Alexa Chapter 17: Getaway

Just when I thought life couldn’t get any stranger than having Katie date my brother, he went and stuck up for me against the two morons down the hall. It was funny, the comments from the two of them stopped completely, even to the point that they avoided me, Jenny and Katie completely. If I ever happened to bump into them in the lobby or on campus, they would quickly turn and go the other way. Jenny said the same thing. Katie did happen to run into them one day in the elevator and said it was the funniest ride of her life. They had already been in the elevator when Katie had stopped it just as the door closing. The look on their faces was one of horror. Katie said they actually looked scared to be in the same elevator with her. It felt good to know they had been put in their place.

What was even better was how they had been put in their place. The fact that Danny had stood up for me had been something I would have never imagined. That whole night at the game, I think Danny was a little bothered by the attention the three of us were giving him. At least two of us. Katie just hung on him and was acting very proud of the way he had acted. Jenny and I couldn’t stop smiling at him, enough where he told me to knock it off. When we got back to the apartment after the game, Jenny and I waited on him, making sure he had a beer whenever he needed it. “Would you two knock it off!” he finally said after about the third beer was delivered. He wasn’t mad when he said it, I think he just wanted to be left alone. Jenny and I took the hint and left the two of them alone and headed back to our room. We were too pumped up though to sleep, so we just sat and talked and laughed about the night. We did eventually fall asleep. I am almost positive I had a smile on my face. I know I kept thinking that ‘my brother stood up for me!”

The next morning however, the excitement was over. I woke up before Jenny and made my way out to the bathroom. When I found it occupied, I didn’t think anything of it and went and started the coffee. When I returned, rather than seeing my ‘sister’ come out of the bathroom, I saw my brother. “What are you still doing here?” I asked a little miffed that my brother and Katie had been left alone all night. Danny however tried to get me to relax.

“Nothing happened, I just had enough to drink that I didn’t want to drive. “ Danny told me. “Hell I slept on the couch. I wasn’t the one ‘living in sin’ last night.”

“Shut Up!” I told my brother. This caused him to break out into laughter. He accused me of being a whinny little sister “Am not” I retorted to my brother’s teasing. We must have been a little loud, because the next thing we knew Katie was sticking her head out of her room.

“Both of you shut up” Katie scolded us. “You are whinny Alexa. Why don’t you two have a brother-sister fight out in the kitchen or I am calling Charlotte” Then the door shut. My brother and I started to laugh. Danny made his way out to the kitchen while I went back to my room and grabbed my robe. When I came out, Danny was sat at the kitchen table and there were two cups sitting at the table. I don’t think my brother had ever poured me a cup of coffee in his life. I thanked him and joined him at the table. I knew it was my time to start grilling him a bit.

“Um, Dan, what’s going on with you and Katie?” I asked apprehensively. My brother looked at me for a second and then back down at his cup. I decided to jump in again before he could go on. “I mean, your my brother and all, but she is my sister. Always has been. I don’t know if I would be here if it wasn’t for her, so I want to make sure you aren’t just messing with her.”

He looked up for a second and then back down. Finally I could hear him mumble. “I like her. She is really nice and funny and definitely hot.” I stopped him and told him I didn’t need to hear all that. He looked up at that moment with his shit-eating grin and said. “I know, just wanted to get a rise out of you. But, I know about how close you two are. Katie talks about you a lot and ma gave me a big lecture the other night. I don’t know. Is it weird for a 24 year old loser to like a 21 year old college girl?” His comment left me the opening to needle him.

“Well it wouldn’t be odd, but for a loser like you yes.” I said. As Danny tried to stare me down I could help but break out into laughter. “I’m kidding, just be good to her OK? I mean it. I really wouldn’t be here without her or Jenny.” He nodded. “And thanks for last night, again. After Christmas, I didn’t think anyone with the last name Quinn would ever care about me.” I could see Danny take this all in. He was thinking something, I don’t know if it was guilt or what but for once in the whole time I knew him, he looked serious.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Dad was pretty wound up. It must have been hard. I know how he could get, hell I got yelled at about a week before the accident. I didn’t fill up the gas cans for him. He could get worked up over the dumbest things. Was it bad?” The concern he showed for me was not normal for him. I could only nod my head. “Did Katie really find you down at the bridge?” I just nodded again. Danny sat there trying to comprehend it all. “You OK now?”

Rather than breakdown, I just smiled. This was the most serious conversation the two of us had ever had and I know it was tough on him, so I decided it was time to tease him. I got up out of my chair and went over and wrapped Danny around the shoulder. “I’m all better now that my big brother stuck up for me.” Before he could start to complain, I could hear the most wonderful voice in the world.

“Aww! Charlotte would be so happy to see her to children right now. I wish I had a camera.” Jenny teased Danny.

Danny obviously became frustrated. “Shut up Jenny, and you get off me. Last night was bad enough.” I proceed to slap Danny in the back of the head and warn him about talking to Jenny that way. ‘Ow! You know you have gotten mean since you became a girl. And I will talk to Jenny anyway I want. Ma says she’s family, so she gets the family treatment.” This caused Jenny and I to laugh and give each other a morning kiss before going to get her some coffee. Jenny sits down at the table where she and Danny attempt a stare down of each other. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“So Danny, why aren’t you in there with Katie? Wanted to talk to your little sister instead?” Danny just groaned while Jenny and I just laughed. He tried to explain to Jenny that he had slept on the couch. “Sure you did.” Jenny teased. And that is how the rest of the morning went. The three of us sitting around teasing each other. Jenny told a few stories about me to Danny, some to show what I had gone through. Some to outright embarrass me, like when I slipped and fell outside because of the boots I was wearing. I didn’t let Jenny slip by without getting a little crap. It did earn me a few frowns, but making it up to Jenny was well worth it. By the time Katie finally came out and joined in, the whole thing felt great. In some ways I do wish my mother was here to see it.

