Drama Girls: A Lesbian Romance

by Mia Archer

  Oh yeah. That sounded like a good time all right.

  “Come on girls,” he said. “You’re going to want to meet your audience out there.”

  I looked to Sarah. She was the one who explained everything to me, and I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “Are they coming up on stage or something?” I asked. “What’s he talking about?”

  Sarah laughed. “Nothing like that. We’re going out into the hall outside the auditorium and people can meet and talk with us.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I guess that makes more sense.”

  “Of course it does,” she said with a wink.

  She took my hand and my fingers wrapped around hers in a now familiar gesture that I was starting to really enjoy.

  Outside there was a long line of people waiting to talk to us just like they’d said. So we lined up in order of importance with the people playing bit parts at the front of the line and then me and Sarah at the back since we were the headliners.

  I guess they had this down to a precise science after years of running the program.

  I lost track of everyone after that. People came up and shook our hands. Smiled. Told us how wonderful we were. How brave we were for doing a play about such a sensitive subject.

  I blushed when people said that. I’d freaked out about the idea of playing a role opposite Sarah in the beginning, but the more we rehearsed the more I got used to the idea and the more I got used to the idea the less I worried about it.

  I guess you could get used to just about anything if you spent enough time around it. Now the idea of kissing Sarah onstage barely even registered other than being a good time.

  Finally the line started to die down and I looked around. I’d been so preoccupied with everyone coming up to talk to us that I hadn’t even thought about my mom not being there.

  Worry crept into the back of my mind. What if she didn’t like the play? What if the idea of her little girl kissing another girl up onstage was too much for her? What if it turned out she wasn’t as okay with everything as I thought she was?

  The panic was really starting to get to me when she appeared in front of me all smiles and wrapped me into a hug. Then she made me feel a lot less nervous because she wrapped Sarah into a huge hug as well.

  “You two were wonderful out there!” she said, beaming. “I can’t be prouder of both of you!”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. Some of that panic disappeared.

  “You really liked it?” I asked. “You weren’t disappointed or anything?”

  She put her hands on her hips and stared at me for a good long moment. Long enough that the moment started to get downright uncomfortable. Long enough that I almost looked away and blushed, but I forced myself to stare her in the eyes.

  If I could face down Pastor Dave tonight then I could face down my mom, darn it. Especially since my mom had been a lot nicer about the whole dating girls thing than I figured she would be.

  “Now why on earth would I be disappointed?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, trailing off because I couldn’t think of what to say.

  She reached out and took me by the shoulders. Looked at me and then at Sarah.

  “I’ve already explained this to you. I love you no matter what, and I’m proud of you no matter what. I mean if you started murdering people I might have a problem, but stop acting like dating a girl is such a big deal in this day and age.”

  “It’s that jerk pastor,” Sarah muttered.

  I shot a look at her. I really didn’t need her helping me on this. It was too late though. Mom got a weird look in her eyes.

  “Yeah, do you girls want to tell me what the heck is going on with that? I could swear that was the youth pastor getting escorted out of the place by that nice sheriff’s deputy Mr. Thompson is dating.”

  I blinked a couple of times at that and my mouth fell open. Okay, so the guy was definitely a cop. I’d been right about that.

  But he was dating Mr. Thompson? As in two guys dating? I mean I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was still a little mind blowing. Mr. Thompson had never mentioned anything about his private life to me.

  Not that he had any reason to talk about his private life with a student, I guess, but it was still a surprise.

  “That was the youth pastor,” Sarah said. “He showed up before the play to yell at Chloe about playing a lesbian. He also bruised her arm pretty good grabbing at her. We had to use some makeup to cover it up.”

  My mom was immediately in mama bear mode. I could see the way her eyes switched from smiling and enjoying the moment after the play to looking like she wanted to track down Pastor Dave and rip him to pieces.

  Being on her bad side wasn’t a good place to be when she went into mama bear mode.

  “He did what?” she asked.

  I sighed. For some reason I didn’t want to get into this with her. It was bringing that stupid church back into things and that church and Pastor Dave were part of the reason I had so many hangups about the whole dating Sarah thing in the first place.

  I just wanted to forget it, but he kept coming back into my life whether I liked it or not.

  So I told her what happened tonight. I told her about what happened the last time we went to the youth group together. Everything started spilling out. How he’d take kids into his office and yell at them if he thought they weren’t walking a Godly path. How he was always telling us about being sinners. Sarah even chimed in a bit with some of her own story dealing with him at a different church and how he basically chased her away from religion entirely by being such a huge jerk face.

  When it was all done mom had a look of disbelief on her face.

  “He did all that?”

  I looked up. Forced myself to meet her eyes. It was easier now. Now that I’d gotten it all out. I didn’t feel nearly the same amount of shame as I had earlier.

  “He did,” I said.

