Untitled Document

Untitled Part Eight - Mason

*TW: IMPLIED SA/HOMOPHOBIA*

I have not cried in six nights. six. That's seven days I haven't shed a single tear in. The weight of pretending still beats down on me, pressing on my chest and threatening to crush my windpipes but that's just a better side-effect of performer anxiety.

Nightly yoga on the dock is still intact, but no more squeezing through the bathroom window to escape. I've found it's much easier to just take the front door.

The divide between Anita and I is something I can ignore because we talked it out, so everything should be okay now, right? We can speak outside of being around her family and I'm not uncomfortable being around her. Our relationship is starting to feel normal again. Just how we left it. Her family has noticed too. I don't miss Jaz's side glances when she thinks we're not looking, I hear Billiam whispering about us long after he thinks we've gone to sleep; they all knew something was wrong. They all knew we weren't telling them the truth.

But that doesn't matter anymore because we're finally coming together.

Anita squeezes my hand, breaking my train of thought and bringing me back to reality. She looks back at me, smiling softly.

Oh how I missed the comfort that comes with that smile.

"You okay?" She asks me.

"Hm?" I blink at her, lost.

"You look dazed."

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Well don't think too hard," she laughs, "I don't want my girlfriend to be broken."

I don't respond, but my hand tingles in her grasp.

"Girls keep up!" Jannett hollers from ahead of us and we jog to catch up to where she waits at the crosswalk.

Today Anita, Jack and I have joined Jannett on her trip into town for errands that are beyond my knowledge. There's not even anything here. Well, there is, but there's not a lot. Although, she does keep rambling on about field games - whatever that means.

It's humid outside, a muggy, choking feeling enveloping me in its grasp. I break out in an uncomfortable sweat, the heat pulsing in my forehead and behind my neck. The rest of my party feels the weight of it too, bracing themselves for the rest of the day because we know it's not going to rain - there's not a cloud in sight. We'll just have to suffer the heat until nightfall, and hopefully not a moment after that.

My hair falls out of my ponytail, again. I sigh as my hand slips from Anita's so I can fix it, pulling the long blond strands back off my neck. Today it feels heavier on my head than it normally does, frizzy and thick. Taunting me in the heat.

Then, as if it were meant to be, we pass a hair salon. An idea crosses my mind, one I've never considered before.

"Hey, Jannett?" I call to her before thinking it over. Anita stands a couple paces ahead of me, I hadn't realized I'd stopped walking.

She whirls around, looking over her shoulder at me, an eyebrow raised.

"Do you mind if Anita and I separate from you for a bit?"

"Oh yeah! That's fine, love! Guess it's Jack's turn to watch the headless chicken!" Jannett's steady chuckle erupts into cackles at Jack's horrified expression. I smirk and turn into the salon, not waiting to see if Anita will follow me.

Inside the receptionist looks bored, so I think I might be in luck.

"Hello," I add a little wave as I walk up to the counter.