ADWF - Bonus - Escaped (Patreon)

=::= Claire PoV =::=

My heart-rate spiked as we pulled into the driveway. I was excited, but also scared. My dad's car was already here, we waited till after dinner so we knew my folks would both be home.

It was the last Wednesday of June. Me and Kaitlyn wrote our final exams today, then spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and celebrating the end of grade twelve, and the end of high-school. 

She borrowed Susan's mini-van so we could drive, and we had dinner together at the pizza place on Main Street. Now it was almost seven o'clock and we were back at my house. In a few minutes I was going to come out to my parents, and we'd see what happened after that.

Kaitlyn would be there of course, both for moral support and to keep me safe if things went badly. And I wasn't defenceless, I had two necklaces of charged crystals on under my blouse and crystal bracelets on each wrist. I only knew a few spells, but if my folks flipped out and tried anything they'd be in for a hell of a shock.

Of course Katie was hoping we'd avoid all that. She was hoping things wouldn't get out of hand, that the conversation would stay civil. 

The other reason she borrowed the mini-van was so she could help me move out. Susan had a room ready for me at her Bed and Breakfast, she said I was welcome to stay all summer long. She and Kaitlyn even said they could take care of my tuition and other university expenses if my folks cut me off completely.

I was still convinced it would have been easier to just make my parents ok with gay people. Then we'd avoid the potential confrontation and everything else, but Kaitlyn wouldn't change her mind. She was positive that would be a bad idea, even if it was easier.

The two of us kind of had a little fight about it over the weekend, but happily we made up pretty quickly. And I sort of got where she was coming from when she said it was too close to the same kind of stuff that got her in trouble before. She didn't want to take even one step towards that path, incase it wound up getting out of hand.

I was still a bit bitter she refused to teach me the spells though. I figured she'd be in the clear if I was the one using them. But she didn't want to risk me going down that path either. She said if either of us started doing stuff like that, it could get Lady Tegan or Lady Keira or Lady Kelly involved, and that would be really bad for Kaitlyn and probably bad for me too.

So I eventually let go of that idea, and agreed to try Kaitlyn and Sue's plan instead.

"Are you ok?" Katie asked as she turned off the engine. "Are you ready for this?"

I nodded, though my heart was still racing. "Yeah."

After a moment I added with a sly grin, "Is it wrong of me to hope they freak out, so we have an excuse to zap them?"

Kaitlyn shook her head, "I really don't want to get into trouble, Claire. I won't let them hurt you, but I don't want to provoke them. Ok?"

"Ok Katie," I sighed slightly. "Sorry. I'm just really tense, you know? Like, I've been scared of them finding out about this for years. The idea of actually just telling them is kind of freaking me out."

This time she gave me a supportive smile, "I know. But I'm here, I'll be with you. And you know Maddie's got your back too. You're eighteen now, your folks can't control you or anything. And you don't need to depend on them for anything else now, me and Maddie will look after you."

"Yeah. Thanks Kaitlyn, " I smiled back at her. After a deep breath I added, "Ok let's do it."

The two of us emerged from the mini-van and she followed me up to the front door. I led her inside, then closed the door after her. My folks were both in the living-room watching TV. As usual dad was in his recliner, mom was on the sofa. 

"Hi mom, hi dad," I said as I led Kaitlyn into the living-room. The two of us sat together on the sofa, I was in the middle between her and my mom. 

"Hi Claire," mom replied. "And hello Kaitlyn."

"Hello ma'am," Kaitlyn replied quietly. Like I figured, she was acting quiet and respectful around my folks. 

Mom's attention returned to me as she asked, "How was school? How did the exams go?"

"Fine," I replied. I was sure they could both hear the anxiety in my voice. "Dad, could you turn off the TV? I need to talk with you both about something."

Dad gave me a little scowl, then hit the mute on the TV but he didn't turn it off. He was still sort of scowling at me as he said, "Make it quick ok?"

I took a deep breath then grimaced, "Yeah ok, I'll make this short. I'm gay. I'm a lesbian, me and Kaitlyn are girlfriends, we've been dating since November. I'm tired of hiding that part of myself, tired of hiding our relationship, so I'm coming out of the closet."

After that I just sort of held my breath and waited for my folks to both explode.

They were both silent for a few long seconds, then dad just said "Bullshit."

Mom added in a disapproving frown, "Claire don't talk nonsense. Your father and I raised you better than that."

Then dad unmuted the TV and went back watching his show.

I had no idea how to respond to that. I glanced back and forth between my parents, then I turned and looked at Kaitlyn. She shrugged slightly, she didn't know how to respond either.

After a few moments I looked back at my folks and said "Me and my girlfriend are going to my room to make-out."

I stood up and motioned to Kaitlyn. She got up with me and followed me upstairs to my bedroom. 

Once we were alone together in my room Kaitlyn relaxed again. She sat next to me on the bed and asked, "Are we really going to make-out?"

I had to stifle a laugh. Even after all this time she was still so adorably literal sometimes. 

"Maybe," I grinned. Then my expression became serious, "Actually I have no idea what to do now? I mean, they didn't believe me? Like they just completely dismissed my coming-out."