Thursday proved to be the first time that I got a chance to be alone with Katie. Jenny had been summoned out to her parents place for some reason, and was politely told not to bring me along. Jenny was more disappointed than I was over the whole thing. She felt I should be included, but both her father and I told her if it was a family thing, I was not needed. So as Jenny was gone, Katie and I were going to spend the evening together alone for the first time in months. While my life and how I have been handling everything had been the main point of conversation previously, Katie’s love life was the main topic now. At first I tried to tease her a bit about it, telling her that Danny was too old and that he was a big loser, but I could see she was getting a little upset by this. Finally, I turned to her and asked her the questions that I had been trying to avoid. “You really like him don’t you?”

For the first time since I had known her, I witnessed Katie become nervous over talking about a guy. “Kind of, but there is one thing kind of holding us back.” Katie tells me. I ask what but she never answers me, but just stares at me. For some reason I couldn’t even figure out what she was talking about . The stare continues for a few more seconds before she finally speaks. “God you are an airhead at times.” Katie chuckles. “You are the reason we are kind of holding back.” I look at Katie with a confused look and ask her what I have to do with it. Katie just shakes her head. “I am concerned about how this will affect you and me. I mean, what if it gets ugly, then I lose my only ‘sister’? What then?” Katie almost started crying, but I knew she wouldn’t. I realized at that moment she really did like the meathead more than she was letting on. I put my arm around her.

“Katie, if you really like the bozo, go for it. Don’t worry about me, my side is chosen in this. Boys are dumb in my book.” I told her. A smile came across her face, soon followed by excitement as she realized what I meant.

“Thanks. Lex.” She says as she gave me a big hug. “I really do like him. He has been so nice to me and funny, and.” Katie had started babbling on. I threw up my hands to indicate that I didn’t need to know any more than what she had just told me. I didn’t really want to find out what she saw in the big dope, but was. It seemed like they both enjoyed being around each other and it did give me a different insight into how my brother was. Katie wouldn’t stop talking about him, and he even called at one point. That was really weird. Katie was like a school girl all excited to be talking to her boyfriend, knowing that it was the big dope I called my brother made it difficult.

Since it was just the two of us and I felt like it had been so long since it was just me and Katie, I had decided that I would make her one of her favorites for dinner, Beef Stroganoff. As I was just finishing up the dish, my phone started to ring. The number that came across the caller ID was not one I was familiar with. Hesitantly I answered. I was greeted with “Alexa, this is Marty Thompson. I was hoping you could do me a favor.”

“Of course, Mr. Thompson, anything you need.” I blurted out as my mind raced as to why he was calling. How did he get my number?

“Well now its two things. One it’s Marty”. He said “and two. Do you remember the conversation we had at dinner a couple of weeks ago?” I told him yes. “Well I need you to do of what I asked you to do. Can you please go out to the house? Jennifer needs you.”

‘Of course, Mr. Thom, I mean Marty. Is something wrong?” I respond.

“Jenny will tell you. Can you go take care of her?” Marty asked again. I can sense sadness in his voice. He finishes off the conversation. “Thanks Alexa. We will talk later.” As soon as I hung up my mind went into overdrive. I started to think what I needed. I raced to the room and grabbed our jerseys and a change of clothes for the two of us and shoved them in a suit case. I basically cleared off our dressing table of all the make up and ran in and grabbed all our toiletries out the bathroom. I was working under the impression that neither Jenny or I would be coming back tonight. As I wash rushing out the door, I apologize to Katie and give her instructions on what to do with the stroganoff and race down to my car. Once I am on the road I try calling Jenny, but get no answer. I race through the late rush hour traffic and finally make my way to the Thompson Estate. I head in the back door, where I ran into the cook, Martha. She points me upstairs.

I am nervous as to what I will find. I make my way to Jenny’s room and slowly open the door. I find the love of my life curled up in a ball, holding a stuffed animal and crying her eyes out. I make it to the bed without Jenny even hearing me. As I sit on the bed I begin to lightly rub Jenny’s back. She looks up and I can recognition enter her eyes. She lets go of the teddy bear and wraps me in a tight hug. She pulls me down to the bed and just cuddles into me deeper. I hold her and only say one thing to her, telling her I love her. I knew that this is what she needed to hear. She had been then for me these past few weeks. Now it was my time to repay her.

She looks up at me with those beautiful blue eyes, now reddened from the crying, and attempts to squeal out the same. I ty and tell her it will be OK, but she just buries her head into me again. I just continued to hold her. I wasn’t sure how long it had been, but I could tell it had been a while as it was now completely dark outside. Jenny finally lifted her head. “I’m sorry you had to come out here.”

“Why wouldn’t I? You are hurting. My job is to comfort and love you. Plus, your dad told me I needed to.” I said to my partner as I pull her in even deeper to me. Jenny push back a bit and gives me a confused look. “A couple of weeks ago, when we were here for dinner, your father asked me to take care of you, so here I am. Following orders.” The smile Jenny gave at that announcement could have lit up Minneapolis, but it just drew us deeper together. I wanted to ask her what was going on, but I knew I needed to give her time to do it, so we just laid back on the bed, holding each other.

