Daydream

Chapter Twenty-Nine- Erin

I unpacked everything and sat on the edge of Riley's bed. Normally I would have kissed her and thanked her for the place to stay, but she seemed really out of it. Especially after that alarming phone call I'd had with our neighbor. Kasey wasn't mad, really. But what Riley had said... it was really hot-headed. Sure, Ethan and Kasey had made a really big deal of it, but Riley didn't have to act like that.

Maybe I was just paranoid. First, she was mad at her friends... what if she was mad at me at some point? We only had 2 months of summer left... then we would be leaving for college.

Riley broke into my thoughts. "Erin, what do you wanna do?" She seemed tired.

"We could... we could go to the movies?" I suggested, telling myself that Riley was in the right even though she wouldn't apologize.

Riley snapped. "Yes, that would be amazing. Which movie?" She opened her phone and scowled. "No queerbaiting, Fandango." I laughed so hard that snot came out of my nose. Riley handed me a tissue, also laughing. Even Riley's mom came in with a contorted face. "What are you two doing in here?" She smiled at me, then turned back to Riley.

"We wanna go to a movie." Riley explained, still looking at her phone.

"Okay... have fun." Her mom left. Riley shouted "ooh" after a moment of silence. "This movie is called Eve and Eva." Her eyes were bright. "It's about a les-"

I cut her off. "You know, I am starting to think Kasey was right." My anger was now showing. A couple moments ago I had been worried about her being angry at me. "She said you go way overboard, but I didn't think having a girlfriend and making pride jewelry was overboard. But... only watching queer movies and forcing your friends to as well... what if they don't like romance movies? Okay? You do, you make your whole life around being lesbian! I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but what about the people around you? We don't constantly want to hear about pride events, new queer movies, pride merchandise, or ANYTHING."

Riley seemed injured. "Fine. Fine. When did your parents say you could go home anyways?"

I felt awkward. "Well- um, they haven't said- yet... but-" Riley was angry at me now. I hated this.

"Can we just go to the movies now?" Riley cut in. "I'm sorry." She took me in her arms and sighed. "I'm a horrible friend, aren't I?"

I stuttered again. "N-no, I-" she smiled at me.

"I know. They were so... vehement that I just had to stay with them. I want to pursue my dreams as an... author, I guess, but they just drag me down. It's the same way I felt when I had to go to a different school in middle grade."

I nodded. "You know, let's go watch Eve and Eva." I hugged her, hoping that this anger could just go away and never resurface.