Page 39 of Accidentally Falling for Her

“Sweetie,” my mother says, smiling as she steps closer to place a hand on my forearm. “Thank you for finally telling us.”

Seriously, what is happening right now? “You already knew?” I ask.

“Of course we knew, but we didn’t want to pressure you into telling us. We wanted you to come out in your own time,” she explains.

“Took you a lot longer than we expected, though,” my father adds, confusing me even more.

“Longer? What do you mean? When did you find out?” I question.

“Oh, gosh, Sage. It’s been, what, almost ten years now?”

Aspen bursts out laughing next to me as I stare at my family, mouth hanging open in shock. After what feels like an entire minute of silence, I finally remember how to talk. “We’ve only been dating for, like, four months,” I protest.

Now my family looks as confused as I feel. “That can’t be true,” my sister responds. “You moved to Chicago to be with her.”

“And all the trips to Paris,” my brother adds.

“We were just best friends until August!” I insist. They’re all staring at me skeptically now, and I realize something. “Wait. So none of you care?”

“We just want you to be happy,” my mother assures me. Well, this certainly was not how I pictured this conversation going. I don’t think I’ve ever heard my family give an opinion of LGBTQIA+ anything. Our town is pretty smalland everyone is so conservative that I just assumed they would protest, not that they were giving me space to come out when I was ready.

“For the record, Ihavebeen in love with her the whole time,” Aspen adds, easing some of the tension I’m still feeling. “She just didn’t know that until a few months ago.”

I laugh and my family joins in, congratulating me and us as they invite her to stay. I’m still kind of stunned about how this all went down, and I’m surprised by how relieved I feel. I was trying to convince myself that it wouldn’t matter if my family kicked me out of their lives, but it's clear to me now, with how happy I am that they didn't, just how devastated I would have been.

I might not have the closest relationship with them, but maybe I haven’t put in enough effort. We love each other, and having more people in your life who love you is always a good thing. Aspen isn’t mourning the loss of her own family, but I’m hopeful that if my family doesn’t feel like I’m hiding a huge part of myself from them, that we can all be closer, Aspen included.

I’m lost in my thoughts when Aspen slips her hands around my waist, hugging me from behind. “I’m so glad that I was here for this,” she whispers, kissing my cheek.

“Me too,” I agree. “Even if I was the very last person to realize that we were into each other,” I add with a laugh.

“It might have taken us a while to get here,” she agrees. “But I’m thrilled with our life just the way it is right now.”

“So am I,” I say, spinning in her arms to give her a realkiss. No one in my family even reacts to the public display of affection, and it’s such an amazing feeling to not have to worry about hiding our love anymore. “I love you, Aspen.”

“I’ve always loved you, baby,” she responds, making my cheeks heat. “And I always will.”

Aspen is right, there’s no use in wondering what might have been if I’d realized I was in love with my best friend years ago. We’ve still had all that time together, and I wouldn’t change a thing, because it brought us here. And no matter what the future brings, I know we’ll continue to love and support each other through it all.

I get to spend every day with my best friend, my person, the love of my life.

It might sound cheesy, but it really does feel like a dream come true.

THE END