The minute Zoe got home from school that Friday, she was in the shower and getting ready for her much-anticipated date with Grace. She put on a knee-length blue dress, black leggings, a simple silver necklace, blue sapphire earrings, and black flats. She felt like she looked pretty good. As she finished up her makeup, her mom called from down stairs.
"Zoe! Your friend's here!"
Zoe cringed. Friend. She had vaguely told her mother that it was, indeed, a date and not just an outing. Her mother went silent when she mentioned that it was with another girl. She didn't wanna think about it; she just wanted to focus on tonight.
Zoe descended the stairs, her eyes landing on Grace when she reached the bottom. She was dressed slightly more casually, but had a nice black shirt and grey flats as opposed to Zoe's dress. Regardless, she looked gorgeous as she always did.
Grace's eyes lit up when she saw how Zoe was dressed, making Zoe blush. They greeted each other at the door then made their way out.
"So, I'm your friend huh? Your gal pal?" Grace joked once they got into her car.
"Oh god, don't remind me. She wasn't exactly thrilled when I told her I was going on a date with a girl," Zoe said, mortified.
"And how do you feel about going on a date with a girl?"
"Ecstatic," Zoe replied with a grin. Grace reached to turn the car on, but Zoe put her hand on Grace's and stopped her. Grace looked at her, confused. "Before you do that, I wanna do this."
Zoe surged forward and pressed their lips together. God, it felt so good to be kissing Grace. Zoe put her hand on Grace's neck and deepened the kiss, licking Grace's bottom lip for access. Once their tongues made contact and traced one another, Zoe thought she might pass out. Kissing had never felt so good before.
Slowly, Zoe backed away to see a star-struck looking Grace. Grace quickly retaliated, "You don't waste any time, do you, Rivas?"
Dinner had been pleasant, and the movie was even better. Halfway through the movie, Grace snaked her hand over and Zoe immediately laced their fingers together. It made Zoe's heart soar. Zoe wondered how she could fall for Grace so hard. Shit. Did she really just think that? Well, she really had. It was too soon to confess her love, but she knew how she felt.
Grace and her had formed such an unexpected friendship over the summer. She never realized how much they had in common.
At the end of the movie, they walked out of the theater, hand in hand.
"So… was our date okay?" Zoe asked as they walked out to Grace's car.
"Pretty mediocre," Grace replied, earning a playful shove from Zoe, "I had a great time, Zoe, I really did."
Zoe smiled and kissed the other girls' cheek. "I did too, Grace."
Once they had arrived back at Zoe's house, Grace walked her up and kissed her goodnight. Before she could walk away, Zoe grabbed her arm.
"Grace, will you be my girlfriend?" Zoe blurted out. Grace grinned.
"I thought you'd never ask," she replied, kissing her now-girlfriend one more time. "I'll see you Monday, Zoe."
Zoe loved the way Grace said her name. It rolled off her tongue so naturally. God, speaking of her tongue. That kiss they shared at the beginning of the date had been… erotic, to say the least.
Zoe turned and went inside to find her mom sitting at the dinner table, using her laptop.
"Hi, sweetie," she greeted absentmindedly, typing away. "Did you have fun with Grace?"
"Yeah, I did," Zoe said, taking off her shoes, "she's, um, she's my girlfriend now."
"Oh like friends?" her mother asked, visibly uncomfortable.
Zoe slammed her last shoe down in frustration, catching her mother's attention. "No, mom, like my girlfriend girlfriend."
"I don't follow, I'm sorry honey."
"Why are you doing this? Are you really that disgusted at the idea that I could be happy with another girl?"
"I don't want to discuss this. I'm going to go get ready for bed."
With that, her mother made her way upstairs without another word. Zoe groaned in frustration and shook her head at her ignorant mom. She didn't understand why her mom was being so tense about this. She had never seemed homophobic before. Maybe she thought it was fine for others, but not her own kid. Zoe let out a heavy sigh and instead decided to text her girlfriend. Grace was her girlfriend. Girlfriend. She wanted to scream it from the rooftops.
She asked Grace if she had gotten home safely and Grace replied almost instantly, confirming that she had. Zoe and Grace texted back and forth for a little while, until Zoe decided to go to bed. Grace had told her sweet dreams and it made her heart melt.