Without You (gxg)

Part 45- Present Day

I felt lucky that homophobia was not something I really experienced in my adult life. So one day at the salon- a few days after I moved in with Noelle- when I experienced it, I was really thrown off.
I had a woman find me through Instagram. She was in her forties, her name was Leah, and she had blonde hair she wanted me to tone to a more ashy shade with a darker root, and she wanted a cut. She said she thought my work was really nice, and she had booked an appointment.
We were getting along. She was telling me about her husband, who was a cop, and her two sons in their teens. She worked as a kindergarten teacher. She was very sweet and wanted to know about me as well.
She asked me if I was from around the area. I told her yes, and that I just moved into a new apartment.
"Congratulations!" she said, "Do you live alone?"
"No, I moved in with my girlfriend." I said. I was always a little apprehensive about telling people I had a girlfriend. But pretty much everyone reacted totally fine. Didn't phase them.
"Oh, like your friend that you've known for a while?"
she asked me. I was curling the ends of her hair.
"No...like my partner." I said, "I know that can be confusing."
"I see." she said. And then she got quiet. And stayed quiet as a I finished her hair. She simply said it looked nice. And when she followed me up to pay, she didn't even look at me. She also gave me a very low tip.
"Here is my card if you'd like to get your touch ups done by me." I said, handing her a business card.
She took it lightly but then put it down. "No thank you- I will be finding another stylist."
Huh? I knew what this had to be about.
"May I ask why? You seemed to really like your hair when I was styling it- did something change?" I asked Leah.
"I cannot go to someone who does my hair of your kind." Leah said, looking me up at down.
Don't go off. Don't go off.
"My kind- meaning someone who is in a relationship with another woman?" I confirmed.
"Yes." she nodded, "It's disgusting, frankly."
Before I could say anything- I heard Tessa's voice behind me say, "And so are your beliefs, ma'am. With all due disrespect, you may never set foot in my salon again. Get out, and have the day you deserve."
I didn't even know Tessa was listening. Leah looked at us both for a moment and then stormed out. I was quite shaken up- but didn't want to show it. I had another client coming in ten minutes.
"Come to the back." Tessa said, and I followed her.
She immediately gave me a hug, and I couldn't help but tear up.
"Honey, I am so sorry you had to deal with that." she said.
I wiped my tears away and said, "Thank you for sticking up for me. I wasn't even sure what I was going to say back."
"I couldn't believe my ears, I had to say something. But are you okay? Do you want me to start your next client and you can go grab a coffee or something?"
"I'll be okay. This next client wants rainbow hair, so something tells me she's not homophobic." I laughed.
I came home from work, still feeling defeated. I ended at 6, and Noelle was already home.
Home.
It was still odd for me- calling her- now our- apartment home.
Noelle was in the kitchen- grabbing a hard seltzer- when I came home.
"I'm just having one." she said, "How was your day, babe?"
"Eh. Not so good." I said, grabbing a Whiteclaw myself.
"What's wrong?" Noelle asked me.
I turned to face her, we were standing next to the kitchen counter. "I had a homophobic client."
"What?" Noelle asked, wide eyed, "What happened?"
I told her about Leah. About how right after I told her I had a girlfriend, she completely changed her demeanor. I also told her about how Tessa handled the situation. Noelle looked pissed.
I felt slightly embarrassed that I didn't say anything to Leah- but I was really thankful for Tessa sticking up for me.
"Tessa is one amazing boss." Noelle said, "But that woman is a fucking bitch. That makes me so goddamn mad. It's her loss though. I'm sure her hair looked amazing." Noelle said, and pulled me in for a hug and kiss on the forehead.
"I feel lucky that I haven't experienced too much homophobia. Just in high school. But that was just unbelievable to me." I shook my head, "It amazes me that people are still like that too. It amazes me that my mom was like that to my sister!" I said.
"My mom was also like that. She hated that I was gay. She grew up in a very religious family. It upsets me sometimes that she never got to grow out of the ignorance. She was just very hateful and angry in general." Noelle said, looking off into the distance.
She didn't talk about her mom a lot. I wasn't sure even how much it truly affected her. I knew it did- and I think she had a lot more sadness than anything about their relationship- their basically non-existent relationship.
"I know you have faced more than me in your life- especially growing up in such a rural area." I said to Noelle.
"Yeah, I got made fun of plenty, considering I came out when I was young. But my dad always supported me. And that was all I really needed." Noelle said, "Even when my mom was awful, he was always there."
I thought for a moment. "It must have been hell for you- having to move away from him before senior year." I said to Noelle.
"I never told you this- but I almost skipped the first day of our senior year of high school. I had my bag packed- ready to go back and live with my dad. Sure, I wasn't thrilled with him at the time for getting married so quickly. I was absolutely miserable with my mom though. When I lived with her and my dad, it was easier to avoid her. But living in the house with her and my brothers- it became a lot more difficult. But I decided I would just see how the first day of school was." Noelle said, "Want to know what kept me there?"
"What?" I looked at her.
"It's going to sound dumb and ridiculous- but you. I saw you, and we made eye contact. I thought that you were one- so pretty. And two, I just felt this-"
"Spark?" I asked her.
"Exactly. I just knew I kind of had to see it through." Noelle gave me a small smile.
"You know that's how I felt the first time I saw you. And I still feel it to this day." I moved myself closer to Noelle.
"I mean, same. Why else do you think I asked you to marry me?" Noelle grinned at me.
"Fair point." I said, and then Noelle kissed me. And we kept kissing until we made our way to the bed. Our bed. It still was crazy to me that I now lived with Noelle. It was also crazy to me how attracted to her I still was- and I couldn't see that fading at all.
And she showed me that night how attracted to me she was as well- with her hands and her mouth. And all of the frusta thin and upset from the day faded away.
That's what she was for me. When everything in the world seemed to go wrong- even if just for a day- Noelle was what seemed to make everything right.