I awoke in the morning to a kiss on the cheek. When I opened my eyes, I could see the most precious thing in the world to me just staring at me. I whispered a good morning to her and she did the same. Her eyes were still red, but the sadness had briefly left. She seemed to have pulled herself together a bit. She tried to thank me again, but before she got too far, I placed a finger on her lips. “I love you, but shut up. You went through hell on Christmas Eve to get back to me. The least I can do is drive over from our apartment.” This does earn me a giggle and a kiss on my finger before I move it out of the way to receive a kiss on my lips. Quietly I ask what had happened. Jenny takes a deep breath.

“Last night was an intervention for my mother. Her family was here. My Aunt Belinda, Uncle Greg, my cousins Elise and Grant. We wanted to confront her about her drinking and she went crazy. She started screaming at everyone. Unfortunately, I took the brunt of it. Calling me a dyke, calling you and I perverts. Some other nasty things. She even threw a glass at my dad. My aunt and uncle didn’t stay long. They ran out of here. They have never cared for me or daddy. It was just horrible.” Surprisingly, Jenny didn’t start crying again, but I could tell she was very upset by the whole thing. Rather than try and talk to her about it, I just held her. As many questions as I had, I knew that now was not the time. My job now was just to comfort Jenny and let her know I was there for her.

We finally extracted ourselves from bed around 9:30 and made our way downstairs to find some food. Martha was not around so I began to dig around in the refrigerator while Jenny got some coffee going. Jenny tries to claim she is not hungry but I push her on when she ate last. She finally admitted to me that it had been lunch yesterday. I gently, but still forcefully push Jenny into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. I grab some fruit and place it in front of her and order her to eat. She looked at me in shock at first and then broke out into laughter. “Wow Lex. Getting pretty tough there.”

“I’m doing just what your Dad told me to do, so eat.” I tell Jenny, followed by my sticking my sticking my tongue out at her. She reciprocated the action but began eating the fruit under my watchful eye. When I was convinced she was eating, I moved off and began making her some eggs, always keeping an eye on her. Being able to take care of my partner was a great feeling. I know that it was part of the whole relationship thing, but I felt I had been the one being taken care of for so long. To turn that around brought life to me. When I placed the eggs in front of Jenny and stared down at her I felt alive. “Start eating or I will feed them to you.” I ‘warned’ my girlfriend, causing us to both break out in laughter. Jokingly, she says “Yes MOM!” and it first it was a joke but I watched as the expression changed from happiness to sadness. I instantly moved to Jenny’s side and allowed her to collapse on me. After a few minutes she pulled her self together and tried to apologize to me again. Before I could tell her to knock it off, the phone in the kitchen rang. Jenny jumped up to get it.

“Thompson residence.” She answers “Hi daddy. I’m OK. I got Lex here so I fine.” Jenny pauses for a minute, I can see her take a deep breath. “How’s mom?” She asks as she listens to her father’s reply. “Daddy, I’m so sorry if I made it harder last night, it’s just what she was saying was so mean and I just couldn’t take it. She can’t say those things about Lex.” And as she says this, she turns and looks at me. “Lex has done nothing to make her think that way. I don’t know where I would be without her.” And as Jenny says this she begins to break down and lets the phone fall to the phone. I grab both her and the receiver before they can hit the floor.

“I’m here Mr. Th, I mean Marty. Don’t worry I won’t let her alone. I will do whatever is needed OK. You worry about Mrs. Thompson.” I tell Jenny’s father. I then ask the one question that has me wondering. “Where exactly are you sir?” He tells me that he has flown Marilyn to the Betty Ford Clinic in Palm Springs and that it would be a few days. It is then he has me make a promise.

“Promise to keep an eye on Jenny for me. I feel bad that I can’t be there to help her, but this is a little more important.” Marty tells me.

“Marty, we will be fine. If we need anything we will call. This daughter of yours is the most important person in the world to me. I will watch over her like a mother bear. OK” I pray that my words will ease his concerns over what was going on back here. He agrees and thanks me again before hanging up. I move back over to Jenny and who seems to have pulled her self together. “Let’s get out of here. Let’s find something better to do.” Jenny just shakes her head a bit, but I know that just sitting here will not do her any good. I think for a second and come up with a perfect idea to get her out of the house. ‘We could go see Sarah? We haven’t seen here for a while” A smile slowly come across her face and I grab her and we head upstairs to shower and get changed. I know that shopping isn’t exactly the best thing, and that we don’t need a single thing, but it was something.

Forty-Five minutes later we were washed and dressed and ready to go. Thankfully, I had chosen well for Jenny when I loaded up clothes last night. I was in such a hurry I couldn’t remember what I had thrown in the suitcase. I did pack myself with a knee length black skirt and multi-colored striped sweater. Pairing all that with my black boots and I was ready to go. Somehow I had packed Jenny the same skirt but had thrown in the grey sweater I had bought her for Christmas. It did bring a smile to her face and earned me a kiss. She wore a maroon top that she dug up in her room. As soon as we were dressed and our makeup was applied, we were out the door and on our way to Ridgedale.

Along the way I remembered that I was scheduled to meet with Debbie. I quickly called her to explain the situations and Debbie was completely understanding. “You take care of her Alexa. That is just as important, if not more important than our meeting.” Debbie told me. “If the two of you need me, I am only a phone call away and you know that. Correct?” I smiled and told her I did and thanked her again. However when I told her what we were doing, her tone went from being friendly to motherly. “You two do not need to go shopping. You have more than enough clothing” Debbie lectured which I just laughed at. I told her I was just trying to find a way to get Jenny in a better mood. This time the laughter came from Debbie. “Nice try Alexa, but I do understand your thinking. Like I said take care of her, and yourself. I will see you Monday.” With that Debbie ended the phone conversation.

