Gayle and Steven were at a bar downtown for the night, sipping from little shot glasses. Steven put his glass down on the table upside down and grinned. That was his fourth, he was beating his wife by two now. Gayle finished her second and leaned back, belching, making him laugh. Tonight she seemed to be a little more open to having fun, and he was happy about it. Hell, she hadn't checked her phone in an hour, which felt like she deserved a chip for.

"You wanna get some disgusting bar food?" Steven asked, opening the menu, "we could get a huge thing of nachos."

"Nachos are always a good choice, can't go wrong there," Gayle said, scooting out from the booth, "I'm gonna go to the bar and get something else to drink."

With that, she headed through the crowded bar and approached the bar, where the bartender was clearly very busy. But she didn't mind waiting, she figured it'd only make the alcohol taste all the better. Leaning against the bar, running a hand through her hair, she heard the sound of someone stand beside her and looked to see a beautiful woman around her age, in a tight black dress with straightened dark brown hair standing there. The two women smiled politely at one another, and then the woman put her empty glass on the bartop.

"It takes forever when it's this crowded," she said, "You're almost better off staying at home and getting drunk."

"We would, but we don't live here and we'd rather not have easily accessible alcohol around our children," Gayle said, making the woman nod as she pulled a cigarette case from her purse and lit one, taking a long puff.

"Fair enough," she replied, "Are you visiting? Tourists?"

"Yeah, vacation," Gayle said, "Honestly, much as I tried to deny it, I needed it."

"You probably work too much, yeah? You just strike me as that type," the woman said.

"Well, thanks for the unsolicited judgement, total stranger," Gayle remarked, the both of them laughing. After she got her drinks, she turned to head back to the table, then stopped and looked back at the woman, asking, "would you like to join my husband and I? It'd be nice to have some company."

The woman grinned and put out her cigarette.

                                                                           ***

Jasmine was asleep, and Laura had the hotel room all to herself. Jasmine, nestled in their parents bed in the other room, had her noise cancelling headphones over her ears and was covered in blankets, so she would be out likely until they either got home, or the morning, whichever came first. This amount of freedom gave Laura immense satisfaction, as she felt like she never had this type of thing at home. That being said, she didn't know what to do with it. Laying on the floor of the suite, the TV on mute as she flipped through channels, she couldn't help but think of Hannah.

She stopped on a movie on some upper channel, and watched. The movie featured a woman getting out of a shower and folding a towel around herself before heading into her bedroom to get dressed. Laura pulled her legs closer to her chest, feeling anxious. Was this a horror movie? It felt like a horror movie. She continued to watch closely as the woman began getting dressed, until another woman entered the room. Suddenly the entire tone shifted, and Laura felt her chest tighten, but for an entirely different reason. She watched intently as the second woman approached the first and reached out, touching her shoulders as the towel dropped from her. The two women began kissing gently, and suddenly Laura understood what she was watching. Something she shouldn't be, and yet something so enticing she couldn't look away or change the channel.

This was all she wanted. She wanted to kiss another girl. Maybe not naked, she didn't feel confident enough in her looks for that level of intimacy, but she wanted to taste another girls lips on her own. Laura grabbed the nearby throw blanket and pulled it over herself, feeling embarrassed. She scrunched her legs together, hoping to make the feeling between them stop. All she had to do was change the channel, but...she couldn't bring herself to use the remote. Her eyes were glued to the screen, and her heart was glued to the thought. And then, just when she thought things couldn't get anymore emotionally confusing or awkward...

...she started thinking about Hannah.

                                                                           ***

"No I live and work in the area," the woman, whose named turned out to be Sasha, said as she lit up another cigarette. Gayle, having once been a routine smoker herself, didn't mind, and honestly she found the smell rather nostalgic, making her wistful for her college days.

"What is it you do?" Steven asked as he sipped on his drink.

"I," Sasha said as she leaned back against the booth and crossed her legs, "own a little boutique downtown. Nothing incredible, but it's nice. We do good enough business. It's not a bad way to make a living. Course, I realize I'm lucky, cause my husband comes from money, so I'm able to just do this kinda for fun."

"I wish my hobby could be my career," Gayle said quietly, making Steven grimace. He knew she was tired of her job, but she made the most money between them, and they both couldn't see themselves surviving financially without her income.

