Standing in front of her full length mirror, Becky Baker can't quite place what's off about her appearance. She looks perfectly nice. Her long blonde hair looks soft and shiny as it falls perfectly straight down her back. Her makeup is exactly how she likes it, minimal and natural looking. She's wearing a very simple white sundress with a yellow cardigan and yellow flats. As she's securing the clasp on her favorite cross necklace she suddenly realizes what's off; it's her expression. Her normally radiant face has a very somber look on it. Frowning, Becky racks her brain trying to figure out the reason behind her expression.
"What is wrong with me," she thinks internally.
Tonight's her weekly date with her boyfriend, Adam Torres. It's a little ritual they'd started up about three months ago, right after the couple had gotten back together. And tonight is an extra special occasion because Adam has been planning some type of surprise for her all week.
The doorbell ringing pulls Becky back to reality.
"That's probably Adam, can someone let him in please!" she calls downstairs to her family.
Giving herself a final once over, she sighs, plasters on a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes, and heads downstairs. The doorbell rings a second time as Becky reaches the last step. On her way to the door she glances into the living and stops right in her tracks. Her mom, dad and brother are all sitting in the living room watching tv. Becky can't believe it! The three of them are blatantly ignoring the guest at their door. Fuming to herself she goes and answers the door. As she opens the door, her expression brightens just a bit. She can't help giving a small smile to the boy standing on her door step.
"Hey, you ready?" Adam asks in a bright voice despite the reserved look on his face.
"I just need to grab my purse and find my keys. Come on in." she answers stepping aside to let him enter. "Adam's here" Becky announces as they walk into the living room.
Without even looking away from the television Mrs. Baker says, "Hi Adam" in a very cold voice. Mr. Baker and Becky's older brother, Luke, pretend not to hear Becky at all. Motioning to Adam to sit down, Becky gives him an apologetic look and says "I'll be right back and then we can go".
Heading into the kitchen to retrieve her purse from where she'd left it on the counter, Becky suddenly realizes why her expression had looked so off earlier. Her family! Her family is the reason. Lately it seems like her family is always the problem. Ever since they learned that Adam is transgendered her family has been cold, distant and unsupportive.
She grabs her purse and after finding her keys, in the fruit basket of all places, heads back into the living room.
"Okay I'm ready" she says.
Standing up with a look of relief on his face Adam starts heading towards the door.
"Bye guys, I'll be home later" Becky says while walking out the front door.
As expected both her dad and Luke feign deafness while her mom mutters a very stiff "Okay, bye sweetie."
Opening the car door for her, Adam gives Becky one of his piercing stares and asks, "Okay spill it. Why do you look so conflicted?"
Becky sighs as she watches him walk around to the driver's side. Once he climbs into the car she answers, in a totally defeated voice "Just the usual".
Adam gives her a sad but understanding look. Once he backs out of the Baker's driveway and puts the car in drive, he reaches over taking Becky's left hand in his right. "I'm so sorry" he replies while he rubs small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb.
"It's fine" she lies.
"Come on Becks. You know I can always tell when you're lying."
"I'm sorry. I don't want my bad mood to ruin tonight. I just wish they'd make an effort!" she says angrily. "I was so excited about your big surprise earlier that as soon as I got home from school I actually ran up to my mom and tried to talk to her about it. As soon as I mentioned your name though, she got short with me and told me to go do some homework."
Giving her hand a reassuring squeeze Adam says, "Hey, she said hi to me this time, and today at school Luke walked past me in the halls without bumping into me. That's progress for them both."
Becky can't help letting out a tiny giggle at that. "Okay, pity party over! I promise not to talk about my family for the rest of the night".
"Becks, you know I don't mind. As long as I'm with you, I don't care what we talk about. So if you want or need to keep talking about them we can."
Glancing over at Adam, Becky's heart suddenly stops. "Oh my god! How did I not notice what he's wearing?" she thinks to herself.
Adam has on the same outfit that he wore to school today: black skinny jeans, high top converse, an olive-green t-shirt with the number 27 printed on the front and an unbuttoned red flannel. It was just a cute, casual outfit, but it was also the exact outfit Adam was wearing the day Becky had broken up with him.
She would never forget a single detail about that dreadful day...
Becky had made up her mind. She was going to break up with Adam. She cared about him so much, but Becky was a Christian. Her faith was the single most important thing in her life.
She had finally gotten past the fact that Adam was a female to male transgender. Adam was a boy, she was sure of it. She was positive that God had put Adam into a female's body for a reason, maybe to make him stronger or something, but nobody else seemed to see it that way. Both her parents and Luke had been very vocal about their disapproval. Her parents even went as far as trying to convince Becky and Adam to attend reparative therapy.
At first Becky thought her parents were being ridiculous and continued to see Adam. But after her parents said that by dating Adam, Becky would be sacrificing her relationship with God Becky decided to go along with her parents' wishes. The following day after her eye-opening talk with her parents Becky broke up with Adam and agreed to attend reparative therapy...
Breaking up with Adam was the hardest thing she has ever done. After a few therapy sessions though, Becky came to her senses and realized just how ridiculous the situation was. Adam was a boy! Period. She was convinced that her parents were wrong and that she could have both Adam and God in her life. So she ended up dropping out of the therapy program, and getting back together with Adam. Things have been tough with her parents ever since.
All of these thoughts run through her mind in a matter of seconds, but it's just long enough for her to make up her mind.
"Have I ever mention that I love you" she asks with a sly grin.
"I love you too " he replies sweetly. "So are you sure you don't want to keep talking about your family?"
"I'm positive" she answers confidently. "My family and their issues will still be around tomorrow. I have fought so hard to be with you, so I'm just going to live in the now. And right now, I am in a car with the boy I love heading to see a special surprise. I won't let their negativity and stubbornness keep me from being happy."
Clapping her hands together, she puts a huge smile on her face and adds "Now, what's this big surprise of yours?"
"You'll see in just a moment" he says as he pulls into the parking lot at The Dot.
Stepping out of the shower, later that night, Becky hears her phone go off, alerting her to a new text message.
"I love having a bathroom connected to my room" she thinks happily as she puts on her robe and walks the ten paces over to her desk to pick up her phone.
Flipping open her phone she sees that the text is from Adam. Smiling to herself she opens it up and reads:
Tonight was Amazing. YOU'RE Amazing. I love you!
Tearing up slightly she puts a lock on the text to make sure it doesn't get deleted. Grinning from ear to ear she gets into her pajamas and climbs into bed. After about five minutes she finally falls asleep with her cellphone , opened up to Adam's text, still in her hand.