I apologize if the beginning was kind of bumpy. I wasn't quite sure how to start off, I knew what I wanted it to be like but I couldn't quite transfer that into words if that makes sense. Also I am so sorry, but I use the word swag, but not because that's a word in my vocabulary, but it just is used as part of Sam's character so yeah:) hope you guys enjoy!

"Carly, if you don't want to do this you don't have to."

"No, Sam I'm ok. I just need to learn to accept who I am and this will be one step towards that."

"Are you sure. I don't want to push you to do anything you won't be able to handle."

"Yes, I'm sure. Now c'mon let's go." I said as I pushed out the apartment door. We were going to Seattle Pride. It was my idea in the first place. I had overheard some girls talk about whether they wanted to go. It peaked my interest so I looked into it and convinced Sam that we should go.

We walked down the hall and out of the lobby onto the sidewalk. I grabbed Sam's hand confidently as we walked down the sidewalk to the subway.

"Are you sure. We might see someone we know and I don't know if that would be too much for you."

"No, it's ok. Like I said, today is about me getting more comfortable with accepting who I am." She smiled and squeezed my hand.

We got onto the subway but much to our dismay, it was crowded. We walked over to a clearing in the crowd. I grabbed onto the hand rail but Sam, being the tough girl she was, didn't need to hold on. As the train screeched and moved forward, I noticed a lot of the people on the train had rainbow flags and bracelets and other apparel.

"Looks like this is the gay train, all of the people going to pride are on it," I whisper over to Sam.

"Yeah, I noticed. I feel bad for any of the homophobic jerks on this train. Actually, look at that guy over there. He seems to be a bit flustered at all of the gay swag going on. Wanna give him a show?" She leaned forward and gave me a slight peck on the lips. "Oh, oh no guys," Sam said a bit louder, "I kissed my girlfriend, oh the poor children they've been exposed." she said mocking what homophobic people always say.

I could feel my cheeks get a little red as some of the surrounding people laughed.

Oh well, this is what happens when your with Sam. Whether or not you're dating her, she's going to make her opinion know.

When the subway finally approached our stop, almost the entire train emptied, except for the man who was flustered, and a woman wearing a cross necklace.

"Good riddance." I heard her mumble under her breath loud enough that I just barely heard her.

As we ascended the stairs from the subway, the noise was booming. There was a very large crowd of people in various colors holding different signs and flags. Colors in pairs like blue, pink, and purple and red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple were being shot at me every three seconds. It was a bit overwhelming and Sam picked up on it.

"Hey cupcake, if you don't want to do this, we can go back. This is a big step for you and us, but more importantly, you."

"No, no, it's ok." Sam grabbed my hand and we made our way to some official-looking people who handed us both pamphlets with a schedule of events and different things to do. It was the biggest pride of the year because it was the last pride of the year. Luckily it ended up being on a warmer day of December, even though it was still cold enough that I had to wear jeans and a sweater. Sam and I looked over the pamphlet and decided we should go watch the gay parade since it was about to start.

"Have a gay day!" one of the people with the pamphlets said as we walked away. When we finally made it through the crowd to the street with the parade, it had already started. We walked to the edge, Sam guiding me through all of the people. A float with a circle of rainbow streamers and a large rainbow heart in the center rolled by playing the song "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross blasting through a speaker. Most of the crowd cheered while others clapped. I, being shy and awkward, was one of the ones who just kinda stood there and watched. Sam however was beside me hollering and cheering and clapping. I didn't want to be the odd one out, so I semi-quietly cheered with her.

Then next float had just a woman with bleached-white long curly hair with a poofy white dress with "no h8!" on the front and "Love is Love3" on the back in rainbow font. The float stopped in the middle of the street the parade was on and she picked up the bull horn and started to speak.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else! The time has come for us to step up to the plate and fight for ourselves! Our rights! We need to bash out homophobia. We need to be treated equal; have equality, equal rights! We should not have to live in punishment for a quality of ourselves we did not choose. We should not be punished for who we are. Shame on them for treating us like this! For taking away our rights! Basic and Human rights! But they are not the only ones to blame. Shame on us for taking it for so long, for not standing up for our rights enough. I say no more! No more being a bystander and letting people say the things they say. Speak out! Be heard! Be accepting of who you are!" I swear she was looking right at me when she said that. "Do not let them take us down! Stand up, stand out, be brave, be bold! I say no more! Will you?"

She was answered by roars and roars of cheering and clapping and I realized I was one of them. The next few minutes more floats went by talking about things like transgender acceptance and getting rid of bisexual stereotypes and other pride related things. I wasn't really paying attention. It really hit me hard. I had not just openly but excitedly been proud of who I was. Was I ready for that?

When the parade ended most of the people went over to the main crowd of people while a few stayed back, including me and Sam.

"You ok, Carls?" I didn't quite answer at first. But then I looked around and noticed all of the people around. I was just like them and I was safe here. And I was finally ok with who I was. A smile spread onto my face.

"Yeah. In fact I'm better than ok. I'm happy. To be here, to be with you, to be yours, and to be me." With that, I reached for both of her hands and pulled her in for a long kiss. And once again, just like our first-ever kiss, butterflies were fluttering in my stomach and my heart was beating like crazy. And I fell in love with her all over again.

Sam decided that we should go to one of the food trucks and get something to eat since she was getting hungry after two hours of walking around. We found the food section and decided on a taco truck. Sam ordered four extra stuffed tacos while I settled on a taco salad. We then sat down at tables set up with rainbow tablecloths.