  Mom looked at me for a long moment. Then looked to Sarah. Back to me. She looked like something was occurring to her for the first time and she didn’t like it at all.

  “Is everything he said to you part of the reason why you thought I’d react so badly to Sarah?” she asked.

  I had to fight the urge to look down. I was talking with my mom now and the old instincts were coming back to me big time.

  I held her gaze though. I wasn’t the girl who was afraid to confront the world. I was a completely different person now. I was stronger. I’d done that. Sarah had done that.

  “Maybe,” I said.

  She wrapped me in another hug, and I was surprised to realize she was crying. Her body moved as she held me against her and I felt the wet hotness of her tears moving down her face and onto my face.

  I didn’t even care if it made my makeup run. I was taking the stuff off here in a few minutes anyways.

  “I’m so sorry you went through that,” she said. “And I want you to always remember that I will always love you. Anyone who tries to make you feel otherwise is a lying bastard.”

  She pulled away and wiped some of those tears from her eyes. Seemed to get a little more control. Her eyes narrowed and mama bear was back and looking like she was ready to rip someone’s head off.

  “Anyone who tries to make you feel like I don’t love you is going to be in serious trouble too,” she said, her voice a growl.

  I took a step back. It was an instinctive response when she got like that. I didn’t like being the person on the receiving end when she got like that, and I really wouldn’t want to be Pastor Dave right about now.

  Then just as quickly as angry mom came out she was gone. She smiled and patted both our shoulders as she pulled me and Sarah into a hug.

  Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions I was going through tonight. Dealing with Pastor Dave, watching him getting escorted from the auditorium, having mom crying and then smiling.

  Now I was on more familiar ground though. Like I wanted to disappear into the floor because I was prett
y sure I was going to die from embarrassment. She was hugging me in front of all my friends.

  No, she was hugging me and my girlfriend in front of all our friends. I knew she meant well, but talk about embarrassing!

  “Mom…” I said.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just so proud of you!”

  I sighed. I knew there was no getting around it when she got like this. She was going to be the proud doting mother no matter what I wanted.

  “So what would you girls say to going to get some ice cream or something?” she asked. “My treat!”

  Sarah looked over at a crowd of drama kids who were making their way back to the drama room. Then back to my mom. She looked like she was about to do something stupid.

  “Actually there’s sort of another get together happening at Courtney’s house tonight…”

  Oh. So that’s what she was worried about. If there was a thing going on at Courtney’s house it meant everyone would be going out there. Everyone but me considering I was still very much grounded.

  Not to mention this would be the same thing that got me grounded in the first place. Yeah, something told me mom wasn’t going to be too keen on letting me go out there.

  “It would be really nice of Chloe could come out there,” Sarah said. “I promise it’s not a big deal. We have sleepovers all the time after a show night. It’s tradition!”

  Oh boy. If I could’ve sank into the floor in that moment then I sure as heck would’ve. Not only was she talking about a party, but a sleepover on top of everything else?

  There was no way mom was going to go with that. I didn’t care how nice she was being. I turned, wincing and preparing myself for the damage. Knowing she wasn’t going to be happy about it.

  She didn’t look happy. Not exactly. She also didn’t exactly look angry that Sarah was trying to get me out to a party at Courtney’s house.

  She looked at me long and hard. Shook her head. Sighed. Finally grinned.

  “Y’know when I was in high school I wouldn’t have bothered asking your grandma permission to go out to something like that,” she said.

  “You wouldn’t?” I asked.

  “Nope. I wouldn’t have told her anything and I would’ve snuck out,” she said.

  Huh. She told me she’d been wild back in the day, but I guess I never appreciated just how wild she could be.

  “So does that mean you’re going to let her go?” I asked.

  Mom sighed again. “You’ll keep an eye on her, right?”

  “I promise,” Sarah said, wringing her hands and grinning like she couldn’t believe my mom was actually going to let us do this.

  Heck, I was having trouble believing my mom was actually going to let us get away with this! The woman was just full of surprises lately.

  “What are the sleeping arrangements like?” she asked.

  “Everyone sleeps in the big living room and Courtney’s parents check on everyone to make sure nothing goes on,” she said.

  “And who are Courtney’s parents?” my mom asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “Well her dad is the chief prosecutor so…”

  Mom shook her head. “I suppose there’s really no getting around it. Stop by the house to get some PJs, and you’re not grounded anymore. Don’t make me regret it.”

  I couldn’t believe it. It was more freedom than she’d ever given me before. It was also just a little terrifying that I was getting more freedom than I’d ever had before.

  There was an unspoken implication there when she told me not to make her regret it. That implication being that I was going to very much regret it if I ever gave her a reason to regret doing this.

  I didn’t think about that too much though. No, I wrapped Sarah in a huge hug and pulled her along towards the drama room.

  This night just kept getting better and better!

