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“I can’t believe that you convinced me to do this,” Toni Topaz murmured to her best friend, Fangs, crossing her arms over her chest as she followed him from where they’d just parked their motorcycles. “I don’t even get why you want to do this.”
Fangs looked over his shoulder with a grin. “Come on, T. You can’t go your whole life without going to Pride.”
“I’ve been to Pride,” Toni argued, as he slowed for a second to allow her to walk next to him. “It’s just… I don’t need a parade to feel proud of being myself. I’ve never had any issue with my sexuality.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get to celebrate it,” Fangs insisted, looping his arm with hers. She raised an eyebrow at him.
“And to celebrate it, I should walk the parade with the campus float?” Toni demanded.
Fangs grinned. “It’s going to be fun, Toni, you’ll see.”
“Walking for an hour in the heat doesn’t really sound like fun,” Toni muttered, groaning when Fangs just laughed and tugged her to move a little faster.
She’d done her best to dress for the occasion—her dark brown hair was already streaked with pink and purple, and after some prompting from her best friend, she’d added in some blue clip ins for the day as well. Aside from that, she was wearing a magenta cropped tank top—mostly out of need because of the heat—and black short shorts, with fishnets underneath, and her favorite, comfortable combat boots. She would’ve dug out some old sandals, but despite the heat, she did not want to walk for an hour in sandals.
Fangs had gone a little more all out. First of all, he was topless and had already covered his bare shoulders in purple, pink, and blue glitter. He was wearing purple swim trunks and sandals. His unruly hair was only slicked back a little, and Toni knew it would be a gross mess by the end of the day. Probably the same as her own hair.
“You never really explained what got you so interested in coming to this,” Toni told her best friend, as she finally pulled her arm away from him so as to not let herself be dragged any longer.
“I just heard about it through some friends.”
“Hot, guy friends who are going to be at the campus float, too?” Toni asked with a smirk.
“Not exactly,” Fangs insisted, but his face looked a little reddened.
“You’re blushing.”
Fangs shook his head. “It’s just hot.”
“You’re telling me. Are we almost there?”
There were a lot of people around them now—they were approaching the main street the parade was on. Toni looked around at the massive gathering, seeing people covered in rainbows and other sets of colors. There were flags everywhere, not to mention glitter. “I think so,” Fangs answered, directing them to the right.
They walked one more block from where they’d parked to arrive at the starting area of the parade. A whole section of the street was blocked off and dozens of floats and cars were lined up, along with people dressed up in all different colors with music blasting. It was so much going on, and Toni couldn’t believe that she’d agreed to be a part of this. “God. How far back are we?”
“I think our float is toward the end.”
Toni groaned. “Great.”
Fangs flashed her a grin. “Cheer up, T. At least try to have fun.”
“How do you expect me to do that?” Toni demanded, but Fangs was picking up his pace toward the campus float. Groaning, Toni quickened her pace as well.
Finally, they approached a big, red truck that someone had taped a banner that read “Southwood University – Home of the Snakes” onto the side of it. It was decorated with just about every pride flag, and there were a bunch of people that Toni didn’t recognize gathered around in.
“Hey,” one of the people around the float greeted them. They had short blonde hair and fair skin and gave the two of them a warm smile. “You guys here for the Southwood float? Did you sign up with the form?”
“Yes,” Fangs answered with a grin. “Well, I signed up for the both of us.”
The person smiled, grabbing a phone out of their pocket. “Names?”
“Fangs Fogarty and Toni Topaz.”
“Yep, I see you guys. Great! You are our last two. My name is Sam by the way. I’m sort of coordinating this. So if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. The Southwood Pride sponsor, Professor Mack, is the one driving the truck, too. So he’s available for questions.” Sam smiled at them as they pocketed their phone. “And just so you know, we probably won’t get moving for another fifteen minutes or so. Feel free to just chill and mingle.”
“Cool,” Fangs said with a grin, “thanks.”
Sam walked over to some of the other people by the truck, and Toni looked at Fangs with a hesitant look. “You are way too excited about this. Which one of these people is your hot friend that is the real reason we’re here?”
Fangs furrowed his eyebrows, opening his mouth probably to argue, but he was interrupted by some loud voices off to their right. They glanced over and saw that some people from the float behind them—which was also on a pickup truck but was a bit more intricate—were coming up toward the Southwood people.
