He/Him ✹ Shyland

3

     Two hours and three different hair dye colors later, and May wanted me to do her hair as well, but in the bisexual flag colors. Since her hair was much darker than mine, her hair turned out exactly like the flag.

    "Do you want me to cut it, too?" I asked, smiling as she looked at her hair.

    "Go for it.." She turned to kiss me, smiling as our lips touched.

~

     Once both of our hair cuts and colors were done, we took a few pictures together, and said goodbye to the viewers.

    "Wow.... we were live for five hours..." May said, receiving tweets from the fans who came to our live show. "Oh my god..." She sat up quickly. "No..."

    "What?" I sat up next to her, my arm around her waist. "What's wrong?" She started crying, and handed me her phone.

    "Layla.." She said. "She... I can't breathe..." I held May in my arms, trying to calm her down. "She..."

    "May... It's going to be okay... I'm here..." I said.

    "She's going to hurt me.." She cried. "I can't just calm down.."

    "Dads!" I yelled, and Ryland came running in, Shane following behind.

    "What's wrong?" Ryland asked, and I handed him May's phone. "Layla? Your sister, Layla?"

    "She told me... before she left.." May said. "That if... I ever kissed... a girl... she'd kill me..."

    "She doesn't know I'm transgender..... does she?" I asked.

    "No, she does know... She doesn't believe you're a boy. I didn't want to worry you..." She said, laying her head against my chest again.

    "We've heard that before.." I said, looking at my dads. "Haven't we?" They nodded shamefully, then looked at each other. "What are we doing?"

    "May, you're welcome to live here with us for a while..." Shane said. "If it means you're safe..."

    "Layla knows where I am.." May said. "She's coming to get me.."

    "Does she think she can just take you away from me?" I asked.

    "I think what I said to her on our live show... pissed her off..." She cried, and seconds later, we heard a knock at the door. "Reid, please don't answer that!" She said, seeing him walk past the doorway of my room.

    "Who is it?" He asked us. Our dads stood up and went to answer it themselves, leaving Reid with us.

    "May's sister.." I said.

~

    "Alex, please don't leave me here alone..." May cried when I stood up. I was only taking a peek out of my window to see if her sister was still here, but she panicked.

    "I'm not leaving..." I sat back down, pulling May into my arms. "I'll never leave your side..."

    "I need to see my sister.." We heard Layla say. "Can I please come in?"

    "Look... Layla..." Ryland said. "Why are you really here? We saw the texts you sent May.."

    "Mister and Mister Yaw... I'm not here to hurt anyone..." She said.

    "Maybe not on purpose..." Shane said. "But you are homophobic... and transphobic.."

    "I'm not a monster.." She said.

    "Alex... Why is she here?" May asked me, as if I had all of the answers.

    "Baby, I don't know.... but she sounds like she wants to see you..." I said. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to..."

    "Layla's my sister..." May said. "Why am I so scared to see her?"

    "Because of what's happened since the last time you've seen her.." I said. "You came out to your family at a young age.... and since then, Layla was terrible to you.."

    "What if she's only projecting her own pain.... onto me and my relationship with you?" She asked. "She could be hurting..." And just like that, there was a young woman at my doorway.

~

    "Layla..." May cowered into my arms.

    "What'd you do to your hair, Maybelle?" Layla asked, trying to smile. "Mayb-"

    "It's.... May..." She said. "I stopped being Maybelle a long time ago..."

    "I'm sorry..." Her sister said. "May... I'm sorry... for a lot of things.."

    "Like saying you would kill your own sister if she kissed a girl?" I asked. "You don't seem sorry.."

    "Well, Ann-"

    "Alex.." May said. "It stopped being Annie nine years ago.."

    "I haven't been around, okay?" Layla said.

    "You left only two months ago... You just never cared to be a part of my life!" May was getting angrier and angrier.

    "Uncle Troye... and Uncle Jacob took me in..." Layla said. "I've been trying to find you.... but our parents wouldn't tell me.... and our own uncles wouldn't..."

    "Why would our homosexual uncles take a homophobic and transphobic girl in?" May asked. "You're a straight anti-LGBT+ activist..."

    "Because I'm..." She started to speak, but stopped. "I'm not who you think I am..."

    "Are you... gay?" I asked, and Layla covered her face with her hands. "Layla.."

    "I just came out to Uncle Troye and Uncle Jacob..." Layla cried. "And I went home.... and told Juniper.... Tylar.... Ren....and Sarah..."

    "You're gay?" May asked, starting to sit up. Layla nodded.

    "I'm... I'm gay..." She said. "You were right... on the live show... I was watching up until that point.... I... I cried when you two kissed... because I'm jealous.."

    "You're jealous?" May asked her sister. "Of me? You've always been the one to push me down.... hurt the ones I love..."

    "I'm sorry Alex..." Layla looked at me. "For the past.... when I'd hurt you for being in love with my sister.... I'm so sorry... and I'm so proud that my baby sister.... has you to love.."

"I... I don't know what to say.." I said.

"But you always have something to say.." May said.

"Baby, I'm speechless..." I said. "Your sister is apologizing for everything.."

"I am..." Layla said. "Please, May..... Say something..." She placed her hand on May's arm, but May shuddered, still fearful. "Oh... I see..." She stood up, and headed out of my room. "I can see I'm still unwanted here..."

"Layla..." May said. "What you said.. I know it's not true...."

"Goodbye sis...." She said.

~

I laid with May in my arms, and she continued to cry her heart out.

"So.... Layla lied about her sexuality?" I asked. "Just to get your attention?"

"Her text... She said she needed to talk about me and my lifestyle... she said it was wrong.. and yeah. It was all a lie. She wanted you to believe her because she knew I'd see right through her..." May said. "I'm sorry you had to see all of that happen..."

"I wouldn't change a single moment of my life that I've had with you.... even if it was something like this. I'm proud of you... and I'll always be by your side to face these things..." I kissed her on the forehead. "I love you.." She turned her head to look at me, and her bright blue eyes shined with the same sparkle I initially fell in love with.

"How was I ever lucky enough to meet you?" May asked. "We were so small...."