Choose Me

Thanksgiving Dinner (Part Two)

"Excuse me? Am I going deaf right now?" Dana threw down her cloth napkin as Amber looked as if she had been hit by a semi-truck.

"No, mother. Stef and I are in love, and I was going to wait until after the holiday to break it to you, Amber, but I'm tired of this fakeness. I'm tired of trying to be happy and for what? You don't even remember what my favorite pie is? How did this even happen?" Lena was squeezing the fire out of Stef's hand, and the blonde was trying to stop the madness. Only Lena was on a roll and wouldn't listen.

"Lena..." Stef whispered hoarsely as she tugged on her hand.

"I raked the leaves, Amber! I raked them! Yet every single night you come home and bitch about the yard! What do you do? Huh? I do our laundry! I cook our dinners only to have them turn ice cold! You say you'll be home, but you never are! What are we doing here!?!?"

"Lena Elizabeth! I think that's quite enough! Sit down!" Dana raised her voice at her daughter, completely embarrassed as all get out. This wasn't how she raised her, and to her, this was a huge embarrassment.

"Dana, let the girl speak. She obviously has had this on her mind..." Stewart tried to stop his wife from making more of a scene than already was happening but it didn't work one bit.

"This is an outrage! Ruining Thanksgiving dinner!" Dana jumped up and stormed out of the room as Amber stood as well.

"Stef? Is this...is this true? Are you, two, having an affair?" Amber choked out as she honed in on the blonde.

"I don't think you should be the one questioning me right now, Amber..."

"What does that mean?" Lena interjected now as she pulled away from the blonde who was staring Amber down hard.

"I want to know! Are you sleeping with my wife?" Amber's voice grew louder, and Stef didn't budge one single bit. In fact, she stepped closer to the red head as her eyes narrowed.

"Amber, I'm warning you..."

"We are! We are fucking each other, Amber! Which is more than you've done with me for an entire year! If that!" Lena shouted, and Stef turned to quiet the curly haired woman once more, but Lena pulled away as she walked over to Amber's seat.

"Do you have a problem with that? Because I don't! Sure I was wrong, but I don't regret it!"

It was then that Amber lost control and slapped Lena across her face, leaving the taller woman reeling, and also leaving a very angry blonde in the wake. The night couldn't get any worse, but it did and fast.

"Amber! Stop!" Stef bellowed as she moved towards the hurt woman, and as Lena placed her hand on the side of her face where she had been slapped, Stef motioned Amber to follow her. She would end this tonight.

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*Stef*

Grabbing my jacket, I slide it on and walk out the front door, and even though it is already pitch black outside, the street lamps illuminate the darkness, and it isn't long before Amber follows me, leather jacket around her small frame. We walk in silence for a bit before I stop and turn to Amber. I clench my jaw because I'm really mad at this point. Really, really mad, and the fact that I didn't ring her neck for smacking Lena is beyond me.

"When are you going to stop lying to her? Huh? If I hadn't caught you today, would you have even told her? Hmmm?" I fold my arms across my chest as Amber fails to look at me. Instead she looks at the ground and scuffs at some fallen leaves, and I can tell that she's really nervous and doesn't know what to do.

"You've really made a mess of things, Amber. Tell me something. Were you sleeping with him last year? Hmm? When you, two, started going to counselling? When Lena spent countless hours over my house crying her eyes out because she didn't know what she did wrong? She loved you, you know. She really loved you." I spit out as Amber slowly looks up at me.

"I..I don't know what to say. I fell in love with him...but he's married, and he kept saying he'd leave his wife, but he never did. He always has an excuse, and..."

"And so you stay with Lena? You fuck him and come home to her? This is unbelievable!" I raise my voice, and lower it as I realize we are out here in the open.

"Woah! From what I heard in there, you, two, are NO different! Not at all! You have been fucking and for how long? Huh?" Amber accuses me back, and I raise my hands.

"Fair enough, but still. She could feel it in her veins something was wrong. And she was loyal to you. I broke it off with her recently because she decided to stay with you, Amber..."

"This is a cluster fuck! You know that? I...I can't deal with this! I just can't right now! We have guests in there to whom we are ruining their stay! Stef, what the fuck?!" Amber is visibly shaking right now, but I don't care as I get up in her face.

"Either you tell her or I will! Got it! Yes, what we did was wrong! It was incredibly wrong, but you're no saint either! Shit happens, but you have to face it, Amber! You can't hide from it forever! And plus, it sounds like you have a real winner in your boss by the way!"

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Dana Adams began clearing up the Thanksgiving dinner with the help of Stewart, and a red faced Lena soon walked into the kitchen to help. "I'm sorry, Mother," she whispered hoarsely as she failed to look at her mother, and Stewart walked over to wrap his arms around his daughter.

"Oh, Lena, we're not mad at you. We just want you to be happy. That's all..."

"Speak for yourself, Stewart! I AM angry with our daughter! She was raised better than to have such outbursts and at a family gathering!"

Lena hugged her father back and tightly before turning to look at her mother who was leaning against the sink, an apron around her dress clothes.

"You're right, Mother. I was really wrong, and for that I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've made a mess of your Thanksgiving, and I'm sorry that I cheated on my girlfriend..." her voice cracked as she looked down at her hands. "I...I wasn't happy, you know?" She quickly wiped the tears away that were falling down her cheeks now.

"I wasn't happy, and in the process I realized that more than anyone, Stef had been there for me. She really had, and I can't blame her. I am an adult, and it was consensual. It really was, and one thing lead to another, and if it makes it any better, I was content to keep sneaking around, but Stef put her foot down and told me it was over. That she couldn't do that anymore, and I was really angry about it. I was! Then I had enough! Enough of the hiding! Enough of the pretending! I lost it! But you can't be mad at Stef! She isn't a bad person, Mama!" She reverted to the childhood name of her mother as Dana quickly moved to scoop her little girl into her arms.

"Oh, my baby! I'm so, so sorry you were hurting! Shhhhh, my sweet girl," the older woman wasn't really all that cold. In fact seeing her daughter be more honest than she ever had in her life with her, softened her anger and she knew that she was thankful that she was there for her daughter to help her through this time.

But as this was going on, a car was pulling into Amber and Lena's driveway, and the night couldn't get any worse than it already had.

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**I wonder who is pulling into their driveway on Thanksgiving evening?**