“I guess Snakes come before Wolves, huh?” one of the Southwood students snarked at the people approaching, and Toni realized that the float behind them belonged to the Northlake University Pride club—their rival university.
“Okay, okay,” one guys from the Northlake group interrupted the apparently discourse taking place as she pushed to the front of the group. “We might be football rivals, but this is Pride, right? Can we knock this off?”
Toni glanced at Fangs and noticed that his eyes were glued to the Northlake guy. It only took her a second to recognize the heart-eyes that had appeared on his face. Smirking, she elbowed him. “So you came here for a Northlake guy?”
“Shut up,” Fangs snapped, and Toni looked back over at the guy in question.
Her attention, though, was suddenly diverted as her gaze fell upon a woman standing next to him. Her skin was very light—unlike Toni’s darker complexion—so light that Toni was sure she would be burned by the end of the parade. Her hair was a gorgeous, natural red color, and fell in long waves around her. She was wearing light wash, high waisted shorts and a skimpy crop top streaked with the pink and orange colors that Toni recognized from the lesbian pride flag. Her cleavage was exposed, and the thin fabric of the top didn’t seem to do much to keep control of her chest. She wore strappy pink sandals as well and had thick rimmed pink sunglasses over her eyes, which matched the pink matte lipstick coating her plump lips. Immediately, Toni wondered what color her eyes were, and if they were as gorgeous as the rest of her.
The woman’s head turned a little toward Toni and Fangs, and Toni immediately looked away, unsure if she’d been caught staring since the sunglasses kept her from seeing where the woman was looking. Heart racing for some reason, Toni looked back at Fangs to see that his gaze was still glued to the Northlake guy. “Dude,” Toni told him, poking him with her elbow again, “you’re not being very smooth.” As if she hadn’t just done the same thing.
Fangs finally looked back at Toni. “Sorry,” he apologized. “He and I hooked up last weekend. He mentioned he would be in the parade and I—like an idiot—somehow ended up telling him I was going to be, too.”
Toni groaned. “We really came here because you got flustered during a hookup and told a hot guy that you’d be here?”
“What can I say?” Fangs asked, grinning.
“You have no shame.”
“Not on Pride day, nope! Here, let me introduce you.”
Suddenly, Fangs was headed toward the Northlake guy and the few people standing around him, including the gorgeous woman Toni had just maybe been caught staring at. Toni suppressed a groan as she followed her best friend, realizing that otherwise she’d be left standing here alone awkwardly.
As they approached, the guy noticed them, and his lips spread into a smile as he looked at Fangs. “Fangs,” the guy said in greeting, “I hadn’t seen you show up, and I was beginning to think you were avoiding me after last weekend.”
Fangs smirked. “Nah, this one just complained the whole way here and slowed me down. Kevin, this is Toni. Toni, Kevin.”
“Hey,” Toni said with a half-smile, unable to stop herself from glancing at the redhead next to this Kevin. She could tell, now, that the woman’s gaze was on her as well, even through the sunglasses. “He’s being dramatic. I didn’t complain that much.”
“You don’t like Pride?” Kevin asked in surprise. “You’re like, radiating bi pride right now.”
Toni smirked. “Trust me, I have a ton of pride in who I am. Just… these big things aren’t really my scene.”
“Cannot relate,” Kevin said with a laugh, looking at Fangs. “Oh—by the way. This is Josie and Cheryl.” He gestured to the two women next to him—Cheryl was the woman Toni was struggling to keep her eyes off of, and Josie was the other. She had dark skin and a bundle of natural curls atop her head, and she smiled as she was introduced.
“So have all of you done this parade before?” Fangs wondered.
“I’ve done it the past two years,” Kevin answered with a nod.
“Not me,” Josie spoke up, “although I am here only in ally capacity. I thought it would be fun to support the community.”
Toni found herself looked expectantly at Cheryl. “And you?” she heard herself ask, surprising herself and probably Fangs as well.
“I’ve been known to walk a parade once or twice,” Cheryl answered, her voice silky and alluring—whether that was on purpose or not, Toni wasn’t sure. Her demeanor and silence up to this point made her seem like someone who wanted to seem mysterious.
“Yeah, Cher’s come to all of these since freshman year,” Josie spoke up. “Probably one of the few times she goes out not wearing heels.”
Toni smirked a little, looking back at Cheryl quickly and seeing that her pink lips were turned up in a slight smile.
