A Promise Is A Promise

[21] Kayla

I came back from refilling my glass of water to find my mom staring at her phone. She didn't look up at me until after I walked into the room and was nearly back in my spot on the couch. When she did, there was a terrifying mixture of anger and disgust on her face.

"What is this?" she demanded, turning the phone that I quickly realized was actually mine, once my eyes adjusted from the dark room to the bright screen.

"What is what?" I took it from her and looked at it, not able to see what she was so upset about at first, though I had a fairly decent idea. I saw that I had a message from Claire and my worst fears were confirmed.

We'd been texting all day, like we had since we'd come to a better understanding of each other, and I'd told her that I was watching a movie with my mom. Her response left no room for doubt, considering it said, I wish I could be there with you right now, kissing and cuddling you. Still, I tried to convince my mother that my girlfriend hadn't meant it like that.

"Mom, it's not what it looks like. It's—"

"Do not lie to me, Makayla." Her voice was thin and low. She was so mad she couldn't even scream at me. "Not anymore than you already have. What the hell is this?! Are you some kind of lesbian?"

"Mom, please." My face scrunched up as I fought to hold back my tears. I couldn't believe this was happening.

"Answer my question now."

"Yes! Okay? Yes, I'm a lesbian. I'm gay and I'm in love with Claire and she's my girlfriend." The sobs forced their way out of my throat with minimal effort. I wasn't strong enough to keep them in. I hadn't even been strong enough to have this conversation before now.

Fury radiated off of the woman in front of me like I'd never seen before. Nothing my brother or I had ever done had brought her to this point. I was beyond scared of what would happen when she stood up and towered in front of me.

"Claire Fulton? The Claire that we have welcomed into this house for years? The Claire that has spent the night in your bed multiple times? The Claire that you have been left alone with time and time again? The Claire that we trusted you with?" She paused for a moment, her lips drawn into a line so thin that they disappeared entirely. "You have taken advantage of us, of our hospitality, of our belief that you would never involve yourself in behavior like this. This is disgusting and no daughter of mine will partake in it. You will not see her or speak to her from this point forward. Do you understand me?"

I wanted to get down on my knees and beg her to forgive me. I wanted to tell her that I was sorry and I hadn't meant for any of this to happen. But I couldn't, so I just nodded and let the tears run down my face.

"Show me the rest of it." Mom held out her hand, gesturing to my phone. "There has to be more than this. I want to see all of it. I want to see what else you've been keeping from us. Take the password off of your phone. Your father and I will be keeping it for the time being." I did what she said while she muttered, "Speaking of your father, just wait until he gets home from his trip. Wait until he hears about the absolutely despicable things you've been doing behind our backs."

Every shred of hope that I'd had about my parents loving me when I told them about my sexuality was completely gone. The hope I'd had left about being able to talk to Claire in some way had disappeared just as quickly.

"I knew I shouldn't have let you spend so much time with that Frankie girl all of these years. I knew she'd influence you to be this way. You're obviously not the only one, either. I'm sure Claire's parents would be thrilled to find out that Kyle's daughter has corrupted theirs."