homecoming out
The next day at school, Maya was freaking out a bit. The dance was tomorrow and she still hadn't told her mother that she was gay. Or whatever she was. She still hadn't told her mother that her date to homecoming was Riley. And she wasn't sure that she wanted to so at lunch she made a b line towards Zay Babineaux.
“Zay, I need you to be my date to homecoming,” Maya said, in a bit of a panicked voice.
“What? Riley is your date to homecoming, why would you want me to be your date?” Zay asked.
“Because my mom doesn't know,” she whisper yelled. “And I just need you to pretend and like take a few pictures or whatever.”
“No no no no, Maya, I am not going to be your beard. If there's anything I've learned is that hiding who you are doesn't help. After I came out, I promised I would never hide who I was again.”
“If you remember correctly, this thing is kind of all your fault,” Maya said with a grumble. “If you hadn't outed us, I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.”
“You make a good point but - “
“Please?” Maya was practically begging by now. “My mom is a southern wannabe actress who is like the most traditional person I've ever met in New York.”
“Fine,” he relayed. “But only because I kind of want to meet her and I feel bad. What time?”
“7:00,” Maya replied. “And you know, dress more...believably straight.”
Lucas and Riley sat in the dugout of the school’s baseball field for the third time that day. Most people would think they would do something scandalous like make out but instead they just talked. Talked and talked and talked. Riley discovered that she loved talking to Lucas. He was one of her favorite people to talk to. Besides Maya, of course. They talked about his sports, their favorite breakfast foods, and candy, they talked about everything for what felt like hours.
“So tell me more about growing up in Texas,” Riley prompted him.
“Well I guess the thing I miss most about Texas is the pets I used to have.”
“I had a hamster.”
“I had twenty four horses.”
“Wow...you win. Tell me about them,” she said with a small smile.
“Well one day, one of the horses, Sofia, was foaling.”
“Foaling means she was giving birth, right?” Riley had watched too many shows about horses on Discovery Channel, hoping to find out why the unicorn went extinct.
“Not too bad for a city girl,” Lucas teased, with a light laugh. “And when she was foaling, there was no one else there. So I called the doctor and he talked me through it.”
“And?”
“And did you know that a baby horse stands in the first hour after it's born? It was the coolest thing I've ever seen and I got to be a part of it. Riley?”
“Lucas?”
“I've never told anyone this but I think someday I'd like to be a veterinarian. I know a lot of people expect me to be like some super athlete or something but I dunno. I love playing sports but there's nothing that can compare to the experience that I had with Sofia.”
Riley simply nodded, speechless, and could feel herself falling for Lucas. She wanted to listen to every story, share every moment, and talk with him all the time. She wasn't sure if it was love (she was only fifteen, after all), but it was definitely a very very heavy like. And she was sure it was going to blossom into love.
It was seven o’clock on Friday night and Maya was pacing in the hallway of her and her mother’s small apartment. She was wearing a baby blue dress that Riley and her had picked out at Demolition. (Maya in a dress, her mother never thought she would see the day.) Her mother kept squealing and fawning over her dress and her hair. And the fact that she had a date, with a boy.
“Oh, baby girl, you look so beautiful!” Katy said, putting her hand over her heart. “Now when that boy Zay comes, I want pictures. My momma did it to me on my homecoming night so it's like a tradition!”
Maya didn't argue and she really didn't have that much time to because she heard a knock on the door. When she opened it, she saw Zay in a cowboy hat, a plaid flannel, black jeans with the most stereotypically southern belt that Maya had ever seen, and cowboy boots.
“Well howdy,” Zay greeted Maya’s mother, in his native accent.
“I asked for butch, not Matthew McConaughey from Magic Mike,” Maya mumbled to Zay, soft enough so her mother couldn't hear.
“This is as butch as I get,” he mumbled back. “Now, where's this mother you promised?”
As if on cue, Katy came out of her bedroom and into the hallway, with her tiny camera in hand.
“Is this him? Oh my god, he is too cute, Maya!” Katy squealed. “You must be Zay. I'm Maya's mother, Katy Hart.”
“You're lying,” Zay replied.
“Excuse me?” both Maya and Katy asked simultaneously.
“Y'all must be sisters.”
“Oh, stop it, we get that all the time!” (They don't.)
Maya subtlety rolled her eyes. She loved her mother (more than anything else in the world if you don't count Riley) but sometimes she was a little much. And right now was definitely one of those times.
“Okay, now pose together for a picture, you two!”
Maya and Zay awkwardly stood next to each other, trying to look as comfortable as possible when they both obviously weren't. After Katy had taken the sixteenth photo, Maya finally managed to get her and Zay outside of the small apartment and to Zay’s pickup truck.
“Your mother is really something else,” Zay commented as they both got into his truck.
“Tell me something I don't know,” Maya replied with a chuckle. “Something else is a bit of an understatement.”
When Riley arrived at the dance, there was thunderous applause, people were chanting her and Maya’s name, and it felt amazing. She was finally special. People finally recognized her. It was like she was invisible up until a few days ago and now she was truly being seen. It was a great feeling that Riley thought she’d never get tired of. Recognition, approval, affection, attention, validation - those were all things that Riley desperately craved and she was now getting. It was euphoria. Walking up to the principal, she grabbed her tiara and held on to the crown for Maya. When she saw Maya, in a dress, her eyes lit up and she raced to the other girl.
“Here’s your crown, Peaches,” she gushed, placing it on Maya’s head.
“Thank you, princess,” Maya teased.
The dance was a lot better than Maya thought it would be. She got to hold Riley’s hand, she got to slow dance with Riley, and Missy left them alone. Riley looked over her shoulder and saw Lucas giving her the most charming smile she had ever seen anyone give and felt her heart beat a little faster.
Leaning in close, she whispered into Maya’s ear, “I think something might happen between me and Lucas.”
“Oh.”
When the song ended, Riley dragged Maya to the corner of the dance floor so that they had more privacy and asked, “What does oh mean?”
“It just means that I thought you would want it to be special,” she shrugged. With someone who loves you, someone who knows you, someone who will treat you like the princess you are, someone who sees you as more than just a lesbian, someone like me.
“Doesn’t get more special than Lucas Friar, does it? I mean, he’s the most popular boy in school, he’s cute, he’s charming, he’s nice, he’s a good student, good athlete, southern charm.”
“I get it, Riles, he’s perfect,” Maya grumbled.
“He is,” she said, swooning. She stopped swooning however when she saw someone who looked strangely like Maya’s mother. But that didn’t make sense, why would Katy come to the dance? “Maya, Peaches, I think I just saw your mom.”
The first thing Maya wanted to do was run but there was nowhere to run to. And then she took off her crown and hid it behind her back, so that her mother - who was walking towards them - wouldn’t see.
“Maya, can I talk to you for a second?” Without even waiting for a response, Katy pulled Maya aside and whispered, “I knew there were lesbian homecoming queens but I didn’t know Riley was one of them. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think you’d approve,” Maya admitted, which was true.
“Oh, of course I approve, it’s probably just a phase she’s going through. You know, kids these days, trying to be different with their sexuality. Plus it’s not like she’s my daughter.”
For some reason, that struck a nerve with Maya.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, she’s not my daughter so I don’t have to worry about you being a lesbian. Unless Riley converts you!” Katy laughed. Maya didn’t. “Now where’s her girlfriend?”
“Right here, mom,” Maya said firmly, putting her crown back on her head where it belonged.