Page 65 of Sex Positive

For a while, she thought she would feel guilty. But all she felt was relief.

She swipes the notification away to deal with later.

Grabbing her purse and a pair of black ankle booties, she exits her room. At the sight of Syeda on the couch, curled under the crocheted blanket, and the glass of red wine on the coffee table, she halts.

“Hi?” She tips her head, peering at her roommate with concern.

Sy flashes a small smile. “Hello.”

A holiday movie plays on the TV. Charlie approaches her friend. “What is happening right now? Did we accidentally do a weird Freaky Friday thing?”

Normally, Sy’s the one getting ready to go out on Friday night, and she frequently tries to bribe Charlie to join her, even if it’s “just for one drink, babes!”

Sy pauses the movie and sits up so Charlie can perch on the cushion beside her. Her long black hair falls over her shoulder in a lopsided ponytail.

“Bri and I got into an argument, and I’m feeling…” She frowns and holds up her hand, tipping it back and forth. “Weird.”

Charlie tucks her feet under her, leaning back against the couch. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Sy pinches the stem of her wineglass between her thumb and index finger, swirling the contents before taking a small sip. “She’s not sure she wants to spend Christmas together.” Her bottom lip trembles.

“Oh, Sy.” Charlie takes her free hand. “I’m sorry.”

“She hasn’t come out to her parents yet,” she says. “If I went home with her, I’d be afriend.” Sy’s dark eyes fill with tears. “I already came out, Charlie. I already went through all of that with my own parents, and theyjuststopped asking me if I might change my mind.” She lets out a short, watery laugh. “I forgot to tell you, but they read a bunch of books, and now they call themselves ‘woke.’”

“Oh god.” They share a brief laugh before Sy’s face returns to an expression of forlorn misery. Syeda’s family immigrated from Pakistan when she was five, and she fully embraced American culture, much to the dismay of her very traditional parents. Much like Charlie, she’s had trouble navigating who she is when her parents have such different expectations for her. Unlike Charlie’s, though, Sy’s parents have ultimately been fairly accepting of her choices.

“I don’t want to go through that again,” she says. “Does that make me selfish?”

Charlie tugs Sy’s wineglass from her fingers and takes a small sip. “No, it’s not selfish. I don’t know what it’s like to come out, but I know it’s not selfish to not want to hide your true self once you’ve crossed that threshold.” Sy is the one person in her life who knows the full extent of her fraught relationship with her parents. “And if it’s anything like admitting to your parents that you’re working for a sexual health clinic that performs abortions on the weekends and helps people transition as they stare at you like you’re the Antichrist, I can relate.”

Sy laughs, loud and true, and Charlie’s pleased to have been helpful.

Swiping an escaped tear from under her eye, Syeda sniffs. “What a mess.” She flashes Charlie a small smile. “But thank you. I needed to hear that.”

Charlie squeezes her arm. “Do you want to come with me tonight? Take your mind off things with pizza and free beer and arcade games?”

Her phone chimes, and her heart gives a wild lurch, but she doesn’t look at it.

Sy shakes her head. “Nah, that’s okay. Wild, I know—me not going out on a Friday. Alert the press!” She gestures to the TV, paused on a still of an actress with curly blond hair trudging through knee-deep snow. “Once Upon a Holidayawaits.”

Standing, Charlie pulls her jacket off its hook by the door. “What is it this time? Jaded corporate lawyer has to settle her dead grandma’s estate in a small town in Maine and falls in love with the extremely handsome owner of the only coffee shop in town?”

“Jaded corporate lawyer discovers she has long-lost family who are kind of country bumpkins, but then she meets the bookish-but-sexy librarian who happens to be the prince of Christmas, and she inevitably falls in love and chooses a simpler, happier life.” Shooting her an innocent look, Sy settles into a horizontal position once again. “Obviously, Charlie.”

Charlie laughs. “Of course. How could I forget the sexy small-town librarian prince?”

She waves as she shuts the apartment door behind her, then checks her messages.

Quinn

I have the perfect ugly sweater

Charlie

I’ll believe it when I see it

Quinn