Something in the way.

"I'M IN LOVE WITH A GIRL" I'm in love with a…" Katie exclaimed as she bounced up and down on Jessie's bed in the attic.

"Will you be quiet?" The blond responded. "Please." Jessie threw a sneaker at her girlfriend.

"You know what you have to do." She said before continuing. "I'm in love…"

Jessie tackled Katie down by her shins and clutched her tightly, pressing her hand over the older girl's mouth. "Okay, already. I'll say it."

"My name is Jessie and I am in love with a girl."

"And?"

"I am in love with Katie Singer who is the best girlfriend in the world." She rattled off quickly in a volume that was only just audible.

"Louder…" Katie taunted.

"Everyone's downstairs…Jessie began before realising that the only way to put a stop to this foolishness was to kiss the girl she was looking down at. She smirked and lowered herself into an embrace. Katie was powerless to resist.

They pulled apart and straightened out. Katie reached for the cards, which she shuffled and dealt. "That's four-nil." You gotta do better than this Sammler. Where's your game?"

"Lost in your eyes." Jessie retorted.

"Sammler…" Katie began as she leaned in for a kiss.

"Four-one!"

"That's not fair you wooed me with your soppy words, I am powerless to resist."

Their intimate moment was broken by a knock at the door at the bottom of the stairs.

"Jessie? Katie?" It was Grace's voice. "Dinner's ready." She continued as she hovered on the staircase.

"It's ok Grace, you can come up. We don't bite!" Katie joked.

"I really don't want to be in a position to witness that." She smirked. "So I'd rather not take any chances."

Jessie blushed. She had been going out with Katie for nearly a year, but she was still coy about the relationship around Grace, who was the only person who knew about it.

"Anyway, you guys should wash up, I don't wanna know where your hands have been!"

Jessie blushed again, but Grace was already making her way down the stairs.

Katie lay back down on the bed. "She only does it to get a rise out of you."

"What?"

"The remarks about us."

"I know, but…"

"But nothing, get your dirty hands back here and wrap them around me!"

"Dinner?"

"Not Hungry!"

"Not an option unfortunately."

"I know." Katie sighed as she planted a kiss on her girlfriend's lips. "We could tell them…I mean you could…come out…if you wanted to."

"Also not an option." The blond said with a horrified look on her face.

***

Katie sat down between Lily and Jessie. Everyone else was already seated.

"So Katie." Rick stated enthusiastically as he began to tuck into his dinner. "Last year of High School, I bet the guys are queuing up to have you on their arm at the Prom."

It was more of a statement than a question, but Katie played along knowing that he liked to include her in their dinnertime banter.

"Early days, Rick, early days." She replied with a wink.

Rick laughed. "Grace, how 'bout you?"

"Erm…" Grace grimaced, wishing she could be as quick witted as Katie. "Actually…" She continued, "I might go with a girl, I mean, since the GSA dance last fall our Prom is totally gender non-specific, so I could go with a girl if I wanted to."

"Oh…I…" Rick stuttered while he and Lily exchanged nervous glances.

"That would be so cool, a prom with lots of hot chicks dancing together…I would love to see that." Eli quipped. "I don't mean you…I mean not that you're not hot…it's just…Dad?"

"You're on your own as usual son."

"Grace isn't gay." Zoë stated matter-of-factly, "She's just making a point."

"Of course." Lily replied, shooting Rick a piercing stare.

Zoe turned to her older sister and sighed. "I am so over your 'I could be gay if I want to be' phase. It's so not a choice."

Everyone laughed, everyone except the blond.

Jessie put her head down; she knew she was blushing again. She also knew that she was going to kill Grace for that remark, and she was going to kill her a lot. THREE times is probably a more accurate number of how many times Jessie was going to kill Grace. Firstly because she thought Grace did it to stir it up about her and Katie being gay, secondly because Katie had not asked Jessie to the prom, even though it was over six months away and thirdly because she now had to think about the consequences of Katie asking her to the prom. Oh Jeez, Grace had really opened a can of worms.

Jessie stared into her pasta. She wanted to dissolve into it. How could Grace be such a bitch? How could she be so mean and underhanded? Why would she do that? Over the past year they had been getting on quite well.

Katie noticed that Jessie was beginning to fall apart and surreptitiously put a hand on her girl's knee for reassurance, but it was brushed straight off without regard. The conversation moved on and everyone remained blissfully unaware that Jessie was going through her very own personal meltdown, everyone that is except Katie who was beginning to feel the prickly end of her girlfriend's mood.