“Hey, Becca! How are you?”
“Cliff! Hi!” Cliff went in to hug Becca and, caught unawares and not knowing what else to do, Becca half-heartedly hugged him back. When they pulled away she gestured to the attractive blonde standing at her side. She hesitated as she said. “This is my … my girlfriend, Stacey.”
Becca wasn’t sure why she stammered over that word. It wasn’t like she was ashamed of herself. Or Stacey. It’s just that ex-boyfriends tended to get weird over this kind of thing.
To prove her point, Cliff’s head snapped back as he took in Becca’s words and looked Stacey up and down. It was a different kind of appraisal than he would normally have bestowed on a busty blonde and that irked Becca. Cliff probably wasn’t even aware he was doing it, but that just irked her all the more.
He turned back to Becca. “You’re a lesbian now?”
“Yeah.” She struggled to maintain eye contact. She had no reason to be embarrassed and she knew it. But for some reason it was still a struggle. “Yeah, I am.”
“So you … when we … was I bad?”
Becca rolled her eyes, and when they stopped, they met Stacey’s gaze just as Stacey’s eyes were concluding the same eye roll. They smiled at each other in mutual recognition before Becca said, “Can we have a moment?”
“Sure. I’ll be over by the cinnamon rolls whenever you’re ready.”
“Save one for me.”
“Can’t make any promises.”
Becca watched Stacey walk away with love in her heart. When she turned back to Cliff, she saw he was also watching Stacey walk away, this time with the same appraising look he gave most attractive women.
Becca rolled her eyes again as she pulled Cliff by the arm to turn him in the other direction.
“That’s your girlfriend?”
“Yep, and you are so not her type so don’t even try.
“Cliff, if I were dating another guy, would you assume that relationship had anything to do with you?”
“What? No! That’s gross! Why would I think that?”
“I don’t know. Why do you assume my relationship with Stacey has anything to do with you?”
“Because … what if I turned you gay?”
Becca stopped and rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers while she tried the breathing exercises she had been practicing. “Look, you know about those camps that claim to turn gay people straight, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think they work?”
“Hell no. That’s just a load of crap they feed to those idiots who think they can turn their kids straight.”
“OK. So if you don’t think you can turn gay people straight, why would you think you can turn straight people gay?”
“Well … because … well, you were attracted to me at one point, right?”
“Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“There were a lot of reasons I went out with you, Cliff. Yes, I thought you were cute, but I also thought you were kind and funny and generous, and you know what? Those are the same qualities I love in Stacey.”
Cliff’s head reared back again and Becca could see him trying to take it all in. She gave him a moment. He may be sweet and funny, but he had never been very smart.
When he seemed to be wrapping his head around the concept, Becca continued. “Look, admitting you’re gay is not an easy thing to do. It took me a long time to come to terms with it, and there were a lot of steps on that road. Dating you was one of those steps. I needed to do that to realize I didn’t want to date guys. It doesn’t mean you were ‘bad’ or that you did anything wrong. It just means you were what I needed at that time in my life. Just like Stacey is what I need right now. Make sense?”
Cliff’s brow was still furrowed, but he nodded slowly.
Becca smiled and decided she had done all she could for one day. The rest was up to Cliff.
“It’s great to see you, Cliff,” she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. “You look like you’re doing well, and I’m really glad to see that. Honest.”
“Yeah, you too,” he said, his furrow disappearing as his eyes lit up and his wide smile returned. “Good luck with your girlfriend.”
Becca struggled not to laugh as she thanked him and made her way through the crowd back to Stacey.
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