Good Girl, Bad Girl: A Lesbian Romance

by Mia Archer

  I took a deep breath. It was time for me to face the music. It was time for me to face her down and maybe stand up for myself for a change.

  I’d already done so many other things that were out of character. What was one more?

  Mother heard me as I made my way up the street. She turned and stared at me, then yelled in the house. A moment later my dad was out there watching me as well. It was uncomfortable being under their gaze like that. Sure I was eighteen, but staring at them staring at me made all those thoughts about how I was an adult slip away.

  I felt like a little kid who’d been caught doing something that was against the rules. There’d been a lot of stuff that was against the rules growing up.

  Which was part of the reason why it felt so damn good to break some of those rules.

  I’m not sure what I expected. Maybe I thought mom would be so worried that she’d run out and hug me and all would be forgiven. That was how it was supposed to happen in cheesy movies and books, right?

  No such luck with me. As soon as I stepped up onto the porch she crossed her arms. An ancient cordless phone that they’d had since they first got married back in the late ‘90s and moved into this house tapped against her arm.

  “Where have you been all night young lady?”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but then some advice dad always gave me came back to me. Don’t say anything when the cops were talking to you. It was the advice I’d mentally beamed to Robin when she was busy getting in trouble, and it seemed like pretty good advice here too.

  Let her tell me what she had on me. I wasn’t going to give anything up. Which was a hell of a change for me. Usually I sang like a stool pigeon when she gave me that look.

  I guess a lot of things had changed.

  I noticed dad was smiling behind her. He actually nodded just a little. Maybe he was proud of me for finally standing up for myself. Lord knows he’d gotten pretty good about standing up for himself, even if there was love there. Mom could be a bit… overwhelming at times.

  “I called Richard’s house about an hour ago to check on you and make sure everything was okay,” she said.

  I wanted to yell at her. I hated it when she called to check up on me. It’s something she’d always done when I was little and even into high school. It meant I’d been terrified of trying something exactly like what I’d tried tonight. It meant I was always embarrassed in front of my friends because I was always the one with the crazy mom calling every couple of hours.

  I had a feeling there were a few friendships that hadn’t ever gone beyond hanging out at school because of mom and her craziness.

  She looked at me. Searched my eyes. She was waiting for me to break down. I knew it.

  Well it wasn’t happening tonight. Next to everything else I’d faced down tonight it was nothing to face her down. Especially when it could’ve been the cops interrogating me right about now instead of my overbearing mother.

  She sighed. Rolled her eyes.

  “Fine little missy. If you want to be like this. I got ahold of Richard’s mother. Such a nice woman, and she told me that you weren’t over there. I told her that was impossible since you told me you were going over there and I know my little girl would never lie to me, but there we are. So do you want to explain yourself?”

  “Julie, maybe you should let the girl go inside,” dad said.

  She turned and hit him with a sharp look. “I’ll…”

  “Look at her,” he said. “Something’s obviously happened tonight. Why don’t you be a mother instead of an interrogator?”

  Mom turned and looked me up and down. Seemed to really see me for the first time that night. I was sure I was a sight to behold. Covered in muck and mud and probably cut in a couple of places where tree branches and twigs had reached out to grab at me while I ran through that woods.

  I really hoped none of the plants that moved around my ankle were poison ivy though. That would been really fucking annoying. I hated poison ivy. I’d never gotten it because I was always really good about looking out for it, but there wasn’t any way for me to look out for the stuff when I was running through the woods.

  Concern registered on her face for the first time that evening, but that concern quickly turned to annoyance.

  “No. She’s going to tell me exactly what happened tonight before we go inside. Aren’t you little missy? This is going to be a good story, I know.”

  “No,” I said.

  Her eyes went wide. “Excuse me young lady?”

  “You heard me,” I said. “I’m an adult. I’m going off to college in a month. I’m eighteen and I can do what I want. I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

  Mother’s eyes went wide. I was shaking with fear. That was the first time in my life that I’d actually stood up to my mother like that. I was having a tough time believing I’d actually done something stupid like that.

  At least it would’ve been stupid half a year ago when I was still in school. When she could still punish me. When I still thought that my parents punishing me was the worst possible thing that could happen to me.

  I’d learned tonight that there were things that were far worse than anything my parents could do to me though. Next to almost getting arrested, next to running from the cops, next to learning that they weren’t always there to help like I’d always assumed, standing up to my mom was nothing.

  Even if I still felt weak in the knees under her stare.

  “You don’t talk back to me like that little missy, you…”

  Dad reached out and touched her shoulder. She turned and looked at him, and he looked right back at her. I knew that look.

  My father was a gentle man most of the time. I’d never known him to raise his voice in his life. He’d never raised a hand to me and he always preferred to parent through explaining things rather than yelling.

  But I knew that was all a show. I knew that under all that there was steel. If I crossed him, if I pushed things too far, I knew that gentle persuasion would turn to gentle steel.

