Chapter Forty one.

Elena's Pov.

 "Hey faggot" It was Valerie, and she was very drunk.

" Who did you call a faggot." I said between my teeth, that was beyond derogatory, for two people who were not supposed to have any bad blood between them, not that I believe it though.

Katie tugged at my hand, signalling that I should not pay any attention to her and that we should just go, but I was not about to let this slide.

"Who. did. you. just. call. a. faggot" I bit out every word with emphasis.

She staggered over, seems like she was unaccompanied. When she finally got to us, she poked Katie with her finger," Faggot, fucking faggot." 

At this point, I was beyond pissed , I did not know how, but I raised my hand to slap her but was caught by Katie.

"Don't bother, let's just get going, okay?" With that we turned away and left her there.

In the car, I tried to bring up the topic, but Katie was looking out the window, obviously avoiding any questions.

"I just want to ask" I felt her stiffen, "Where do we go next, the office or the house" I was in no mood to inconvenience her with useless questions, plus she seemed really uncomfortable.

"Let's go to a bar" she said, barely audible.

I choked on my saliva and also bit my tongue in the process, drawing blood, " wh.. what? The.. bar? " I stuttered.

" Or a club, whichever tickles your fancy. " she said, now more audible than the last time.

I let out a little cough, " The bar is fine, but why? " I was so confused, why the bar all of a sudden, did she want to drink out her sadness because if what Valerie said and just needed someone to join her, or was it something else.

" Well, I do not have the courage to say what I want to say, so some few drinks or shots should help boost my morale. " she whispered, eyes looking down at her knees, she was tweaking her hair, that was something she did only when she was nervous. 

"What you want to say? what is this about Katie?" I managed to say amidst my confusion.

"Don't give me that shit, are you trying to tell me that you are not curious as to what Valerie was blabbing about? of course you want to ask me what a that was about, why I hurried you to leave before she could say anything else, you want to ask Elena, there is no denying it." she heaved, she looked like she was at the verge of crying and I did not want that.

"Of course, I am curious Katie, but I would not want to get that information at your expense, if you are not comfortable with saying what you want to say, then it is best if you wait for the right time, the time where you would be ready, then you can say it." I blurted and it surprisingly sounded meaningful, I was bustling with joy and expectations inside, I had a feeling that she was about to make a massive confession.

" You do not get the point, the thing is, I will never be ready, it will always sound heavy on my lips and it will always make my heart swell, not with joy or pride, but with sadness and disappointment. " she was already sobbing at this time I placla.ed a hand on her shoulder but immediately retrieved it when I remembered that I was driving. 

I could not help but wonder, what mind boggling confession was she about to make, that she even needed to take some shots to be able to say it, it must be really heavy and sensitive if she was crying about it.

"Do not be so hard on yourself, the world will not end if you do not tell me this particular thing that makes you so uncomfortable, every body has the rights to keep their own personal secrets, it's no big deal if you want to keep yours, people have dark pasts and there will come a time when it will not seem so dark anymore, when that time comes, you can share it with me and we can laugh over it like it was a joke, all I am trying to say is this, do not tell me the secret if you do not want to or if you cannot bring yourself to say it, I will not die if I do not hear it, take it easy on yourself and give yourself time." I said, genuinely.

  Silence enveloped the car, I did not know how to break it, I did not mean to make it awkward, I just wanted to give my own piece of advice, but guess what, I made it awkward, so typical of me. After some time , she looked up from her knees and stared directly at me, her eyes were tear filled and it stroke a chord in my heart just to see her in that state, her lower lip shivered and she bit it unconsciously. Seeing her in this state, I felt like enveloping her in a warm hug, to soothe her and make her know that I cared about her and her insecurities.

"Look Elena, the thing is, I really want to tell you, it's just... you know, hard. " She said still teary eyed.

"Then we should not go ahead to the bar, you should rest at my place today. " I suggested, but she did not see m to be in agreement with the idea because the next moment, she was shaking her head vigorously to show that she still wanted to go ahead to the bar. I nodded.

