I walk back around the couch and sit next to Tucker. He is almost impossible to wake up, so I don't really care if I need to move him. I am now facing my parents, and at the same time, facing my fears. I calm myself down to the best of my ability and speak yet another lie maybe one of the hardest I've had to yet. But that's all you can do when you start a web of lies, cover everything up with more lying. The deeper you find yourself the harder and more often your lies become. "I was out with my boyfriend." The words cut deep. It's such a small thing, plenty of girls my age lie about not having a boyfriend, and it seems so simple, but it stings so badly. Saying I have a boyfriend is masking who I am even more than I already have. I want to be open about me being gay because I love Skylar so much and I want to show her off more than anything in the world, but my internalized homophobia has left me with only two people who know the real me, neither of which are my parents. Snapping out of my brief trance-like state I focus back in onto reality. My mom is still yelling at me about having a boyfriend. Something to the effect of "Blake Talia Thompson! How could you! Do you have any idea how much your grades will suffer from this?! You need to break up with him right now or I will ground you until you do! Staying out late and with your boyfriend? We are lucky your friend here came looking for you or we never would have known! Who is this man?" she gasps before adding "Did you guys have sex? He better not have gotten you pregnant." By then she is out of breath from her yelling montage. As she stops to catch her breath and cry some more, my dad puts his hand on her shoulder and adds lightly "Honey, look on the bright side, things could be much worse. She could be dating a girl instead of a boy, be grateful that isn't the case." There it is, the reason I started this lie in the first place. Because my homophobic parents could never accept me. Nonetheless this statement seems to calm my mom down to where she can speak without crying again. She has always had a flare for the dramatic. Once she collects herself she says "You're grounded until prom, assuming you don't continue to disobey us you will still be allowed to participate in prom" she points toward Tucker "He can stay the night as long as he stays out of your room unless you have supervision". Fuck, I won't be able to see Skye until prom, but at least my parents didn't find out I was gay and hopefully they never will. I decide to leave Tucker out on the couch and I head upstairs to get some sleep. I send Skylar one last text before I fall asleep 'Today was wonderful, Skye. I'm grounded for two weeks until prom, my parents weren't too happy to find out I spent the day with my girlfriend instead of doing homework. I'm really tired and I have some prepping to do before finals begin tomorrow so I'll text you later. I love you and I can't wait to see you next.' And with that I drift off into a deep sleep.
The next few weeks drag on excruciatingly as we take our final exams and get some last prepping done before we all begin college next year. The entire school has been on their toes waiting for prom and excited for their 'last hurrah' as high school students. But I am terrified. This is the night that could make or break my relationships with everyone in my life, one misstep and everything I worked for, every lie, every time I walked on eggshells just to keep my friends and family members, will all finally break. I will fall off of the tight rope I have so carefully navigated right as I reach the end. The past few weeks have zoomed by and its finally the night every teenager dreams of their entire high school lives. And its the night that will go down in history for me one way or another. I step out of the shower and check the time on my phone one more time, it's still only 6:00 PM and I have another hour to get ready. Tucker will be picking me up around 7 to take me to Prom. I pull on my off-the-shoulders maroon dress my mom helped me pick out a month or two ago. The sleeves are lace and the dress reaches down to my ankles. The skirt of the dress has a long slit from the bottom up to mid-thigh level and flows nicely and is easy to move around in. Along the waist there is a band that pulls the dress in and makes the bodice slightly tighter than the skirt. I begin to work on my makeup, my mom was pretty adamant about me looking "Presentable" tonight, as it is prom. I do a basic natural makeup look with some silver glitter eye shadow and mascara. I put some light pink lip gloss on and use finishing spray to ensure the makeup stays in place all night. My make-up took an entire half hour to complete and by now it's 6:40. I start to style my hair. My hair is naturally straight so I decide to curl it for one night. Once I finish my hair I slip on some silver jeweled sandals and a silver pearl necklace that came with matching diamond earnings. I hear the door bell ring and I finish putting in my earrings before running to grab the door before my mom can. She and Tucker have become particularly close and have a tendency to talk for very long periods of time. I open the door and see Tucker wearing his neatly pressed suit with a maroon tie to match my dress. When I see Tucker at the door I stand on my toes to whisper in his ear "Don't talk too much to my mom, we need to get going." and then back away. He nods as my mom comes running into the living room. I pull Tucker inside and wrap my arm around his waist. My mom squeals before saying "You two look so cute together!" I roll my eyes and say "Yeah mom you say that every time you see us. We really need to get going though, I can't wait to see you after!" I kiss my mom on the cheek and wave goodbye as I climb into Tucker's car. He begins driving and after just a little bit he pulls into the parking lot of the venue where prom is being held. Not many people are here yet as it's only around 7:30 and the dance doesn't start until 8, but Skye just happens to be one of those people who are there early, waiting by the front. She is wearing a gorgeous floral gown and has her hair in a braided bun and looks even more beautiful than I ever could've imagined. Unfortunately it isn't just my eye she is catching, the minute Tucker sees her he groans an "Aw fuck. You didn't Blake. Please tell me I'm seeing things"
YOU ARE READING
Walking on a Tightrope
RomanceWhen Blake Thompson discovers she is a lesbian, she goes to her seventh grade "crush" for help. He is gay, but closeted, so she makes a deal with him; They date so nobody finds out either of them are gay. But what will become of this? Will they keep...
