Chloe sat on her older sister’s bed, playing with the pink colored sheets in between her
fingers. Her green eyes watched her sister move back and forth across the room as the older girl
packed a suitcase.
Chloe sighed. “You could stay here y’know.”
Chloe’s sister, Amelia, sighed back at her. “Mom and Dad just don’t get it. You know that. I’m
moving in with Justin.”
Chloe straightened up a little, shifting her legs to a crossed position. “Maybe Mom has a point.
I mean you only just got to senior year in college, maybe you’ll meet a better Justin. One you
don’t live with.”
Amelia snorted and put a dress into her suitcase. She sat down next to her sister and nudged her
with her elbow. “I don’t need a better Justin.” Amelia looked down at Chloe. “Chloe, you’re
barely out of highschool. You’re not in college yet, you just don’t get it. When you know you’re
in love, you just know. You wouldn’t want anyone to get in the way of that either.”
Amelia squeezed her sister’s shoulder gently and stood up to finish throwing things in her
suitcase. Chloe frowned. “How do you know?”
Amelia laughed. “You just will. Surely a boy has caught your eye before, someone you think is
cute.”
Chloe shook her head. “Not really.”
Her older sister gave her a look. “Oh c’mon. Look, you’re starting college in a month and then
you’ll meet people. And one day, you’ll just know.”
Chloe shrugged. “What do you do once you know?”
Amelia smiled. “You do a lot of things. We can talk about it once you’re in love kiddo.”
Chloe started at University of Virginia that fall, with not a clue what to do. She went in
undeclared, and in her very first general curriculum class, could barely keep her eyes open. She
had half nodded off when a girl bumped into her with her backpack, coming in late.
The girl plopped herself into the seat next to Chloe. “Sorry about that.”
Chloe shook her head a little and wiped her eyes. “It’s fine.”
The girl set her pink backpack by her feet and sighed. “I clearly didn’t miss much. I see why
you were falling asleep; his voice is the most monotone shit I have ever heard.”
Chloe sat up a little. “Your parents let you curse?”
The girl grinned, with an almost wicked tint. “My parents aren’t here, are they? If they’re
behind me just like wink at me or something.” She snorted with laughter at her own joke. “What’s
your name, major, all that cheesy first week stuff.”
Chloe smiled a little. “I’m Chloe. I don’t have a major yet. I’m from Virginia, shocker.” She
smiled a little wider when the girl laughed a little at her joke. Chloe continued. “And I’m not
really good with people.”
The girl shrugged. “You’re doing fine with me. I’m Daphne. I’m a sophomore by the way, which
means I am so much cooler than you.” She winked when Chloe rolled her eyes. “And I’m a marketing
major. I’m from Colorado.”
Chloe raised an eyebrow at Daphne but didn’t get to ask about the Colorado thing. The professor
shushed them aggressively before going back to his lecture. Chloe waited a few seconds and then
whispered. “If you’re a sophomore, how did you end up in a first-year class?”
Daphne huffed and pushed her brown hair out of her face. “I failed the first time. Maybe you can
study with me this time. You look smart.”
Chloe snorted at the odd compliment. “Thanks, I guess” she paused. “But sure, that would be
nice, to have someone to compare notes with.”
Daphne smiled. “Sweet. I promise I’ll take notes.”
Chloe smiled back, but didn’t miss the fact that Daphne never even picked up a pen or took out a
notebook.
The first four weeks of that semester had flown by. Chloe spent every Saturday in the library
with Daphne, in one of the study rooms. She spent her nights there too, but Daphne always went
out with her friends at night and would leave in the afternoon.
Chloe was copying notes onto her laptop from her engineering class, trying to focus on the
technical jargon that seemed to evade her mind whenever a test came up. Daphne pushed the door
to the study room open at exactly noon and grinned, “Sup blondie.” She shut the door behind her
and set down a tray of drinks and a small box of donuts on the table, gently pushing Chloe’s
notes to the side. She plopped into the chair across from her, dropping her pink backpack (which
Chloe was positive held absolutely no school supplies) on the floor.
Chloe paused her typing and gave Daphne a look for messing with her notes. She gently moved her
things into a neat stack before looking at the four drinks and the donuts. “What’s this for?”
Daphne leaned forward on the table. “Well, I can’t accept that you don’t like coffee so I got
some flavors for you to try and hell if you don’t drink them, I’ll down them.” She flicked her
curled hair off her shoulder. “And the donuts were for you helping me pass that last test for
Mr. Jacobson.”
Chloe shrugged a little, though she internally beamed. “It was nothing. Though it would help if
you started taking notes.”
Daphne snorted. “Why would I do that? I have you.”
Chloe shook her head and finished the sentence on her notes before closing her laptop. “You’re
going out with your friends tonight?”
