The girls walked out of the dressing room together hand in hand, and right into the family reunion occurring outside.

“Girls, we’ve been looking all over for you. Clay and Glen were thinking that we should spend the rest of the day at the beach. I’d prefer to do a little miniature golfing, but hey, majority rules, right?” Arthur said, oblivious to the fact that Ashley and Spencer had walked out of the dressing room together.

“What’s going on here?” Paula fumed, walking quickly towards the girls.

“Mom…” Clay said, knowing that no good could come from the situation.

“No! Spencer needs to answer the question. What were you two doing in there together?!”

It took Ashley everything she had not to tell Paula the truth, however, she didn’t have to.

“We’re…me and Ashley…we’re….”Spencer stammered.

“Spencer, it’s none of our business,” Arthur said, his eyes on Paula.

“No, she needs to hear this…everyone does,” Spencer replied, tightly gripping Ashley’s hand, “I’m with Ashley. We’re together. She’s my girlfriend, and I’m not going to hide her or feel ashamed just because it’s not what everyone wants for me. I’m happy, and I can’t make excuses for that. I won’t…I won’t make excuses. I love her.”

Ashley was shocked, not only with Spencer’s sudden strength, but with her very public declaration of love.

“Spencer, all we can want is for you to be honest about who you are. We’re going to love you no matter what…no matter what,” Arthur said, hugging a still shaking Spencer.

Paula’s face was contorted with anger, tears streaming down her face, “Spencer, this is…this is ridiculous. She…she made you this way. What? All of a sudden you’re g…g…I can’t even say it!”

“Yes, I’m gay. And if it wasn’t Ashley it would have been some other girl, some other time. Though, I’m totally glad it was her,” Spencer said, smiling at a still shocked Ashley.

“Spencer, this is a conversation for later,” Paula said and quickly left the store, her mid-life crisis following her out.

“Hey, Ashley,” Arthur said, pulling Ashley away from the rest, “Can you take Spencer to your house? I have a feeling you two can use some time to talk. A lot just happened and I’m sure you can help Spencer through the initial process. Make sure she’s back by midnight, ok? I have a few things I need to say to her as well.”

“Uh, yeah. Of course, Mr. C.”

The two girls left, Ashley hailing a cab to take them to her house. They didn’t speak. Ashley didn’t know what to say. Spencer had proven to be a lot more affective at standing up for herself than Ashley had anticipated and for some reason it made her feel less…needed?

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable back there,” Spencer finally said.

“No, I was fine. No worries,” Ashley lied.

“Are you sure? I mean, I didn’t mean to come out to everybody that way, exactly. I just felt like I was being unfair to you if by being with you it would mean hiding how I feel about you all the time…to everyone.”

“Spencer, you shouldn’t have done it for me, you should’ve done it for yourself.”

“I did it for me too. Though I can’t say that if my mom hadn’t said all those horrible things to you, today would’ve been the big coming out day,” Spencer replied.

“Well, it happened…”

“Yeah, and I’m glad. I feel relieved, you know? It feels good to be myself.”

“Well, great,” Ashley said with a tight smile.

“Oh God, please tell me we’re ok. I can’t take another fight! I might explode,” Spencer replied with a laugh.

“No, we’re fine,” Ashley said, pleading with herself not to add anymore drama to Spencer’s day, “trust me. I’m just…I’m distracted. I can’t wait to get you to my house…continue where we left off in the dressing room.”

“Sounds good…” Spencer replied, kissing Ashley on the cheek.

As the girls entered the cool air of the taxi, Ashley couldn’t help but feel the pressure of Spencer’s declaration…and the moment in which she would have to respond.