Suddenly, there was loud cheering from behind her, and Toni turned to see that the first float had apparently started to move down the street, and her chest tightened a little. She frowned at the anxiety she felt inside her. She hadn’t been excited about this, but she wasn’t sure why her palms were suddenly sweaty at the prospect of walking down the street, owning her bisexuality.
In an effort to distract herself, she found herself producing her phone and scrolling through Instagram mindlessly, trying not to think about the mental countdown to when the Southwood truck would start moving. She didn’t notice when the group she was standing with start to dissipate until Fangs nudged her and said, “Cool if I hang with Kevin?”
“Sure,” she said absently as she glanced up, realizing that she and Fangs were now standing alone. He grinned at her and then started after where Kevin had just gone—toward the Northlake float. Toni sighed, turning back toward the red truck and seeing that the bed had a lot of space. She walked over to it and caught the gaze of one of the people on it. “Can I get on it?”
“Of course,” they told her, and she climbed up onto the bed of the truck, sitting there and the continuing to try and distract herself.
When the truck started to move slowly, she felt her heart jump into her throat as she quickly pocketed her phone, sitting up a little and realizing that the float in front of them was finally moving forward. She glanced back and saw Fangs still lingering by the Northlake students, and she tried not to roll her eyes—she was happy for her friend, of course, and it wasn’t like she’d expected to randomly be having so much anxiety about this.
As the truck continued to move forward at an agonizingly slow speed, some more of the Southwood students started to climb into the bed and, in an effort to not feel too crowded while she was already feeling anxious, Toni carefully hopped out of the slow moving vehicle. Having a bit more space, she took in a thankful breath. She walked along the side of the truck, her phone now in her pocket, somewhat dreading the point where they actually reached the area where people were actually going to be watching them.
Suddenly, though, she felt a presence next to her, and she looked to her left, surprised to see Cheryl standing there. “Uh, hey,” Toni greeted in surprise. Cheryl looked toward her, her pink sunglasses still blocking her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be back with your float?”
“Shouldn’t your friend be up here with your float?” Cheryl asked back, her lips turning up into a little smirk.
“Touché.”
Cheryl walked in silence next to her for a moment before saying, “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but… you looked upset. So I wanted to check if you were okay.”
Toni felt her heart skip a beat, but she couldn’t tell if it was out of anxiety or the fact that Cheryl was this gorgeous woman checking up on her. “Oh. Uh. Yeah, I’m okay, I think.”
Cheryl hummed. “It’s overwhelming, right? All of the colors and people and music.”
“Yeah, a little bit,” Toni agreed. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for pride. Like, I’ve known I was bi since I was eleven years old. But I guess it doesn’t mean that I’m used to… all of this. I came to the parade last year, stayed for half an hour watching, and then left. I didn’t even see the Southwood float.”
“I get it,” Cheryl told her. “I’ve known that I’m a lesbian for a long time, too. But, for me at least, that didn’t mean much. My mother sought to suppress that part of me, and for a while, I learned to hate that part of me.” Toni frowned. “So, freshman year of college, when I finally tried coming out to people for the first time, it was freeing, but also terrifying. I actually decided to join in on the Northlake float because I thought it would be like… jumping in the deep end.”
Toni looked curiously at the woman. “Did it work?”
Cheryl laughed a little, the sound filling Toni’s chest with a strange warmth. “I guess it did, and it didn’t. I learned so much from the experience, but I had a really hard time letting myself just be here and be myself. So many eyes on me… on all of us… it’s like I was back in my parents’ house, my mother telling me that this wasn’t something to be proud of. That I should hate it.” Cheryl suddenly pulled her sunglasses up onto her head, and warm brown eyes met Toni’s gaze, practically making Toni’s heart stop.
Toni didn’t know what to say as this stranger told her this story, so she just stared back at her as they walked, until Cheryl started to speak again.
“Anyway,” she breathed out, looking away from Toni, “it was hard. But some of the people who were there noticed that I was feeling… scared, and they helped build me up. And it ended up being one of the most incredible experiences of my life.”
Toni smiled at that, glancing down at her feet.
“I don’t want to presume to know why you’re overwhelmed,” Cheryl continued after a beat, “but I’m happy to walk with you. If you’d like.”
Toni’s smile widened even more, and she looked back up at the redhead, whose gaze was now straight ahead, her cheeks pink a little. Instead of answering the question, Toni bit down on the inside of her lip for a moment and then said, “I’m digging your whole look by the way. It’s very—”
“Lesbian?” Cheryl asked, her lips curling into another smirk.