Daphne nodded and gently pushed the tray of drinks towards Chloe with her knuckle. “That’s the
plan. You wanna come this time?”
Chloe had been reaching for one of the drinks but paused when Daphne said that. “I’m not really
a party person. Or a…loud big friend group kind of person.”
Daphne frowned a little. “If you never go out you’re never going to make new friends. C’mon
blondie, you gotta open up a little.”
Chloe shrugged and folded her arms over herself, using them to lean against the desk. “I don’t
know. Don’t you have a boyfriend or something to spend time with? I don’t want to be in the
way.”
Daphne pushed the drinks a little closer to Chloe. “Nope. And you changed the subject. C’mon,
what other friends do you even have Chloe?”
Chloe just shrugged. So maybe Daphne was right, maybe she didn’t have any other friends. But so
what? She opened her mouth to retort, and Daphne’s phone rang. Daphne sighed. “Shit, my parents.
Look Chloe I’ll um, I’ll text you later okay? Try the drinks, tell me which one you like.” And
she grabbed her bag and left the study room in a hurry.
Chloe watched Daphne go in silence. She looked down at the drinks and smiled a little. She
wasn’t sure about coffee flavors, but she was starting to know one thing.
Chloe laid on her dorm bed, the window open, the small room covered in pictures of art and
random posters. She typed the number into her phone and let it ring.
Amelia picked up on the second tone. “Hey college girl! God I thought you would never call. Week
eight and this is the first phone call I’m getting.”
Chloe slowly smiled at the sound of her sister’s exasperated voice. “Sorry, I’ve been busy.
How’s Justin?”
Amelia’s voice lightened. “He’s great, and don’t worry we’ve been busy too. Last semester stuff
and all that. We’re talking about getting married after we graduate, don’t tell Mom yet. Y’know
all good things. Enough about me though, how are you? Did you decide on a major? Are you making
friends?”
Chloe fake gagged. “You sound like mom.” She laughed as her sister groaned on the other end of
the phone and kept talking over the sound. “And god Mom is going to flip when she hears you are
going to marry Justin. Is she still mad over the whole “moving in with him” thing?” Chloe
sighed. “I’m fine. I haven’t decided, I was thinking about art history but I’m not sure Mom and
Dad will be on board with that. They really want me to do engineering. And um, I have one
friend.”
Amelia chuckled. “First off, how dare you say that. I sound nothing like Mom. Secondly, yes Mom
is still mad. Of course she’s mad, she’s Mom. Whatever. Third, I think art history is cool,
don’t base decisions off Mom. It’s your school.” Amelia sighed. “And not to “Mom” you more but
c’mon Chloe, you gotta get out there more. Make more friends.”
Chloe frowned. “I like this friend.”
Amelia snorted. “Sure, I know.”
Chloe sighed. “No Amelia I’m serious, I really like this friend. I was thinking-”
A dull crash echoed in the background and Amelia cursed quietly. “That is probably Justin’s cat
climbing something again. Sorry, I’ll call you back later.” Amelia hung up.
Chloe watched the call end and frowned, finishing her sentence. “I was thinking I might like her
as more than a friend.”
Chloe spent the rest of her semester studying. She saw Daphne every Saturday, and Daphne started
staying later, seeing her friends for less hours. It was the second to last Saturday when they
were sitting together on a rainy afternoon. Daphne was playing on her phone, blowing bubbles
with her gum. She sighed. “I should probably get going.”
Chloe looked over the top of her laptop, trying to hide her dismay. “Are you going out again?”
Daphne shook her head. “Nah. I have a club thing to go to. What are you doing Friday?”
Chloe shrugged in response and Daphne continued. “Wanna go to a movie? I’ll pay. It can be a
little date.”
Chloe blinked and smiled. “Yeah.. I’d like that.”
Daphne smiled back and stood, grabbing her stuff. “I’ll meet you outside Almer Hall, and I’ll
bring that marshmallow coffee you like.” She waved and made it to the door before Chloe called
out.
“Wait!” Chloe said quickly, “what do you do on a date? What does that mean exactly?”
Daphne snorted a little. “Very funny. See you later.”
Chloe sat on her bed, googling frantically what it meant to go on a date, how to go on a date.
Where movie dates better or worse than restaurant dates? What was even the difference? Less
talking?
Chloe sat up, scrolling through the search results. “Get to know each other… open conversation…
don’t be stiff…” she huffed and scrolled further. “How to have a good first kiss, how to make it
to second base?”
Chloe sighed and tossed her phone onto her pillow. “What the hell is second base!” She rubbed
her temples. Slowly, she picked her phone back up to call Amelia.
When her sister answered, Chloe didn’t even let her sister talk. “You told me one day I would
know and then we would talk, well I know and I’m going on a date, and I have no idea what to
do.”