  He never raised his voice. He never got mad. But he did get his way.

  Mother looked at him for a long moment and sighed. Seemed to deflate right in front of me. It was obvious in that moment that she knew she’d been overruled.

  Dad looked at me and smiled. Nodded towards the door.

  “Why don’t you step inside honey? I’m interested in hearing about what happened tonight, but you’re not going to get punished for it or anything,” he said.

  I blinked in surprise. I’d expected some of that steel will to be directed my way. I figured he’d try to get to the bottom of everything that happened in his own way.

  Instead he was talking to me like I was an equal. Like an adult to an adult. Not like a father to his wayward daughter who got into a little bit of trouble.

  I couldn’t believe that actually worked. I couldn’t believe I’d stood up to my mother and I was going to live to tell the tale. It seemed impossible, but this also seemed like a night of impossible things.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Maybe we should go inside. I have a lot to tell you two.”

  The only thing was I wasn’t sure how much I actually wanted to tell them. Sure I’d broken the rules by sneaking out, but now I was starting to think those were stupid rules that I shouldn’t have to follow anyways. After all, I was an adult. There wasn’t any point acting like a prisoner in my own home.

  But there was so much that had happened tonight. Having a drink. Trying pot. Going to a party. Everything that happened with Robin. The fact that something seemed to be blossoming between me and Robin. The idea that I was into girls.

  Yeah, there was a lot to go over, and I had a feeling I was about to blow their minds if I dumped everything on them at once.

  This night just kept getting more and more twisted and fucked up, and it showed no signs of stopping.

  As I stepped into the house I paused and spared a thought for Robin who was out there somewhere. Probably in a jail
cell right now for all I knew.

  I hoped she was okay. I wondered if there was anything I could do to make things okay. I looked to my dad, thought of that steel underneath, and resolved that I was going to do everything I could to make this okay again.

  17

  Mari

  “You did what young lady?”

  I stared up at my mom defiantly. It still felt weird to do something like that. Heck, it felt downright suicidal to do something like that. There’d been so many times when I folded immediately when she looked at me and talked in that tone of voice.

  I felt like folding now. I felt like giving up and going up to my room and taking whatever punishment she was willing to give out until she wasn’t mad anymore and everything would be okay in our house again.

  Only I knew there wasn’t a chance I could do something like that. Not if I wanted to help Robin.

  Not if I ever wanted to feel good about myself again.

  “Look, I…”

  “I think we need to concentrate on what’s important right now honey,” my dad said.

  His tone said that he wasn’t going to put up with any nonsense. I breathed a sigh of relief. Most of the time he was willing to go along with whatever my mom wanted in the interest of keeping the peace in our house, but it didn’t look like tonight was one of those nights.

  No, tonight he was in a mood that I recognized all too well. Something I’d seen on the few occasions when I’d gone to court with him to see what it was like at his work.

  This was my dad in full lawyer mode. Trying to get to the bottom of something and not rendering an opinion one way or another until he knew exactly what was going on.

  “So you snuck out tonight,” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. His tone said it all. He was having a hard time believing his good girl could do something like that, but I’d done it. I was living with the consequences of that.

  It had all seemed so simple and fun earlier in the evening. Like nothing bad could happen to me. Earlier tonight I’d actually believed nothing could happen to me while I was with Robin. The way she’d saved me from Alan had convinced me of that.

  Now I knew how foolish that was. Now I knew how the world really worked. Now I was sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop when I told my parents everything about what had happened tonight, and not just the bits about sneaking out.

  “I told you I was going out with Richard to go see a movie so I could sneak out and go to a party at the old abandoned factory,” I said again.

  “I can’t believe you,” mother started in again, but dad held a hand out to stop her before she could really get going with the interrogation.

  I would’ve thanked him for it, but I still wasn’t sure I would like what happened when he eventually got all the facts he thought he needed. He could be even more unpleasant than mom.

  “What’s his name?” mom asked. “What guy was so important that you thought it was important to lie and drag poor Richard into it too? And here I thought the two of you had such a bright future together too!”

  “A bright future?” I asked.

  “Well yes. I figured you’d end up dating him or that nice Alan boy from church. I didn’t think anything like this would happen!”

  I snorted out a laugh at that. She thought we had a bright future together? She thought I’d end up with a nice guy like Richard or Alan? Well obviously she had no idea who Richard was into, and she had no idea what kind of asshole that “nice Alan boy” truly was.

  Not that I had any intention of going into that with her. Not right now. There was enough to go over without bringing the sheriff’s son into things.

  I braced myself. This was it. The moment of truth. This was the point where I had to tell them the whole truth if there was going to be any hope of saving Robin.

  And yet I was still afraid. I wasn’t brave like Robin. I couldn’t take on the world like she did. I was terrified of what my parents would think.

  This whole thing was still so new to me. It seemed crazy to admit it to them, yet here I was.