Toni laughed, surprised at how much more relaxed she already felt. “Yes, but I was going to say pink.” She bit on her lip again, debating whether to add the next thing that came to her mind. After a second, she decided that she had nothing to lose, and she added, “Not to mention, hot.”
Cheryl’s cheeks definitely turned a bit redder at the comment, and her bright, brown eyes met Toni’s again. “Thank you,” she said, in that same low, silky voice as before. “One of my favorite things about Pride is how socially acceptable it is to wear the least amount of clothes possible.”
“Yeah, I think it’ll take me a while before I’m down with the whole pasties and thongs thing,” Toni teased, getting a laugh from Cheryl.
“Oh, me too. I like your look, too, by the way.”
Toni knew that she failed to fight the heat rushing to her cheeks as she chewed on her lip. “Thanks.”
They walked in a comfortable silence, and after a few minutes, Toni realized that they were finally reaching the start of the official parade. There were barriers on either side of the street and crowding around them were crowds of people waving flags and cheering. The float in front of Southwood’s had started blasting music by queer artists, and Toni felt her heart clenching again, and she fiddled with the hem of her shorts with her right hand.
Suddenly, a hand was closing around her left, and Toni looked at Cheryl in surprise. Cheryl gave her hand a squeeze, and then went to let go, but Toni instinctively intertwined her fingers with the redhead’s. They shared a look for a second, and then Cheryl’s lips turned into a smile. After a second of walking like that, Cheryl said, “See? Not so bad, right?”
“I think you’re basically my lifeline right now,” Toni murmured, slightly embarrassed as she clung to the woman’s hand.
“I don’t mind,” Cheryl insisted, squeezing her hand softly again.
The Pride parade was a lot different as a part of it than watching it. For one thing, Toni didn’t get to see all of the floats and get a bunch of free stuff. Instead, at some point, Sam distributed some rainbow Southwood University stickers for the students to hand out to parade viewers. Despite Cheryl not even going to Southwood and being a part of the float behind them, she didn’t leave Toni’s side as Toni decided to brave going up to people and handing out the stickers.
As she made her way to edge of the street and handed out stickers to excited hands reaching over the metal barriers, she noticed a lot of younger kids and families at the parade, and she couldn’t help but smile. She wondered what her thoughts on Pride parades would be like if she’d actually gotten to go to any as a kid.
They ran out of stickers about halfway down the route, and Toni was feeling monumentally better, an easy smile on her face. She’d let go of Cheryl’s hand while handing out stickers, and even though she didn’t really feel the need for the support, she found herself wanting to reach for the woman’s hand anyway.
So when Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko started playing from the Float in front of them, Toni bit down on her lower lip and reached for Cheryl’s hand, getting a gasp from the redhead as she suddenly twirled her playfully. The gasp turned into a laugh, and Cheryl surprised Toni by dancing with her right back. Toni wasn’t much of a dancer, but it was clear that Cheryl had a bit more expertise as she kept hold of Toni’s hand and twirled her right back. Toni couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of her as they danced and sang along to the song, not a care in the world as the parade watchers cheered them on.
A few minutes after that was one of the short stops the floats had to make to allow for traffic to pass at a big intersection, and Cheryl led Toni to the Northlake float to get her back. From it, she produced a red, metal water bottle, and a small tube of sunscreen. “Oh, so that’s how you’re keeping from burning,” Toni teased.
“SPF 100,” Cheryl said with a smirk, “I told you, Toni. I have experience with this parade.” She took a long drink from her water bottle, and then offered the bottle to Toni, who accepted it without any hesitation. Maybe part of her didn’t mind sharing the bottle, because after that dance in the street, all she wanted to do to pull those plump, pink lips in for a deep kiss.
When the parade started moving again, Cheryl grabbed Toni’s hand and intertwined their fingers, and Toni’s heart did flips inside her chest—not out of anxiety this time.
They walked between the Northlake and Southwood floats for the rest of the parade, not saying much but occasionally giving each other smiles, or squeezing each other’s hand. It was strange, thinking that Toni didn’t even know this woman an hour ago, but she was so comforted by her now.
