I looked at the flaking blue paint of Destiny's front door and scratched at the flaking red skin of my shoulder. This sucked. 

Not just the sunburn. 

In some ways, the sunburn was the best part of this. It was a reminder of the incredible week in Miami I had spent with my best friend. We ruled the city sidewalks in our matching dresses, danced with each other to the tunes of street musicians, and stood on the beach admiring the warm colors of the sunset. Destiny confidently stood in her tie-dye bikini not caring a bit about her stretch marks and love handles despite the thin women with flat abs jogging on the boardwalk behind us. The seawater on her mahogany skin sparkling in the sunlight as her damp curls blew in the wind, she was stunning. And it was that moment I realized I was madly in love with my best friend.

So yeah, what sucked about this was the fact that I was going to confess I was lesbian to my best friend who I was in love with while looking like the Christmas version of Donald Trump. Fuck my life.

Staring at the doorbell, I fidgeted in my sandals. Thinking maybe it had just been the atmosphere of our Miami vacation, I waited a week after our return home to see if the lovesick high would go away. Needless to say, it did not. That week milling around the house, I strangely became hyper aware of... well, my gayness. The straight couple making out on Jane the Virgin, my brother promising to come visit with his wife and son for 4th of July... When I saw my mom giving my step-dad a greeting kiss after she came home from work, I randomly found myself saying, "Uh, so... What if I want to kiss a girl?"

My parents rotated their heads towards me, my mom's lips still frozen in a pucker.

My step-dad nodded. "Then kiss her," he replied, casually.

I stared at him dumbfounded. Maybe he misunderstood "I mean... I might be lesbian."

Maybe it was stupid coming out like that. I'd only spent a week thinking. And while my parents had never said anything bad about anyone LGBTQ, I couldn't ever remember them saying anything good either.

My mom's expression was unreadable, so I couldn't tell what she was thinking. It was only then that the panic began to sink in. What had I done? What if they kicked me out of the house? Or forbid me from having female friends?

"I kind of had a feeling," my Mom said, cutting off my freak out. "Anyway, did your brother call to say when he's getting on the road?"

So yeah, I had spontaneously come out to my parents and it had gone well. So I had to come out to my best friend, right? I remembered last year, when we went to Starbucks after school, we saw a lesbian couple holding hands at a table. Destiny had said, "Aw, they're cute." So, she'd probably accept me, right? I'd just leave out the part about being in love with her.

I pushed a shaky finger against the doorbell. Within seconds, the door swung open and Destiny appeared, beaming. Her curly hair was up in a bun and her shorts flaunted her soft thighs. She pulled me into a hug.

"Ow!" I hissed as a searing pain shot through my arms and shoulders.

"Oh shit, Kayla. Sorry! It still hasn't healed?" Destiny winced like she literally felt my pain.

"What I wouldn't do for your beautiful melanin," I whined, hugging her. Then I let go, remembering I couldn't just go hugging her like I used to now that I had different feelings.

She let out one of her dorky, cute laughs. "I'm not invincible. I got sunburn as a kid once. But yes, this melanin is poppin'."

I grinned, falling in love all over again with Destiny's personality, and she took my hand and led me to her sofa.

Destiny had always been touchy-feely. And it wasn't until I realized I was in love with her that every touch started to make my heart race. Now that she was going to know I was lesbian, I was sure she'd never touch me like that again, even if she did accept me.

"So what's this big news you texted about?" she asked, still smiling as we sat down. "My parents and sister aren't here, so spill everything."

My own smile turned apprehensive. "Uh... Maybe we should chill first," I suggested, grabbing the remote and pressing the power button. The Netflix home screen popped up. Fuck. Netflix and chill took on a whole other meaning when you were sitting beside your crush.

Destiny was quiet for a second, then slouched back onto the sofa and said, "Sure. But you're not leaving here without telling me this big news. Don't wimp out."

Destiny knew I was stalling, and she was considerate enough not to pressure me into telling her immediately. Telling her I had 'big news' then delaying like this wasn't fair to her. I turned off the TV and set the remote down on the glass coffee table. Destiny sat up straight and turned her sparkling dark brown eyes towards me. She was so pretty and her eyebrows were on fleek as always. I rubbed my own thin ones, then tucked my short red hair behind my ear. "Okay, so..." Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes. "I... kind of came out to my parents?" I parted my eyelids and glanced over at Destiny.

She stared at me blankly. "Of the closet? Like, the gay closet? Or... a different closet?..." Destiny's eyes scanned my body, passing over my hair―cut from shoulder to ear-length right before summer―then landing on my small boobs.

