Shawna cracked up laughing. Courtney glared at her, so she tried to stop. It took some effort. "You know, for someone not gay, you’re very good at it. And that was done with remarkable enthusiasm-you know, for a not gay person."
Courtney smiled a bit, and blushed, and then said, "I don’t know. I just feel weird."
"For what it’s worth, I’d bet money that you’re bi, not gay," Shawna said. "You still like guys, I’m betting."
"Yeah."
"But, Court-you’re not straight. Not after that. Admit it to yourself."
Courtney thought about it, and said, "OK. You’re right. I enjoyed that way too much. In fact, it was mind-blowing."
"Right."
"It’s still weird. I mean, you told me you knew you liked girls when you were 14. How would you react if suddenly you found yourself in bed with a guy-and liking it?"
"It’s happened," Shawna admitted.
"Huh?"
"I’m not completely gay, that’s what I discovered. I’m probably 90-10. I am more physically attracted to girls, but I can be attracted to a guy. It has to be a guy a care a whole hell of a lot about before we ever get to that point, though. So, yes, I’ve been in bed with a guy-only one, but more than one time-and I thoroughly enjoyed it."
Light dawned over Courtney. "EVAN?"
"Yeah," Shawna admitted with a blush.
"But I thought Evan was…"
"He’s 90-10, too," Shawna told her. "I’m the only girl he’s ever been with. And, yes, it worked just fine," she smirked. Courtney laughed at that. "It’s mental attraction. Look, a lot of sex is about physical attraction-and you can have sex with just that, and very little mental attraction at all. What Evan and I found out is the opposite is also possible. We’re not particularly physically attracted to one another, because we’re both mostly gay-but we absolutely, positively love one another. Period. Any girl that I ever end up with, long-term, will have to understand that Evan will always be a part of my life, and that may include the odd trip to bed together." She laughed. "We’ve even talked about having a kid someday. I want kids. And Evan’s a whole hell of a lot more fun than a turkey baster."
Courtney laughed so hard that she almost choked. After she came back down, she looked at Shawna. "You were talking about attraction, mental and physical. Uh, what was this?"
"Both," Shawna smiled. "It was not just physical."
"It wasn’t?" Courtney squeaked.
"No, it wasn’t. Courtney, I like you a whole hell of a lot. I think I’m beginning to understand you. The person beneath all that baggage you tote around is pretty special."
"Oh, God," Courtney moaned, then started crying again. Shawna held her while she sobbed.
"It wasn’t just physical with you either, was it?" Shawna asked. Courtney shook her head. "Good," Shawna said. "You know, isn’t this how this whole thing started, with you crying in my arms?"
Courtney giggled through her sobs for a minute, then calmed down "Court?" Shawna asked. "Would you like to stay here with me tonight?"
"Very much so," Courtney said softly.
"Good."
They spent most of the rest of the weekend in bed, exploring, not coming out much except to eat. At one point Sunday night, Shawna got Courtney to admit that she loved it-but she also admitted that she liked a good fuck. That’s when Shawna introduced Courtney to her favorite strap-on. Courtney went nuts.
Afterwards, cuddling, Courtney said, "I am falling for you so fast it’s making my head spin."
"Good. Me too," Shawna grinned.
Before practice Monday, Shawna called Evan and they went for coffee. That’s when Shawna broke it to him.
"You need to know this, pal. Courtney and I became lovers this weekend."
Poor Evan almost choked on his coffee. "You are kidding!"
"Nope. Evan, listen to me, OK? You’ve always trusted my judgement. You will get that girl with honey, you understand me?"
"Yeah," Evan said. "I saw some of that this past week."
"Good. However, we have another problem."
The other problem showed up midway through their practice on Tuesday. Evan and Courtney were skating, working on some steps, when Evan felt Courtney suddenly stiffen up. She was looking past Evan, out of the rink. Evan turned, and saw.
"Mother. What are you doing here?" Courtney said.
"Why, darling, I told you I was coming! The house in Madison is up for sale, so I thought I’d come here and look to see what’s available. Now. Is Evan giving you a hard time?"
"No," Courtney said tightly. "Mother, if you buy a house out here, I won’t be moving into it."
"Of course you will. Where would you live?"
"Where I’m living now, with Shawna."
"Well, that just won’t do, you’ll have to move back in with me. After all, we know what she is."
Courtney stormed off the rink to face her mother, more furious than she’d ever been in her life. "No, I don’t know, Mother. What is she?"
"You know. She’s a lesbian." Mrs. Rogers said ‘lesbian’ like she might have said ‘axe murderer’.
"Is she? Hmmm. Well, then I guess I am, too-since I moved into her bed on Saturday night." Mrs. Rogers went ghost-white at that. "That’s right, Shawna and I are lovers. And it’s not for skating reasons, and it’s not because I’m trying to keep a guy around-it’s because we wanted to. I’ve discovered I’m bisexual. And Shawna and I are sharing a bed, and that’s all there is to it."
"NO IT IS NOT!" Mrs. Rogers shrieked. "That’s it, you’ve been corrupted, I am getting you out of here!"
"I’m 19 years old, you can’t make me do anything," Courtney said. She turned to her partner. "Evan, can you get her banned from the rink?"
"Surely," Evan said.
"Good," Courtney said. "Mother, for the first time in my life, I’m where I want to be, not where I have to be. With Evan. With Shawna. And without you. Go back to Wisconsin." And then she turned her back.
Her mother flew back to Madison that day.
A few days later, Courtney was sitting in the living room, staring at the phone. Shawna knew what was going on, and gave her privacy.
After an hour of staring, Courtney finally picked up the phone, and dialed. She knew the person on the other end wouldn’t recognize Shawna’s number, so she hoped they’d pick up.
They did. "Hello?" she heard.
She took a deep breath. "Ryan? It’s Courtney. Please don’t hang up."
"Courtney? What do you want?" he snorted back over the line.
"Just this." She took another breath. "I’m sorry, for everything. Good luck with your new partner. And thank you." Then, she quietly set the phone back on the cradle.
CHOREOGRAPHERS TO THE STARS (Chapter 156)
Warren and Sophia had a busy summer for themselves. They had all those programs of their own to work on, and many others.
Some were easier, because they were closer. Ryan and Amy worked in their rink, so that was real easy to coordinate. Allison Bowman and Tom Bellamy were close by, so that was easy to coordinate. Especially since Tom was around a lot, anyway, visiting with Kristin.
"So, how’s it going to feel in September, going out with a Harvard woman?" Warren teased him.
"Horrible, I feel so inadequate," he mock-moaned.
"Ah, shaddap," Kristin said.
"She’ll have a ball. Harvard girl, going out with a scruffy figure skater."
"Oh, stop it, will you?" Kris told him. "It’s going to be Harvard girl going out with gold medalist, anyway. That ought to get me some notoriety."
"After I won the medal at Worlds last year," Allison said, "Eddie was the star of the school for a while."
"I get some of that, well, I did when school was in," Kristin said.
"Harvard will be different. Those snobs won’t be impressed," Tom grinned.
"Until you come visit and they see what a hunk you are," Kristin joked.
They leisurely worked on the competitive programs for Tom, Allison, and Ryan and Amy throughout the early summer. Ryan and Amy also needed programs for the Pro-Am-they were going to the Canadian one. Since those weren’t ‘serious’ programs, they mostly planned to do those themselves. However, one day Amy cornered Warren and Sophia.