I'll Stop the World (13)

Charlene sighed. “No. My parents would flip out.”

“Yeah.” Lisa still didn’t know how her own mother and stepfather would react. Better than Charlene’s parents, she thought. Or at least, she hoped. But there was only one way to find out, and she wasn’t ready for that yet.

“But you have this whole other life that you want people to see, and I’m not in it,” Charlene continued. “I just have to sit around waiting for whenever you can squeeze me in. And it’s never the important stuff. I only get the parts that don’t matter.”

“Are you kidding?” Lisa squeezed Charlene’s hand. “You get the parts that matter the most.”

“You know what I mean. In the paper next week, it’s not going to be me sitting next to you. It’s going to be him.”

“That wasn’t my idea.” The decision to include Shawn in the photo had been all Veronica, Diane’s campaign manager. Lisa had never asked for her reasoning, but she suspected Veronica thought Diane would get more votes if their “family” photo included someone who looked like the majority of the people voting.

Lisa hated that she was probably right.

“But you think it’s a good idea, don’t you?”

Lisa bit her lip.

“It is a good idea,” Charlene said quietly, answering her own question. “He’s a good idea, and I’m a bad idea.”

“Char, no.” Lisa held her tight, wishing there were something she could say, some magic string of words that could fix this. That could make it easy. But those words didn’t exist. “It’s just complicated,” she said.

“Can’t you just break up? I don’t think it would be so bad if you weren’t together.”

“I can’t break up with him. Not right before the election.”

“Is it really such a big deal that you stay with him? Rose is single.”

“My mom is a Black woman running for public office against a rich white man. Everything is a big deal.” Lisa frowned, chewing the inside of her cheek. This was a debate she’d had with herself countless times already. It always ended with the same result. “Rose being single is not the same as me dumping the Buford County Citizenship Award winner. Everyone loves Shawn, especially right now. And if Shawn . . .”

“Loves you,” Charlene offered.

“Loves our family,” Lisa continued, as if that had been what she’d intended to say all along, “it can only make my mom look better. And you know in a race like this, every vote counts. What if people seeing him with our family is the thing that makes the difference between my mom winning and losing?”

Charlene sighed, her fingers tapping out the seconds against Lisa’s wrist. Finally, Lisa felt her concede with a tiny shrug. “Yeah. I get it. And I do want your mom to win, if for no other reason than to see the look on my mom’s face.” Charlene lifted their intertwined fingers to her lips to kiss the back of Lisa’s hand. “But it still sucks.”

“I know,” Lisa agreed, trailing the tips of her fingers along Charlene’s spine.

Charlene nestled even closer to Lisa’s side, her cheek coming to rest just over Lisa’s heart as she squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry for being a Jealous Judy.”

“A what?”

“Oh, did I not tell you about the new Sunday school curriculum my mom bought?” Lisa could practically feel her roll her eyes. “There are all these picture books, and each one is a cautionary tale about a different character. There’s Jealous Judy and Gossiping Gladys and Proud Patsy and—”

“Are they all girls?”

“Yup.”

“Wow.”

“Are you even surprised?”

“Not really.”

Charlene was quiet for a second, then giggled. “Slutty Sally.”

“Are you serious?”

“No.”

Lisa burst out laughing, her shoulders convulsing hard enough to shake the bed. “Kleptomaniac Karen,” she managed to gasp. “Murderous Mabel.”

“Farting Francine.”

“Burping Betsy.”

“Cussing Cathy.”

“Lesbian Lisa.”

That was enough to make Charlene lift her head, looking at Lisa with her mouth open. “You really just used the L-word!”

“I really did.”

“While talking about my mother.”

“Oh yuck, don’t make it weird. But see, this is why you have nothing to worry about. I could never feel about him the way I feel about you.”

“Promise?” Charlene grinned, leaning in for a kiss.

“Promise,” Lisa said, and they melted into each other. Charlene tasted like strawberries and summer; her soft curves felt like home. Lisa wished they could stay like this forever, just the two of them in their own little world.

“Char?” Lisa whispered into Charlene’s sweet scent. Her heart raced, but she was ready. She knew she was ready. And this felt like the right time. “I have another L-word for you.”

Charlene pulled back, looking into her eyes. Her face was flushed and hopeful, but a teasing smile still played on her lips. “Lemon? Light bulb? Lettuce?”

Lisa laughed. “Yup. Lettuce. You guessed it.” She swallowed, the rush of her own blood filling her ears, flooding her body with heat. She felt like she was teetering on the edge of a cliff, wind tickling the back of her neck, gravity already tugging her shoulders, urging her over the edge. Would she fall, or would she fly?