Love Begins with You

Party Planning

"Come on, Grace. Live a little!" My sister, Lindsey exclaims.

I roll my eyes with a heavy sigh. "Linds, I really need to focus on this assignment. My professor moved the deadline back, and it's due tomorrow."

She pouts. "You're turning 21 in a few days, though. It'll be the last time you're ever this young! I'll throw the party this weekend, when you don't have classes. Please?" She begs, drawing out the "e" in please.

I groan, closing my laptop. "You know parties aren't really my scene, though."

"But, it'll be here, at our house, so you'll feel more comfortable," she argues. "We can invite all our friends- Michelle, Jacob, Aaron, Aria, Jes-"

I zone out the moment that she mentions the name Aria, getting lost in the though of how beautifully her dark hair cascades down shoulders, or how her soft, blue, eyes light up every time she smiles. This party would be the perfect chance to spend a little bit of time with her. I don't have many opportunities to do that when my entire family doesn't know that I'm a lesbian, and the woman I am in love with is my sister's best friend.

"Fine, we can have the party. You're right, Linds. You only turn 21 once." I say, with a little annoyance in my voice.

Meanwhile, I am really not annoyed because in my head, Aria is all I can think about.

"YES!! Thats what I thought! Okay! I am going to go get my iPad and we can jot down some things we need to get from the party supply store and Walmart!" Lindsey yells in excitement.

"Okay, Linds" I say while I giggle while rolling my eyes and go back to my laptop to work on my assignment.

About 2 hours pass and then finally I am submitting my essay. I breathe a breath of relief as I close my laptop and Lindsey busts through the door.

"Grace, I found some of the cutest stuff that we can get. Get off your butt and get dressed!" she exclaims and starts pushing me off the edge of the bed.

"Okay, Okay!" I get up and decide to throw on some black ripped skinny jeans and a Nirvana cropped tee with a pair of sandals.

We get to Walmart and as we are pulling into the parking lot, Lindsey's phone begins to ring.

"Hello, yeah, we are on row 9, okay, see you in a minute!" She pulls the phone away from her ear and says, "Oh, that was Aria, I invited her to come so she can help us pick some stuff out."

My mind leaves the conversation after I hear "Aria". My stomach begins to do flips and I can feel the butterflies sinking in.

We get out of the car and walk up to the entrance where I see my beautiful love standing by the automatic sliding doors and I lose it. I begin to think to myself. "If only I could just kiss her right here. If only I knew that she was the least bit interested in me. If only anybody knew I was a lesbian." I can feel a tear start to bubble up from my tear duct and I push it away as we head inside.

"So, what color do you want to do Grace?" Lindsey asks.

I am still lost in Aria's gaze and then snap out of it and say "huh? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Um, teal would be cute I guess."

What I am really thinking is that I don't give a crap about this party, I just want to spend time with my sunshine, Aria.