Amelia laughed. “Well hello to you too. You’re going on a date? I thought you didn’t talk to
boys.”
Chloe rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s not a boy. Her name is Daphne and she’s cool.”
Amelia was quiet for a moment. “You know Mom is going to lose her mind.” She sighed. “What did
you want to know Chloe?”
Chloe shifted her body, realizing the tone shift in her sister’s voice. “You told me you do a
lot of things when you know you’re in love with someone. What things…? How do I do them?”
Amelia laughed quietly. “You hold hands, you kiss on the lips, you sleep together. Those sorts
of things. Look I could give you sex advice sis, but I don’t know anything about sleeping with a
girl.”
Chloe shook her head even though her sister couldn’t see her. “No, no. How do I kiss someone?”
Amelia snorted. “You dork, you just press your lips to theirs and let the feeling take over.
Just lean in and do it.” She sighed. “Look it’s not a bad idea to practice before the real
thing. This whole date can be practice for when you meet a nice guy.”
Chloe bristled at the insinuation. “What if I don’t want to meet a guy?”
Amelia was quiet for a minute. “I gotta go Chloe, just have fun, we’ll talk about this later.”
The call ended.
Chloe stared down at her phone and sighed. “What does that even mean?”
Friday night was raining, so Chloe brought an umbrella. She met Daphne outside the building and
took the coffee she brought her. They walked in near silence. Chloe felt awkward breaking the
tension, and Daphne seemed off.
Daphne finally spoke just a little bit from the movie theatre. “There’s a little ice cream place
up here. We can go before or after.”
Chloe nodded. “Up to you, I don’t really know what to do on one of these.”
Daphne looked down at the blonde. “You’ve never been on a date? Surely some guy has picked you
up. Or girl, for that matter.”
Chloe shrugged. “No. I don’t really know what it means.”
Daphne stopped walking, holding the umbrella over both of them. “What what means?”
Chloe shrugged again. “What love means.”
Daphne blinked down at Chloe, her blue eyes slightly wide. “You love me?”
Chloe shifted her feet, feeling like her brand-new converse could be running shoes after all.
“Am I not supposed to say that?”
Daphne let out a small laugh and gently put her hand on Chloe’s back. “C’mon.” She gently pushed
the girl towards the ice cream place, and they sat down near the back. Chloe was staring down at
her vanilla ice cream cup, feeling suddenly allergic to eating anything at all. She had read
that saying “I love you” was a big step, but didn’t people normally say it back? Did she do it
wrong?
Daphne reached across the table and gently pushed Chloe’s face up with her knuckle. “You’re
staring at the ice cream viciously.” She sighed, “look Chloe you’re so cute but there’s
something you should know before you… say that to me again.”
Chloe stared at Daphne, at her brown hair and blue eyes. She was quiet. Daphne sighed. “I’m a
trans girl. I’m not… a girl at birth, like you are.” She pushed her own ice cream around in its
cup. “This is normally when people run away.” She snorted.
Chloe blinked. “I don’t think so.”
Daphne looked back up at her. “You don’t think so?”
Chloe shook her head. “I think I get it.” She sat up a little in her chair. “My sister, she
lives with a guy that my Mom hates. When she was moving out of our house she told me that I
would understand when I liked someone like how she likes him.”
Daphne shook her head a little. “I don’t think I get it.”
Chloe shrugged. “Daph, I didn’t even know I liked girls until I met you. I didn’t know I liked
anyone, or how to like anyone. But I think… love means that you make a decision to be there no
matter what. So, I’m not leaving.”
Daphne slowly smiled. “Very adult of you blondie. If I didn’t know any better I would have sworn
you pulled that out of your ass.”
Chloe snorted. “Language.”
Daphne shrugged in response. “So, you figure out what the hell a date is yet?"
Chloe shook her head. “No idea. My sister said to just kiss you? How do I do that?”
Daphne burst out laughing and laughed harder when Chloe looked at her offendedly. “Sorry, sorry.
Um, you normally ask before you kiss someone, and don’t worry I’ll show you.” Daphne leaned on
the table. “You should come to this club on campus with me. It’s for the LGBTQ+. The people
there are nice.”
Chloe nodded. “Sure.” She paused, “so do we, no um, no I mean are we?”
Daphne laughed. “Well, you did say you’d be around no matter what, so yeah, we can date
blondie.”
Chloe smiled and pushed her ice cream to the side a little to lean on the table and mimic
Daphne. “Can I make a request?”
Daphne raised a brow and Chloe continued. “Can you start writing your own notes?” She grinned.
Daphne laughed. “Not a chance. Sorry cutie.” She took a bite of her ice cream and smiled at
Chloe. When Chloe smiled back, Daphne smiled more. “Oh, and I love you too blondie.”