We Have Each Other

2

Lily lay on her bed listening to her sad playlist, worrying about her girlfriend. Has she talked to her father yet? Has he ignored her? Or worse, has he kicked her out? She couldn't bear it, she couldn't even begin to imagine what must be going through Kara's head right now, the fear must be unbearable. "Lily!" her mum called from downstairs, "dinner is ready." Lily got up, paused the slow lingering music and went downstairs. Both her parents were sat down, the hot delicious looking pasta still giving off steam and she couldn't help smiling at the smell of the garlic and tomato sauce wafting around the room. Halfway through dinner Lily's mum started to suggest that they should have 'the gay talk.' Lily sighed and knew that her parents wanted to be there for her but it was so awkward. However, she agreed and knew that what was going on right now was probably easier than what Kara was going through.

"Off you go," he shouted, an angry look shooting off his face, "This is what you have done to me, to our family, you are a disgrace, I am ashamed to call you my daughter!" Kara just stared at him, her own father telling her that he didn't love her, tears streamed out of her eyes, this was it.

"No, I am ashamed to call YOU my husband!" Kara's mum shrieked. She grabbed her daughter and rushed her inside and yelled at her husband: "You either stay and accept your daughter or leave and come back when you have learnt to accept her!"

Kara never saw her father look so surprised, muttering under his breath he stomped upstairs and within 5 minutes Kara and her mother heard the front door slam. Her father was gone.

Lily went upstairs and got into the shower. This weight she had been carrying for years on her shoulders had now rolled off, like the carefree water that was now drizzling down her back. She was out. She got into her pyjamas and checked her phone; a message had just pinged onto her phone. It was a text from Kara:

Dad left. Don't really want to talk, please tell your parents we appreciate them having us over. See you tomorrow. K x

She almost laughed, Kara was the most polite person she knew. Lily texted back saying that she would and that she's here to talk. She went downstairs and told her parents the news. This was going to be hard for Kara and Lily was determined to be there for her, she was her girlfriend after all.

Her mum was crying and laughing at the same time, pouring our another glass of wine, was it the second or third glass? Kara didn't know, it was only ten minutes since her dad left and she just wanted everything to go back to the way it was. All she could think about was the way that her father spit out the words of hate, all messages of support she had hoped for had evaporated and were replaced with these phrases of pure evil. She felt this blood cold feeling of anger shooting through her veins. 'Stop!' She told herself and took a few deep breaths, 'be calm.' She went into the kitchen to see her mother slumped over the kitchen counter and made dinner.

The shrill ring of her alarm clock disturbed Lily's peaceful sleep. She got up; today was going to be tough. Not only had they agreed to come out to their parents yesterday but decided to update social media profiles, hold hands in the hallways etc. Their friends had known for the past few weeks and were all fine (some had even started to suspect romance!) but she didn't know how everybody at school would react. She didn't want everything to be overwhelming for Kara after what happened yesterday. The past three months she'd had with Kara were amazing. They'd started out talking about romance, she remembered even joking about them getting together. Shortly after came the unexpected touching and the way that Kara stared at her giving her that warm, bashful feeling that probably flooded into her facial expressions. But Lily will never forget the confrontation, coming to terms with the fact that she was gay, a secret she'd kept from herself for so long and she finally realised something else almost immediately. She ran to Kara's house, they'd gone up to Kara's bedroom and...

"Lily, are you coming downstairs? You're going to be late for school!"

The ding dong of the doorbell was the cheeriest thing she had heard for hours. Her mum had just left, serious and focused, her head probably killing from the hangover - but her mum never went on without a fight. Kara (who was half awake) stumbled towards the door, still recovering from the little sleep she had managed to get with everything going on in her mind. She clicked the door handle and there, her dazzling red hair shining in the sunlight, was Lily. Kara let her in and Lily walked through, being no stranger to this house by dumping her bags in the hallway and following her girlfriend through to the kitchen. Lily helped Kara wash up quickly as Kara packed her books into her badge covered backpack. They both left and walked hand in hand to school. "I'll be here for you babe," Lily turned to her girlfriend suddenly in the awkward conversation about Biology homework. Kara stopped and held her close, her smile slightly forced but not too much and kissed her. They both turned slightly pink on the cheeks as they always do and continued walking, this time talking about the film they were going to watch at the weekend.

Lily felt sick, the way everybody looked at her with that 'we're here for you' look, the positive messages that everybody flung her way, the not so positive comments that were said during maths class. She knew that she should be grateful that (mostly) everybody was being so progressive and she was actually quite surprised: ' I know it's not the first coming out story at the school,' she initially thought 'but the majority of students are acting as they normally do.' However, she wouldn't be feeling this awful if it weren't for Kara's situation, even if it is annoying that people are shooting sympathetic smiles in the corridors. She should be on top of the world right now. But she wasn't. She went to the lunch table and sat next to Kara, their other friends: Steven, Rachel, Izzy and Will were dotted around the table. They all chatted to each other and after a short pause in the conversation, Kara told them what had happened the night before. Lily sat there, adding in a few bits here and there but otherwise feeling useless. After Kara finished Lily put her hand on her thigh and told her with a determined look in her eyes "We'll help you," she gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and across the table she heard Will say "I know this isn't the right time but you two are so goddamn cute."

Kara felt better, laying it all out, finally making a bit of sense of the mess she had created. She hated this feeling of fear and upset that was laying inside her like a puddle, as if her dad was about to stamp through it and turn that fear into anger. The fear was too much to bear, Kara knew what she had to do, and she really didn't want to.

Kara never showed up late. It was the one thing that she never done. Lily had agreed to meet Kara at 3:10 at the park outside their school and it was now 3:20. She'd called her four times with no answer. Not a text, not a word, where was she? She stopped a student who she knew was in Kara's last class and asked

"Hey Lisa, do you know if Kara was late coming out of her class?"

"Kara wasn't in 5th or 6th period, it was double chemistry as well," Lisa replied, "tell her she missed the chromatography practical though will you?"

"Sure," Lily smiled weakly, she was shocked, it wasn't like Kara to miss Chemistry, or miss school at all for that matter. Where was she?