Why Her?

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter 19 - Gentle Caress

As I cut through both my lawn and Venus's, I waved to her as she sat on her porch swing. She smiled sadly and waved dejectedly. When she noticed my bag, she straightened up and smiled wider. "I thought you were going to tell me you couldn't come."

Why?

"I saw you crying in your room with your dad. I thought something bad happened, like another family member died."

I'd only cry over my dad if he died.

"I assume you don't get along with your family."

Mom's parents wanted her to marry someone else. They shunned her when she left. My dad's parents died when he was twenty, and he never had siblings. We're all we have left, I explained.

"I'm so sorry," Venus frowned. "Is everything at least okay with you two now?"

Everything was fine. We just needed to talk. It got a little emotional.

"I get it. I'm glad you have a good relationship with your dad. I'm honestly a little jealous."

You don't?

Venus shook her head. "Not exactly. It's always been tense between us, especially after he married Brenda. My real mom is with some guy in the Philippians right now, because she didn't want me in her life. But hey, fuck her, too. She doesn't want me, I don't need her."

I could recall a few girls mentioning how they had parents who left them. They all confided in their friends and cried over the loss. None of them had the same approach as Venus. She didn't want to cry over her mom. She instead moved on and refused to let it impact her. I admired that.

"At least I have my dad. Even if things aren't the best between us, I still have him." She exhaled. "That should be enough, right?"

Sometimes you need more, I replied.

Venus chuckled through her nose and shook her head. "He's not going to give me more until I'm what he wants me to be, which will be never. But we're not here to spend the whole night discussing my family relations. We are here to have fun, unwind, and get to know each other."

I wanted to claim that that included getting to know each other's families, but if she wasn't ready to get into more detail about the strains between her and her dad, I wasn't going to pry. She didn't pry into anything I didn't want her to pry into, so I would be sure to do the same for her.

"Come on in," Venus chirped as she led me into her living room. All the couches were a sleek gray and covered in white pillows and blankets. The coffee table was white and matched the TV stand. String lights and white lamps littered the room, giving off a real pristine feeling. I knew Venus's dad was a little wealthy, but seeing the interior of the house really cemented it.

What does your dad do?

"He's a portfolio manager, and Brenda is an investment banker."

Why do you live here then?

"I don't know," she bashfully smiled. "I like to think there's a good reason for it, so I don't complain." Sitting on the couch facing the wide screen TV, she patted the spot next to her. "I thought we could watch a few movies. Get to know each other's likes and tastes."

She handed me the remote before standing up. "I'm going to make some popcorn. You like popcorn right?"

I nodded.

"I'll go get some. You pick the first movie. I'll watch whatever you pick."

Scrolling through my options, I spotted a dubbed French cartoon that I loved and selected it.

Venus walked back into the living room with a bowl of popcorn, two bottles of Coke, and a few boxes of candy. "Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart. I've never heard of it," she giggled as she plopped down next to me.

It's about a boy named Jack who was born with a frozen heart, and it's replaced with a cuckoo clock. He has three rules to follow, one being 'don't fall in love.' Of course, he does, and it's all about his journey of loving this girl when he could die from a heart attack. It's my favorite movie, I wildly signed.

Venus clearly had no idea what I signed, but she chuckled and ruffled my hair anyway. "You are too cute for your own good."

I blushed. What's your favorite movie?

"Carol. It really relates to me."

My heart stopped as Venus pressed play. Carol was about two lesbians who couldn't be together because of the social society at the time. If it related to her in some way, did that mean Venus was in the closet?

I didn't want to overthink anything, because it could have just meant she felt pressured by society to fit in a certain way. After all, she felt pressured by her dad to act a certain way in order for things to stop being tense between them. It could have meant anything.

And I had nearly convinced myself at this point that Venus didn't have any feelings for me, yet halfway through the movie, she did the move all guys tried on their movies date to seem cool. Venus yawned softly and wrapped her arm around my neck as she stretched. Before I knew it, I was snuggled tightly into her side while she played with my hair. Her other hand traced along my spine in soft, gentle touches.

How was I not supposed to view Venus as gay after that?