"What?!" I threw my arms over my chest. "No! I mean... Well, I told my parents... I was lesbian."

Expression still blank, Destiny repeated, "You're... lesbian?"

"Yeah?..."

Destiny's eyebrows lowered and her face turned dark. Oh shit. She hated me. "Kayla... what?..." She sighed. "Uh... Okay, so, like, what did they say?"

"Uh, they were cool―"

"Okay, Girl. Sorry. I tried to be supportive but WHAT IS THIS? You're coming out to me by telling me you came out to your parents?! Like you know you never told me, right?! You've got the order all fucked up!"

I blinked in surprise at her outburst and tried to process her words. "Uh... I'm lesbian?"

Destiny gazed heavily at me, her full lips flattened into a straight line. Yep, she hated me. My life was over. Suddenly, my best friend rotated towards me, leaned her elbow on the back of the couch, and gave a small smirk. "Well, congrats on coming out and being accepted. That's really cool, Kayla. I'm happy for you."

My too-long eyelashes fluttered as I blinked in a flustered shock. "Wait? You're okay with it?"

Destiny raised one of her well-formed eyebrows. "Yeah? I'd be a hypocrite if I wasn't."

A hypocrite. "Huh? Is someone you know gay?" I tried to think of Destiny's family members. Her older sister was seeing a guy and her little sister was eight. Even if little Hope was gay, I doubted a second grader had the self-awareness or courage to come out.

Destiny bit her lip. "Well, I'm bi."

My eyes turned to saucers. "Bi?"

"You're officially the only person who knows."

Mouth hanging open, I stared at Destiny. Destiny was bi?! Like, she liked guys and girls? Destiny took her fingers and placed them under my chin, then lifted them to close my mouth.

"So, like, I'm lesbian and you're bi," I confirmed dumbly.

Destiny nodded. "Guess so." She shifted so she was facing forward again with her back resting against the couch.

Wow. "What now?"

We both sat in silence. Destiny stared at the pitch black screen of the TV and I stared at my lap. 'Well, we could make out,' I imagined her saying. As my fantasy went further, my cheeks began to flush to degrees probably matching the redness of my sunburn.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Destiny turn her head towards me.

Sometimes I became just so obsessed with a thought to where my brain stopped fully processing things and I ended up throwing three sheets to the wind without thinking of the possible repercussions. It was how I'd come out to my parents so randomly. And it was how I ended up saying to Destiny, "So... I know that we've been friends for over a year and I know that just because you're bi doesn't mean you'll like any girl. Obviously." I rolled my eyes. "But, I kind of maybe sort of―okay, yeah, sorry but I have a crush on you."

From the corner of my eye, I didn't see Destiny move. "For real?" she asked, and I thought I detected a bit of excitement in her voice so I turned my head towards her.

Her full lips slowly formed into a smile that widened into a grin. She placed her hands on my cheeks, red from sunburn and embarrassment. And Destiny pressed her lips into mine.

The stinging in my cheeks spread like fire through my veins. It burned so good.

Destiny pulled her lips away from mine and smirked. "I've wanted to do that for a year, Kayla."

My jaw dropped again. And again, Destiny helped me close it with her fingers.

"Ahh!" I squealed, squeezing Destiny in a hug. She started to hug me back then hesitated. "It's okay, you can hug me."

"Doesn't it hurt?"

I smiled against her shoulder. "Fuck that. Squeeze me until I turn to mush." I already felt like mush though. A good mush.

Destiny hugged me gently and we stayed like that for a while.

"It's burning up," I said against Destiny's warm shoulder, just remembering her mom's policy was not to run the AC when only one person was in the house. The air coming through the windows did little when there was no breeze. "I feel like I'm melting."

Destiny pulled away enough so that she could see my face, then gave another smile that made my heart flutter. "Let's melt together," she teased. And then she hugged and kissed me again, refanning the flames of my heart. And my sunburn. 

Afterword: This is my first g/g story and it took courage to write. It's honestly one step in the direction of combatting the bit of internalized homophobia I experience. Yep, as much of a vocal activist as I am, I still experience IH. So your support by reading really means a lot to me. I submitted this to the @lgbtq 2017 Sun-kissed contest after coming upon a reminder about it and realizing this one-shot qualified. Even if I don't win, I'm really proud to have completed this story. Thanks so much for reading! Again, it means a lot. 😁 💕‍👩‍❤️‍👩