Free As You Were by Kelli Jae Baeli

Brittany turned in the seat again.
    “Want some gum?” Tru fished in her pocket.
    “No, I don’t want any stupid damn gum! Spill it!”
    Tru released a lungful of air. “I don’t know how to say this...don’t freak out, okay?”
    “Tell me,” she ordered.
    “I’m not your sister.”
    Brittany sat stone-faced, absorbing this information. “Okay...you’re not my sister. . .that’s not a total shock. Why—why did you tell me you were?”
    “So you’d trust me and come home.”
    “Okay, we’re not sisters. That explains why we look like total opposites, but—”
    “We’re lovers.”
    Brittany froze, letting this newest tidbit soak in atop the others. “We’re what?”
    “Lovers,” Tru confirmed. “You’re gay. I’m gay. We live together. We share a life. We’re lovers.”
    Brittany eased herself back against the seat and stared at the dashboard. She put her coffee in the console and blinked a few times, swallowing as if she had something foreign in her throat that would not go down. “Stop the car.”
    “What?”
    “Stop the fucking car!”
     
    9
    TRU ROLLED HER EYES ON A SIGH, her foot pressing only slightly on the brake. “Don’t be ridiculous—”
    “Damn you! I said stop the fucking car!” Brittany shouted, her fingers gripping the door handle, forewarning.
    Tru took her foot off the accelerator dubiously. When she saw Brittany pry on the handle and release the door, she braked. “Okay! Okay! Jeez, calm down—” The Cherokee skidded to a halt sideways in the gravely sludge of the shoulder.
    Brittany launched herself out of the car, Tru suffering the sensation of cold air rushing into her right ear.
    Tru gasped, wiggling a fingertip in her ear to release the pressure. She saw the other young woman trudging down the road ahead of her. Where does she think she’s going?
    Brittany stomped through the snow, pausing every few steps to kick clumps of it out of her path. Tru sighed, refreshing her coffee from the thermos, and letting the steam warm her face as
    she continued to watch Brittany, fully expecting her to grasp the irrational nature of her response. Minutes passed, with Tru drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, watching the woman’s form shrinking into the distance. Shaking her head, she dropped the gear shift into drive and let the Cherokee creep along the side of the glassy blacktop.
    After walking the length of a football field, Brittany began to clench her side and huff, and Tru thought she looked like an angry human freight train, as her breath formed billows around her head. Tru eased up beside her and fingered the electric window switch on her door. The glass hummed down into the passenger door. “Pretty cold out there. Aren’t you cooled off, yet?”
    Brittany shot a glance at her and kept walking.
    Tru examined the curve in the road ahead, careful of any oncoming traffic. “Brit. Where are you planning to walk?”
    “ To hell if I have to!” she sneered.
    “You don’t have to go there to get warm.” Tru leaned back to avoid the oncoming scowl Brittany tossed over her shoulder at her. She realized that sarcasm would not get her back in the car, and tried to imagine what Brittany would want to hear. “We have a big fireplace at home—”
    “Shut up!” Brittany thrust her hands in her jeans and continued.
    “Brit, do you realize how stupid this is?” Tru crept along beside her and listened for a response, that did not come. “Shit.” Tru stopped and lifted the shift into park. Carrying the coffee with her, she got out and caught up with the young woman. “Brit. Hey. Slow down.” Tru snagged her at the elbow, and Brittany wrenched her arm away, the action causing a sharp pain in her tender ribs. She stopped to wrap her arms around herself. “Hey,” Tru stopped beside her. “You okay?”
    “Fucking fantastic!” Brittany straightened with a stunted sigh, her eyes studying the snow-laden trees beside the road. I can’t be gay. Why does my mind want