After my classes were over for the day, I went to my apartment, which was a complex only about a ten minute walk from the campus, to relax and do some homework before Arnie's meeting.

I was still shaken up by the almost-fall that happened after my exit from the class. The woman who caught me couldn't have been that much older than myself, but the campus was so big that you didn't know who everyone was, who they liked, what their sexuality was. It was frustrating on my end because it was hard for me to find a date. I leaned more toward women than men, so when I did ask a guy out it was easier for me.

Arnie pointed out to me a few months ago that the LGBT+ & Alliance club helped with finding girls. It did for her, apparently, because she had a thing with a chick named Polly for about two months.

I made the walk home and climbed the stairs to the last floor, shuffling to my apartment and unlocking it. Except it didn't unlock, as usual. The damn landlord promised he would have gotten the lock fixed by the time my classes were over. What a lying sack of — My thoughts were interrupted when my grip had become hard enough to turn the key and the click of the lock sounded.

The door creaked open as it pulled from my key, leaving me standing there with a dumbfounded look on my face and my hand stuck out with they key.

So glad nobody was around for that embarrassing moment. I walked in and shut the door, laying my backpack on the couch and shuffling toward the bedroom. The lights were off, but the lights I had hung from the wall with the help of my dad and Arnie gave off a soft glow. I flipped the light on and climbed up to my bed, face planting into it.

Oh my God, I embarrassed myself in front of a goddess. That's so like you, Violet, I told myself, screaming loudly into a pillow. Stupid.

After moping for an hour and watching Game of Thrones to ease the painful embarrassment of singularity, I pulled my laptop out and made sure, just in case, that there was truly no damage done before starting it up and pulling up the half-finished essay.

I worked for about an hour and a half, then saved it and turning to study for my American History II test. The embarrassment with the Australian woman was now long forgotten as I went through the stages of studying, marking up my textbook.

And then Arnie called. I glanced at my phone and contemplated ignoring the call before giving in and answering it, "Hello?"

"Um, where the hell are you?" she demanded. I furrowed my brows at her tone, not sure whether or not I had done something to upset her.

"Uh . . . At home?" I responded slowly, playing with the corner page that had a picture of George Washington and bending the soft edge of his face. "Studying for this test I have tomorrow?"

"The meeting is in an hour, and you're at home studying?" Arnie screeches. "Did you not hear me earlier when I told you that I was helping with setting up for today? That means you are helping too!"

I must have zoned that part out and I grimaced at the textbook, my head resting against the wall. "Shit, I forgot," I lied, apologizing to her. "I'm so sorry. Where do I meet you?"

She sighs, though she didn't seem upset anymore. I heard people in the background and wind blow statically through the phone, and my guess is that she's on her way to whatever building it was being held in. "Meet me in front of the library in about ten minutes. We're meeting there."

"Okay," I agreed, said goodbye, and ended the call. It was four thirty. I got up and freshened up a bit before grabbing my bag, much smaller and lighter than my backpack thank goodness, and headed out of the apartment and made my way to the campus library.

I was nervous without even realizing it. I could tell by the knot in my stomach that grew each step I took toward campus, the way I gripped and clenched at the strap of my back around my body, and the pace in which I moved.

It only grew worse the closer to the library I got. Eventually Arnie came in sight, leaning against the wall in the shade and playing with her phone. She looked up, scanned around as if searching, before letting her gaze land on me.

"Ten minutes on the dot. Impressive," she said as I got close enough for her to talk to me. I smiled sideways at her and released the poor strangled straps of my back and looked at her.

"Is your friend already here? The one helping you set up?" I asked her, watching as she stuffed her phone in her pocket and push herself off the wall. She nodded.

"Yep, and we'll be lucky if she doesn't murder me for being late because of you. Olivia . . . She's chill, but she's also passionate about this. It's the only thing I've ever really seen her get snippy about," Arnie explained as we walked into the air conditioned library.

"Is she the one who runs the group?"

"Kind of?" Arnie scratched her temple and squinted at the elevator in thought before pushing the button to the third floor. "Usually professor Wells is, but she lets Olivia kind of run the show. It's pretty funny how Olivia gets bossy about it. She's very laid-back otherwise." The elevator opened for us and we stepped in. "I think you'll like her."

"What makes you say that?" I looked at my best friend and tilted my head, frowning.

"She's totally your type." Arnie flashed me a playful grin. The elevator sang its chirping tune when it stopped and opened its doors for us. We stepped out and she led me through the hallways before opening a door to an empty classroom.

I glanced around the room, but didn't get time to really take in the circle of chairs before a black-haired head raised and blue eyes turned to us.

"Finally you're here Arnie. I was beginning to —" the Australian accent started, but then those goddamn eyes turned to me and a smirk replaced her frown. "Oh. Is this the Violet you told me about in the group chat?"

"Indeed, boss." Arnie smacked her hand on my shoulder not-so-gently, making me shove her and wince. "She bites though, so be careful."

"I do not bite," I mumbled, my face turning red from the joke.

