’t really know.”

  “That was my dad right?”

  “He looked like your dad,” I shrugged.

  “And he didn’t say anything? I mean I was practically half-naked and he said nothing?”

  “Well, he invited me to stay for dinner.”

  “He did see us right?” she asked. She had the most adorable expression on her face.

  “Chandler, honey, unless he’s blind he had to have seen us.”

  “Then why didn’t he say something,” she whined.

  It was clear that she was confused and embarrassed about what had just happened. I was too, but it wasn’t my father that walked in on me half-naked. In fact, if it were one of my parents I’d probably be crying right now.

  “Maybe he’s fine with it, Chan,” I offered gently. “I mean your dad always seems pretty cool about everything.”

  “Maybe,” she shrugged.

  We stayed quiet after that, both of us digesting what had just happened. Chandler’s dad knew about us now and so far, he seemed okay with it. Hopefully my parents would be too.

  Either way, I knew I wanted to finish what we had started moments ago.

  Sitting across the dinner table from Chandler was nerve-wracking. Curren was at a friend’s house tonight so it was just us and her parents.

  So far, not much conversation had happened. The silence was killing me.

  “So, how long have you two been seeing each other?” Jen asked politely.

  My eyes went wide as I looked up at Chandler, who looked like she had turned a bright shade of red.

  “You told mom!” Chandler sighed as she put her hands over her face.

  “Was I not supposed to?” Michael asked with a smile.

  “I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Am I grounded?”

  “For what?” Jen asked, dumbfounded. “Being in a relationship? Now I wish you would have told us, sweetheart, but I get why you didn’t. I know it’s not easy coming out.”

  “So, you guys aren’t mad?” Chandler asked carefully.

  “Chandler, there’s nothing to be mad about,” Michael said gently. “I’d prefer to never walk in on you half-naked again, but other than that you’ve done nothing wrong. Both of you did nothing wrong.”

  “Honey, we love you and we just want you to be happy,” Jen smiled. “And we want you to find someone that makes you happy. It seems like Faith makes you very happy.”

  Jen smiled at me. I returned the smile, nervously.

  “She does,” Chandler smiled.

  “Well, then that’s all that matters to us,” Michael finished. He looked at me and winked. “Now I can’t hit a woman, but if you ever hurt my girl, Jen will hit you.”

  “Michael!” Jen exclaimed. “He’s just joking, Faith, I would never hit you.”

  I giggled lightly at Chandler’s parents. They had taken it so well. I was pretty sure it was going to be the complete opposite when I told my parents. I didn’t even want to think about it.

  Maybe Chandler’s mom and dad would adopt me when my parents disowned me. There was no possible way my parents would be as supportive and accepting as Chandler’s parents were.

  Chapter 16

  Tomorrow was Thanksgiving. I couldn’t believe how fast the year was going. The semester was already more than half way done. It made me realize just how little time I had to decide where I would be going to college next year. Part of me wanted to go away for college, but then the other part wanted to stay at least a little local. Now it was even more difficult because I had Chandler in mind as well. I knew we both had to do what was best for our futures; it just sucked knowing we might end up at different ends of the country next year.

  My grandparents had flown in three days ago for Thanksgiving, so I hadn’t gotten a chance to see Chandler as much as I usually did. Today, we were finally going to grab lunch together.

  “Where are you headed?” grandma asked as I entered the kitchen.

  “I’m going to lunch with a friend of mine,” I smiled.

  “Which friend?” mom asked from the kitchen table. She was sitting next to my grandpa, who was reading the newspaper. I didn’t think they still sold those.

  “Chandler.”

  “You two hang out a lot together,” mom commented. “Are you still friends with Riley?”

  “Yeah, of course. We’ve both just been pretty busy. Riley usually spends any spare time she has with Kelan.”

  “What about Jason?” mom asked.

  I had completely forgotten to tell mom that I had broken up with Jason. “We broke up.”

  Mom looked at me questioningly. “Didn’t you two just get back together?”

  Why was she choosing now of all times to strike an interest in my relationship with Jason?

  “Yeah, but that was a mistake. I just don’t like him like that.”

  “That’s good,” grandpa commented, finally looking up from the newspaper. “Boys will get in the way of your education. You don’t need any distractions.”