"sure then, if you really want to go ahead with the plan, I support you, in every thing, just know that okay." I assured. "Sure, I do still want to go to the bar, this is a now or never kind of situation, besides, it is not yet dark so I do not really want to rest now, its better to get this over with" she said, having wiped her tears, showing that she did believe me, though she looked a little bit unsure and uneasy, I was happy that she at least trusted me to the point that she wanted to open up to me, that alone was enough for me. I just hoped that she had the strength she needed, the whole secret thingy was starting to put a strain on our relationship.

 Minutes later, we arrived at the designated bar, I alighted the car first and immediately rushed over to open the door for her, partly to make her feel good and partly to support her weight, in case she swayed, we did have a few glasses of alcoholic wine anyway. She giggled when I did that and I smiled too, the gloomy mood was gone, at least. Inside the bar, we both sat down on the high stools that were available, I looked at the bar tender and boy was he fine! I looked at Katie to see if she had noticed the piece of beauty before us, she had not. She was not even looking in his direction, I guessed what was currently disturbing her had weighed down on her mind. 

"We will have six shots of tequila each, that makes twelve shots." I said, she needed confidence from drinks right, she would get it, it smirked, her eyes widened immediately I placed the order, she turned to look at me, eyes as wide a plates or saucers, whichever was bigger and wider.

"s...s...six?" She asked. The bar tender had already placed the drinks before us.

I nodded, at both of them at the same time," Yes, six, we will both take it together okay, do not be scared, I will be by your side." I assured again, almost cackling at her facial expression. She looked visibly scared and I was relishing every bit of it, mostly because I wanted to make her comfortable, act comfortable, so that she would feel more at ease, to say whatever was on her mind.

"But what if we are barely able to stand up straight, more so, to go home, then what, what will we do then." she questioned.

"Then we will just tell this hella sexy man to take us home" I smirked then winked at the bar tender, he winked back and I smiled. I had not even start drinking but I was already acting drunk, Katie on the other hand was in a state or horror.

"Well, I guess I will need to k ow your address to be able to deliver you safely to your house, just in case you get overly drunk I mean" He said, but I knew the deeper meaning, so I just shrugged it off and replied, "Your house will do" and with that, turned my attention to Katie who was eyeing the drink ferociously.

"You know I heard somewhere that tequila tastes like shit." She said shakily as if she wanted to run away and throw the tequila in the middle of the ocean, where she would not see it again.

"That is nice and all but you must remember that this was your idea and not mine" I paused, letting the realization dawn on her, then I continued," bottoms up in five....four.....three...two...one." We both downed our first shot of tequila and guess what, it does taste like shit.

I groaned and she joined me, going a bit further than me to bang her head, though lightly, on the counter. My head was insured and I could not afford any damages to it, so instead, I contented myself with gnashing my teeth which actually chattered.

When she lifted her head from the counter, she looked at me in mock contempt, " I just have one thing to say, GROSS." she says with all the disgust that she carried in her body and mind.

"Yeah gross" I agreed, but just like me to show her the bigger picture, I said, "It us gross and disgusting,but you have to remember, five more to go, so you better start talking." I said. Well the good thing about this was that, first, I was going to gear the big news today and second, I was going to find out my limit, how much alcohol can I hold.

"I think I need one more to get the flow and rythm of the whole thing" she giggled.

" What flow and what freaking rythm are you talking about girl, are you drunk already."I was surprised, that was only one shot, she could not be drunk already, but I was about to receive my answer with what she said next.

" Bottoms up in five.....threeeeeee.....one....two....one" and with that she drank, I also lifted the shot to my lips and downed it.

"Argghhh" I groaned, starting to regret my earlier decision of ordering six shots.

"That was so sapid" she squealed, I did not need any more telling that she was already drunk.

"You.. you..you have the temerity to say that, aish" I muttered utterly baffled at this woman.

" So" she clapped her hands, a tad too loudly and drew eyes to us, I lowered my head, wondering why this was happening to me right now, " I am ready to confess." she clapped again and I banged my head on the counter lightly, forgetting about my insurance and beautiful face for a minute.

