Chapter 12 (Yvette)

After another day of bonding, the two girls finally open up about their true feelings for one another.

"So what exactly was going on between you and your dad?"

I perked my ears as Justine let out that question the next morning. I assumed she didn't ask yesterday, seeing how she could tell how exhausted I was, but little did she know I couldn't sleep much last night either, even though I really wanted to. I'd been hoping a good night's rest was all I needed in order to let everything soak in, but nope. Dad's words had left me with a lot to think about. But I pushed my own selfish desires aside for the sake of my girlfriend, the two of us talking over our complimentary hotel breakfast.

"Well, we mostly just talked about what he'd been up to my entire life. Until that point, I already knew that he won everything but me in the divorce, hence why my mom was always so bitter. And all she'd bothered to tell me about him was that he was some cold, heartless dick." I took a bite of my eggs Florentine. "Of course, that turned out to be far from the truth."

"What did?" Justine queried, taking a sip of grapefruit juice.

"Well, his personality, obviously, but what I never knew was that their marriage wasn't the issue. Rather, Mom's lack of citizenship not only annulled their marriage and prevented her from sharing ownership of the restaurant. She did later become an American citizen, but she wasn't able to in time. There was a fight before it all ended, when it was revealed that Mom had been lying about being undocumented, and Dad was so bent on upholding the law that he refused to sympathize with her."

"Yikes… and things seemed to be going so well for them before that."

"Indeed. They moved to America together after they met in college, dreaming of opening a restaurant together that combined both of their cultures… with a bit of Bulgarian mixed in since Mom loved their food so much during her semester abroad."

"And not only was the restaurant a success, but they were even on the verge of starting a family."

"Yeah, what was Gonzalez thinking repealing Birthright Citizenship- wait, how'd you know that?"

"Did a little snooping." Justine shrugged with a smirk. "Had to do something to keep myself busy."

"I guess… anyways, right before you came back in, Dad said he wanted to see me again and do some more catching up," I explained, noticing the worried look forming on her face. "He said he wanted to get to know you as well."

"Ah, okay… s-sounds fun…"

"Are you alright, Justine?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…" she capped off that sentence with a few forced bites of blueberry pancakes, trying to convince me that something wasn't eating her. Pun intended.

---

Driving back up to Dad's house, we vowed to spend our last day in Orange County with him. We didn't even need to get out of the car before he came out the front door to greet us, hurriedly slipping into the backseat.

"Sleep well?" he asked with a calm smile.

"Believe me, I tried… kinda' hard to do that when you've got a lot to think about," I replied.

"Understandable."

"So, uh, do we have anything planned or what?" Justine chimed in.

"Oh, I've got some ideas…"

And so from there, we spent the rest of the day exploring Orange County and experiencing everything it had to offer… or at least as much of it as we could between late morning and early evening. We kicked things off with visits to Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm, both popular theme parks with surprising amounts of fun for all age groups. Mission San Juan Capistrano and Modjeska House made for some cool places to tour, and afterwards, we headed over to explore Balboa Island, where we had lunch. Deciding to take it easy for the remaining hours of daylight, we ended things with a casual stroll along one of the county's many beaches, but didn't bother getting into the water.

---

Feeling too tired from all our excursions, Ahmed decided it was time to go home, but he did give Justine and I the directions to his restaurant, where we headed for dinner. Looking around the interior after we sat down, I wasn't sure where I'd place it on the fanciness scale. It certainly looked spotless and put together, with some nice-looking decor to boot, but it was also quite casual, to the point where you could walk in wearing whatever you wanted. In fact, that's what a lot of other customers did. Several of them had clearly just been to the beach, still clad in their bathing suits, sometimes without a cover-up, their hair damp and stiff with salt and colorful towels draped over their seats.