"You know," Sasha said, "it isn't all it's cut out to be. It's neat, and it's nice I don't have to worry, but...I kind of wish I did have to. Having things be so easy is boring. But that line of thought probably comes from being able to have things so easy, so who knows. Speak of the devil, here he comes."

Gayle and Steven looked up, just to see a handsome man in a suit approach the table and seat himself beside Sasha. Sasha leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, making him smile.

"This is my husband," Sasha said, "Jason, this is Gayle and Steven, they're tourists."

Jason leaned across the table and shook both their hands, then took Sasha's drink and finished it.

"Sorry I was a little late," he said, "I was on a work call. Thankfully now I have the rest of the week off, which is great, I need the rest. So how do you guys like the Keys?"

"It's been interesting. Good climate, at least for right now. We'll see how I feel if a hurricane hits while we're here," Gayle said, sipping on her drink. Overall it had been a decent enough trip thusfar. Gayle was still struggling to not work, and struggling to let herself just relax, but it was getting easier by the day, especially the more Steven tried to find fun things for them to do, and especially if they met more fun people like Sasha and Jason. Course, Gayle had no idea of their actual motives.

                                                                             ***

Laura was hiding in the bathroom. It was the only way she could pull herself away from the movie on the TV.

Sitting on the side of the bathtub, almost near tears. Laura felt awful. She didn't want to be like this. She didn't. She wanted to be like the other girls she knew, the ones who wanted boys. Instead, Hannah completely took over her mind and wouldn't leave. Would her parents even accept her if they knew? They seemed loving enough, open minded enough, but who knows. She didn't want to risk losing her family just for the sake of love. She scrunched up her face, her eyes squinting shut, her teeth grinding, trying so hard not to cry.

It would be so easy. To just go over to Hannah's room, tell her everything, even if she didn't feel the same, and move on with her life. But she couldn't be honest with herself. Her own parents couldn't even be honest with themselves, how could she possibly be? Ever since she'd been little, maybe 7 years old, Laura could remember seeing pretty women on TV or out in public, or seeing girls in her class or at her school, that she just felt instinctually drawn to and she never understood why. Now, as a teenager in high school, she got it. It all made sense. And yet none of it made sense. There was simply no winning in this situation. So what was she to do? Simply harbor these feelings until late adulthood when she didn't have to worry about being supported by her parents? And that all hinged on the off chance that she managed to survive without their help.

Hannah.

Hannah and her big teeth and her blonde hair and her long, slender legs. Hannah and her high pitched laugh. Hannah and her soft skin. Laura felt her breathing quicken, her chest tighten. She shut her eyes and she could see Hannah's face clear as day. God, how to escape this. Could one escape this? She didn't know. All she knew was that she wanted to kiss her, and that that scared the hell out of her more than anything else ever had. The weird thing was, too, Laura had had crushes before, like the girl in her chess club at school. But something about Hannah felt different. Like...maybe this was what something beyond a general crush felt like? Maybe this was genuine love? That scared her even more though, to be honest. She slipped back into the bathtub and covered her head with a towel, crying. The funny thing was, if she knew her parents better, Laura would realize just how similar they actually were to one another, and she might not be as scared as she was to be herself.

                                                                         ***

"I gotta say," Sasha said as she approached the bar where Gayle was ordering some food, "you guys are probably the coolest tourists we've met this summer. Like, usually we meet these boring, prissy upperclass types, and they just have no personality anymore, you know? Everything that maybe once made them cool has been driven out of them by their quest for venture capital."

"I like the way you think," Gayle said, chuckling, "you're right, I try very hard to maintain the identity I've always had. I know I have to work, I know that my job takes a lot of time and effort, but I don't want it to become my soul identifying characteristic, you know?"

"Let me ask you a question, just because of, like, how you and Steven have acted tonight...are you guys okay?" Sasha asked, and Gayle sighed, looking back over her shoulder at Steven and Jason, laughing back at the booth.

"It's complicated," she said, "I mean, we still love eachother, but I work too much - and I acknowledge this - and I think he feels bad that he doesn't work more. I don't think he's insecure enough to be mad that I make more money, we're happy with whatever we can bring in and whoever brings it in doesn't matter, but I think he wishes he could be more successful for his own sake, if that makes sense? And then I feel guilty cause I wonder if I'm working so much I'm missing my daughters lives and...it's complicated."

