Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 64th cycle. Now cycle 65!

"Talking & Confiding"
14yo Nora, Grace, Emily
Sunshine Girls 2 series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Telling her might have been one of the hardest ones so far. She had told her parents, and her family, but no matter how concerned she might have felt right at the moment, deep down she had known it would go exactly as it had gone. She had told Emily, almost a year ago, Emily who had been her friend for as long as she could remember, and it had all been good and fine. She'd even told her another secret eventually, one her parents didn't know about, that she had feelings for Grace Mackenna. She wasn't going to tell her that part, definitely not… but maybe it was time she told her the rest. Keeping it from her any longer would feel like she was saying she was ashamed of who she was, and she was anything but that. Grace was as much her best friend as Emily was, and she wanted her to know.

The question would still be the how. How was she going to come out to her? She'd told Emily about wanting to do this. Of course, she had her own ideas.

"You could pass her a note in class."

"Saying what? 'PS, I'm gay'?" Nora frowned.

"Well, that's one way of doing it, I… No, alright, well… Themed movie night?"

"Emily…"

"Next time she's over, go stand in your closet and burst out!" she mimed, and Nora half-shoved her on to her bed, making her laugh. "You know she's going to be fine with it."

"Of course… yeah… she is…" she slow paced around her room.

"Knowing her, she'll probably try and scope out girls to match you with," Emily smirked, sitting up.

"Oh, please, no," Nora turned to her.

"Look, you can just do what you did with me when you told me. Sit her down and, well, come out with it," Emily chuckled at the unintended word play.

"It'd be easier, yeah."

"It's the other thing that's giving you problems, isn't it?" The other thing. The 'she's the most beautiful girl I've ever known, the kindest and sweetest, and I don't know what love feels like, but I think I love her' thing. Nora plopped down on the bed next to her with a sigh. "I can go with you if you want. Might not be so bad if you're not alone?"

"No. I have to do it alone," Nora insisted.

At the very least, her talk with Emily had given her a little more confidence than she'd had before. She wanted and needed to do this, so she was going to do it.

She had made up her mind that it would be on that day, after Emily had gone back home, after dinner. She had emptied her plate so fast her parents had stared at her, confused. She had to stay at table though, until everyone was done, and she spent the rest of the meal, sitting anxiously, moving her feet from side to side under the table, nudging her plate, her utensils, one quarter inch this way, one quarter inch that way, scrutinizing the pattern in the tablecloth… When she was released from the table, she scampered off, saying she would be at Grace's and would be back later.

She hadn't noticed that it had started raining while they ate, and she had only managed to run to the sidewalk by the time she had been drenched, but it wasn't going to be a little water that stopped her from doing what she was planning to do. Not even thunder and lightning, which startled her as she crossed the street; they wouldn't stop her either.

Grace's older brother Donny had answered the door. He was three years older, and seeing her standing there soaked down, he'd chuckled. "If you weren't my sister's age, Fabray, I'd offer to warm you up."

"Gee, Donny, I'm touched," she rolled her eyes. "If you weren't a guy, I might have let you," she pushed her way past him, only then spotting Grace at the foot of the stairs, looking at the two of them. Oh… "Hey… Crazy weather, right?" she tried to laugh it off.

Grace had taken her upstairs into the bathroom, explaining how she'd seen her coming from her window and came down, but Donny had gotten to the door before her. She had gotten some dry clothes for her to change into, which she did while Grace put out the wet ones in the drier.

"Nora?" she turned back to her, hesitation in her eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" Nora nodded. "Please… don't be upset if I'm wrong, it's just… Well, what you said to Donny down there, and… there's been all these things, so I'm wondering… Are you attracted to girls, is that what it is?"

"All these things?" Nora repeated, surprised, curious. Grace's eyes shot with panic.

"Oh, y-you're not then…"

"No, no, I am," she shook her head, taking a beat to appreciate the fact that it was out there now.

"It's just every time Emily and I talk about this boy or another, you either change the subject or make fun of them." I kind of do that, don't I? "And there was that time, when you got so flustered about…"

"Yeah, that," she bowed her head, then looked back up. "So…"

"I was so worried you would be mad at me for saying it if you weren't…"

"Want to hear something funny? I was coming here tonight so I could tell you," she admitted.

"Oh!" Grace smiled, laughed. "Sorry, I didn't…"

"Don't worry. I wanted you to know, now you do, or… you already did, apparently."

"What about Emily, does she…"

"She does. She tried to give me ideas," she smirked, and Grace stifled a laugh.

"What kind of ideas?"

"Oh, well," she motioned for her to follow, going to her room. She made Grace stop in the middle of the room before going to her closet door, stepping in and peeking around the door. "Like this. Oh, wait, the flourish," she remembered, stepping out with her arms in the air. Grace might have popped a lung as she burst out laughing. "Something like that."

"I liked our way better," Grace smiled, once she'd gotten her breath back.

"Yeah, me too," Nora breathed out, relieved, none more than when Grace came and hugged her. Wish I could tell you the rest. I don't think you'll see that one coming.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!