Justine and I were served some complimentary water with lemon before checking the menus. We'd both agreed that alcohol was out of the question for both of us, as we had a long drive to make, so we skipped straight to the appetizers and entrées, all written and described in perfect English. A lot of these (namely the Czech ones) were familiar to me, and they included several of my favorites. We kicked off our meal with a shared order of Obložené chlebíčky, an open sandwich topped with fish paste, cold cuts, cheese, sliced hard-boiled eggs, and garnished with vegetables. For our entrées, Justine ordered beef goulash, a reddish brown stew, while I ordered a Bohemian platter, containing shredded duck and pork, beer sausage, bacon, red and white cabbage, and potato dumplings. For dessert, we decided to go Bosnian and order baklava, which we were barely able to stomach before we called for the check.

Neither of us said too much during dinner, although I could tell we both enjoyed it. But during the span of silence after the last course, the vibe between us was pretty awkward. I felt my autism flaring back up as I gripped the edge of the tabletop, drumming it with my fingers, and I was so on edge I jolted a bit as Justine cleared her throat. But it just so happened that I wanted to say something as well, so we both ended up talking over each other, our words a jumbled mess.

"Okay, so… uh, given what's happened recently, I was… wondering if I could ask you something…" she said.

"Say, I was kinda' hoping I could ask you an important question," I said at the same time.

"What?" we then spoke in unison. "Okay, let me go first. No, I insist! Ugh!"

"Look, this one's important. So just-" Justine pleaded.

"No seriously, it's urgent!" I replied. "Justine."

"Yvette," she said right as I dropped her name.

"Will you marry me?"

Next thing I knew, we were both extending our arms over the table as we popped the question in perfect sync, each of us holding a ring cushioned within a flipped-open case. So many emotions were rushing through me at once that I almost suspected it was that time of the month, before quickly remembering that I didn't get those. I could see the ring Justine had picked out for me was copper, crowned with a small piece of topaz, undoubtedly meant to match my hair and eyes respectively. The band looked big enough to fit around my muscular finger, which was a relief for me.

"Wait, what?" I raised an eyebrow, wondering what the odds were that we'd both have the same thing on our minds. I could feel the stares of a few customers aimed at us, but I didn't indulge them. "Er… you go first."

"Gladly. Look Yvette, I apologize if this comes off as sudden or desperate, but I felt something drastic had to be done," Justine explained, sounding a little close to tears. "Look, the only reason we met was because we happened to both be in the same place at the wrong time, and… a-and, I was worried that… once you'd accomplished your mission, you'd l-leave me. I-I love you, Yvette. More than anyone else I've ever been with. Mandy… I mean, I'm glad we could still be friends, but it just wasn't meant to be. Kendra and Kendall weren't even gay to begin with, and Mindy? Pssh, you thought I was insatiably horny, you should've seen her. You're the perfect woman for me, and I… I really want to keep you around."

"Whoa, really…? Wow Justine, I… I'm at a loss for words…"

"Y-You're not mad, are you?"

"No, not at all. If anything, I'm a little hurt that you'd just assume I'd ditch you after reaching my dad's house," I responded, trying hard not to cry as well. "It's funny. At first, I just wanted to move from my mom's place to my dad's just so I could get it over with and go back to my antisocial hermit lifestyle. But then when we literally bumped into each other, it felt like a welcome change of pace. Ever since you were nice enough to let me stay at your house, I've felt so free. I've been able to enjoy myself and form non-familial relationships, I've found love for the first time, and hell, I even lost my virginity, something I never thought I'd get around to doing. After all the fun we've had together, in and out of the sheets, I just… I don't want to go back to my old life. Sure, meeting my dad for the first time was great, and I'll be sure to keep him in my life from now on… but I don't wanna leave you behind either. After everything you've done for me, I owe you a lot, and here's hoping spending the rest of my life with you can help pay that debt. I-I love you too."

"…you really mean all that?" Justine smiled a bit. "You wouldn't dare to leave me hanging?"

"No way! That, and I still have some of my things left at your house," I remarked with a chuckle, which she reciprocated.

For the sake of not making any more of a scene, Justine and I waited until we paid for dinner, got outside, and climbed into my refurbished car. We took turns sliding our purchased rings onto each other's fingers, admiring how they looked for a bit, before commencing a deep, passionate make-out session that lasted a solid minute. Probably breaking some record. Neither of us were able to suppress the content smiles on our faces as we began the drive back towards Pasadena, the California sun slowly making its descent over the barren horizon.