  “Here’s the thing,” I said. “It wasn’t exactly a guy I snuck out to see.”

  They stared at me for a long moment. I could see the dawning realization on dad’s face as he shook his head and smiled. Mom continued staring at me as though she was having a difficult time figuring out exactly what I meant though.

  She probably couldn’t conceive of a world where gay people existed in her small town bubble, let along a world where one of those gay people was her precious daughter who was going to end up dating one of the nice boys at church.

  One of whom was also gay and one of whom was the next best thing to a rapist, I might add. Yeah, that church did a great job with all the nice young men in my age range.

  “I don’t understand,” mom said. “Did you go out with one of your friends? Was it that Cindy girl? I always knew she was bad news.”

  I coughed and shook my head. I guess denial wasn’t just a river in Egypt these days. At least not in our household. My dad covered his mouth and it looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh.

  I frowned. Well it was nice to know that someone thought this whole situation was amusing. I stared daggers at him and that seemed to amuse him even more.

  Though I guess if he thought this whole thing was funny then I also didn’t need to worry all that much. If he thought I really was in danger of being disowned or something then he’d be shooting me hints. Shaking his head or something to let me know I needed to shut up.

  I figured the lack of disastrous signs like that was a good thing.

  “It wasn’t with Cindy or any of my friends,” I said. “It was a date.”

  “But you said you weren’t out with a boy. How could you be on a date if you weren’t out with a boy?”

  I groaned and buried my head in my hands. Which had the added effect of slamming my forehead down against the hardwood table which wasn’t exactly comfortable. I winced. That was going to leave a mark.

  My poor mother. She really was oblivious. She really did have no idea what she was talking about. She really was so unused to the idea of gay people existing in our town that she wasn’t getting what I was telling her, though from the way dad was still trying to cover up his laugh it looked like he got the message loud and clear.

  “I was out with a girl,” I said. “I was out on a date. Her name is Robin.”

  “Robin?” she asked. “You mean that girl who’s always loitering around street corners? The one whose family lives down in the trailer park? Her?”

  I blinked a couple of times and tried to figure out if I was actually hearing what I thought I was hearing. Mom hadn’t missed a beat there. She seemed to get the point that I’d been on a date with a girl and now she was worried about her social standing?

  “Did you hear me right mom?” I asked. “I just told you I was on a date with a girl.”

  I was on a date and I’d done so much more with her. Things that had opened my eyes. Taught me how wonderful the world could truly be. Things that I’d always figured would scandalize my straitlaced mom with her very narrow way of looking at the world.

  She surprised me by waving a dismissive hand. “I got that. You were on a date with a girl. If you want to be a lesbian or whatever then we still love you, but with Robin?”

  Mom was getting my back up, but not for the reasons I’d thought. I figured I would’ve had a fight with her because of the whole lesbian thing. I never would’ve imagined getting into a fight because she didn’t approve of who I was dating because of who she was and not because she was a girl.

  “What’s wrong with Robin?” I asked.

  “Well there’s nothing wrong with her exactly,” mom said, going on as though the lesbian thing really didn’t bother her at all. Amazing. “It’s just that she lives down in the trailer park and her family… well… you’re the daughter of a prominent figure in our community and…”

  I rolled my eyes and chose to ignore her. The important
thing was she didn’t seem to care that I was out with a girl tonight and I’d already decided I wasn’t going to let her punish me because I was graduated and going off to college damn it.

  I turned to dad. “That’s not all that happened tonight.”

  “Yeah?” he asked. “I figured there was more to this.”

  “How’d you figure that?” I asked.

  I wasn’t surprised that he knew there was something more. The man was scary perceptive. I guess it was part of his job. At least it was part of being one of the good attorneys in town. Sometimes it seemed like there were good attorneys and then there were the attorneys who drank themselves into a stupor.

  Luckily dad was one of the good ones.

  “If there wasn’t more to this, if you didn’t need something, then you probably wouldn’t be here pouring your heart out to us right about now,” he said. “So come on. Out with it. What happened?”

  “Well we sort of had a run-in with the cops tonight,” I said.

  The reaction from my parents was almost funny in how different it was. Mother looked scandalized all over again. She looked like she was about to say something, but again dad bowled right over her and she didn’t get a chance to say anything.

  “The cops?” he said, suddenly all business. “What happened out there tonight? Damn it. If you had any idea how many times I’ve told them not to bother people out there partying…”

  He trailed off into muttering and grumbling. I waited to see if he was going to say anything else, but he seemed ready to wait for me.

  “Well I was at the party…”

  I stopped and blushed as I thought of exactly what I was doing at the party when the cops burst in. Smoking pot and then having my first sexual encounter with a woman. Heck, the first sexual encounter of my life, and it had been amazing.

  I figured they didn’t need to know all the details there though. There were some things parents had a right not to know about their kids.

  “So I was at the party and the cops raided the place. They chased me and Robin out back behind the factory and then they got a little rough with her,” I said.