“He was beaten-up pretty badly. He’s having surgery now to relieve pressure on his brain. He’s in a coma. He could die, Lorraine.” Jaime figured she’d just put it all out there.
“I suppose someone finally got to her for pretending to be a man, huh?”, Lorraine’s voice actually sounded vindictive. “I’m sorry, Jaime. God has a way of taking care of sinners. I can’t get involved in this anymore. Jude knows how I feel. I’ll pray for her soul.” Click. The line went dead. Just like that, Lorraine had hung-up. Wow.
While it didn’t completely shock her, it pissed Jaime off so bad that she hauled off and kicked the vending machine with all her might. The coffee machine rocked back and forth and the sound drew some unwanted looks from around the area.
“Jaime?”
She whirled to find Kim standing behind her, bag over her shoulder, with huge eyes staring at her. “I’m sorry. I just got off the phone with Jude’s sister. She’s such a bitch. I just needed to vent.”
“By kicking the vending machine?”, Kim gave her a disapproving look.
“Hey, you don’t understand what I’m going through right now. There’s no way that you can understand what we go through”, Jaime’s voice was full of anger right now.
“We?”, Kim raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t exactly sure what Jaime meant.
“Gay people, Kim”, Jaime was coming slightly unglued and Kim could see it. “People hate us. People scorn us, the government takes our rights away, family walks away from us, people beat the shit out of us … I’m just so sick of it!”, she slapped the wall with her hand as she looked to the floor and began to sob, “…and now Jude could die because of it.”
Kim walked-up behind Jaime, slid her arms around her waist and hugged her as tight as she could squeeze. “I’m so sorry this is happening, Jaime. I know the world is a cruel place for you sometimes. It’s not right, but you can’t blame Jude’s sister for being ignorant.”
Jaime swung around and faced her, “I can’t? Hell yes I can! How can you even say such a thing? How can you take-up for someone so full of hate that she can’t even bring herself to care about her sibling up there in surgery right now?”
“Hey! Whoa! Don’t take it out on me. I’m not taking up for her. I’m only saying that people are ignorant because they haven’t learned any different Jaime! Look at me! Six months ago I barely knew what a lesbian was … now I’m realizing that I am one.” Kim watched Jaime’s face for any change in expression.
“So we’ve had sex once and now you’re declaring you’re a lesbian?”, Jaime’s words were sarcastic and as soon as she said them she knew she regretted it. Too late.
“Oh my God. I cannot believe that you just said that to me!”, Kim’s face showed her hurt.
“Kim, I’m sorry. It’s the stress. I’m sorry. You don’t deserve that. I know it”, Jaime was remorseful and Kim was smart enough to know that Jaime was very emotional right now.
She was willing to forgive but she chided, “Then Jaime, love me like I don’t deserve it. You’re world is different to me. I want to be a part of your world, as scary as all this is right now. It would be very tempting for me to run away from this right now. What if the next person in the hospital is you, Jaime?” Suddenly Kim was crying.
Now Jaime felt like a total ass. She stepped forward and wrapped Kim in her arms and held her tightly. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m such a dummy. I didn’t even realize how this all would affect you. You’re scared aren’t you?”
Kim nodded her head against Jaime’s shoulder, “Mmm hmm. I keep thinking that if it were you in there, that I wouldn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t know who to call or anything. I was thinking all the way here that I couldn’t even tell them what to do for you legally. It petrifies me.”
“Shh….hey, everything is going to be okay. I promise you that I’ll make sure to get everything you need so that won’t happen. Okay?”, Jaime was running her fingers through Kim’s blonde locks. “Besides, this is not going to happen to me. You don’t even have to worry about it.”
“Promise?”, Kim looked into Jaime’s eyes and the fear was very clear.
“Yes, Love. I promise.” Jaime kissed Kim softly and for one short moment, the morning was forgotten.
Butch Ramblings 