I’d revealed a small sterling silver tea set, complete with cups, a tray, plates, spoons, and little containers for cream and sugar.
“They didn’t have the teapot, so sorry about that.”
“It’s perfect,” I said, wiping away a few tears. It was.
“Come on, let’s break it in!” Tessa jumped up and went to heat some water.
“But it’s so pretty,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt it.”
“It was made to be used, silly. Also, there’s a polishing and cleaning kit in the bottom of the box. A new hobby for you.”
She’d thought of everything.
“I love it so much, thank you.” I hugged her and held her close. She beamed at me.
“I’m so happy you like it.”
The kettle whistled and Tessa went to shut it off.
“What kind of tea would you like, milady?” She held out the box of tea bags to me and I selected an Earl Grey. Seemed appropriate.
“This feels so decadent.” We sat on the living room couch sipping from the silver cups.
“I feel so fancy,” Tessa said. “Remember that time when I tried to throw that tea party?”
I made a face. “Don’t remind me. I can’t drink red wine now because of that.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault that the bottle wasn’t labeled. I thought it was juice or something.” Tessa had decided to throw me a tea party one summer when we were younger and had grabbed a bottle of homemade wine from her aunts to mix with iced tea to pour in the cups. I’d drunk a bunch of it and ended up puking in the hedges in front of the house. Much drama had ensued.
“I was trying to be classy, and I failed,” she said with a sigh.
“It’s okay, I still love you.”
Her phone made noise and she read a new message.
“Hey, what about telling my brothers? Are you up for that? Keep in mind that if you tell them, they will make shirts to support you.”
Oh god, they would. I didn’t think I was ready for that quite yet.
“No, let’s hold off.”
“Fair enough.”
We rinsed out the cups and dried them carefully before I packed them back into the box to take back to my apartment.
“Hey, so you wanna watch this new show? I was looking for stuff to watch and I think there are lesbians in it,” Tessa said, turning on the TV.
“I don’t have to watch something just because there are lesbians in it.”
“I know, but don’t you want to?”
“I mean, yes.”
She grinned at me. “Exactly.”
Tessa put the show on and scooted close to me. “Can you play with my hair?”
When we’d been younger and I’d been practicing my braiding skills, Tessa used to let me work on her hair. Now that it was much shorter, that was harder, but I could still mess with it a little bit.
“Sure,” I said. She lay her head in my lap and I dragged my fingers through her curls. It was soothing for me as well.
Aside from polishing the tea set, which wouldn’t take too long, I needed a new hobby. Maybe I could take a class or learn a language.
The show was cute and bright and so far, it seemed pretty gay, not that I was much of a judge. I was hooked by the fourth episode, and if she didn’t say anything, I was going to go home and marathon this thing.
“Can you pick out a wedding dress for me?” Tessa asked. I’d honestly thought she’d fallen asleep.
“What?”
She sat up. “Can you pick out a wedding dress for me? I know I need to get one like, a year in advance, and I have no idea what I want. You pick one out for me. You’ll know what looks good.”
I paused the show. “Have you tried any on?”
“No.”
“I think you should do that before you give me complete control over what you wear. That’s an important day, and you want to wear something you like.”
My own wedding dress was in storage at my parent’s house. I still loved it and wish it wasn’t tied to such awful memories. Too bad I couldn’t wear it for something else, but it was very clearly a wedding dress.
“Can I just use yours?” she asked.
“Uh, no. I don’t think it would fit you, anyway.” My dress was a ballgown with lots of tulle and lace and 3/4 lace sleeves. Not Tessa style at all.
“It was worth a shot. Will you go with me? If I go try them on.”
She looked up at me, her eyes wide and pleading.
“Listen, if we