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Noel didn’t know what to do until Alice decided they’d walk down to the ice cream stand, get a cone each, and then they’d go down to the park near the lake. It was chilly for a night in the middle of July, only mid-60s in Hatchetfield by the coast. Alice, when with her dad, lived down by the beaches while Noel lived more towards downtown with Charlotte and Sam. Noel liked the beach a lot. It was a sandy beach that led into the lake that surrounded Hatchetfield, on the other side of the island from the bridge that connected them to Clivesdale. She walked down to the ice cream shop between their houses. It was a little family-owned business that she had been going to for years. Melissa used to take her after softball games during the summer when Noel played well enough to be happy with her outcome.
“Hey, Elle,” Alice said when she met her outside the shop, “Sorry I’m late. Dad was worrying again.”
“No, it’s okay, don’t worry.” Noel smiled at her best friend. They were 14, Alice’s 15th coming up relatively soon in September. When they were younger, people thought they could’ve been siblings. They both had brown hair, Noel had curls and Alice’s was more wavy, and hazel eyes. Although, Alice was taller and lankier than tiny, frail Noel and was much more personable.
If Noel had to pick a person to be her best friend, it would be Alice. She sat through insufferable church services on Sundays with her when Charlotte dragged her. They did Sunday School, even if they didn’t want to go. Grace Chastity helped them through shitty assignments and they'd become a little trio, but Noel would consider herself much closer to Alice than Grace. They’d grown up together in school. They’d spent a lot of time together as kids because Charlotte and Bill both worked at CCRP. Before the divorce, Alice spent a lot of time at Noel’s while her parents sorted out their messy marriage. Now, Alice repaid the favor whenever she could for Noel.
Alice also seemed to have much, much more of her life together than Noel. She was so organized, so put-together. Noel almost envied her for it. Alice had things set up in an orderly fashion. She did voice lessons on Wednesdays and waited for Noel to get out of softball on Mondays and Thursdays so they could take the bus to Noel’s and stay there until Alice’s mom came to pick her up. She had a schedule she followed and Noel wished she had that desperately.
When Noel got her cone of cookie dough ice cream and Alice had her cone of mint chocolate chip, they walked down to the beach. Alice zipped her sweatshirt up a bit as they got onto the sand and slipped their flip flops off. The sand was cold under their feet as they walked down to their usual spot on the beach. They liked to sit closer to the playground that was about 20 feet from the beach. It had been where Charlotte and Bill had taken them as little 7-year-olds to try and get some sort of bonding in before they hit second grade. Noel sat down in the sand, watching the lake water lap at the shoreline.
“What’s up?” Alice asked, nudging her gently. “You’re awfully quiet.”
Of course she was quiet. For weeks, Noel had been consumed in her own worries. She’d finally learned a term for her crushes on girls and what that classified her as.
A lesbian.
Finding out what the word meant had been half of a relief and half of an anxiety inducer. She finally had a word that belonged to her, to describe how she loved, who she was. But she was scared. Charlotte was very religious and Sam went on political tyrades that scared Noel into believing he wasn’t going to be supportive of any gay person under his roof.
“Just thinking.” Noel said, eating some of her ice cream to try and ease her nerves. It was cold and Noel’s body felt like it was on fire. Maybe the cold would cool her down, like how iced coffee did that.
“About what?” Alice asked, facing her. “Elle, you’ve been awfully quiet all week.” Noel took a deep breath. Alice was her best friend. She was sure she’d still be friends with her if she confessed. At least, she hoped so. High school would really suck if she started off with no friends.
“I…” Noel gathered her thoughts. “I figured out something. I...like girls.”
The words hung in the air for a minute and Noel felt the color draining from her face. Alice was silent and Noel feared she’d just lost her best friend.
“So do I.” Alice said softly, the small smile spreading across her face helping Noel’s thoughts come back down from the edge. “I like girls too.”
“There’s a word for it. I read it in the library. I was snooping around the adult section when I was waiting for Auntie Char to pick me up.” Noel looked down at her ice cream cone.
“Yeah. Lesbian.” Alice said it as if it was a natural word for her, like one she’d been saying forever. “I learned it a while ago. That’s what I am.” Alice had some more of the ice cream. Noel blushed, embarrassed at her now recent discovery.
“That’s what I think I am too.” She replied, adjusting how she was sitting. “You’re the first person I’ve told…you’re my best friend. I trust you with it, please don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t tell if you don’t tell about me.” Alice held her pinky out and Noel linked their pinkies. Even at 14, pinky promises were the basis of their friendship. Seven years of pinky promises really held them together. Small ones, like “I promise to help you with Art homework” and “I promise to give you the Twix in my Halloween candy”, and big ones, like “I promise to keep our identities a secret until we’re both ready to let the world know.”.
“I won’t, A.” Noel smiled, looking out at the water.
“We should get going, it’s late,” Alice got up, helping her up.
“Yeah,” Noel walked with her to where their shoes were and they both put them on. “Thanks, A.”
“Of course, Elle. Best friends forever, right?”
“Best friends forever.”