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Patience sometimes felt as if she was stuck somewhere in between. In between her old family and her new one. In between the normalcy and the supernatural. In between reality and vision. She didn’t fit in. That was something she’d accepted long ago. That was something that came with having psychic visions. Having to lie to her friends at school about what the world really looked like. But it wasn’t only that.
It was Alex, talking about that guy she’d met, who she was getting a coffee with. It was Claire and Kaia, who never let anyone around them forget that they were so in love with each other. It was Jody and Donna, who were planning their wedding. It was her friends at school, talking about their boyfriends and girlfriends and crushes. And Patience was in between again. Not able to relate, to contribute to the conversation, but still happy for everyone.
And then it happened, on a Wednesday afternoon, in a classmate’s kitchen.
“Have you ever had a crush on someone?” Alice asked, eyeing Patience curiously. They were making pancakes, taking a break from studying for their biology test the next day. And wasn’t that a loaded question. Had Patience ever had a crush on someone? For some, the answer was a simple yes or no. For her, it was a bit more complicated. She knew her answer. She just didn’t know if she wanted to say no.
“I’m just asking because I don’t get it.” Alice revealed before Patience had to make any kind of decision.
“You don’t get what? Crushes?” Patience asked, way more interested in the direction the conversation was going than she let on. Alice shook her head. “Just. Feelings, attraction in general. I don’t get it. My mom always tells me I just haven’t met the right person yet, but I don’t think that’s it.”
Patience chuckles at that. Her dad had said the exact same thing, and Patience knew that it was wrong. There would just never be someone. “Oh, I know exactly what you mean.”
Alice looked up from the frying pan where she’d been keeping an eye on the pancake. “You do?”
Patience nodded, her smile growing bigger.
And that was that. Patience and Alice, standing in the kitchen, looking at each other and smiling in quiet understanding. And for a second, Patience felt as if she wasn’t all alone in the in between.