Our first stop was to see Sarah. This was to be our first visit to Nordstrom since the truth came out. Sarah had been there from day 2, so I was obviously nervous about seeing her, We had never told her the truth about me so this was a little nerve racking. As soon as we entered her area, she spotted us. She instantly came over to us and after looking around, she gave me a big hug. This meant a lot to me and I returned it. As she stepped back she addressed us. “You two could have told me. I would not have judged. I have a sister who is a lesbian.” I felt a little foolish but I was also glad she was so accepting. She did ask me about the first time we met. “How long had you been presenting yourself when you came in that day?” I sheepishly looked down and answered her that it had been less than 24 hours. She looked at me with an angry glare. “OK now I am mad. There is no way someone should look better than me after 24 hours” she stated as a grin broke across her face. Instantly everything was the same as she began showing us a few things that had just come in, the spring line. Of course, Jenny and I lost ourselves in the dresses and selected a few to try on. And of course, we bought a couple and had Sarah hold them for us.

We made our way out into the main mall and began looking through the various stores. Nothing seemed to catch our fancy, but it was good to have Jenny out. Even now, I could tell the whole thing was bothering her and if we would have stayed at the house it would have been worse. We decide to break and head over to Rudy’s for lunch. The Soup and Salad Bar sounded like the perfect meal for midday. Ever since that first shopping trip, I have loved the place. Jenny and I settle in. Following the waitress taking or drink order, we head up to the salad bar. The two of us giggled and shared a kiss as we waited our turn. We had become so comfortable that we didn’t care what people thought. Or that is what we told ourselves. As we made our way through, we heard from behind a very audible “UGH”. We turned to see an older woman with a visibly upset look on her face. “Excuse me?” Jenny said to the woman.

The woman shot back, “I know who you to are and it is disgusting. You Miss Thompson, could have any young man in this city you wanted. Instead you choose a freak like this.” Then looking at me she went on. “And you are just sick, you, you pervert!” The woman tried to storm off but was stopped by Jenny, asking her how she knew who she was. “I am Elizabeth Elliot. We have met before. I know your parents and grandmother from the club. They can’t be too thrilled with all of this.” I could see the fire come to Jenny’s eyes. I had seen this look once before, that day in the Conservatory. She turned and looked at me and then back at the woman. I could sense that she was about to blow.

“I know who you are. You are one of those snooty women my grandmother is always telling me about. The ones who always are trying to start these silly committees and stop the fun. If you want to know the truth, my grandmother has no problem with either one of us. Either does my father, so why don’t you head back to the club for one of your Ladies’ Socials and talk about everyone behind there back and quit letting your small opinions loose on the rest of the world.” The woman stormed off leaving her companions clearly at a loss as what to do. I looked at Jenny and led her over to the table. As I sat her down I realized that unlike the day at Como Park, she was not losing it. As matter of fact the fire she displayed was still there. I was able to get her to relax a bit, and soon as I did, the ‘normal’ Jenny was back. It was like the encounter was what she needed to snap out of the funk that had been caused by last night. I whispered that we should probably get out of here. “You’re right” she replied and I started to put on my coat. She looked at me as if I was nuts. “Not here silly, we’re staying for lunch. No I mean out of town. We both need a little distraction.”

I took off my coat and sat backed down. I asked her what she was talking about. “The two of us have been through hell since Christmas. It seems like one of these little incidents is always popping up. We need to just go somewhere and relax. We have a long weekend next week, right?” I nodded as I could see the mischievous look coming into her eyes. “Well then we are going to see grandma next week. You up for a little sun?” Jenny asked, finishing off her train of thought. I could feel a smile spread across my face as I nodded at my girlfriend. “Good then.” She told me as she continued. “You do know what that means right? We have to go shopping and get you some shorts and stuff.” My smile grew bigger. “And some swimsuits” Jenny added with a wink.

We finished up our lunch returned to Nordstrom to ask for more help from Sarah. As usual she was more than willing to help the two of us spend money. I joked with her about how much she was making off us in commission. She stated “Sure I make commission off you two, but I like you guys. You have been very nice and a lot of fun. I do the dame for any friend that comes in.” Jenny and I both smiled at the comment. “Plus, you two do spend A LOT here so why not benefit from it.” All three of us broke into laughter as Sarah led us to find some decent shorts and various other lightweight summer tops. Sarah suggested that we needed shoes, but Jenny told her we were set. I began to pout a bit over this and Jenny just rolled her eyes. We left our selections with Sarah and went out into the mall with a mission. I picked up a pair of Birkenstock sandals and a pair of white 4 inch wedge sandals. We head back to see Sarah, who has done a little more ‘shopping’ for us, Actually, for me, as she produces a beautiful white dress with red and yellow Hibiscus printed on it. I fell in love with it immediately and had to have it. Once again Jenny just shakes her head but gives me a huge hug. “What am I going to do with you?” she asks. Which I give a simple answer she readily agrees to.

“Love me?” I say.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Jenny assures me. ‘I don’t ever plan on stopping.” And the two of us share a kiss. We receive an “Aww so cute” from Sarah as me and Jenny just giggle. The two of us head out to Jenny’s car and start to head for home when we remember all our things back at the Thompson’s. After heading back and gathering our things, we raced back to our apartment to begin planning our trip to the Florida sun. As we went over everything, we both were done about with classes by 1 o’clock, so we settled on a 4:40 flight, the down fall was we would not even get in until 10:00 at night. We would be wiped out. We debated about a few thigs when something came over Jenny. She took the computer from me and started to go over something. She looked at me and asked me if I could miss class on Thursday. I didn’t see why not, and Jenny went to work. I could see she was doing something when I came up with the smart-ass comment. “I don’t care how we get there, just don’t send us to Kansas City” This earned me a slap on the arm and a tongue being stuck out. After a minute, she was complete. She handed me the computer and told me to look. I read it over. ‘That works. We have a non-stop on Wednesday that’s great and a non-stop back on Sunday night. That will give us three whole days and part of another with your grandma.”

