Together
Again
by Katie
PART 14
The devastating news of Carrie's death was stunning Madison. She thought it was a dream,
or rather, a terrible nightmare that she wanted to wake up from. To her dismay, this was
no dream. As so many famous people have said, "reality sucks." All Madison
wanted to do was to have more time to figure things out. So many emotions were running
through her shaken body. After two long hours of talking with her mom, a few things were
finally brought to the surface. Madison was now openly gay to Jessie. To Maddy's surprise,
Jess was almost expecting it. Needless to say Jessie was worried at how everyone would
respond to it, but having gone through it herself, Jess had faith in her daughter. With a
pot of herbal tea and a box of samoas (girl scout cookies), the two had managed to talk
about Madison's feeling of abandonment, Jessie's insecurities as a mother, Carrie's
untimely death, and Katie and Jessie's engagement.
"So you and Katie are really going to get married?" Madison asked somewhat
disappointed as she began to wipe away a new set of tears.
"Well," Jessie began. "That was the plan. However, it all depends on how
you and Riley feel about the situation. You guys are the most important things in our
lives. I'm so sorry that I haven't shown you enough how much I love you." Jessie was
going to lose it again, unable to stop the tears. She took the blanket that was wrapped
around her shoulders, sat down next to Madison on the couch, and put the blanket around
the two of them. "Honey, you are my angel. I'm SO proud of you and I'd do anything I
could to make you happy. I'm trying my hardest to be a good parent, really I am,"
Jessie said as she started to hug Maddy.
"Oh Mom, I'm so glad that we finally got the chance to talk, about everything. I
still can't believe that, Carrie's gone." Maddy squeezed her eyes closed for a
moment, trying desperately not to begin crying again, but it was no use. When she
collected herself enough to speak she continued. "I miss Carrie so much. We were
really starting to get to know each other. What am I going to do?"
Jessie had no answer to her daughter's question. Jessie felt helpless. All she wanted to
do was to make Madison feel better, but she knew there was nothing that could make her
happy. She hoped that time would heal the wounds.
The next three days seemed like a slow blur in Madison's mind. The funeral was nice, she
guessed. If it wasn't for Kelly, Madison wouldn't have even have gone to the funeral. It
was almost unbearable for her to stand. Madison and Kelly had a long conversation about
Carrie. After Madison poured her heart out to Kelly, she realized that Kelly was who she
was really meant to be. The sad thing was that Maddy didn't know if that was in reality
good or bad. Despite her usual manner of not forgiving and forgetting so easily, Kelly had
made an exception this time. Kelly loved Madison. Nothing could or would ever change that.
More than soul mates, they were best friends. For the next few weeks, Kelly would be
Madison's solid rock, to help get her through the days…
A catch up on Riley's life (Riley's POV)
The leaves have just about all fallen off of the trees on this gray skied November
morning. It's been about three months now since that fateful camping trip. What a ride it
has been. The marching band season is over now. We went to the MCBA State Finals for the
first time in ten years, so that was obviously pretty exciting, especially since this is
only my first year. Even though we only finished 9th, it was still an amazing experience.
Our band director, Mr. Ireland, and his staff came up with the best theme for our show: A
Rock Tribute to Elvis. The show was really cool. The color guard wore black wigs and
different colored Elvis jumpsuits while the band and the pit wore the traditional marching
uniforms. After our performance in Flight IV, I was absolutely delighted to see Dani. When
your show is done, photographers take you up into a reserved section of the stadium for a
group shot. Following the formal and informal pictures, there's a booth at the landing
area, for lack of better words, where you can fill out order forms for the group pictures.
Dani was waiting for me there, with a pink carnation and a huge smile.
"Oh my God Riley, you were great!" She picked me up and gave me a big hug as she
swung me around. I loved that feeling of being in her arms.
"Thanks. I think that show was our best yet!" I was so excited that we had such
a good show. But also, because I was with probably the only person who really knew me.
From the time I saw Dani until I got home, I couldn't stop smiling. I just kept thinking
how happy I was that I got my mom to ask Mr. Ireland if instead of going home on the
busses, if Dani could take me instead. Once we were out of sight, on the way to Dani's
car, our hands slowly migrated towards each other and connected. I know what you must be
thinking, are we going out or what?! Well, that's not really the easiest question. Not a
whole lot has changed since that camping trip. I'm so glad that Dani's understanding and
letting me get adjusted to all of this. No one knows about us. In the simplest terms,
we're friends with benefits. We've become best friends. Soccer's finally over as well, so
we have a lot more time that we can devote to catching up on school and each other. Dani's
really helped me see that it's ok to feel this way, and to be together. I'm still a little
apprehensive about everything though. I'm not necessarily concerned with what the general
public will have to say, but rather, those closest to me: Julian, Alyson, and most
importantly, my mom. Well, even if they don't agree with it, Julian and Alyson, that
is, I guess we'll find out if our friendships are true. As for my mom, I just hope that
she supports me. All I want is love and acceptance. Considering that my mom's gay anyways,
the acceptance part shouldn't be too hard to get, I hope.
My life with school and everything else is going pretty good. Classes are decent; I am
working my butt off to start off to a good, solid 4.0 GPA. Now I'm going to talk about a
more important issue. My mom proposed to Jessie about a month ago. They still haven't set
a date yet, but they're planning around sometime in the spring. I really don't know what
to make of that. I mean I like Jessie, a lot actually. I don't really know a lot about my
other mom, Amy, so having Jessie around has been kind of nice. At first I wasn't sure what
to think about the two of them. But the more I see how much they love each other and
Madison and I, I'm starting to really come around to the idea of having Jessie as my step
mom…