Pat

Third time's the charm

A week to Pat’s departure, the schools went on a break and my mom sent one of my siblings to pick up the kids because she had missed them but she still didn’t want to see me. I respected her wish and stayed away.

The weekend before she was to leave, Eve held a going away party for Pat. I found it weird but they assured me that they had done the same when she left for Australia.

The mood there was different, they all seemed sad especially Max who was always upbeat and smiling. I found Pat and Max whispering between themselves a few times and Max always seemed upset. Eve had to call Max aside and talk to her.

“What’s up with Max?” I asked Pat.

“I…um…I don’t know…she’s in a foul mood. Maybe she had a fight with Halima,”

“Are you sure? They looked okay when they got here. But she changed when you both went to get drinks,” Before she could reply she got a call and immediately excused herself. Eve came and sat next to me a few minutes later.

“I hope you are enjoying yourself,” she said.

“The party is okay, the mood is different and you’re all acting stranger than usual,”

“Are you saying we act strange?”

“Yes, you are the weirdest group of people I have ever met, and that’s why I like you. You’ve all got your weird little stints and when we hang out I feel like I belong but today you’re acting weird and not in a good way,”

“Sorry, it’s just that Max is going through things she doesn’t want to talk about making it uncomfortable for all of us,”

“I hope she deals with it soon,” Max didn’t come near me that whole party and when we went home I brought it up with Pat.

“We asked her not to because you are already upset that I was leaving,” she said as we got in the house. 

Pat was more passionate and attentive than usual that night as we made love. We went about it longer than usual like back when we started dating. I came so many times that when we were done I just blacked out .

I was woken up by the smell of weed.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked looking at her. “It’s like you’ve got all the troubles of the world on your shoulder,”

“You ever loved someone so much, you only want to make them happy but unfortunately you have to hurt them in order to make sure that they are happy in the long term?”

“What are you talking about baby? You are scaring me,” I said sitting up. She was silent for a while. “Baby,”

“Why didn’t you tell me about what your family said?”

“Concerning what?”

“Don’t play stupid with me Elizabeth,”

“What was there to say?”

“They asked you to choose between me and them. Don’t you think that was something I had to know?” she asked standing up.

“How did you know that?” I asked getting out of bed.

“Your siblings informed me. They even told me of your decision and how it’s affecting your parents,”

“I chose not to choose. There’s no way I was making a choice between the two,”

“Choosing to stay away from them means you chose me,”

“No, I told them that they were free to contact me when they finally started acting like human beings. They were asking me to cut ties with you solely based on the fact that you are a lesbian nothing else. I wasn’t going to have that,”