Finding (The Way) Home

The Begining: Chapter 1

"She's straight," I say, flopping down on the beanbag chair.

"And hello to you too," Aunt Cass says and I roll my eyes.

"Yes, hello," I say, rolling onto my stomach.

Nothing really worked out for me in the love department recently. For the most part, they were either straight or already in a relationship.

"I'm sure you'll find one. One day," Aunt Cass says and I shrug.

"Maybe it's overrated. After Chelsey, I'm kinda over getting my heart broken," I say and Aunt Cass laughs.

"If that were true, you wouldn't try to flirt with every pretty girl you see," She says, finishing her row of knitting.

That's the awesome thing about Aunt Cass. When I came out when I was fourteen, she only said okay and went back to making dinner. She had no qualms about the fact that I was a lesbian. If I had known that, I wouldn't have spent months trying to figure out how to tell her.

"You know, Ms. Akerman had a daughter your age. Maybe you can ask her out?" Aunt Cass says and I sigh.

"Yeah, maybe," I say absently, picking up my own pair of knitting needles.

I wasn't exactly a fan of knitting but Aunt Cass loves it so it's a good thing to do together. Plus it's actually pretty fun watching cop shows while knitting. Yeah, we're an odd pair.

"Oh, we got something in the mail addressed to both of us. I figured I would wait until you got back from your date," She says, putting air quotes around the word date.

"You know good and well that it wasn't a date," I say and she laughs.

"That doesn't mean you did think of it as a date," She says and I sigh yet again at how right she is.

I flop back down on the beanbag and close my eyes, exhausted. Missy, the girl I was with, didn't do anything except talk about which boys she likes and spy on them. Turns out we only went to the mall because the majority of the football team was going to be going there. It was a total waste of time and by the end, I was wishing I hadn't asked her to 'hang out'.

I kept my eyes closed and focus on the sounds of Aunt Cass getting up and walking into the kitchen. I hear the fridge open and the sounds of her rooting around in it and grabbing something out of it. I hear the short few steps of her walking over to the junk drawer where she keeps anything you can imagine. I hear her shuffle back and what feels like a brick of ice drops into my lap.

I give a short yelp nearly fling it across the room before I realize that it's a can of pop. Aunt Cass laughs at my reaction.

"Not fair. What's in the letter?" I ask, sitting up and opening the can of pop.

Aunt Cass sets her own pop down and uses a spare needle to slide the flap of the letter open. She pulls out a thick stack of papers and my stomach sinks, more bills?

I watch Aunt Cass's face and my stomach sinks even more as I see her face change to confused, worry, and settling on fear. Sure, we weren't doing the best overall but this reaction seems totally uncalled for. Unless she lied to me again about how much money wer had.

"Aunt Cass? What is it?" I ask, leaning over to try and get a good look, and failing.

"Oh god," Aunt Cass mutters weakly and I start getting really worried.

"Aunt Cass, if it's another bill, we can just deal with it. What's wrong?" I ask, feeling knots tightening in my stomach.

Aunt Cass doesn't say anything and only hands me the letter, her hands trembling. It doesn't take long for me to have it in my hands but the moments feel like a lifetime.