AR - Law and order

“We used to be close,” Stef says, helping herself to more salad. “A couple of other girls too. We had a lot of good times together. Ow!” It looks like Jessica just pinched her under the table. “But, seriously, Riley. None of us are perfect. Ellen, though? She’s not like us. There’s a part of her brain that’s missing these days. She will do anything, say anything to get what she wants. The fact that she might have…” Stef trails off, shooting her wife a look. “…kissed a girl once doesn’t matter to her. She won’t think twice about doubling down on anti-gay stuff if she thinks it’ll get her elected.”

“And you don’t think she should be elected,” Adella says.

“She’s not doing it for the right reasons,” Jessica says gently. She hasn’t done much talking, but you aren’t surprised that she and her wife are on the same page about this. They aren’t even supposed to be married in Gurlberg. The town has some laws against it. So… as a gay couple in a place that doesn’t like gays, you can kind of see why they care about politics.

You aren’t sure that makes it OK for them to drag you and Adella into it. But… this Adella’s thing. You are not going to take the lead here. You will just support her.

“Why is she doing it?” you ask.

Stef picks up her glass and swirls the wine around in it.

“****,” she replies simply.

“Against who?” Adella asks, still grumpy.

“Look. If you guys don’t want to do this, we understand,” Jessica says. “We’ll coach the team ourselves. We didn’t start this. Ellen was elegant about it, but the church kicked this off. We’re just responding to it. It’s not just about stopping Ellen from using our town to juice up her campaign. What’s going to happen if we do nothing? Our local kids are going to get stomped by a fake team that they aren’t ready for. You played when you were a kid. I remember watching you,” Stef says. “You had fun. Does what I just described sound fun?”

“You didn’t make a deal with me,” you say, taking Adella’s hand. “You made it with Adella. Don’t convince me, convince her. We’re a set.”

Adella looks down at you, apparently surprised. What? You aren’t allowed to say things like that? She came here to this terrible town and stayed celibate, waiting for you. It must’ve been hell. The least you can do is say something sweet to her once in a while.

“You guys are cute,” Stef says with a smile. “But cute won’t stop Ellen. She’s a real piece of work. I wish we’d seen it,” she adds with a sigh. “When we were younger.”

After dinner, Jessica tries to stop you, but you help her with the dishes while Stef pulls Adella aside to talk quietly. Adella has already made up her mind, but Stef doesn’t know that.

“That is a nice hot tub,” you note, looking out the kitchen window at the back patio.

Jessica laughs. “You and Adella are welcome anytime,” she says, and she’s had some wine. “That is, if you like hanging out in a hot tub with an older couple,” she adds, looking over at you.

You pause for a second, then jump as Adella touches your arm.

“Ready to go?” she asks.

“Sure,” you say, blushing.