Chapter 17 #2
“I know you left home because of your mom.” Elijah’s voice was quiet, barely a whisper above the AC unit, which they’d cranked to the maximum. “But I’m really glad that you came with me.”
Chicot turned to him, her hand reaching out for his to squeeze. “We both needed to leave.”
“We did.” Elijah nodded. “That town wasn’t good to us, was it?”
Chicot shook her head. “It wasn’t.”
“But now we have all of this.” Elijah turned onto his elbow, facing her. “We have all these people, so many of them queer and so many of them willing to love us.”
Chicot’s mind drifted to Sunnie, the way he’d taken her in without a second thought.
The way he’d teased her about her crush on Monty during a couple of lessons.
She had always wanted to talk to her dad about girls that way.
Instead of him, she got it from Sunnie, a man she’d only known for a little while.
“Yeah.” Chicot sighed lightly. “And they’ll keep loving us, no matter what.”
“It’s so much better than home.” Elijah turned onto his back now, his arm flopping off the bed.
“No, Albion is home.” Chicot smiled.
Elijah’s teeth flashed in the low light of the motel room, a grin so wide that it made his cheeks look like two perfectly domed cupcakes. “Yeah, we have a home now.”
When they got to their airport the next day, it was pouring rain.
Chicot was soaked through, the raincoat she had brought wrapped around their luggage with their costumes in it instead.
She didn’t really mind. It was a nice contrast to all the summer heat of Wisconsin, but it did mean she had to spend the first fifteen minutes once they’d gotten through security trying to dry her clothes at least somewhat so she wasn’t soggy on the plane.
Elijah had to do the same thing, so they were in their respective bathrooms.
She had not paid the phone much mind since she’d gotten it, though she did appreciate finally having her playlists back.
Her eyes were on it on the counter, looking over the text message she’d written out for Juni to explain why she’d left and how sorry she was.
She wanted to be sure that Juni knew Chicot cared about her and the only reason Chicot had stopped responding was because she’d broken her cell.
So, Chicot transferred the text into her notes app, so she could tweak it until she got it right.
Her shirt was nearly dry from the hand drier when a notification popped up.
She hadn’t seen it in a long time, the dating app she’d been using on and off since she’d left home.
It had never really worked out for her, since most of the people on it weren’t nearby, but it was just for women who wanted to date women, which meant sometimes she’d connect with someone who lived a state away because the radius was so large.
CallieLily: Hey, long time since we’ve talked. How are you doing?
Chicot stared at the message, trying to remember which girl this had even been.
She clicked on the notification, realizing quickly it was the one she’d been chatting with from Chicago.
They had never been particularly romantic, but Chicot realized she probably needed to tell her about Monty and that she was off the market.
She worked as an engineer somewhere, her life so … normal compared to Chicot’s.
JesterJump: Good, sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been working at the Albion Renaissance Faire and broke my phone. I only just got a new one. I want to be honest though. I kind of started seeing a girl there.
CallieLily: Oh, that’s awesome, congratulations! I remember you hadn’t heard back when we last talked. That’s so cool. Also, what’s the girl like? Is she cute? Congrats on that too :)
Chicot bit her lip, thinking of Monty for a moment. She remembered Callie being really nice, so this wasn’t really a surprise. Maybe she should make it a point to go hang out with her in sometime as friends. She could even bring Monty.
JesterJump: Thank you! She’s super sweet. Into cottagecore, really strong, and she gives amazing hugs.
CallieLily: Oh my, you sound a little in love. ;) She your girlfriend yet? Or are you falling into WLW stereotypes over there?
JesterJump: Not my girlfriend, but I want to ask her. I was waiting to hear back about this big audition I just did for the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire.
CallieLily: Girl, you have to ask if you’re smitten! Don’t wait!
JesterJump: lol, I promise I will! I’m not a useless bisexual, I swear.
CallieLily: >:( you better not be or I’ll come to the faire and make sure you ask.
JesterJump: hahaha, I will not let it come to that, I promise.
CallieLily: Good! Now, how are you feeling about the new Rune Factory announcement Nintendo made?
They chatted a while longer about video games.
Chicot had to look up the announcement she was talking about, but she was decidedly disappointed since the new game looked so different from the rest of the series.
She’d barely thought about video games in months, but she chewed on her lip and thought about the pretty knight in the fourth Rune Factory game.
The one she’d romanced and loved without even realizing that maybe there was a reason she liked her so much more than the male options.
She smiled to herself. Her 3DS was in the RV.
She should start a new game and romance that character all over again.
Chicot nodded to herself as she made this plan, clicking out of her chat with Callie once they’d exchanged Discord usernames since Chicot planned to get rid of the app.
She wasn’t looking to date around anymore, not when she had Monty waiting for her back home at Albion.
Her thumb stopped over the gear icon as she looked at the list of girls she’d been talking to.
Callie’s messages were at the top, followed by a girl who had messaged Chicot sometime in June, but Chicot hadn’t had a phone to respond.
Under that was a tiny profile picture next to the name FalseCake.
It was a girl, sandy blonde hair with a round face, a grin from ear to ear, and her hair sticking to her skin.
Chicot had seen this photo before in Monty’s bedroom and she smashed the profile picture to see it larger without thinking.
There it was, a photo of Monty and Lyza, rained on and clinging to each other with smiles on their faces.
Chicot clicked back to her messages, bile rising in her throat.
Her finger hovered over the unopened messages Monty had sent her, the most recent one dated shortly before Chicot had told her that she didn’t have a phone.
She couldn’t open them, and suddenly a flood of women entered the bathroom, tired and ornery from just getting off a flight.
She shoved her phone into her pocket, gathering her things as she escaped the throng of people, trying to get out of their way.
When she found Elijah, he looked panicked, grabbing her hand and pulling her as he explained he’d been in the middle of texting her that their gate had changed and now they were in the complete wrong place.
She hurried after him, her fingers twitching.
Chicot wanted to look at the messages from Monty, but as they searched for their new gate, it became clear they were going to miss their flight if they didn’t figure things out quick.
The messages left Chicot’s mind, asking gate agents questions since Elijah was too panicked to talk.
He didn’t do well with sudden changes, so Chicot had to take over and take care of him.
It was fine. They made it onto the plane before the door closed, the two of them sitting in different rows, shoved into unwanted middle seats.
Chicot closed her eyes, dropping her head against the back of the seat as the flight attendants asked them to put their phones on airplane mode.
Her stomach dropped, her hand touching her phone, but she just did as the flight attendants said, her fingers trembling.
Her headphones were in their suitcase, which meant Chicot had nothing to listen to for the rest of the flight.
She was alone with her thoughts, going over all the reasons Monty hadn’t told her that they had talked on the dating app.