Chapter 8: The Bagel Corner

Thanks to Verarose19, When-A-Sprite-Meets-Unicorn, Ms S for the last review. Your comments are essentiels for me, and help me to progress in my writing work.

XXX

Three years earlier

The car was parked a stone's throw from the Bagle Corner. The movie they had seen was so bad that they still laughed about it. Outside, a heavy rain was falling, making little streams on the sidewalks. The delicious smell of toasted bagles overwhelmed Cecilia.

"Nobody is there," Ingrid exclaimed. " We'll eat faster, like that."

"Wait, I don't know what to take," she replied.

She turned her head to browse the menu displayed in the window of the small shop. Among the sandwiches with the names of cities, she chooses the vegetarian. She wasn't really hungry anymore. She discreetly looked at Ingrid, her hair curling on her temples because of the rain, her bag adorned with pearls, hanging on her right shoulder.

A couple, in front of them was still hesitating, asking many questions to a waiter who answered in a weary voice, from the counter where he was.

"Do you think they have any dr peper?" She asked. Her voice was strange, breaking a confortable silence.

"Hmm" Ingrid approached, she kissed her cheek. so furtively that Cecilia wondered if it really happened.

Since their meeting, she often thought of Ingrid. Sometimes it lasted a few seconds, happening without her expecting it. Sometimes in the morning, she would stay in bed for long minutes, images and small moments spent together jostling pleasantly in her head. She was geting up, languid. She felt that something was changing in her. She had thought like that before, about other girls. She told herself that if she made an effort, it would go away. But now she didn't want it anymore.

She didn't see herself as a lesbian. But, her feelings for Ingrid were taking more and more place.

She wondered where the problem was. Why was she having such a hard time to accept this part of her? She was 23 years old, she was independent, responsible. She had left her native village a long time ago. She knew that if she came out here in Connecticut, people wouldn't be particularly shocked. Perhaps it was her strict religious upbringing that had followed her from Portorico, the priest's judgment, which would surely tell her that because she loved Ingrid she would go to hell. Or maybe it was the image she wanted to convey, this need to prove to others that she was mature, reasonable. She had worked so hard for it.

But, for the first time in her life, she thought that being a lesbian could bring her more joy than worry.

"What are you thinking about?" Ingrid asked her.

"I tell myself that usually on Saturdays you are at a club or at a party with your friends."

"I haven't been going out for weeks."

"Just for spending time with me?"

"Yes, I can't wait to see what will going to happen."

XXX

The place Ceci had taken her to was warm. It smelled of toast, milk and vanilla. Each of them was arrived in her own car, and they had traveled the few yards between the parking lot and the Bagel Corner in silence.

"Do you want some coffee?" Gloria proposed.

"I'm rather going to have a cappuccino," Ceci stammered. She was nervous. Gloria watched her hands twisting her scarf.

"I offer it to you."

"Thanks, that's nice."

Cecilia smiled at her.

xxx

"It closes late here. It's convenient." Gloria was looking for a way to start a conversation, but she thoughts what she was saying. It was a neutral, peaceful place. Almost a safe place.

"Yes," Ceci replied. "I've been coming with Ingrid for three years. You know, an English teacher at my work."

Gloria knew Cecilia. Aboveall, she knew she wouldn't tell her anything about her life.

"Who is Ingrid to you?" She asked suddenly.

She immediately regretted her question, especially seeing her daughter's dangerously frowned eyebrows.

"Is that the problem, actually ?"

"I don't understand," she replied.

"I believed things were weird between us because of what happened to Christina. But actually, it's, this, that you can't stand."

"I didn't tell you anything in particular, Cecilia. And if you want to know, I'm not very comfortable with any of this, with the thing you helped Christina to do."

"It doesn't really surprise me."

Ceci pushed her paper cup in front of her. it crunched on the table. She continued:

"So you have to know that I am totally comfortable with this. I haven't accompanied a lot of women in this situation, but when I do I try to bring them a little of comfort, in a difficult time of their lives.""

A few years ago, Gloria might have tried to convince Cecilia that this kind of decision was wrong. But, she had seen too much dramatic things at Litchfield to know it wasn't all so simple.

"You do a useful job, and I'm proud of you," she said calmly.

Now there was a smile on her daughter's face. It was brief, almost imperceptible, but it was a smile.

"I don't understand all of your choices, but you know where you are going in your life."

"Not really," Ceci replied.

She hid her hands under the table. Gloria thought she saw them shaking. She knew what she was needing to be happy. She looked up at her daughter, met her gaze.

"Look, I don't care if you're gay, if that's the problem. You don't have to stop living your life because of what people think of you."

Gloria studied Ceci's face again, looking for surprise at this perhaps too blunt announcement. She thought she saw relief, a few seconds, then anger. It made more sense.

What wisdom. Did you learn to talk like that in prison? "Her tone was sarcastic. Gloria wondered if things would be lighter between them someday. She chooses to laugh about it.

"It's kinda easy, you don't think so." She asked mischievously.

"It's true," Cecilia whispered. "Excuse me. I think I'm a little pissed off that you know my little secret."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Gloria asked.

"I don't know. Maybe I see you as you were in Portorico. And I don't want to ruin what I have with ..."

"Ingrid."

"Hmmm. I think it was easier for me to live in hiding"

Ceci didn't add nothing more. She grabbed her paper cup and took a long sip. Gloria looked at the Peanut butter bagel between them; She cut it in two pieces.

XXX

Everything looked beautiful. The parade of the almost empty streets through the window of her car, the wintry smell of the night, the thin crescent moon which mingled with the harsher light of the lampposts. The radio was playing pop music. Cecilia's whole body ached after the long day, but she barely felt it. Her emotions were stronger. She wondered if in a long time she would remember those few minutes, alone, before joining Ingrid at her place. She felt so happy right now.

XXX

There you go, Ceci and Gloria start a new relationship. I know some of you were waiting for this moment, and I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks again for reading.