“You didn’t look that close, did you?” Jenny asked me and I looked closer. I noticed that we flying into one airport and leaving from another. As I looked at the airport code, my eyes became wide. I looked over at Jenny who had a smug smile on her face. ‘Really?” I asked and she just nodded her head. I screamed out “We’re going to Disney World!” I was so excited. Jenny and I were going to Disney World. Just as I was screaming this Katie and Danny happened to walk in. After hearing what I said, he makes one of his smart-ass comments.

“You win the Super Bowl?”

“Shut up bozo!” I told my brother. “Jenny and I are going to Florida next week and we are going to Disney World for a day! I can’t wait! As I said this I watched my brother and my ‘sister’ exchange a look and grins spread across their faces. I knew what those two had in mind. “I suppose you two are going to play house while were gone?” I asked. Surprisingly, Danny was the one who was all embarrassed by my accusation. Katie answered as she took a seat next to Jenny on the couch.

“Maybe. I don’t think you need to know what is going on.” Katie told me as she stuck her tongue out at me. She then looked at Jenny and asked what was going on that I needed to rush out of here last night. As Danny took a seat in the chair, Jenny went on to explain about the intervention for her mother and the events during it. Jenny explained how she had lost it and hid in her room and how, if by magic I showed up. Katie looked at me smiled and Danny just looked at me with a shocked look on his face. I think this is the first time he realized the deepness of our love for each other. He knew Katie and I were looking forward to hanging out last night, but for me to drop everything and be there when Jenny needed me. As my brother took all this in Jenny began to explain how our day had gone. It was when Jenny told our roommate what we had done to get back to normal. The smile Katie had shot me earlier turned to a frown.

“Retail therapy is not an approved method of recovery Alexa.” Katie scolded me. I just stuck my tongue out at her and wrapped Jenny in my arms. Katie just shook her head at us. “How was Sarah today?” she asked with a resigned sigh. We told her she was great and then I went into what had happened at Ruby’s and how I explained I think that encounter was the true therapy that had brought Jenny out her funk. I explained how Jenny had decided we needed to get out of town. “So, you decided to go to Disney World?”

It was Jenny’s turn to speak “Not exactly. We decided to go visit my grandma. When we started looking at flights, our options really limited us, so I thought about it and decided we could fly into Orlando Wednesday night. Spend Wednesday and Thursday nights at Disney World and drive down early on Friday to my grandma’s.” Jenny says as she wraps her arms around me. ‘I’m so excited to take my girl to Disney!” Danny made the next comment. “I think I am going to sick” he announced as he moved off to the kitchen. The rest of the night consisted of Jenny and I sitting on the couch planning our trip. We argued over where to stay. I kept saying we could just stay somewhere on Hotel Plaza Boulevard at one of the non-Disney owned hotels on the property. My argument was we weren’t going to be in the room that much. Jenny thought that this was not the way we, as a couple, were going to spend our first trip to Disney World. We finally settled on the Port Orleans-Riverside. It satisfied my need of being inexpensive and satisfied her need to be at a Disney resort hotel.

The next morning, I woke up earlier than Jenny. As I laid there thinking I was living another dream, I heard some rustling in the outer part of the apartment. I pulled myself out from under Jenny and put on my robe. I went and brushed my teeth and then found my brother in the kitchen, trying to set up our coffee pot. I laughed at him as I watched him. “How do you work this thing?” He asked. I rolled my eyes at him and told the big dummy to take a seat and that I would handle it. He slumped away to the living room as I waited for the coffee. When it was ready and I poured us each a cup and headed out to the living room. I handed Danny his cup as he sat in the chair. Tucking my legs up under me, I took a seat at the end of the couch close to him. I looked over at the rest of the couch somewhat dramatically, “I don’t see any pillows or blankets. Where did you sleep last night?” I was told to shut up. I laughed at my brother’s embarrassment. I just reiterated that he better be nice to Katie.

“Don’t worry about that. I would never do anything to purposely hurt her.” Danny told me. This is the second time I had gotten a glimpse into what he was feeling for Katie, and I had to admit that I was impressed by him. Damn. So much for trying to stop this. I start laughing to myself. Danny looks at me and asks what’s so funny and I tell him its nothing to worry about. Danny takes another pause and looks down at his cup. He looks up at me. “So, you and Jenny, it isn’t just some fling, is it? You two really care for each other?”

I smile and look up my brother. “Danny I can’t describe it. I mean everything I have gone through and she has been there for me. I will admit I am as shocked as anyone, but I have learned that is isn’t just playing around. When I say I love her, it just doesn’t cover it. She is my life, my partner, my soul mate. I know for a fact I wouldn’t be here without her.” I finished and I could see my brother deep in thought. It was strange. I have known him my whole life, but I have never seen him as contemplative as he was. After a moment, he looks up at me.

“You’re a luck gu, I mean girl, Alexa. You take care of her. It’s pretty cool to see you so happy. Ma talked to me a lot about it. She says you weren’t happy before, and I guess none of us realized it. Take care of her, she’s a keeper sis.” Danny said. I couldn’t take it anymore and got up and gave him a hug. It was another step in a new reality and closeness between us. As I am hugging Danny I hear a sniffle and feel the two arms that have held me many times, wrap around my brother and me. I can also tell she is crying. As we continue the hug, we exchange a quick kiss, before she leans and gives Danny a kiss on the cheek, and for once he doesn’t get all squeamish.

