He She It

nineteen: the racist extraordinaire

"Calm down."

Lilly slid a cup of camomile tea towards Eve and then pushed herself up to sit on the kitchen counter. There was quiet for a minute, interrupted only by Eve's occassional sniffing, Lilly's feet hitting the cupboard, and Richard's shouts of "get in, lads!" at the rugby match he was watching (unfortunately, he had become a fairly permanent fixture in Lilly's house - he had even stayed the night yesterday, to her utter horror - and he wasn't exactly the most desirable house-guest. So far, he'd blocked the toilet twice, filled their fridge with beer, and spilt curry all over their very white, very new living room carpet).

(Richard, of course, blamed the Indians).

While Eve sipped her tea and blew her nose into the stack of tissues that had been thrown at her as soon as she'd started crying, Lilly sent a text to Grace - which in hindsight she should probably have made slightly less panicked, because all it read was: 'S.O.S. It's Eve. My house, now,' and from what she'd actually remembered from that one, utterly horrific biology lesson, pregnant women were ideally not meant to be panicked.

Lilly just prayed she hadn't shocked her into labour. Eve's crisis alone was most definitely stressful enough without adding contractions and amniotic fluid into the equation.

Or, for that matter, adding Richard into the equation. He came into the kitchen, took two beers from from the fridge, and then cast a glance towards Eve. His eyes looked as though they were about to fall out of his skull.

(This, Lilly had to admit, would probably be the most desirable outcome to the situation).

"Holy shit!" he said, and Lilly buried her head in her hands and prayed the whole thing would be over as soon as his rugby match came back on. "It's a tranny!"

"Jesus Christ," Lilly muttered. "This is not happening."

Evidently, though, it was, and Richard advanced towards Eve with the same sickening grin he'd had on his face when he emerged from Lilly's Mum's bedroom this morning. Eve stared up at him with her bloodshot eyes, looking more fed-up than offended.

"You didn't tell me your friend was a gender-bender, Lilly," he said, letting out one of his croaky 'I've smoked forty a day for forty years' laughs and leaning against the wall. "First the pregnant one, now this? Next you'll be bringing an Asian home!"

Lilly and Eve shared a glance, both of them wondering just what Richard would say if he knew that Lilly's best friend was not only Korean, but also so gay it was probably illegal (in Alabama, anyway) and was most likely making out with her girlfriend right this moment, blissfully unaware of the chaos currently ensuing. Eve rolled her eyes and mouthed 'Richard?'

Lilly nodded. "Come on, Eve," she said, jumping down from the kitchen counter and giving Richard her most potent glare. "Let's go upstairs."

"See you, sweetheart," Richard said, cracking one of his beers open and taking a swig. "It was nice meeting you."

"Wish I could say the same for you," Eve muttered, trailing after Lilly with her mug of tea in hand - although it seemed a little pointless, because she'd probably need about fifty cups of the stuff and then a shot of anesthesia before she calmed down about this. "Dickhead."

Ahead of her, Lilly let out a snort.

"I see what you mean now, Lil," Eve said as soon as they were in Lilly's bedroom and safely away from the racist extraordinaire downstairs. "He really is a delight."

"He likes to call himself a 'classic lad,'" Lilly said, glancing outside of her bedroom window to see Grace's Mum's car pulling into her driveway. "I'm pretty sure that's code for offensive bastard." She waved at Grace and then held up a finger, praying for her sake that she didn't knock and become the next lucky victim of Richard and his self-proclaimed 'quality banter.' "Wait here a minute, I'll just go and let Grace in."

The second she opened the door, Grace gave her a thousand different reasons (all in the form of angry shrieks) to regret not making her earlier text less foreboding. On the brightside, her baby still appeared to be very firmly inside of her - and this was the one positive Lilly focussed on as they walked upstairs, Grace ranting all the way.

"Lillian Martin!" she screamed. "I am pregnant. You can't send me texts like that! You have to at least confirm that nobody's died, for God - Lilly, are you listening to me? I am a pregnant woman."

"Grace," Lilly said, pausing on the top step and glancing over her shoulder. "Please shut up."

"Don't tell me to shut up! What the hell is happening, Lilly? What's the S.O-"

Lilly placed a finger to her lips and dragged Grace into the bathroom. "Jesus Christ, Grace, don't be so loud," she said as Grace landed with a thud on the toilet seat. It made a slightly concerning cracking sound, and Lilly made a mental note to blame any damage on Richard - a believable story, since he'd been the cause of most of the toilet-related incidents in the house for the past week. "Eve's in my bedroom, and she's only just stopped crying. Michael walked her to my house, but I don't know what's wro-"

"Hang on a minute," Grace interrupted. "Michael Brooks walked Eve here?"

Lilly nodded.

"Jesus Christ, no wonder she can't stop crying," Grace said, standing back up. "I'd be upset if I'd just been on a walk with Michael."

"That's the thing," Lilly whispered. "I don't think it was Michael that made her upset. She left me like five voicemails, and-"

She was cut off by the appearance of Eve, who was lingering in the bathroom doorway with a small smile on her face and a wad of used Kleenex in her hands. "Guys," she said, "why don't I just tell you what happened?"

"That," Lilly said, "is an excellent idea."

***

Lilly was mad.

No, she wasn't mad. She was beyond mad - she was completely and utterly fuming, she was borderline murderous, she was -

"So fucking angry. I am so fucking angry."

"Lil, it's okay-"

"It's not okay, Eve!" she shrieked, more than a little hysterical as she paced the length of her bedroom, hands flying all over the place. "I can't believe your Mum would say that - and that your Dad would suggest therapy. Therapy. Is he insane? Are they both out of their fucking minds?"

"Lil-"

"And to suggest that you're not really a girl?" she said, stopping to deliver a feeble kick to a pile of a cushions. "It's bullshit, Eve. It's complete bullshit."

"Lil-"

"You'll prove them wrong," she said, pausing in the middle of her room with her hands planted firmly on her hips. "You'll carry on being the wonderful girl that you are, and they will regret ever saying that-"

"Lilly!" Eve shouted, planting her hands on the other girl's shoulders. Lilly went quiet. "I - I can't do this."

"Can't do what?"

"I can't be Eve anymore, Lil. I'm going back to Adam."

***

[a/n: surprise, bitch.

okay so this is going to be sentimental af but recently i did something i've been - stupidly - terrified of doing since i started writing this, and sent the link to two of my lovely friends who are so unbelievably nice and supportive and i absolutely adore both of them. abigail (@AtlanticBlue) and emily (@EggTastic) , (i feel like i should use your real name here egg is that too formal???) you two are the real MVPs for putting up with me and your support means the world to me. okay that's it sentimental note over scream at me about the end in the comments everyone i'm out]