“I love you,” I said.

            “I love you too,” she said. She rolled back over onto her other side. I scooted close to her and draped my arm over her, pulling her closer. I felt her lace her fingers with mine. I placed a soft kiss on her neck and we both fell asleep.

            We woke up in the middle of the afternoon. Spencer rolled over to face me. I pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I have an idea,” I said.

            “What’s that?” she asked.

            “Let’s go for a drive,” I said.

            “To where?” Spencer asked.

            “Laguna Beach,” I said.

            “What’s there?” Spencer asked.

            “I have no idea,” I smiled. “But let’s just drive there and see what’s there.”

            “Ok,” she smiled.

            We both changed and left. It took an hour to get there. We ate dinner and shopped for a while. We drove around and saw some of my old friends. We got back to LA late that night. I parked in front of my house and we grabbed our stuff. We lugged it upstairs to my room. We dropped our stuff then fell onto my bed. We were both worn out. It was after midnight.

            “I’m getting tired,” I yawned.

            “Me too,” Spencer said. She jumped and pulled her phone from her pocket. “Hello?”

            “Spencer? Where the hell are you?” Arthur shouted loud enough for me to hear it.

            “I’m at Ashley’s,” she said.

            “What are you doing there?” Arthur still shouted. “Why haven’t you been home the past two days? Do you know how worried your mother and I have been about you?”

            “What?” Spencer said. “Are you kidding? Did she not tell you?”

            “Tell me what?” Arthur asked, softening up a little.

            “She kicked me out last night,” Spencer said.

            “What?” Arthur said. “Why?”

            “Josh told her some bullshit story and she kicked me out,” Spencer said.

            “What did he tell her?” Arthur asked.

            “He said that I cheated on him with Ashley and that when he asked me about Ashley beat him up,” Spencer said.

            “Is that true?” Arthur asked. He had lowered his tone.

            “No,” Spencer said.

            “What really happened?” Arthur asked.

            “Josh used to hit me,” Spencer said. “Ashley saw it a couple of times. The last time he did it Ashley almost beat the crap out of him. I dumped him then. Her and I talked. I realized that I had been pushing my true feelings away to make you and mom happy. I’m in love with Ashley. Josh heard about it and confronted me at school. He called me a few derogatory names then he and Ashley got in a fight. That’s when he went to mom. Then after mom kicked me out I called Ashley. I waited for her at the park not too far from the house. Josh found me and started beating me. Ashley came before he could do any real damage. Then he almost killed her. He stabbed her in the stomach. I thought I was going to lose her.”

            She started to tear up. I reached out and grabbed her hand. “It’s ok,” I whispered.

            “Wow,” Arthur said.

            “I’m sorry I disappointed you dad,” she said.    

            “Spencer you didn’t disappoint me,” Arthur said. “I still love you. I’ll love you no matter what, gay, straight, or whatever. You’re my daughter. I love you.”

            “I love you too dad,” Spencer said with a few tears falling. “But what do I do? Mom disowned me. She never wants to see me again.”

            “I’ll talk to your mother,” Arthur said. “It might take a while so go ahead and stay with Ashley for as long as this is going to take. Is it ok with her if you stay?”

            “Yeah,” Spencer said.

            “Ok,” Arthur said. “I’ll talk to your mother. I’ll let you know as soon as I find anything out.”

            “Ok dad,” Spencer said.

            “And Spencer?” Arthur said.

            “Yeah?” Spencer said.

            “I love you,” Arthur said.

            “I love you too dad,” Spencer said. She hung up the phone and laid back, staring at the ceiling in amazement.