“Thanks Danny. You’re not as bad Lex made you out to be.” Jenny said as she gave him another kiss. Danny started blushing as we let him go. He looked up at the two of us.

“You two are really great. Thanks for helping my sister Jen. Just take care of her. She’s your responsibility now.” I could see Jen start to tear up again. “And one more thing, both of you.” We looked at him as we held each other. “No more hugs OK? I got a reputation to uphold!” He said as that goofy grin came out. This just caused us to hog pile on top of him and even I was tempted to give a kiss on the cheek, but realized it would be weird. Finally, Jenny and I got off my brother and then she looked at him.

‘Thanks again Danny, now you need to take care of Katie and you better be nice to her or you must deal with the two of us and we will kick your ass!” Jenny told my brother who began laughing. “Oooh, I’m scared of you two” he said, as he pushed past us and headed down the hall. I turned to Jenny and asked her how much she had heard.

“I heard all of it babe.” She tells me as she wraps her arms around my neck. “And the same goes for me.“ The kiss she gives me a much longer and more passionate kiss than the one we had shared just minutes before.

The next few days seemed to stand still. I felt like a little kid, I was so excited for our trip. At my Monday meeting with Debbie, besides letting her in on what had happened with Jenny, I let her know I wouldn’t be here on Friday because of the trip. While Debbie was excited for me on the trip and did agree that I could use some time away, she was more concerned with Jenny. She mentioned she was going to call her. She also wanted to know how I was holding up. I told Debbie that she didn’t have to worry about me, that I felt great having to keep an eye on Jenny. Debbie told me to be careful and I assured her I would.

Finally, it was Wednesday at 1 PM. I had raced home from my last class and met Jenny. As I was having to travel as “Alex’ for this trip, at least through security, I changed out of my skirt and slipped on a pair of jeans and pulled on a sweatshirt. I cleaned off my makeup and tried to slouch a little more. And even though I was what’s his name, I still looked like a girl. I was wearing a pair of women’s jeans and put on my women’s running shoes. I looked androgynous enough to get by with my old persona. I had packed a change of clothes in our bags to change into as soon as we got through TSA. We cleared security and made a beeline for the Delta Sky Club, where the Thompson’s were members of. We enjoyed a drink and I took a moment to get changed into a skirt and light top with a sweater just in case I got chilly. Soon we were on the short walk over to gate G4 for our flight to Orlando. I was bouncing around in excitement. Jenny just shook her head at me. Finally, the boarding process was beginning. They called the first-class passengers and those traveling with small children. Jenny stood up and told me to grab my roller bag. I just looked at her and said I wasn’t a child. Jenny just giggled and blushed a bit. “When you were making dinner the other night, I upgraded us to first class.”

We boarded the plane and took our seats, 3A & 3B. We each ordered a glass of wine as we waited out the remainder of the boarding process. I had never flown First-Class, so everything was new to me. I couldn’t believe the wine was free and that we were going to be served a meal rather than have to pay five dollars for a drink and Nine bucks for some dinky little sandwich. Plus, these planes had built in monitors in the seats. Before long, we were headed down the runway to begin our adventure. The dinner was good, not as bad as I have always been told that airplane food was like. Jenny and I found a way to cuddle up and watch a movie together, fittingly enough it was ‘Beauty and the Beast’ a perfect movie to get us ready for our trip. As soon as we landed me made our way to National Car to pick up our convertible for the weekend. We loaded our roller bags in and made our way to Walt Disney World.

I was awoken the next morning by giggling and light kisses. “Time to get up babe. We have a full day ahead of ourselves. The Magic Kingdom awaits!” I pulled Jenny down to me and kissed her. We were here! We got in late enough last night that all the parks were closed but we did take time to hit Downtown Disney, now Disney Springs and visit the World of Disney store. It is the largest Disney store on the face of the planet. Jenny thought we should be properly attired for our day at the Magic Kingdom. I chose a red tank top that had the classic picture of Mickey on the front and the words ‘Walt Disney World’ across the picture. To me it was perfect and it was just what I wanted for my first women’s Disney shirt. Jenny found a cool ‘Small World’ t-shirt in white that was cropped enough to not tuck in, but enough keep Uncle Walt happy by not showing her belly button. We also grabbed matching sweatshirts. Both were white pull over hoodies with a large embroidered circular logo with ‘71’ in the middle and the name of the resort around the numeral. We might have looked like complete tourists, but we didn’t care. We were there to have fun and we wanted to look the part.

After we finished the shower, of course being vacation we had to share, we got dressed and made our way down to the bus over to the Magic Kingdom. I could barely contain the excitement I had. I had not been here since I was twelve and couldn’t wait to be strolling down Main Street U.S.A. Jenny for her part was trying to accept my giddiness. The best part about our little trip today was, it was Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom. This meant that people staying in the Resort Hotels got in an extra hour early! This would give us time to see some of the things before it got too crowded.

As we walked under the Railroad Station we entered the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’ and we greeted by almost all the characters. I was just as excited as all the little kids and couldn’t wait to get my picture taken with all of them. While I moved from character to character, I posed with Goofy and Donald and Pluto. There were two characters where Jenny and I had a posed picture taken by one of the Disney photographers. The first was Mickey. Jenny and I stood next to the ‘mouse that started it all’ and smiled our biggest smiles. The next character was the one I was most excited about. I was finally going to get my picture taken with Minnie Mouse!

