The Rainbow Lined Closet

A Story by FayTheGay

It wasn't that she hadn't planned on telling her parents that she had a girlfriend, who was sometimes her boyfriend seeing as she was gender fluid. Really, she had, it just hadn't come up.

Of course it should've been pretty obvious to them she at least supported equality for the LGBT community considering she volunteered at a local equal rights center and her best friend was a very flamboyant gay boy who had worn a dress to his parent's wedding.

So when she casually told them, "I have a date tonight so I'll miss dinner."

What she hadn't at all expected was for her parents to demand for her to bring her 'boyfriend' to meet them. They'd told her if they didn't meet him she was grounded.

See that was the issue.

They had assumed she had a boyfriend. Of course Marie was sometimes her boyfriend but her parents hadn't meant that and she knew it.

It wasn't that she'd call herself a "butch" lesbian, she had long hair and, on very rare occasions, wore dresses and skirts and makeup.

However, she was definitely far from being a "lipstick" lesbian. She wore clothes she'd stolen from her older brother over the years. Really, she dressed to comfort.

That wasn't the issue though.

What she should've done was explain to her parents that she was batting for the wrong team to have a boyfriend, by their standards. She should've explained the situation to them.

However, assumptions bugged her and them butting into her dating life was even more infuriating.

Rather than act rationally she'd gone up to her room and called up Gale, her gay friend, and her, currently, girlfriend, Marie, to hatch a bit of a plan.

It wasn't long before Gale was driving to Marie's house and our girl was in her closet, hehe, digging through the back of it for the clothes she needed.

Presto! She'd found it.

Technically, the blue dress with the black stripe wasn't hers, it had belonged to Gale before he grew out of it. It didn't really matter, it fit her perfectly so she had no problem wearing it.

Walking over to her body length mirror at the opposite end of her room she pulled off the old faded blue jeans and black button up she'd been wearing.

Sometimes she'd stand in front of the mirror and stare at herself, it wasn't a matter of being interested in what she looked like. She wasn't one of those people.

It just gave her perspective; she'd try to understand everyone else's views. When she saw herself, she saw a person. Sure, she was far from being attracted to men, at least males with the male parts, it was who she was. Never once in her life had she saw a boy and thought he was "attractive".

Actually, that would be a lie. She'd seen a man on TV in some show who had dark brown hair and blue eyes that she'd drop her sexuality for in a second. So what? Sue her. He was cute. In a sexuality confusing way. He was also twenty plus years older than her and she had no right to think he was cute.

Needless to say, as she stared at herself in the mirror she had to wonder why it mattered to most people, why did how she dress or look matter to them? From a scientific perspective if she'd been born with a separate chromosome she would still be who she was, the difference would be that people would accept it without an issue.

Or maybe, in some ironic fashion, if she'd been born male, she would've been attracted to males and still been an outcast shunned by a massive chunk of society.

Rather than dwell on something that couldn't be fixed, and that she didn't want fixed, she pulled the form fitting dress over her head, the sleeves were nothing more than thin straps that Gale had sworn to her wouldn't snap, there was a black stripe that ran straight down the front of it.

Initially this date was going to be informal, they'd planned on catching a movie then going over to Marie's house to cuddle for a bit and watch some B rated horror film. Now that there was a plan in place for Marie to meet her parents, things had changed, formality was part of the show.

Checking her watch, she decided to quickly pick up her phone and dial Gale's number, on the other line was a very pitched male voice, "We're almost done, Dee. Look, are you certain about this?"

"A hundred percent."

"Your parents are a bit…"

"Conservative? Old fashioned? I know." There was a brief pause, suddenly what she was doing came crashing down on her. If this went wrong, she didn't doubt her parents would make some sort of rash decision, she was seventeen after all. Her parents were very conservative, it would be one thing for her to sneak around behind their back dating a girl, which was not at all what she'd been doing, and have a gay best friend. It would be an entirely different thing for her to come out like this, no warning, nothing.

"If things do go wrong, you know we have that guest room. My mom would gladly let you stay with us."

That was the boost of confidence she needed.

Somewhere in the background of the phone call came Marie's voice. It was slightly deeper than usual, a normal signal for them for when she was transitioning from female to male, a subtle sign they used for the sake of their friends. "If she's moving in with anyone, it'll be me, gay boy."

"Oh shush it, pretty boy. You know if you didn't have a-"

"Anyway. Is he almost ready?" Our girl cut into the conversation before her best friend could say something.

"Relax, Dee. Perfection takes time."

"We're almost ready, Dee." Her, currently, boyfriend's voice came from the background. "See you in an hour. Now hang up the phone and help me with this!"

There was a click and our girl was alone.

Considering the risk of tonight's events, she raked her gaze across her small bedroom. She didn't own much, a laptop sat at the foot of her bed, her guitar sat in the corner of the room, her backpack and schoolbooks sat on her desk.

If her parents did kick her out, she didn't have much that mattered to her, her schoolbooks, her backpack, her laptop, and her guitar; that was it. At least it'd be easy to get out quickly. If her parents couldn't accept her for who she was, so be it.

