In Some Possible Future

Author's Note: This little piece was mostly done as an assignment by my councilor, so it's not really in my usual style. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Sam knocked on the doorframe to get his fiance’s attention. “Can you take a break from grading papers to come have dinner?”

“Of course. Just let me finish this one and I’ll be right out.”

A few minutes later, Kylie made her way to the joint kitchen and dining room to find Sam filling a bowl with spaghetti. When he was finished, Kylie filled herself a bowl and the two sat at the table to eat.

“It’s your turn to start,” he reminded her when she sat down. “How was your week?”

Sam and Kylie had been together for nearly a year, and they’d made it a tradition to check in and decompress over dinner every friday night. Without fail, one of them would cook and the two would sit down and talk about their week.

Kylie told him about her week. She told him about the funny things that the other teachers shared during their break and complained about the one student that really tested her patience. She told him about the new computer program she was working on and the book she’d just finished reading. He listened attentively and made the occasional comment or joke to make her smile. He liked making her smile.

And she liked making him smile. When she was finished, it was his turn. He complained about some of the customers at the restaurant he was a waiter at. He laughed as he told her the story of his buddy getting so drunk he fell right out of the booth at the bar he was at the night before. He mentioned that his sister had called him and confirmed that she was coming to their wedding.

He stopped abruptly when Kylie seemed to freeze up at the mention of his family. Kylie really loved Sam’s family. It was her own she had a problem with. She’d disowned her family about 10 years before. And as her wedding came closer, she found herself thinking of them more and more.

“Is everything ok?” Sam asked.

Kylie smiled and took a bite of her food. “I’m fine. Did she say if she was bringing a guest?”

“No, just her. Her husband couldn’t get time off work. Plus, she needed somebody to stay home with the kids.”

The two chatted a bit more about the wedding. There wasn’t really much to talk about. They’d both decided that they wanted a simple wedding with just family and a couple of close friends. It was only really one step up from eloping.

When they were finished talking, Kylie gathered the dishes and started cleaning.

“I can do that, if you’d like,” Sam offered.

“I don’t mind doing them,” she answered. “There’s only a few. You can put the leftovers in the fridge if you want.”

So the two worked together to clean up the dinner mess. Just as Kylie finished drying her hands, her cellphone rang.

She glanced at the caller ID, then answered, “You’ve reached the lunatic on Sunset Street. Please state your favorite colour and wait for a response.”

“You know it’s pink,” the woman on the other end laughed.

“Hey, Dorothy. Is everything ok?”

“Everything’s fine. I just wondered if you’d like to come over and check out something I just found.”

Kylie looked up at Sam. “Dorothy wants me to come over and visit. Were you planning anything special?”

“Nope. I figured we’d just veg on the couch and see if anything good is on the DVR.”

“Rain check,” she told him. Then to the phone she said, “I’ll be over in 20 minutes.”

After disconnecting, she pulled her fiance into a big hug and pecked a kiss on his nose.

Kylie put on her walking shoes and grabbed her jacket on her way out the door. She put her headphones in and made her way through the familiar streets to her best friend’s house. When she got there, she just let herself in. “Hey Dot!” she called.

“I’m in the living room,” Dorothy answered. When Kylie entered the living room she found Dorothy with a notebook.

“Is that my old journal?”

“Yep. I found it in some boxes in the attic. I guess it got left when you moved out. But that’s not the best part!” she teased. She opened the book to reveal a photograph. It was only taken 10 years earlier, but that picture felt like a whole lifetime had passed in those years.

That picture was of the two of them, the very first time they’d met. They’d both changed so much, but in other ways, not at all.

Dorothy had learned to see herself the way her friends saw her, and it had improved both her physical and emotional health. You could just see that the Dorothy in the picture was struggling to be happy, whereas the Dorothy holding the notebook was genuinely glad to be alive.

And Kylie. Kylie had changed even more. She’d grown up, that’s for sure. But more startling was her physical change. That picture was of a boy she barely even knew anymore. It had taken her several years to build up the courage to come out publicly, but with the support of her friends, she’d made leaps and bounds since then. She had decided not to pursue the Surgery. She still sometimes doubted that decision, but she knew that she didn’t need to change her body that drastically to be a woman. All it took were some people who believed in her. And she just needed to be one of those people.

But all in all, she was proud of who she was. Looking at that picture, she knew she was happy with who she’d become. She’d kept the best parts of that boy, and replaced the less desirable parts.