  26

  Sarah

  I leaned back against the warm wood of the sauna and let out a contented sigh. Chloe and I were both soaked and the warmth felt good.

  Sure it was still pretty warm outside, but there was a difference between an early fall warm evening and the inside of a sauna.

  It made me sad that we weren’t going to be able to do this for much longer. Soon it would start getting cold enough that Courtney’s parents would close the pool and that would be that.

  For now, though, there was plenty of time to enjoy ourselves.

  “So then I tell him that if he wants me to direct the play I’m going to direct the play!” Mike said.

  “I know Mike,” Courtney said. “You’ve said the same thing again and again and I think you were very brave standing up to Mr. Thompson like that.”

  “Well I was,” he said, sounding a little hurt that she wasn’t more impressed that he stood up to the drama teacher.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let the boy have his moment.”

  Chloe looked at me and grinned. She looked very good in a two piece she’d borrowed from Courtney. I was in something a little more boring that covered more. I’d grabbed it from my house on the way out here and it wasn’t as scandalous as some of the suits Courtney had.

  Courtney was on the other side of the sauna in a bright pink suit that would’ve been distracting if I didn’t have Chloe there to distract me even more. She’d be distracting even if she was wearing a paper grocery sack.

  No offense to Courtney. She was a pretty girl, but Mike could have her. If anything seeing her in that skimpy suit and not thinking some of the old thoughts that used to hit me when I had my crush on her was confirmation of that.

  “So what do you think about Thompson wanting to take the play to competition?” Courtney asked. “Been awhile since he tried doing that with one of his plays.”

  “Um. Question,” Chloe said.

  Courtney, Mike and I turned and looked at her. Not for the first time I was reminded that Chloe really was a newcomer when it came to all this stuff. She had no idea what we were talking about even though competition was something we all took for granted.

  Despite everything she was just a freshman. A freshman who’d just headlined a play, too, so I figured she could ask whatever she wanted.

  “What does it mean to take a play to competition? I didn’t know they even did that sort of thing,” Chloe said.

  “Well it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like,” Mike said. “There’s a state competition and you go and perform highlights of the play and get judged on it.”

  “Yeah, and if you win then you get to say you’re a state champion thespian!” Courtney said

  I giggled. I couldn’t help myself. Thespian sounded a little too close to another word that had given me a lot of trouble over the past few years, after all.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Courtney said. “Get it all out now. I know the word sounds like lesbian.”

  Now Chloe was giggling too. It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one with a juvenile sense of humor.

  “So are we really going to do it?” Chloe asked.

  “I think this play has a better chance than anything else that’s come along in the past few years,” I said. “Despite what Courtney here says, they did send a play to competition her freshman year.”

  “And it bombed so hard there Thompson hasn’t tried it since,” she said. “He’s always complaining that the small towns don’t have much hope against some of the bigger schools.”

  “Yeah, well this is different,” I said.

  “How’s it different?” Chloe asked.

  I grinned. Reached out and gave her a tickle. She acted like she was trying to pull away from me, but she didn’t try too hard. There was plenty for me to tickle.

  “The judges are always going for stuff that has social relevance,” I said. “Small town America puts on a show about a couple of lesbians falling in love? Talk about something they’re going to eat up.”

  “You really think it’s going to be that big a deal?” Chloe asked.

  I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. All I’m
saying is we have a good cast an a good play with a neat twist on an old idea and a little social relevance that the judges eat up.”

  “All she’s saying is we’re sure to win the competition. All we have to do is show up and not screw it up too much,” Mike said.

  “Come on,” Courtney said. “You’ll have to work at it.”

  Courtney was getting a little more up close and personal with Mike than I cared for. There was a time when that would’ve made me jealous, but now I just wanted to get the hell out of the sauna before I had to see them playing kissyface and making me want to lose the snack stuff I ate when we got out here.

  I nudged Chloe. “Come on. I think we should go hang out by the pool or something.”

  Chloe stared at them for a moment then shook her head. It was pretty obvious they were still in that early phase of every relationship where they couldn’t get enough of each other.

  Not that I could knock them for still being in that phase. After all, I was still very much in that phase with Chloe.

  It was just my luck that this sauna was provided courtesy of Courtney’s parents so I felt like it would be rude to keep her from using it as intended.

  We stepped out into the warm night air, but as always when I stepped out of the sauna it felt downright chilly. I wrapped my arms around my body to try and keep in some warmth, then Chloe did me one better by wrapping her arm around me and pressing up against me.

  “I think we should’ve tried to kick them out,” she said.

  “Courtney’s toys so Courtney gets to call the shots,” I said. “Nothing we can do about that.”

  Chloe snorted to let me know exactly what she thought of that. I tended to agree with her, but it was already too late.

  We meandered around the pool. There weren’t many people still out this late at night. Sure there were some people who were inside watching some movie or something, but it was getting late enough that I figured most people would be hitting the sack soon enough.