  I smiled at the irony of grandpa’s statement. “I couldn’t agree with you more, grandpa!”

  “Alright, well make sure you’re home for dinner,” grandma said. “I’m making your favorite.”

  “I have a lot of favorites from you grandma,” I smiled.

  “Lasagna,” she smiled.

  “I will definitely be home in time for that!”

  “Where are you going?” Andy asked as he entered the kitchen.

  “To lunch with Chandler. See you guys later.”

  As I exited the kitchen, Andy came rushing behind me.

  “Take me with you!”

  “What?” I asked, confused by the urgency in his voice.

  “Take me with you! I have to get out of this house!”

  “Can’t you go hang out with one of your friends?”

  “They’re all busy. Please, Faith. I can even sit at another table if I have to. I just need to get out of here for a little while. If I have to listen to one more of grandpa’s stories or talk about politics again I’m going to go nuts.”

  “As if you’re not crazy already?” I joked.

  “Seriously, sis. Save me!”

  “Fine,” I sighed. “You can come.”

  Andy, Chandler, and I decided to go to De Lorenzo’s for pizza and wings.

  Andy was currently cracking up about how Chandler’s dad had walked in on us.

  “You shouldn’t have told him,” I said to Chandler. “I’m never going to live this down now!”

  “You’re right,” Andy laughed. “You’re not!”

  “Oh come on, Faith. It’s a pretty funny story.” Chandler eyed me comically, until I finally gave in.

  “Okay, you’re right. It is pretty funny.”

  “No, it’s hilarious!” Andy exclaimed. “But, at least your parents are really cool about it.”

  I couldn’t help the feeling of jealousy I had of Chandler. I wasn’t jealous in a bad way. I was happy that her parents were so amazing about who she was. But, I still wished my parents would be as accepting as they were. I was dreading telling mom and dad.

  “Mom and dad will be too,” Andy said. It looked like he picked up on my uneasiness regarding the subject.

  “With any luck,” I smiled.

  “How’s everything going with your grandparents being in town?” Chandler asked.

  “Good!” I answered.

  I loved having my grandparents in town. As far as grandparents go, mine were pretty cool.

  “Speak for yourself,” Andy added. “You only say that because grandpa doesn’t talk politics with you!”

  “That’s not true,” I disagreed. “He tries to, but I just disagree with everything that he says so he doesn’t wan
t to keep talking to me.”

  “I try doing that and he yells at me,” Andy stated seriously. “It’s just because he likes you better than me!”

  “Yeah, that’s true,” I agreed.

  “What’s your family doing for Thanksgiving?” Andy asked Chandler.

  “Just dinner at home. Some of my family is flying in for Christmas so they couldn’t come both times.”

  “We’re doing the same,” I shrugged. “Our grandma is cooking.”

  “She’s an amazing cook,” Andy finished.

  “Who is?” a familiar voice asked.

  We turned and saw Jason smiling down at us.

  “Hey, dude,” Andy greeted Jason. “Our grandma.”

  “Ugh, she’s better than amazing, bro,” Jason said.

  Jason had met my grandparents a few times before. He had made a great impression on them. Although, Jason made a good impression on anyone he met.

  Jason looked at me and smiled. I was so glad he was such a nice guy. I would have hated if we couldn’t stay friends because of what happened between us.

  “Well, you better save me some leftovers,” Jason added.

  “For sure,” I responded. “There’s going to be plenty.”

  “Good, you know I don’t get a good old fashioned home cooked meal at home,” he smiled.

  “Are your parents hosting again this year?” Andy asked.

  “Yup, like every year. Tomorrow is going to be brutal.”

  “Then why don’t you get a home cooked meal?” Chandler asked.

  “They have it catered,” Jason sighed. “They don’t even serve turkey. What kind of Thanksgiving dinner doesn’t have turkey? My family is so weird.”

  His family could be a little odd at times. His mom was very nice, but his dad worked a lot. Even when he was home he was usually focused on work.

  “Hey, I’m going to meet up with Craig at the mall. Anyone interested?”

  Andy looked between Chandler and me. He smirked at me before turning back to Jason. “I’m in,” he replied.

  “Ladies?” Jason asked.

  Chandler gave me a look that I couldn’t quite get. “No, thanks,” she answered. “We have somewhere to go after this.”