Sasha nodded, listening as she finished her beer and put the empty bottle on the bartop, then reached over and put her hand on Gayle's thigh.

"Jason and I know a way to make things more interesting, bring you guys closer," she said quietly, and Gayle froze up.

Moments later, she had rushed back to the booth, food not in hand, and dragged Steven off outside for a 'cigarette', or so she claimed. Once outside, Steven couldn't understand why she'd done this. Standing out front, hearing the pulsing rock music from indoors, all he wanted to do was go back inside and keep drinking and being social.

"They're swingers, you idiot," Gayle said, "they're swingers and they literally locked onto us for that. Sasha just invited us back to their loft for the night."

"Really?" Steven asked, sounding genuinely surprised, "odd, neither one comes off like that. Though, it's kinda nice that people that attractive have interest in us, I guess. Makes me feel like I'm in college again."

"I...kinda wanna go," Gayle said, surprising him further.

"Excuse me?" he asked, half laughing.

"They're nice people, and...and it would be fun, ya know? To do something exciting like that," Gayle said, "and we could take turns and-"

"Wait wait wait, you're okay with another woman wanting to be with me?" Steven asked.

"She doesn't want you as much as she wants me," Gayle whispered, and this caught Steven completely off guard. He started cackling anxiously, almost unable to control himself. Just then, Jason and Sasha joined them outside, and Steven had to quickly collect himself.

"We're gonna head home for the night," Jason said, "I'm exhausted, been workin' all day. But hopefully we'll see you guys around again before you leave."

Sasha grabbed Gayle's hand and wrote something on her palm, then leaned in and whispered.

"In case you change your mind," she said quietly, making Gayle shiver. With that, Sasha and Jason exited the area and headed towards the parking lot where their car was. Gayle looked at her hand and Steven did as well, completely confused. He knew Gayle was bisexual, he knew she'd been with women, but he'd never actually seen anything between her and another woman happen until now. He smiled and put his hand on her lower back.

"Well," he said, "she has great taste in women."

Gayle blushed, and kissed her husband on the cheek.

"Come on," she said, "it's getting late. We should get back to the hotel."

                                                                           ***

Laura was laying on the couch again when her folks arrived, Jasmine still sound asleep in their bed. Steven went right into the bedroom to check on her before getting into the shower, while Gayle seated herself on the couch and ran her hand through her daughters hair.

"You have an okay night?" she asked, and Laura shrugged.

"It was...weird," Laura said and Gayle laughed, nodding in agreement.

"It sure was," she said, "Are you feeling okay?"

"The other day, Hannah and I went to get something from the vending machine and there were these two women kissing in the hallway," Laura said, "and...I guess I've just never seen that before, in like, real life, and it was surprising. They were really nice though, they waved at us."

"They just want to express the way they feel about eachother, same as any other couple," Gayle said, rubbing her daughters back, "it's not unusual. I mean, love is one of the most fantastic things you can get in this world, and everyone should be allowed to experience it, regardless of their orientation. I know your father and I fight a lot, especially lately, but fighting doesn't mean we don't love one another. If anything we're fighting because we want what's best for eachother, and for you girls. Did seeing that make you feel uncomfortable?"

"No, it felt..." Laura stopped herself, biting her lip; she exhaled and shut her eyes, "it felt right."

Gayle smiled and kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"Well," Gayle said, "as my mother used to tell me, what feels right can't be wrong. Now that's a generalization and gives plenty of leeway to questionable morals, but the overall gist is the point. If it felt right to you, then it's right for you."

Gayle pulled the blanket up over Laura and said goodnight before heading into her and Steven's room. Laura rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, thinking about what her mother had said. In a way, it felt like her mother had made it excessively clear that the way she felt was fine, and she wouldn't be judged for it, but Laura still felt uncomfortable about it. And then her thoughts turned to the women in the hallway, and to Hannah. She blushed and pulled the covers high up to her face, shutting her eyes. Imagining the feeling of pressing her lips against Hannah's, and drifted off to a nice sleep.

Her mom was right.

It was right for her.