“Except we don’t really see ourselves in Chicago.” Ellie spits her consonants a little extra, nudging my thigh with hers again.
“Oh. Right,” I agree, but the disappointment on Otto’s face has me padding the landing. “I’ll probably be in the suburbs this summer though. Maybe Ellie and I can catch a home game at Wrigley if we’re up there for Pride in June.” The words come easier to me than I can rationalize. I didn’t expect making fake plans with my fake girlfriend to feel this natural.
Kara frowns at her daughter. “June? The wedding is in June.”
“We don’t have to block off the whole month, Mom,” Ellie reminds her, then turns back to me. “I’ve never been to Pride. That’d be fun, if I’m in town.”
I bite my cheek, curbing my excitement at the thought of bringing Ellie to Hydrate or Roscoe’s or any of the other legendary gay bars that have thrown me and my fake ID out onto Halsted Street. I haven’t been back since turning twenty-one in September, mostly because I’ve had no one to go with. Kat is so far from Chicago, and even if she was more local, taking my straight best friend to a gay bar feels sort of like riding a corporate float in the Pride parade. Fun enough, but a little forced. Ellie, on the other hand? I can easily picture us cheering and posing for pictures in front of rainbow balloon arches. In my mind’s eye, we’re kissing in those pictures…but that’s not allowed, is it?
“We should all go to Pride!” Aunt Carol pipes up, interrupting my gay daydream. “I’ve always wanted to see the parade.”
Kara clears her throat in her sister’s direction. “Pride isn’t for you, Carol.”
“Pride is for everyone,” I assure her. “I mean, as long as you’re not homophobic or anything. I know plenty of people who bring their family.”
“See?” Carol waves her fork at her sister. “It’s called being anallyto your bisexual daughter.”
“Is that how you…what is it,identify, as well?” Kara lifts a brow at me. “Bisexual? I try to keep up with all these terms, but it seems like they’re always inventing a new one.”
Ellie tenses up next to me. I can feel it. Maybe because she’s only about an eighth of an inch away. “We’re not inventing anything,” she says, overarticulating each syllable. “We’re—”
“Gay,” I interrupt. “I’m actually just gay. Plain old gay. Pretty easy to understand.” I hope that will be the end of the conversation, but when Kara clears her throat again, it feels like we’re teetering on the edge of something worse.
“When did you and your last girlfriend break up?” she asks.
I tilt my head, trying to scare up the name of the girl I briefly dated two summers ago. If you can even call it dating. She might’ve just been using me for my Sip discount. “Who?”
“The dark-haired one.” Kara twirls her fork around her head, suggesting curls. “You two were attached at the hip. She was such a pleasure to have in class.”
My whole body goes numb apart from the slow burn of heat creeping over my cheeks and down my chest. There’s only one verified pleasure to have in class that I know, and we’ve certainly never dated. I swallow hard, forcing a too-big bite of stuffing down my throat. It goes down with a fight. “That’s Kathryn,”I choke out. “She’s not my girlfriend. I mean, she was never my girlfriend. She’s straight. We’re just friends.”
“Kathryn, yes, that’s it.” Kara straightens in her seat, unfolding and refolding her cloth napkin before dropping it into her lap. “You two just seemed really close is all.”
“We are close,” I say. “Close friends.”
Kara looks skeptical, but she doesn’t push the point. “Well, regardless. I really liked Kathryn.”
I force a smile that I hope reads as polite.I know. That’s why you passed her.
Otto looks up from his plate for the first time since the conversation strayed from Wrigleyville. “Wait. Kara’s your teacher?” His bushy brows smush together, and when no one says anything, his big belly laugh rumbles the silverware on the table. “Wow, that’s a hoot.” He wags a finger between me and Ellie. “Is that how you two met?”
If I thought my cheeks were hot before, they’re surely on fire now. “Uh, no…” I turn toward Ellie, panic bouncing from my eyes to hers. “I mean…”
“We met in high school and reconnected last year,” Ellie says, as breezy and calm as I am tense. “Murphy insisted that she didn’t want any special treatment in class just because she’s dating me, so we opted not to tell you, Mom.”
I almost choke on my turkey. I can’t believe how opposite that is from the truth.
“That’s quite mature of you, Murphy,” Professor Meyers says, the threat of a smile twitching at her thin lips. “I’m impressed.”
The table is quiet apart from Carol’s open-mouthedchewing, until Otto gets our attention with a phlegmy cough. “Anyway.Murphy.” He says my name like it’s the perfect joke. “Ms.Bleachers. We’re glad ya came.”
“Hell yeah, we are,” Carol echoes.
“We’re thankful to have you here,” Kara says, her lips finally giving way to a toothy grin.
“Is that an official thankful submission?” Carol leans in to ask, the wispy ends of her hair dipping into the gravy.
“Not yet!” Ellie’s eyebrows leap up her forehead in warning. “Not till dessert!”