A low chuckle sounded and Olivia moved herself from the table of unopened snacks and toward us. "It's okay. I bite back." She flashes me a wink.

"I . . ." My voice caught in my throat, leaving me mute as I stared at her closing figure. She was only a foot away from us now and I felt the need to run away like a frightened animal caught in headlights. But like that animal, I was frozen, too startled to make my mistake. "Uh . . . "

Arnie gave me a weird look, nudging me as if to snap me out of my trance. Olivia smirked again and looked at my friend. "Is this a regular occurrence? She acted like this earlier too."

"You met her?" Arnie was now shocked, and she gave me a huff. "And you didn't tell me? Both of you are bitches."

"We didn't exactly meet," I murmured, finally finding my voice. "I accidentally bumped into her and she saved my laptop from breaking."

Olivia tilted her head. "Right. The laptop. How is it? No bumps or bruises?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head and scratching the back of my neck sheepishly. "It's fine."

"You sure? If you want I can check. I did a class in computer technology." She smirked again, and somehow, somewhere, I felt as though she no longer meant the computer. "Wouldn't want to lose all your data because you missed a broken part."

"My laptop is fine, I assure you," I said, blowing air into my red cheeks and then swallowing it again. "It's still kicking."

Olivia shrugged, "If you say so, love." She turned to Arnie. "Okay, so, since you're late, you and Violet are going to be helping me with what we'll do first. We can discuss coming out, then we can play games, and then mingle or we can switch it up."

"I thought Arnie told me we don't have to discuss coming out stories." I shot my friend a glare as Olivia handed me a copy of the paper that had discussion questions on it and then the games she brought for today.

Arnie opened her mouth to speak, but Olivia beat her to it, "You don't, darling. We always hold serious, LGBT+ related topics in all of our meetings, but today is specifically about coming out because we gained a few new members. Sometimes our members are not comfortable coming out in the first few meetings, so it takes a few more for them to talk about it. Some don't talk about it at all. It's not a club that requires it. It's about comfort and having a safe place to be."  She smiled gently at me and gestured to the circle of chairs. "What goes on here is all choice. We do not ask you to tell your story if you find discomfort in it. We ask only that you feel safe and tell us if you do not so we can fix it."

I felt a weight leave my shoulders and I nodded stiffly. "Okay," I said, tucking my bottom lip between my teeth and moving my eyes down to the handout. On the very bottom had the professor's contact email and personal phone number, as well as Olivia's and Arnie's.

I folded the sheet of paper in half and tucked it neatly into my bag. "How can we help you?" I asked, turning and nudging Arnie. "It's sorta my fault we're late so I'll help set up."

Olivia smiled. "No need. Just help me pick what games to choose and you'll be golden."

Arnie threw her hands up as if to express her disapproval. "Seriously? She admits to the crime and gets off Scott free? What the flip, Olivia? Last time I was late you forced me to make copies and hand out fliers at the park. Do you realize the sunburn I had to deal with after?" she cried, stomping her foot. "This is unacceptable. Punish her."

I opened my mouth and stared at my friend, her outburst completely surprising me. "I . . . Are you having a temper tantrum, Arnie?"

"You bet your cute little ass I am, Violet!" Arnie declared, shooting her flabbergasted gaze to an amused Olivia. "You—" she waved her finger at the woman, "— are an evil, evil woman. You will be exposed for this abuse of authority."

"If I had any idea she acted like this I would have come to this sooner," I told Olivia, who had merely snorted at Arnie's deceleration against her. "She's not usually like this in front of other people."

"Stop acting as if I am a child, Letty," Arnie mumbled as she went over to the snack table to pout and mope about my easy get off.

Olivia snickered as she brought over a bag and gestured for me to sit down. "She likes being the drama queen here. She keeps everyone's spirits high."

"That sounds like Arnie," I said fondly as she pulled out a few newly purchased games from the bag. "She's always like this around my family. They love the hell out of her."

"She stays with your family over the summer?"

"Yeah." I nodded, but said no more. I had no idea what Arnie had shared and didn't share with this group, so I didn't want to spill any of her story before she was ready to talk about it herself. 

"She speaks highly of you when she's here," Olivia responded as she balled the plastic bag up and lifted her butt to sit on it so it wouldn't come undone. "Lots of loving compliments and even more loving insults. She speaks of you like one would speak of their little sister."

"I'm older than her."

"By like three days," Arnie snipped from where she had ripped open a bag of BBQ chips and munched woefully on one.

I roll my eyes and look at the games. We silently went through each game and voted some out and eventually we were down to two games to choose from for today. "These are all fun, but I would recommend using Cards Against Humanity the most. It's the best."

Olivia shrugged and pushed the other games aside. "Alright. We'll play this one first, today, then," she decided easily before putting the rest of the games back in the bag.

She helped me up and she turned to me. "I'm glad you're here Violet. I promise that this won't be a bad experience."

Two people have said that to me. I simply smiled at her and prayed to myself that she was right, and I wouldn't leave the room disliking the club.