She sighed, "Yeah. They ignored you, dismissed what you had to say, rather than listen or believe you."

I nodded, "Right. But if one of their friends told them they saw us kissing or something, that would probably freak them out. Like they'd be upset and angry that I embarrassed them in public."

Kaitlyn asked, "So what do you want to do?"

I looked at her and thought for a few moments. Then I put my arms around her and pulled her down on the bed with me. I rolled so I was on top, and held her beneath me as I kissed her.

She slipped her arms around me as well and kissed me back. I could tell her heart-rate jumped as soon as I pulled her into a cuddle. She was so much smaller, lighter, and weaker than me. It was easy to pick her up or pin her against a wall or the bed. And the best part was she really seemed to enjoy it when I took charge like that.

After a minute or so I stopped kissing her and smiled, "It'd sure be nice to be able to do this any time, without having to worry about someone seeing and telling my folks."

"Yeah," she agreed as she smiled up at me. Then her expression became serious as she asked again, "What do you want to do?"

I sighed, "Maybe I should just move in with you and Susan? Do you think she'd be ok with that, even if my folks haven't kicked me out yet?"

A slight frown formed on her face and I could tell she was thinking through various scenarios. 

After a few seconds she nodded, "Yeah, Maddie will understand. Your parents haven't accepted your sexuality, they've denied it. The confrontation hasn't happened, it's been deferred. Your folks could still confront you whenever they're ready for it, which would leave you at a disadvantage."

"Moving in with you and Susan also means we'll be able to do this any time," I grinned. 

"It does," Katie grinned, then she raised her head up and kissed me. "So shall I help you pack?"

I kissed her back and nodded, "Yeah ok."

Neither of us thought to bring any boxes or anything like that, and I didn't really have much in the way of luggage. I ended up grabbing a bunch of big garbage bags from the kitchen and we started stuffing all my clothes in bags for now. I didn't have a lot of books but what I had went into another garbage bag. Finally all my shoes went into one more bag.

I went into the bathroom and got all my toiletries, hair dryer and stuff. I wrapped it all up in my towels and stuffed that into yet another garbage bag.

All my make-up and jewelry and keepsakes went into my backpack, along with all my Wicca stuff. My phone charger and laptop power bar went in as well, but that was as much as I could fit in it. 

I had some posters and stuff on the walls, but I knew I wouldn't be allowed to put stuff like that up in residence at university and I doubted Susan would want me making holes in the walls at her place, so I decided to just forget about them.

The two of us started making trips downstairs and out to the mini-van together. Katie could only carry one bag of clothes at a time, but on our first trip I had my laptop under my arm, my backpack over a shoulder, and a couple sacks of clothes in my hands. On our second trip we got my books and toiletries and more clothes into the van.

My folks didn't say anything on our first trip, but when we came back in after our second trip my dad shouted "Claire what the hell are you up to?"

I didn't stop, I motioned Kaitlyn up the stairs in front of me as I called back, "I'm moving out. We're just loading up the mini-van."

I hurried up the stairs after my girlfriend, and looked around as I thought about what else to bring. I grabbed my pillows off the bed. I didn't need to bring any furniture, there was a bed and dresser in my room at Susan's place. No desk though, but I didn't really need one over the summer and in September I'd be in residence at university.

Katie took my pillows and the lightest bag, I was able to handle the rest of the bags. The only things left were my winter clothes, which were packed away in the laundry-room closet.

We were both on our way back down the stairs when my dad stepped into our path, blocking the bottom of the staircase.

"What the hell do you mean, moving out?" he demanded. "Where do you think you're going?"

I was tense, it felt like we were going to have the argument tonight after all. 

"I'm moving in with my girlfriend," I replied. "Do you mind? You're blocking the stairs."

He shook his head, "You're not going anywhere. You turn around and get your ass back upstairs."

My heart rate picked up. Standing trapped on the staircase holding half my wardrobe in trash bags wasn't how I wanted to have this conversation. 

Then I felt Kaitlyn's hand on my back, and I just caught one or two words in fae as she whispered a spell. Then it was like all my senses flickered for a millisecond, and suddenly I was outside standing next to the mini-van.

My eyes were wide and my heart was still pounding. 

A second later Kaitlyn was there next to me. She was still holding my pillows and one bag of clothes, I still had the other bags.

"C'mon," she smiled as she opened the mini-van so we could load the last of my stuff inside. "That's everything, right? Or do we need to go back for anything else?"

I was still stunned as I put the sacks of clothes into the back of the van. "Uh... My winter clothes are still in there? I think we got everything else... How did we get out here? What did you do?"

"Teleport spell," she announced with a grin. Then she got serious again, "Do you want to go back for the winter stuff?"

Before I could answer, the front door flew open and my dad emerged. He looked and sounded mad as came down the front steps shouting "How the hell did you do that?!"

Mom appeared in the doorway behind him. She was glaring at me and Katie.

I looked at Kaitlyn and said nervously, "Let's just go."

We quickly climbed into the mini-van while my dad kept shouting at us. I breathed a sigh of relief when we pulled out of the drive-way and headed for her and Sue's place.