Just One Week

Martha - 5 Years Ago

Dad had already left, probably to go hang out with some friends, by the time Martha headed out that morning. There was a good chance the day would end with her breaking several rules of his, but, at this point, she didn’t have it in her to care.

It was all bullshit. The way he tried to get James into things James clearly wasn’t into. All the “masculine” things like sports and cars. It was ironic, really. Martha herself cared a lot more about those things, but because she happened to be a girl, Dad couldn’t care less about her interests. He didn’t push her towards more feminine things the same way as he pushed James, however. He probably would have, but he was almost comically clueless about any of that. Not that Martha needed the push, but it would have been nice not to have to learn how to do her eyeliner from YouTube. When she’d found out her dad’s parents had bribed that judge to give him full custody… well, she’d been livid.

To be honest, maybe Aunt Becky should lay off the liquor.

She made her way out towards Brock Street, before turning to head west. She continued that way for a while, before turning south onto Main Street. It was only a couple blocks from there to her destination.

Graduation had been a couple days prior. Finally, there was nothing left really keeping her here.

Except for Sarah.

The two had been classmates as long as Martha could remember, but they hadn’t really talked until the previous June. They’d both been at their high school’s prom, invited by grade twelve boys neither could really have cared less about. The truth was, they were both gay, and they were really only interested in getting into prom to have fun. They pretty much instantly ditched their ‘dates’ as soon as pictures were taken.

They’d ended up striking up a conversation about their favourite music, the majority of which would probably have given their religious parents a heart attack if they knew that they listened to it.

They exchanged contact information that night, and kept in touch during the summer, often getting together to hang out.

They were officially girlfriends by the time they started grade twelve in September. They kept it a secret, though, since both knew for a fact that their parents would have an issue. Or parent, singular, for Martha, since mom was long gone. Martha considered trying to get in touch, but she had no idea what her mom’s phone number or email address or anything was, especially after eight years.

That was in the past, though. In the present, Martha enthusiastically greeted her girlfriend with a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, Sarah!”

“Hi, Martha! Your dad didn’t give you any trouble, did he?”

Martha shook her head. “Nah. He was out when I left. You?”

Sarah shrugged. “You know my parents don’t really care what I do that much. I mean, that would probably change if they knew we were together, but…”

Martha nodded. “My dad’s already strict enough as is.”

“Wanna get somewhere more private?” Sarah asked.

Martha nodded. “Oh, fuck yeah.”

They continued walking south. Eventually, the houses gave way to trees. The two girls turned onto a trail, making their way in, before turning off to get some cover from the trees.

“Now I can greet you properly,” Sarah said, planting a kiss on Martha’s lips.

Martha hummed in appreciation. “We don’t always need this much privacy, Sarah. You’re so paranoid.”

“We’ve literally nearly been caught by my next door neighbour before.”

Martha sighed. “Yeah, good point. God, I can’t wait to leave.”

“What’s stopping you?”

“James,” Martha replied. “He already has it even rougher than I do. If I’m not around, it might get worse.”

“Or it might not. Seriously Martha, we can just leave. We’ve graduated, we’re both gonna be in Toronto by fall anyway.”

Martha bit her lip. “I guess.” She leaned against a nearby tree. “Enough heavy shit, though. We have plans, do we not?”

Sarah nodded. “Yup! Timmy’s and a movie.”

---

The movie in question was the new Pixar movie, Inside out. It was good, which was to be expected from that studio. Outside of one movie, they seemed incapable of making a bad movie.

Afterwards, they ended up walking back to Sarah’s place. Her parents weren’t home, probably at some social gathering. Whatever the case, Sarah said they wouldn’t be home until the early morning, which was more than fine.

It was getting to late afternoon by the time they got to Sarah’s house. They went to the side door, and Sarah fished her keys out of her pocket, unlocking the door. The two girls headed inside, giggling quietly to themselves.

They had the house to themselves. They made their way up to Sarah’s bedroom. They continued chatting about various topics, such as the degrees they were both going for. Sarah was intending to pursue graphic design, while Martha would be in creative writing.

Eventually, they ran out of topics to discuss, which led to some kissing, among other things.

---

Martha could not stop smiling as she and Sarah heated up some leftovers in the microwave. Neither girl had bothered to fully redress, instead wearing only a tshirt and panties each.

They put on a movie while they ate. It was some cheesy romcom from a decade ago. The two lesbians both rolled their eyes at the silly straight people, making constant comments about how much cooler it would be if both the characters were girls.

“No, I could totally see her going for him if he was a girl instead. Doesn’t even need to be less buff, ya know?” Martha said.

Sarah laughed. “Straight girls do exist, Martha.”

Martha rolled her eyes. “Somehow. You’d think the constant shittiness of guys would turn them off, but guess not.”

Sarah laughed.

“Seriously, though, Sarah. I wanna write this, right? But I want it to be gay. I want cheesy lesbian romcoms, and I wanna write them.”

When the movie ended, they cleaned up their dishes.

Then Martha checked her phone, and her heart sank.

Nine Forty-Five PM. She would not make it home before curfew.

“What is it?” Sarah asked. Martha wordlessly showed her the phone screen. “Oh, shit.”

Martha felt like she was about to panic. She tried taking a deep breath. “What am I going to do? Oh my god, my dad is gonna be so pissed off…”

Sarah was also panicking to a lesser extent. “Ok… ok… so… fuck. You could… fuck, I don’t know, Martha.”

Martha nodded. “I- I- I should probably pack up and head home, right?”

Sarah frowned. “You probably should. Or…”

“Or?”

“Stay the night.”

Martha protested, “Sarah, I can’t. That’ll only make things worse! And I can’t stay away forever-”

“He’s not at your house all the time though,” Sarah said.

“What are you suggesting?”

“Stay the night here. Tomorrow morning, before my parents wake up, we’ll set an alarm. I’ll sneak you out, we go back to your place, wait until your dad leaves, then go in, grab your stuff, and grab a bus out of town.”

Martha’s eyes widened. “R-run away?”

Sarah nodded. “We’re leaving in two months anyway. We’ll take the bus to Stouffville. We can catch a train from there into Toronto.”

“Ok,” Martha said. “Ok. I think… yeah.” She frowned. “I don’t want to just abandon James like that, though.”

“You can text him to say goodbye, yeah?”

Martha nodded. “I could, but I’d rather do it in person…”

“Alright, Martha,” Sarah said.

They continued planning for the next day late into the night. They finally went to bed around midnight. They were sharing Sarah’s bed, which was a tight squeeze with two of them, but they managed.

And, despite the stressful situation, Martha founded it very relaxing to fall asleep in the arms of her girlfriend.