Becoming Rory

chapter one

Rory Bradford sat staring out the window of the fast-moving car.

She watched the world go by in fast-motion. She saw the people everywhere, living all sorts of different lives. She wondered if any of them were going through something like what she was going through. She assumed not, since the situation was incredibly peculiar.

Rory didn't know what to do with herself. She had a plan, yet she had chosen to throw it all out the window. Rory was never one for spontaneity, especially not when it decided the path of her future. She had thrown away an entire relationship, years in the making, and for what? For something that she wasn't even sure would work, she had certainly sacrificed a lot.

Sadie had been calm since they departed. She had simply been driving, eyes on the road ahead of her. Rory appreciated it, since if she was pressured to make conversation moreover, she would have combusted. She didn't even know what she could make conversation about.

It wasn't in Rory's personality to do something this spontaneous and unthoughtful. Normally, she would have weighed the pros and cons, while also thinking about all the people that she could possibly hurt in the process of such a decision.

This decision, however, met none of that criteria. She didn't even want to think of the amount of people that she had already hurt, because the list was long. Noah was at the very top of the list, though.

She couldn't believe that she had done something like this to her best friend. She had not only publicly humiliated him in front of every single member of their family and friends, she had completely shattered his heart.

He had done everything he could to make her happy, but it wasn't enough. He would never be able to help her reach her full potential, since he was a man. He was the closest thing to happy she could be while in her state of denial about her sexuality. He was her best friend, but nothing more.

She didn't fully realize this, though, until she met Sadie.

The woman seated next to her in the car had taken her world by storm, making her question everything she thought she knew.

Yet, she didn't know whether to be thankful for that.

Had Sadie not shown up, she would be married. She could have continued her plan without a hitch and not let down her parents and her sister. She could have ended up raising a family in a beautiful home with the best man on earth, a man she did not deserve.

On the other hand, had Sadie not shown up when she did, Rory could have uprooted an entire family. She would have been caught in a marriage without love, raising children as co-parents, not as lovers. If someone like Sadie were to show up then, with children in the picture, Rory could have flipped her whole world upside down. She could have ruined not only hers and Noah's life, but also the lives of innocent children who did nothing wrong. She didn't want her feelings to get in the way of her children's lives.

Thankfully, there were no children in the picture. It was just her life, along with Noah's, that were uprooted.

We could run away together, you know.

She could hear Sadie's voice days prior, resounding in her mind every time she searched for peace.

We could up and leave this town, leave every judgemental person along with it. No one would ever get in the way.

Rory never imagined a world where she would take someone up on that offer. That town was her home and had been since she was born. She was proud to say where she was from, she wore it like a badge of honour. All her friends were there, all her family was there, her job was there, so there was no reason for her to leave. She had never wanted to leave.