Dear Ocean Sky

Chapter 2.1 | Kate

"You're what?!" Kate screeches at Kata, who stopped jumping on her bed the moment the words left Kate's mouth. Kata swallowed.

"Um," she stuttered, voice dripping with fear. "I'm gay, as in, you know, happy." Kate narrowed her eyes at Kata and could see out of the corner of her eye that Zoe was doing the same to her.

"Kata," Kate snapped. "Sidebar."

Kata quickly scrambled over to the taller girl looking like a dog with their tail tucked between their legs. "Zoe," Kate said- her voice sugary-sweet and her smile fake. "Would you please leave me to talk with my friend?" Zoe scowled so hard that Kate could practically hear her growling, but so be it, two could play at that game.

"Well, Kate," Zoe spat the name like it was poison. "Kata is my friend too, and frankly, I don't trust you alone with her." Kate just smiled and walked over to Zoe, crouching down like she was talking to a child.

"Well, Zoe," she spoke with the same poison. "I'm Kata's best friend, and frankly, I don't trust you at all with her. She doesn't need influence of your kind. I only want what's best for her."

"Influence of my kind?" Zoe laughed. "Are you afraid I'm going to give her the lesbian disease?" She gasped. "Oh no! You'd better back away, you wouldn't want me to breathe on you! You might turn gay!" Kate huffed in anger. Zoe smiled in satisfaction.

"I'm going to make this simple, Zo. Scat! I need to talk to Kata." Zoe crossed her arms defiantly. Kate sighed.

"Come on Kata, we'll just use the spare room."

"And I'll just follow you in there," Zoe said, getting up and walking behind the two girls.

"And I'll just lock the door," Kate shot back, slamming the door in Zoe's face. She heard Zoe grumble and knew she had won. Kate smiled a smile that shared many aspects as that of Cheshire Cat's.

"Kata," Kate said, gently walking over to the bed where Kata was sitting, shaking but trying to control it. "I want to know that I love you, okay? I'm your best friend, I'll always love you." Kate spoke with the utmost sincerity and she thought her friend could sense that. Of course, she supported Kata, how could she not?

"Thank you, Katie," Kata sighed, reaching for a hug, but Kate held her hand up.

"I'm not done yet. Just because I'll love you no matter what doesn't mean that I'll support you in leading a lesbian lifestyle if that's what you want to do. I can't do that. Not to mention, regardless of what you want you really need to hide this part of you."

"W-what?" Kata stuttered.

"Look Kata K," Kate sighed. "A lot of people really aren't used to this whole LGBTQ thing. They don't understand it. They haven't been exposed to it. So is it really fair for gay couples to go around flaunting their love, making everyone around them scared and uncomfortable? Don't get me wrong, I'm not scared by it. I get it, and I think every person deserves a life and a voice, but I also don't believe it's right. You know?" Kata nodded slowly, but Kate could see her fists balling up. God, why couldn't Kata understand such a simple thing? She was trying to protect her. Trying to help her see what the right thing to do was. "Kata," Kate warned. "You need to calm down. All I'm saying is that you're going to get a lot more backlash than you already do for being who you are if you choose to express this. Especially from Hunter. He doesn't understand being gay. It doesn't make sense to him and he hasn't been around anyone like that. So is it really fair to ask him to just be okay with it? No. It's not. He's going to say more things about you that you're not going to like, but in reality, it's just him defending himself. Does that make any sense?" Kata mumbled something under her breath. "What was that?" Kata glowered under her friend's gaze.

"I said why do you always take that jackass's side over mine! You said it yourself, I'm your best fucking friend! Aren't we supposed to stick together?" Kate felt guilt punch her in the stomach. But no, this wasn't her fault. Kata was being unreasonable.

"You can't ask me to choose between my boyfriend and you. That's not fair to me Kata. Plus, I said I was your best friend, but you're not mine. Hunter is my best friend and I'm sorry but I'm always going to choose him over you." Kate knew her words were hurting Kata, but she just wanted to be completely honest with her. Even if the truth was a blade, lies were guns. She never wanted to lie to Kata. She respected her too much. Kate could see tears welling up in Kata's eyes so she wrapped her in the tightest embrace she could muster.

"I'm sorry Katie K," Kata mumbled, tears trickling down her cheeks and onto Kate's clothing. Kate stroked her friend's hair reassuringly.

"It's okay Kata," she whispered, her voice soothing and there wasn't any trace of the plastic girl she was in it. It was just Kate. Kate, comforting her friend who she wanted to protect from this harsh world. Her friend who she was afraid didn't need her anymore. Her friend who she didn't want to be better off without her. "It's okay. I'm right here."

***

A/N: I'm sorry it's such a short chapter but I mean, at least I finally updated again...right?

So...how do y'all feel about Kate?

Thank you so much for reading, if you liked this chapter, please consider leaving a vote or comment!!

-Sunny <3