On my other three visits, my father had not allowed me to have my picture taken with her. “Boys don’t have their picture taken with Minnie” he told me and I remember whimpering when I was four. Now here I was with Minnie and Jenny having my picture taken. As I smiled I could feel a tear come to my eye. When we finished, and moved away from Minnie, not before sharing a hug with her, Jenny noticed the small tear and gave a hug. I didn’t need any more than this. I was at the Magic Kingdom, with my soul mate and just posed for a picture with Minnie Mouse. Jenny just smiled as she gave me a hug and a kiss come on the cheek. “Come on Cinderella, time to go see you castle” she said. With that Jenny took me by the hand and we walked up Main Street to ‘my castle.’

As we walk along Jenny kept pointing out things and dragged me into a few places. I kept trying to tell there was so many other things than the shops on Main Street to see. I finally got her moving in the direction of Adventureland, where two of the rides I wanted to hit were, Pirates of Caribbean and The Jungle Cruise. We hit the Jungle Cruise first thing. We got right on and situated ourselves in the back of the boat. The little ride was nice and luckily, we had a funny guide. When we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean, I got us situated right at the front of the boat. When we went down the one small slope, we got wet. Jenny accused me of doing that on purpose, which I told her I had, and while she whined a bit over it, she didn’t really get mad. It was neat seeing the changes that had been made since I was here last and how they had incorporated Captain Jack Sparrow into the ride.

We continued to work our way around the kingdom, next stop was the Haunted Mansion, I remember when I was four, I was scared to death of this place because I thought it really was haunted. This time I think Jenny was a little scared, she screamed and held on to me throughout the ride. I felt a bit sorry for her so I didn’t make her go to the Hall of Presidents, even though I made her promise we would come back. Our next stop was ‘It’s a Small World”, one of the classic rides here. There was a little bit of a wait, but it was kind of fun watching the little kids and how excited they were. I looked over at Jenny and could see that she was really enjoying the kids and was just excited to go. We moved along with the rest of the ‘heard’ and laughed and joked with the little blonde haired girl in front of us. After a minute the little blonde girl looks up at the two of us. “You two are pretty” she tells us. Her mother turns around and smiles at us as we give out an ‘Aww thanks in unison. Jenny bends down and asks the little girl her name. “Abby” she tells us. I instantly go on guard that Jenny will lose it. Once again Jenny proves me wrong.

I see the smile spread across Jenny’s face. “What a pretty name. I have a sister named Abby, but your way prettier than her.” Jenny says causing the little girl to giggle. Her mother gives us a smile and takes her daughter by the hand as they near the front of the cue. Unfortunately, due to the way people were loaded on to the boats, we weren’t able to get on the same boat as our new friend. She waved at us as her boat departed, and of course we waved back. As we loaded up, Jenny snuggled into me she whispered. “I can’t wait until we have a little girl.” She says before she gives me a light kiss. This was a first for us, to talk about something in the future for us so solidly. And it felt wonderful. I returned the kiss as we moved off to find out it really is a small world after all.

The rest of the morning and the afternoon was one of the most carefree times I have ever spent. We went on all the rides we could, you name it, we rode on it. We never sat down and had a true meal, as Jenny kept wanting to go. We loved everything about the place. Our favorite was probably ‘Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin’ even though my partner had way too much fun spinning our ‘star cruiser’ around. While we have had some fun times I don’t think the two of us had ever laughed so hard in our time together. We could barely stand as we exited the ride. There was a little 5 year old boy named Henry who was trying to compete with us. He, with the help of his father made it to ‘Space Scout’, the fourth highest level, while Jenny and I never made it out of the ‘Space Cadet’ level. It was fun watching him and really cute when he jumped up to give his dad a high five. Jenny and I gave him a high five and he asked if we were going again. We told him we didn’t want to lose again, which he said that we would. We giggled and gave him another high five.

It was a fun day. It was great to be away from everyone who might have any notions about me. Nobody here thought I was anything but a college aged woman and I reveled in it. I think the only thing anything anyone thought Jenny and I were, was lesbians, probably from the few times we stole kisses with each other. The only time Jenny whined a bit was when I drug here to the ‘Hall of Presidents’. I did this in honor of my Grandfather George O’Hara. My grandparents had a house not far from here in Haines City. When I was eight, my brothers and I came down and spent a week at spring break with them and one day we came here. My grandfather was a great old guy, but he did not care for the crowds. While my brothers and I went on every ride we could, my grandfather waited. The only thing he really wanted to go to was the ‘Hall of Presidents’ He was a history buff and thought it was a great thing. He had passed away when I was sixteen and I wanted to honor him while I was here and this was it. Jenny thought it was boring, and for the most part it was, but it also brought back fond memories.

The afternoon comprised Jenny and I going on several more of the silly rides, W did decide to go on ‘Splash Mountain’, which we both go soaked on. Jenny and I looked like a couple of drowned rats, but we didn’t care. We finished of the afternoon in ‘Fantasyland’ where we hit the more tame rides, except for the Tea Cups, which caused me to stumble pretty good as we exited, causing Jenny to double over in laughter and excessively tease me. I tried to put about and it first Jenny just told me to get over it but them became sympathetic. The kiss she gave me helped my gain my equilibrium. Fantasyland also proved to be our last chance to get two very important pictures of the day. The first was with Ariel from ‘Little Mermaid’ and then the one I wanted to get taken of Jenny more than any other one, Cinderella. Jenny was embarrassed to have just one taken of her, and she did make me get in a picture with her too. It was fun and we logged in on one of the phones and made sure to buy the pictures.

