The unfortunate adventures of Sarah Richards

Chapter nine ~oh how I did not even know myself~

I'd bid goodbye to Thea without so much as a friendly wave. Which now, i regretted deeply. "Five minutes late! I win the bet!" I heard my father yell as soon as the front door slammed behind me. "What were you betting on, then?" I asked as i hung my sweater and laptop bag up. My mother appeared in the doorway, wiping her hands off on her jeans. "Whether you would return before or after five." She replied and took Orwell from my father who, sat on the couch playing with the baby. "How much did you lose?" I asked my mother. A small smirk played across my face. "Nothing, really. Loser has to get up should Orwell wake tonight and i already do that." She laughed. "I'll still do it!" My father laughed as well as he got up off the couch, almost tripping over our little beagle who, lay asleep on the floor. "Did you get anything done, dear?" My mother asked as she bounced Orwell on her hip a little. "Oh, lots!" I told her excitedly as i took my laptop out. "Like what?" My father's voice came from behind me indicating that he had reappeared from the kitchen. "Well, Thea and I went down there initially to "people watch." Now, i use that term loosely. Really," i paused and pulled up a few article tabs, "we were kind of stalking people with these necklaces. I was trying to make connections. Say for instance, one we got was that people with necklaces consisting of a dominantly blue hue all happen to be tall and-" i suddenly stopped myself. I had a blue necklace. And my parents knew that very well. I couldn't tell them that dominantly blue necklaces were most often found on people who were part of the LGBT community. I wasn't part of it, was i? "And what?" My mother asked. "Nothing." I snapped out of my haze and continued looking through my files. "See?" I pulled up internet documents on Lee Anne and one on Alexander Laughlin. They both happened to be very tall and if i did not show that either of them were in a same sex relationship, my parents would not make that connection. Unless of course, i went to the inquirer. My parents read it almost religiously. "Good job, kiddo." My dad ruffled my hair a little. "Thanks." I laughed uncomfortably. "Explain more over dinner?" My mother asked. Well, more so ordered. I picked up my laptop. I could explain findings while i ate. right? My parents didn't object so it seemed to be fine.
Halfway through dinner, i had almost pieced my article together. "Dad?" I asked over a mouthful of pasta. "Don't talk with your mouth full." My mother chided cooly. I rolled my eyes and waited for my father to respond. "Yes?" My father asked and looked away from his diligent attempting to get Orwell to try solid foods. "How would i get an article in the inquirer?" I asked without looking up from my seemingly endless typing save for taking a few bites of my meal. He was always reading the thing religiously, i figured he'd know. "Hmmmm..." He mused, thinking for a moment and running his hand along his jawline thoughtfully. "There are ways one could submit online but i think a better way would be to do it old fashioned like. Type it out, print it out and take it down to their office in person." He finished and put both hands down on the table as if he had made a very sound and important decision. "Alright." I nodded slowly and kept typing up my complete article. "Where is it?" I asked. I had stopped to check for new articles and information so i could look up and have a proper conversation over dinner for a moment. "Market street. There's a bus stop right near by." He replied. "Thanks." I nodded slowly and went back to typing up my article. I periodically would go back and fix things or add more information as i found it. Right as i finally finished eating, i finished the article. Managing to include everything i had found. I quietly excused myself and slipped away to my room. After taking time to shower, and ready for bed i sat down. Playing my fingers along the crystal attached to my necklace. "So if blue means LGBT..." I muttered and opened my laptop again. "Then why do i have a blue necklace?" Okay so maybe talking to ones-self isn't entirely normal but, it helped me think. Something in the subconscious of my mind kept saying "Thea." But i did not understand why nor did i choose to pay attention. I had to take a while to think about this. It wasn't as easy as finding articles and piecing together my own story. Oh how i did not even know myself! I had only ever expressed being interested in males. And i had never dated a girl nor had i really thought about it. And i had never felt the urge to be sexual with another girl. Or anyone for that matter. I think. But oh, there were those moments where i would catch myself looking at another girl's boobs. Or at her ass. Or getting lost in her beauty and stuttering my way out of a trance. I'd always told myself that it was my insecurities making me jealous and that was why i stared. But now, with my new theory, i realized it may have been something more than that. I spent countless hours awake past when i should have gone to sleep, searching what felt like the entire internet for different sexual orientations to see if one fit with how i felt. But nothing. Nothing was quite right. There was of course, Heterosexual; sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex. But that didn't seem to fit me just right the more i thought about it. Lesbian; a woman who experiences romantic love or sexual attraction to other females. I definitely didn't think that was me. At least not now. Bisexual; romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. No, something about that didn't seem quite right either. But it was the most accurate of anything i'd been able to dig up. Would Thea know? She'd seemed very comfortable around Kyla and Lee Anne. I decided after a lot of self doubt and debating that calling her in the middle of the night couldn't hurt too bad. Just this once. I picked up my phone and quickly dialed Thea. her end of the line rang several times before she picked up. "Hello?" Her voice sounded a little sleepy. "Did i wake you?" I asked. "No." Came her simple reply. "Okay, well, i uh..." I trailed off. Not knowing exactly how to put words to what i meant to say. "I'm listening." Thea laughed a little. "So, i was thinking about how all the blue necklaces we've researched have belonged to someone of the LGBT community, and i realized that uh, my uh, my necklace is blue. And i've been up here for hours trying to figure out my sexuality. But i haven't been able to find something that fits. I was wondering if you might help me...." I said very, very shyly. Thea sighed heavily and chuckled. "Sure! You'll have to describe your feelings for all these lovely people." She told me. I carefully explained that i had only ever expressed crushes on boys and that my only significant other had been male. I also explained the slight feeling of attraction towards women but not having yet felt like i wanted to have sex with her. Thea was silent for a moment. "That, my friend is most likely a combination if heterosexual, biromantic. Which is basically, you could be romantically involved with either but only want to bang men. Thus including you in the LGBT plus community." Thea explained. "Thank you so much!" It took a lot of self control to not yell out of pure excitement. "No problem, hey, i was meaning to text you right before you called. I uh.. I w-was wondering if y-ou wanted f-t-to hang out some time soon." Thea began....