The Lovers

Andi was vibrating with excitement. A whole month with her girlfriend in paradise. No work, no obligations, and most importantly, no family. She would finally have Sophie all to herself without having to pretend they were anything but lovers.

She had packed with a mind to let loose. Rather than minding herself in yoga pants, pony tails, and sports bras, as her work at the gym required, she was going to let her hair down. She had amassed a collection of wraps, sundresses, and bikinis, some so revealing they might have been illegal in certain states. Hours at a salon had her red hair layered, and wavy. She was going to show off the body she spent her life maintaining. With luck, she might entice her companion to do the same.

To her credit, Sophie had also packed to let loose. However, her definition of letting loose included bathing suits which didn’t completely cover her neck and shoulders, and dresses where it might be possible to see a bra strap.

Andi loved her girl, madly sometimes, and part of that was accepting Sophie for who she was and where she came from.

Sophie’s mother was a combination of all the worst stereotypes of an Asian tiger mom, and an American conservative mom. Absolutely oppressive, controlling, demanding, obsessed with both academic perfection and Christian morals. Anything but perfection was failure. Being naturally small and shy, Sophie had never been able to push back.

To Sophie’s credit, she’d come pretty close to that perfection. Despite being homeschooled for most of her life, she graduated top of her class at university and had become a successful concert violinist.

It was perfection forged through shame, however. Sophie could never work hard enough, be smart enough, or be holy enough. She worked all the harder to make up for her deep dark secret. She was horribly, abominably, incurably, gay.

Sophie had only recently accepted that fact, herself, and was still wrestling with it. Andi had the joy and responsibility of being her first girlfriend. That was a process which required restraint and patience. Andi had more adventurous sexual encounters at sleepovers with her straight friends in high school than she was having with Sophie. But the girl was worth it.

Andi looked over adoringly at her tiny Korean girlfriend. She sat with perfect posture in her seat at the airport, reading a dog-eared fantasy novel. Her black hair was tied back in a neat bun, as though she needed to be prepared for an emergency concert performance. She wore a white button-down blouse, under a thick cardigan. A loose navy skirt hung to her ankles, where well polished black flats over tall white socks covered her feet.

“Don’t you have like, a thousand books on your e-reader?” Andi asked. “Why is half your suitcase also full of books?”

“Because, if you recall, you told me I should do whatever I want on vacation, and I want to read this trashy paperback.” Sophie gave a tight, closed mouthed smile, the sort she wore when engaging in a tiny act of rebellion, like putting sugar in her coffee, or listening to popular music.

“Is there anything else you want to do while on vacation?” Andi flashed a bright smile and the most licentious eyebrow waggle she could muster.

Sophie flushed and her breath caught. For a moment she trembled, caught in her lover’s eyes, wrestling with desires she’d buried so deep she didn’t know they existed. For a moment, it very nearly looked like she might kiss Andi, openly, in public. But then the tight bindings she had on her behaviour snapped into place and her eyes snapped back to her book. Her breathing careful and measured.

Satisfied with that tiny moment of honest desire she saw in Sophie’s eyes, Andi relented and returned to fighting to find comfort in her airport chair.