Page 8 of September Lessons
“When’s that?”
“Nine.”
“Oh, yes, I won’t need you that late. You already do so much around here to help me, Leigh-Ann. I greatly appreciate it.”
Nodding, Leigh-Ann went about her chores as if she never had to be asked to do them. She may not be paid in anything but extra volunteer hours, but she didn’t have anything else better to do. Carrie had turned down her invitation to go up to Wolf’s Hill, after all.Can’t believe I had that stupid idea. Can’t believe I invited her.Leigh-Ann wasn’t the type to go to the summit with her friends and smoke a joint or indulge in underage drinking – because, aside from making out with one’s boyfriend or girlfriend, that’s what you did at the top of Wolf’s Hill. Sometimes, you got all the way up there and realized you weren’t alone. Tourists who loved hiking usually made the easy trek – and usually brought their kids. Kinda hard to justify getting toasted or making out like idiots when kids watched on. Or, at least, that wasn’t Leigh-Ann’s thing.
Please, like I have anyone to do those things with…Leigh-Ann wasn’t above the occasional hit or drink, but she never had a date to go up there with, anyway. Her previous boyfriend a year and a half ago lasted a whole two weeks, and they had shared one or two kisses before he broke up with her for some out-of-towner. While the denizens of Clark High School were more accepting of queer kids than some of the other neighboring school districts, it didn’t mean a majority of the students were LGBT. Too bad. Leigh-Ann could have had her pick of boyfriends in small town Oregon if that were the case. Instead, girls like Christina swept in on any guy who struck her fancy. So did Amanda. And Regina. And Chrystal with a CH. By the time the popular girls made it through the guys they liked, most of the boys moved on to girls from other towns or online hookups they scored when they figured their way around the filters.
Leigh-Ann was in no hurry for a relationship, though. She was old enough now that none of her male classmates appealed to her. She remembered when Peter pissed his shorts in fourth grade and when Wendall got hit in the face with a dodgeball and cried like a baby – what was that, five years ago? Seventh grade? Ha! Still funny after all that time!
Besides, Leigh-Ann didn’t lack for socializing. She was an introverted only child who preferred to sit in her room and listen to music, surf the internet, or read a book. She got enough socializing at school and here at Waterlily House. Sure, having a friend – or boyfriend – would be great, but she only really needed one.
Perhaps she had been a bit excited by Carrie’s friendly interest in her. Then again, a girl as cool as her didn’t have to worry about making friends.She’ll probably be BFFs with half the class by the end of the month.Leigh-Ann was lucky she got a few conversations before that happened, because she wouldn’t get more come October.
Honestly, if we spent too much time together, people might think I’m gay.Carrie was certainly out about it, and while Leigh-Ann didn’t fear bullying in a town like Paradise Valley, she didn’t want to send the guys the wrong message. Clark High wasn’t exactly the hub of bi visibility, if only because most of the students went with what they witnessed for themselves. The moment you dated a gay, you were straight. As soon as you “changed teams” and went out with a girl, you were gay. Things were so black and white that the few girls (and one guy) who labelled themselves bi or pansexual fought an uphill battle getting everyone to believe them.Ms. Tichenor once said that real life was a lot like that, too.As much as Leigh-Ann liked her English teacher, she was glad Ms. Tichenor wasn’t at Waterlily House that day.
Someone else arrived, though.
“Hi, Leigh-Ann!” Dr. Brandelyn Meyer popped out of her sedan. Leigh-Ann was about to head back inside after watering the plants, but she couldn’t very well ignore the town doctor. Especially since she was, ah, Sunny’s wife of only two months. “Is Sunny inside?”
“Yeah.” Seeing that woman in her fancy skirt and blouse – let alone the fifty-dollar haircut – made Leigh-Ann try that again. “Yes. She was in the kitchen last I saw her.”