As the afternoon got latter, we made our way back down Main Street and started hitting the shops. This might have been a mistake, especially when I saw Jennie clearly whip out a Black American Express card with the name ‘C. Martin Thompson III’ clearly printed on it. I tried to keep her under control, but it was little difficult, especially in Uptown Jewelers. She wanted to buy everything. The worst was when she had the $5500 diamond Mickey Mouse earrings. “Jen, your dad would kill you. Besides we don’t need anything that expensive.” Jenny pouted a bit at that before I reminded her, she already had me she didn’t need to buy me. This earned me hug and a kiss. We eventually settled on a pair that was very similar, the three circles that made up Mickey had crystals rather than diamonds, but were still $90! Jenny bought herself a solid silver pair that was Minnie rather than Micky. I did splurge on myself, purchasing a silver watch with the three circle Mickey outlined with crystals on the face. I realized I did not have an everyday watch and felt I could justify it that way. Jenny did tease me about it.

The shopping across the way at the Emporium was even crazier. For both of us. We both wanted a million things, but knew if we broke out Marty’s card again we might have some explaining to do. We tried to be good, but we did do some damage to our individual credit cards. We bought Katie this pretty, black long sleeve t-shirt the word ‘Love’ across the front covered with flowers, but with the ‘O’ being the three-circle Mickey and we also found a summer sleeping set that was a tank and shorts with Mickey on them. I did make one discrete purchase. I found a t-shirt I had to get Jenny when she wasn’t looking. It was a Cinderella one that said ‘Shoes Make the Princess”. I thought it was hilarious and I was a little scared when I gave it to her later. At first, she tried to be all hurt, but then broke out in laughter. “How does it feel to be teased?” she said to me. She was just lucky we were in public, because I would have begun tickling her. She just had to settle for a kiss and a hug.

We decided that we would spend the later afternoon and evening at Epcot. Jenny told me she had never been to Epcot before, so I was excited to show her something new. We decided to do it up right. We took the ferry boat back to the Transportation and Ticket Center and then hopped the Monorail over to Epcot. I was able to pull off something on the Monorail that I had only done once when I was real little. I was able to get us in front with the driver for the ride over. I had heard they had suspended this but we were somehow able to get in. Jenny loved the view as we sped along. She seemed as excited as any of the little kids we had seen. About half way through the ride, she cuddled up to me and gave me a kiss. I wondered for a second if the driver would drive off the track, but he was very nice and wished us a good day when we exited.

As the two of us walked around Epcot, I felt more at ease about Jenny and me. We tried to be good at the Magic Kingdom, well as good as the two of us could be. However, at Epcot, it felt like we didn’t have to hide our feelings at all. It didn’t hurt that as we were strolling under Spaceship Earth we encountered two guys about our age holding hands. And that was not our first encounter with a same sex couple, we saw several of both genders and it helped to ease our feelings. It was great not to feel so self-conscious of our actions and be us! I know that as we stood looking at the lagoon that was surrounded by the World Showcase, I felt as relaxed as I had been since this little adventure began last fall. We shared a kiss before we started making our way around the World Showcase

There were only two things that Jenny was anxious to see. One was Illuminations, the big firework spectacular at 9:00 and she wanted to meet Anna and Elsa from Frozen at the Norway pavilion. Just like the monorail ride, she was like a little kid, she was dragging me along to go to Norway. We were just in time to get in line for the meet and greet. I couldn’t help but tease Jenny over her level of excitement, she was worse than some of the little girls who had lined up. Of course, she pulled me into the photos with her. As I started to think, I realized that we were going to have a very expensive PhotoPass bill when we were finished but Jenny told me not to worry. ‘We need them.” She told me. ‘We will always need to remember our first visit here together.” I asked if there would be more. “Lots more” she told me with a twinkle in her eye as we shared another kiss, earning us a few giggles from the little girls lined up to see Anna and Elsa and a few sneers from the adults but mostly acceptance of the two of us.

We worked our way around the World Showcase, I tried to ask Jenny if she wanted to do anything else, but she simply said no. “I get to go around the world with you this way” she teased. We stopped in a few of the countries to look at various items. Whether it was a shop in China, a toy store in Germany, gelato in Italy or wine in France, we tried to take it all in. Around 7:00, we finally reached our destination, the United Kingdom. Before we did anything, we put our name in for one of the patio tables for dinner that we planned on never leaving. The hostess, who was named Ellen per her nametag and hailed from Manchester, looked around quickly. She said to comeback in half an hour and she would have a table for us. We had hopped to get lucky and get patio seating and it appeared we had. For the next few minutes we strolled around the shops of the United Kingdom. We found some neat things, one was a key chain that was the coat of arms for the O’Hara clan that I bought as a souvenir for my mother. We also took a few selfies in front of both the shops and the Rose and Crown pub that we sent off to my counselor who warned us that we better be good. Of course, we replied with a tongue sticking out emoji.

We were finally seated and each ordered a beer from the list. I went with a Bass, Jenny with a Boddington’s and we sat back. We did order dinner as a cover, but we were there for three things mostly. The drink, the show and each other. As Illuminations was about to begin, we slid our chairs up next to each other and cuddled up. No one looked at us funny. No one came up and derided us for being who we are. No one began spewing forth derogatory comments about our chosen life style. They allowed us to be us, two people who cared about each other more than any two people possibly could. As we watched the fireworks spectacular I had never felt so at peace in my whole life. At that very moment the reason for that peace gave me a loving, sensual kiss and said. “I love you.” I don’t think it could have been a more magical moment.