about you | c.c & k.m

•two

Draft night 2024.

"Oh my god! I can't believe that you are here, sweetheart!" Caitlin's mother says as she envelops me in a hug.

I have just arrived at Caitlin and her parents' hotel room. I came fully dressed and glammed up for the night because Caitlin insisted that I arrive with them in the limo that some brand prepared for her. She was definitely a superstar.

I never thought a hug could bring back so many memories. I haven't received a hug from Anne in years, and there's something about it that just feels like coming home. Anne was a sweet woman and a loving mother; she always supported Caitlin in the best way she could, but Anne certainly wasn't perfect.

A Catholic mother should be everyone's fear, or dream, I think it depends... but Caitlin's mother was, for lack of better words, homophobic. Both of her parents are. But who could blame them? Gay people are terrifying.
I'm just kidding.

Of course, Anne didn't know about my sexuality. Even though I never told Caitlin that she couldn't tell her mother about it, Caitlin thought it best to keep it a secret so her parents wouldn't change the way they acted towards me, which I appreciated.

"How have you been? How's Connecticut? How's school? Do you have a boyfriend? I have to know everything!" Anne bombards me with questions as I hold onto her arms a little longer, not ready to let her go.

"I have been good. Connecticut is amazing. This is my last year of college, and nope, no boyfriend," I say before quickly separating from my best friend's mother.

Anne laughs as she looks at me. Even though she is smiling, her eyes start to look a little sad.

"You have grown so much, dear. You look just like your mother," I smile because being compared to my mother always makes me happy.

"I definitely can't cook like she used to, but I can see the resemblance," I try to joke, and Anne's sad eyes start to look happier.

My mom passed away when I had just started my first year of college due to cancer. It was, without a doubt, the most out-of-body experience of my life. Like I didn't process that my mom was gone until it hit me-she was gone. She fought the battle with cancer for two years; when we found out that she had cancer, it was already too late. The doctors gave her a year to live, but she made it to two years. She got to see me graduate from high school.

Even though it hurts and will always be there, I can finally say that I'm better, I'm where I want to be, with the people I want, celebrating my mom's legacy in every step that I take.

"Let's not let my mom steal the attention on Caitlin's big night," I joke to Caitlin's mom, and I hear her dad softly laughing. My trauma, my jokes.

"Good to see you, Avery," Caitlin's dad, Brent, says. He is way more serious, always has been.

I think I can remember the moment he went from liking me to hating me. Well, it was more than a moment, but you get me.

First, it was the first time Caitlin got drunk. He thought that I told Caitlin to drink, that it was my fault, that I corrupted the basketball superstar. I didn't, by the way; Caitlin had drunk many times before. She just had a little too much that night and sadly got caught.

Second on the list; my first girlfriend. I was 16, and I had my very first girlfriend, Ally. She was the only other lesbian in my class and probably in the whole Catholic school. We were hanging out in my front yard, being very careful all the time, but I didn't count on Mr. Clark passing by my house exactly when Ally leaned in to give me a quick peck on the lips.

That was how my parents found out. I cried for several hours even though they weren't mad about it; I felt exposed. My parents weren't mad; they even told me that I should have told them first so they wouldn't have been surprised when Brent told them. But it was messy.