She hoped that was the last she had to speak with Dr. Meyer, quite possibly the most intimidating woman in town. It wasn’t only her level of east coast sophistication, though – although that Brooklyn accent that occasionally slipped into conversation was likely to make Leigh-Ann snort in delightful amusement. Oh, no, Dr. Meyer had to go and be Leigh-Ann’s doctor for the past few years. This was the woman who had stuck her hand up Leigh-Ann’s pubescent chest to listen to her heartbeat and asked her embarrassing questions about her period. Never mind that time Leigh-Ann had the stomach flu and threw up right on Dr. Meyer’s floor! God help Leigh-Ann when she remembered being a fourteen-year-old in dire need of a tetanus shot.I literally cried. Like I was Wendall hit in the face by a dodgeball.So much crying. At fourteen. Fourteen!
“You started school this week, yeah?”
Great! Another one!
“Yes,” Leigh-Ann said, already so tired of this question after hearing it three times that day. “Senior year. Trying to get by for now.”
She half-expected a lecture about planning for college or going all out for the student body, like soooo many people gave her crap for, as if she didn’t know how important those things were. Leigh-Ann’s aspirations were about as grand as going to the local community college and getting a certificate in something that would pay decently for at least a few years. She was better off getting married, really. Not that she was in a hurry to do that.Sunny didn’t get married until thirty-seven, and Ms. Tichenor hasn’t married her girlfriend of, like, ten years.Nobody rushed through relationships in Paradise Valley. Only the teenagers at school.
“Yes, you’re eighteen. You really should take it easy, unless you’re thinking of being a doctor like me. I wish I could have taken it easy back then, but I was trying to get into the best undergrad… never mind. You don’t care about this.” Dr. Meyer reached back into her car and pulled out a small bouquet of roses. “Excuse me. Off to find my wife. Can you believe it! Calling her my wife!”
That girlish giggle confused Leigh-Ann for a few moments. Sometimes, adults acted more like kids than the kids did.
Leigh-Ann eventually followed her inside, where she was treated to a sight that made most kids nauseas.
“I’m so sorry I asked so much of your earlier.” That was Dr. Meyer’s baby voice, her finger nicking the tip of her wife’s chin. Sunny, who usually kept a kempt composure when in the presence of others, blushed so red that she had to look away from the woman making such a fuss over her. “I really want to spend more time with you. I know, I know, the busy season will be over soon, but I want to be with younow.Why else are we bothering with marriage?”
“That’s why you hauled ass over here when I gave you the ultimatum, huh?” Sunny asked with a grin.
“You know how to get me going, babe. Picked these up for you so you’d know how much I was thinking of you.” Dr. Meyer plucked a red rose from the bouquet and held it up to her wife’s cheek. “The same shade! Go figure.”
Leigh-Ann had to back away before she threw-up.
Some would say she was lucky to be exposed to different kinds of relationships. After all, it wasn’t every girl who saw her mother and father at home, then went off to work to see her lesbian boss snuggle with her wife. The exposure wasn’t limited to lesbian relationships, either. The shop teacher, Mr. Wilson, was married to a man, although hardly anyone ever saw the guy. The point was that everyone knew about it. Nobody had a problem with it, outside of a few glib comments from those who were clearly living in the wrong place. Every once in a while a lost tourist exclaimed they didn’t know they were traveling through a town ofinsert slur here,but the town was quick to deal with it. Growing up in Paradise Valley was like living in an entirely different world.
One that sometimes confused Leigh-Ann more than it was worth.
I’m straight. That’s all there is to it.She thought that with that teenaged conviction that said there was no room for change. She had it all figured out. Maybe she didn’t know what she would do with her life, but she figured outthatpart of herself, at least.
Yet…
When she saw her boss kissing her wife like that, Leigh-Ann couldn’t help but think about what happened at the beginning of sophomore year.
She went back outside and sat on the front steps. Mr. Murphy was still there, but he kept to himself as he muttered notes into his phone and scribbled in his legal pad.