When the floats finally reached the end of the route, someone suggested that they sit and watch the rest of the floats arrive, so Toni, Cheryl, and a few of the others from both their schools sat on the beds of the trucks, watching the final floats. Fangs and Kevin were nowhere to be seen, and Toni had a feeling she knew why. To be safe, though, she shot a text to her friend, who confirmed that the two of them had sneaked away. He told her to go ahead and leave if she wanted, but Toni wasn’t quite ready to leave yet.
After a while of sitting there quietly on the bed of the truck, cheering every now and then when a float arrived at the end of the route, Toni finally said softly to Cheryl, “Hey, thanks. For walking with me and everything.”
Cheryl smiled. “Of course. It was fun.”
Toni nodded in agreement, looking down at her lap before she admitted, “I used to live with some family who didn’t ‘agree’ with my sexuality. I never really cared what they thought, I just ignored their opinions and lived my life. I never had a problem dating girls and showing PDA around friends and all that. But… maybe I’ve always felt a little weird about PDA in front of a lot of people. Or like, really flaunting my sexuality, I guess. Like, as much as I don’t care what they think or thought, it’s still there in the back of my mind. You know?”
“Yeah,” Cheryl confirmed with a nod, “it’s hard. Fighting what you know isn’t true, but what’s in your head anyway.”
Toni let out a soft sigh. “Yeah. But I’m… glad that I did this. As many as apprehensions as I had, it really wasn’t too bad.” Cheryl smiled.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Cheryl told her, her arm suddenly wrapping around Toni a little and her hand rubbing Toni’s back softly. Toni found herself leaning into the woman as they watched the last float arrive at the end of the route. The sky was starting to turn a golden color as the sun started to lower past the tops of the tall, city buildings.
Everyone started to clear out then, and Toni and Cheryl climbed off of the truck bed. “Where’d you park?” Toni wondered.
“Oh, I took a Lyft actually,” Cheryl said. “Josie and I were planning to go get drinks. You want to join us?”
Toni hummed thoughtfully, not sure if drinking was exactly on her agenda for tonight. “I think I’ll pass for tonight. But… I would love to see you again…” Cheryl’s perfect, pink lips stretched into a soft smile. “If you’d like to?”
“Name the time and place,” Cheryl told her flirtatiously, “and I’ll be there.”
Toni bit down on her lower lip. “Could I get your number?”
They exchanged phones and punched in each other’s numbers, and when they each had their device back, Cheryl let out a breath. “Well, I guess I should go so I don’t leave Josie waiting too long.”
“Yeah, I should probably find Fangs,” Toni agreed. “But… I’ll text you about that date.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Cheryl told her with a soft smile. Cheryl started to walk past her, but Toni suddenly felt her heart jump as it seemed to take control of her body and made her grab Cheryl’s hand one more time, pulling the woman back to her. Cheryl looked at her in confusion for just a moment before Toni brought her other hand up to Cheryl’s face and pulled her in for a sudden, but not hesitant kiss.
Cheryl kissed her back without any hesitation as well, their lips slowly moving against each other’s. Toni’s lips tingled at the feeling, and then Cheryl’s tongue was pushing through them into her mouth, kissing her deeply and strangely passionately. Toni forgot about all of their surroundings, and the fact that this person was basically a stranger, as she got entirely lost in the kiss.
After however many seconds they stood like that, their tongues tangled, they were interrupted by Fangs’ voice saying, “I guess someone likes Pride after all.”
Toni dejectedly pulled away from Cheryl, blushing, as the other woman smirked a little. Cheryl squeezed her hand one last time and said, “Text me.”
“I will,” Toni agreed, biting down on her slightly swollen lower lip as Cheryl released her hold on her hand and actually walked away.
Toni finally turned her attention back to her best friend, who was smirking. “Okay, shut up, you left me for your hot friend.”
“So, you had fun after all?”
Toni smiled, despite the situation she’d been caught in. “Yeah. Surprisingly, it was actually a lot of fun. And, I got a date out of it. Even hotter than your date.”
“Sorry, but mine is definitely hotter than yours.”
“Absolute bullshit, did you see that girl?” Toni demanded. Fangs shrugged, and Toni shook her head. “No taste.”
Fangs smirked. “Come on. It’s not too far of a walk to the bikes.”
As Toni headed back to their motorcycles with Fangs, she replayed the parade in her head, a smile on her face. Despite having felt like she’d always been proud of herself and her sexuality, for the first time, she felt like she really did understand the importance of Pride.