Checking her watch again she realized she'd been staring at her room for twenty minutes, suddenly her feet felt heavy, really heavy, it was hard to motivate herself to move.

Dread.

That was the issue. She was dreading this. Not because she didn't want to show Marie to the world, she'd shout it from the rooftops. "I'm dating Marie Lee Jefferson!"

Give her a megaphone.

It was the prospect that her parents, the people that were supposed to love her unconditionally, would reject her. The dirty looks from students in her school, her teachers, she could handle those.

The idea that her parents would reject her, it terrified her.

When the sound of the doorbell ringing rang through her ears suddenly everything was happening too fast.

No turning back now.

Slipping into her black flats she had lying next to the door she made her way out of her room and down the stairwell.

The smell of the roast her mom was cooking filled her senses and she would've probably been drooling if she wasn't so worried.

When she opened the door Marie was standing there, a light smile on their face. Her, slightly taller, girlfriend/boyfriend had been dressed up by Gale, not overly formal but formal enough. Marie's short hair had been brushed down and, had it not been for the subtle details, someone might've been fooled into thinking Marie was, physically, male.

Hail the goddess Gale for turning her boyfriend into a boy!

Of course the awe she felt, staring up at her date was quickly lost when the sound of footsteps filled her ears.

Now came the dangerous part. Marie stepped through the door, taking Deanna's had a squeezing it encouragingly.

Lethal silence as the footsteps stopped.

Hesitantly, she turned around to see her mother standing there with her jaw slack.

Openly staring.

Fear.

"This…" Her mother's gaze darted between Marie and Deanna then behind her to the open door like she was waiting to be told this was a practical joke.

"This is my boyfriend, Marie." The confidence in her voice didn't match the pounding of her heart in her ears, the tight grip she had on Marie's hand.

"That's…a girl."

"Only sometimes, Ma'am. Sure I was born with girly parts but I'm not always a girl." Marie sounded perfectly fine, like their girlfriend's mother wasn't slowly looking more and more disgusted.

Rather than speaking another word, Deanna's mother turned on her heels and left her daughter and her boyfriend alone.

It could've gone worse.

Even then, tears were threatening the corner of her eyes.

"Dee." Ever so reluctantly she turned to look up at her boyfriend, Marie was smiling weakly at her. "I can leave."

Some terrible part of her wanted to say, "Yes. That's a good idea." Because the fear. But, no. That wasn't an option. Either her parents would accept her or they wouldn't. Instead of listening to that terrible part of her she spoke quietly, "Let's go eat."

Because that was why they were there for. That was what this whole endeavor was for. Dinner, a date.

That was the intention.

As they began to make their way towards the hall that would lead to the dining room her father appeared in the frame, blocking their way.

"You need to leave." He was addressing Marie.

"Is there a problem, sir?" Deanna recognized that tone, irritation. A lapse in control of her emotions. Marie was typically calm, typically didn't care. However, this was different. Marie saw the world as simple. There were rational people that accepted things, even if they didn't like it. Then there were irrational people that didn't accept things, that refused to see outside their little bubble of "perfect" or "right". Marie hated irrationality.

"Yes, there is a problem, you need to leave."

Deanna didn't like the way her father was glaring at her boyfriend. Typically, she ignored this kind of stuff but these were her parents and that was her date. "Dad, this is my boyfriend. If you kick him out, I'm leaving with him."

What happened following that was simple enough.

He'd told her to leave, he didn't want someone "like her" living under his roof.

.-~**~-.

After the disastrous date Marie had slid back into her female mentality and watched her girlfriend breakdown. Dee had said terrible things, lashed out at her girlfriend for everything, blamed her.

Marie had taken the hurtful words knowing very well that they weren't true, that Dee hadn't meant them. When they stopped outside Gale's house Dee was asleep, curled up in the passenger seat of the car. As quietly as she could, she pushed open the door to her car and went around it, opening the passenger door and carefully lifting her girlfriend into her arms.

It was hard for her to see Marie so vulnerable. Typically, Dee had a "who cares what they think" mentality but this was different. Marie had been rejected by her parents as well. She was well aware of how much it hurt. However, she hadn't been kicked out for it. Instead she'd chosen to leave. Being kicked out of the house was something that had been a possibility, Gale had explained it while he'd helped her get dressed.

As she walked towards the door she had to wonder, she had to wonder how parents could do this to their kids. Send them away for being "different".

It hurt. A lot. Gale had already opened the door when she stepped onto the doorstep, he was short and small, awkward, and adorable.

"It didn't go well, did it?"

"The kicked her out." The words were lifeless.

"Mom already made up the guest room."

"I'm sorry, Marie." Dee's voice came from beneath her.

"No apologies." Marie pushed the words off, pressing a kiss to her girlfriend's head as she stepped through the threshold.

They probably weren't an everlasting relationship. Both girls knew this, but for now, they were enough for each other.