1. Sara
Sara
“Here’s your non-fat mocha, Sara.”
I smiled at the quirky barista with the purple hair. She seemed to be working every time I came into Morning Jolt, either her or Camille, the owner’s girlfriend. Although Camille was working fewer shifts now that her author career was taking off.
“Thanks, Hannah. You always make it with just the right amount of chocolate.”
The back of my neck tingled as I felt someone staring at me.
Looking around, I saw a stunningly beautiful woman about my age looking in my direction.
She was curvy with thick black hair, almond shaped brown eyes, and the olive colored skin of someone of Mediterranean descent.
Greek, if I had to guess. In fact, she was the spitting image of Mrs. Poulos, the mother of my high school best friend.
“Sofia? Is that you?”
Her beautiful face, still unlined despite the fact that we were both in our late forties, split into a wide smile.
“Sara, oh my God, I thought that was you!”
She rushed forward to give me a hug.
“No offense, but you look a lot like your mother did when we were in high school. That’s why I was staring at you, thinking you looked familiar.”
I laughed and squeezed her closer. “Honestly, I thought the same thing when I saw you. Do you have time for coffee? It would be great to catch up.”
“Sure, but unfortunately I only have about twenty minutes before I have to get to work.”
She turned to Hannah.
“Could I get a vanilla latte please, full fat.”
“Coming right up.”
We waited for Sofia’s drink, then headed over to a small table in the corner of the coffee shop.
“So what have you been doing the last thirty years?” I asked, my eyes cataloging all the changes in her appearance.
We’d last seen each other the summer after high school graduation.
Back then we’d been thick as thieves, best friends ever since the first day of junior high.
I was going away to college, and Sofia’s parents had insisted that she do a gap year in Greece to learn more about her culture and also to help her sick grandmother.
We promised to keep in touch since we were ‘best friends forever’ and all, but we fell out of touch pretty quickly.
Back in nineteen ninety-three most people didn’t have email or cell phones yet, and if you weren’t a person who was good about writing actual letters – which neither of us were – it was almost impossible to keep in touch.
“Well as you know, I went to Greece after graduation. I wound up staying there for two years until my Yiayia died. Then I came back and moved in with my parents while I went to U-dub,” she said, referring to University of Washington.
“Then I met my husband in college, and we got married a few years later.”
“You’re married?”
My eyes flew to her left hand, but it was bare. I don’t know why I was surprised at the news, most women our age were married.
It’s just that back when we were best friends, I’d always had the suspicion that Sofia was a lesbian like me.
Growing up in Seattle – which was a relatively safe place for the LGBT community at that time – I was more aware of the possibility of being a lesbian than I likely would have been if I’d grown up someplace else.
Of course I’d never mentioned it to Sofia. She was my best friend, and if she’d been skeeved out by my sexual orientation, I would have lost her as a friend.
And I was one hundred percent sure that her conservative Greek Orthodox parents would have insisted that we didn’t see each other if they knew I wasn’t straight. They were incredibly overprotective, almost smothering, much to Sofia’s constant irritation.
Then again, I didn’t have the courage to come out to anyone, even my family, until I was in my early twenties.
“I was married,” Sofia answered almost sadly. “It didn’t work out. Probably because I was a lesbian and I was grossed out by all the hetero sex.”
I choked on my mocha, only barely avoiding spitting it out all over the table. I’d forgotten how direct my old BFF was. Sofia shot me a look.
“Should I have broken that news more gently?” she asked wryly. “Everyone is so open about their sexuality these days, I don’t think anything of being honest about who I am. Times have really changed since we were younger.”
Sofia’s news left me a bit flustered, although I couldn’t say why.
“No, it’s fine to be frank, of course. It’s just that, I’m a lesbian too.
When we were in school, I’d always wondered, well, maybe this is ridiculous, but sometimes we’d be hanging out and I’d be thinking about how pretty you were or whatever.
And you’d give me a look and I’d wonder, you know?
Wonder if you had the same feelings for me that I had for you. ”
“I did.”