"They give out a lot of stuff, my arms are getting sore." I complained slightly. I didn't really care because I was having a lot of fun.

"Yeah, that bag weighs like twenty pounds." We had received different pamphlets on things like when future prides will be, how to come out, how to stand up for yourself, common LGBTQ misconceptions and various things like that. There were also things like bracelets, lanyards, buttons, and hats being passed out. There were also a lot of places where you had to do things like kiss your partner of other outrageous things to earn prizes. That gave me a t-shirt, a cup and necklace. Luckily one of the prizes was a rainbow bag that we shared for all of our stuff.

"So what do you want to do when were done eating?" I asked.

"Eh, I don't know, we could walk around and see what's interesting."

"Cool, so-" I started to say when I was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Carly, hey is that you?" I turned around to see Griffin, holding a boy's hand who I had never seen before. They were both decked out in rainbow apparel.

Me and Sam's jaws both dropped. "Your gay?" I said.

"Yep and I would assume you are too. You were the last girl I tried to date before I realized that it wasn't going to change anything and that I was, in fact, gay. This is my boyfriend, Sean. Can we sit?" I nodded my head.

"Hi Sean. I'm Carly, like he already said. This is Sam, my girlfriend."

"Hey!" Sam interjected, "I can introduced myself. I'm Sam, Carly's girlfriend." We spent the next couple of hours talking.

"Hey what time is it?" Griffin asked. I grabbed my phone from my pocket.

"Umm, six-thirty. Why do you need to get home at a certain time?"

"Yeah, my mom has been a little strict since I came out to her."

"Oh see ya around. It was nice to see you again and nice to meet you Nick."

"Yep, same to you too. See you ladies around.''

"Whatever," Sam said, being her normal self and being rude to everyone but me. We looked over the pamphlet to see what was going on next and decided to go to the gay pride concert which would conclude pride. When we got there, people were already dancing and swaying even though the live music didn't start until seven, which was in twenty minutes. Sam decided her legs still weren't done resting so we went over to where some people were sitting and were about to chose a spot on the grass when a girl who knew Sam started calling us over to sit with her.

"Oh hey Tiffanie, what's up?" Sam said as we went to go sit with her. "Are you here alone?"

"Oh no my girlfriend just went to pee. Do you girls want something to drink? We have a cooler filled with, umm, punch." Tiffanie said with a giggly bouncy voice.

"Oh yeah, pour me and Carly a drink. By the way, this is my girlfriend Carly.'' Sam said smiling.

"Oh really? I thought her name was Carrie." she said laughing while filling two red solo cups up. I could tell Tiffanie was a good friend of Sam's. I took a small sip and instantly knew that the drink was spiked. It wouldn't surprise me if everyone here had brought there own alcohol. There weren't any age restrictions so alcohol couldn't be sold. That didn't stop minors and adults from bringing their own.

I didn't care that the drink was spiked so I took a gulp this time, then another. Sam did too. I started to feel a bit dizzy and light. But it was just slight.

"So how did you and Sam become friends?" I said starting a conversation as we waited for the live music to start.

"Oh you're in for a treat, this is a great story!" Tiffanie said before taking a long slurp of her "punch".

It had been about three cups and fifteen songs later when a really upbeat one came on. It was familiar but I was too tipsy to think of the name. Suddenly I wanted to dance. I pulled Sam up to her feet and we walked over to the middle of the dancing crowd. At first we started out just bobbing our heads to the music, but then we started jumping and fist pumping and doing other goofy things. It was so fun to just dance and be crazy and let go for a little without worrying what everyone would think about me.

I was sure that we were drawing attention, but I could care less. I closed my eyes for a second and wasn't sure what was happening when I opened them there was a rainbow cup with a square rim in my hand.

Should I drink this? Hell yeah! I thought to myself as I chugged the liquid. It was sweet at first, but burned going down my throat. I started to feel like I was falling or maybe flying so I grabbed Sam's hand so I wouldn't lose her. I noticed Sam was also drinking from a cup the same style and shape.

"Where did this come from?" I said shouting over the crowd.

"A drink from Tiffanie. She came and gave it to us. It's hard liquor baby!" she yelled before finishing the rest of her drink.

We spent the rest of the night dancing and partying. Eventually it came to the point where there was a dj as opposed to live performers. To finish off the night he played a series of five different slow songs.

I grabbed Sam by the waist this time and she wrapped her arms around my neck and we danced and made out.

"Hey, we should probably leave early before the huge rush of people leave when pride ends." Sam yelled to me after the first two.

"Sure ok," I reply. I grab her hand as we go back to where we set our stuff down next to Tiff-Tiffa something. I couldn't think of her name. Then we walked out of the crowd and into the subway. When we stepped onto the train it was mostly empty so we actually got to sit. I was so tired from everything from that day so I just rested my head on Sam's shoulder and let my eyes close and my thoughts wander and drift...

I woke to Sam shaking my shoulder gently. My head was still slightly dizzy, but I could tell that I was sobering up.

"Hey cupcake, it's almost our stop." she gently said.

"Hey Sam you know what?"

"What?"

"I love you." And then I pulled her into a long kiss. A few people coughed and "Ahem"ed at our PDA. I pulled away but Sam simply lifted her middle finger into the air as she pulled my chin and locked lips once more before getting off at our stop.