"Go on, I am listening, do not be shy, you have all it takes."

"Oookay " she heaved, " I am a .. what do they call it, fag.. no.. d... no, aha, I am a lesbian." she said and giggled loudly, then clasped her hands on her mouth, wagging her index finger at me, "sshhh, don't let the big bad monster hear you" She turned pallid when she said 'big bad monster'.

I on the other hand was speechless, why? maybe because my jaw was literally on the counter, I had no idea how to gather it back or even how to say one letter if the alphabet and turn it to a sensible word that would now form a comprehensive sentence. I was completely nonplussed, this hit, hard.

 She seemed to recover from her drunken stupor for a good few minutes and looked genuinely sad at my expression.

"What? you are s..*hiccup"* s.. surprised *hiccup* you hate me too?" she said, downed her third glass.

"Yes, I mean n.. no... no never, why would I hate you, I mean... I accept you...... what am I even saying,... I am just scared..... no I mean shocked...." I stuttered and sputtered.

she giggled as if what I was saying was the funniest thing ever, I could sincerely see why she had been so scared to tell me the truth, I mean, this was something, it hit me, it hit me hard, so what about Joe? is this why there is so much bad blood  between her and Valerie? was Valerie homophobic? was she the big bad monster she had just mentioned? does Valerie even know that she was gay? is that why she called her a faggot earlier? is this what she meant when she said that the waiter at the restaurant was not her type? because she liked girls? did she see me that way? no, I shook my head at the last thought, so what if she was gay, it does not mean she goes around hitting on and banging any girl that came her way, it must have taken a great deal if trust and confidence for her to open this part if her to me, I would not let her down so much by questioning her intentions, she was my friend, I would support her no matter what.

What are friends for, if not to hold each other's hands in the darkest if times, to trust and support each other during their times of need, I would therefore stand with Katie, whatever Valerie did to her, that caused their relationship to crumble and sour, it was none of my business, what concerned me was to show this woman over here, that I have been with for months, that I was not going to let her down. 

"Homophobic fucking bastards" she grumbled under her breath, but I heard her since she was sitting so close to me, was I part of the homophobic people she was talking about, I guess so, my behavior towards the breaking of the news was not particularly accepting, so to clear the misconception that was forming in her drunken mind, I pulled her into a hug.

She was stiff at first and then relaxed into the embrace and muttered something that sounded like 'breast'. She repeated it, and I found out that she had not said 'breast' as I thought but instead she said, 'You are the best' I did not hear it the first time correctly because her voice had been muffled since I had been pressing her to the nape of my neck, in the embrace I mean. 

"Let me get you out if here" I stood up from the stool and helped her down from hers, supporting her weight by placing her hand on my neck and holding her waist, I contemplated giving her a piggy back but for the skirt she was wearing. I paid the bill and the bar tender looked at the drinks, mostly mine, that had not been touched.

"Aren't you going to finish that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"no, it really does taste like shit, more like burning shit. so you can take it or give it to the person you hate most or just pour it, the choice is yours,but keep the change" with that I staggered out with Katie. 

Author's Note:

WHEW! that is done guys, I really had to write this, sorry for Katie though 😭, but then again, fuck homophobia, sorry for the language but it is not nice guys, to judge a person because of their sexualities, I am not gay myself, but I do relate to gay people, so to all my readers who are gay, I LOVE YOU, and to all the readers who are homophobic, PLEASE STOP GUYS, that shit breaks people and can sometimes trigger gay people to commit suicide or hide their true selves, therefore making them stay unhappy in their lives. We just have to LET OTHERS LIVE, IN THEIR OWN TERMS. If you can't support them then don't say bad stuff about them, everyone has their own opinion but we can all keep the negative ones to ourselves, right?. Anyways, I am ranting, so I will just go take a cool shower to stop the fumes coming out of my  left ear right now,hehe. Bye guys love you, mwaah. XD ;)♥️♥️