This is my first time writing a story. Comments are very welcome, but please go easy on me.
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"I'm sorry Chris, I'm a lesbian."
Those words had turned Chris's stomach inside out and made his heart sink like a stone. He had tried to bury them at the back of his mind, but they kept coming back hurting him more than anything in his life had ever hurt him before.
Chris had always been solitary. At school he'd had few friends and mostly preferred to keep to himself. Girls had been a total mystery. He was a late developer anyway and didn't see the attraction that was so obvious to all the other boys his age. He never had a girlfriend at school, and even after he started to take an interest he was too shy to do anything about it. He was hardly a social animal, so dating wasn't important. None of this really changed when he started at University, everything was all so new and intimidating, Chris wasn't sure where to begin.
Sally was different. For a start she had just come up and spoken to him. He had been sitting on his own in the Student common room, and this stunningly gorgeous girl had just come up and asked him if the seat next to him was taken. Sally had short blonde hair, and a slim figure, although she could hardly be called scrawny. And she had made everything so easy. She was studying History like Chris and had lead the conversation completely, putting him totally at ease, sharing her fears and hopes about the University experience. Before long Chris found himself telling her everything about himself, about his personal anxieties that he wouldn't fit in, that he would let his family down and she had just responded. Before long they had arranged some study sessions together and the relationship just flowed from there. Sally had recommended books, they had been to lectures together. Soon they started socialising, Sally introduced Chris to her friends; they even went to a few parties. Chris was never comfortable in these sort of environments, so Sally hadn't pushed it. They would meet for coffee and chat, they had similar taste in music and movies.
Quite unexpectedly, Chris found strange feeling stirring that he had never really experienced and had certainly never expected. At first he thought it was merely a crush. Obviously Sally was attractive, actually stunning, and they clearly had a lot in common. Over time, as he thought about her, obsessed over her, fantasised about her, wanted to know everything about her, and for her to know everything about him, as his happiness became completely tied in to her, what she was feeling and how she responded to him, he realised that it was much more than a crush. He was in love, for the first time in in his life, completely and utterly infatuated.
Even with Chris's shy temprement there was no way he could not act on this realisation. After days of playing it backwards and forwards in his head, rehearsing it over and over he finally plucked up the courage to tell Sally how he felt. He met up with her alone at a quiet corner in the student bar and poured out his heart and soul to her confessing everything about what he felt. In a way, he was more intimate with her than he had been with anyone else in his life. And then she told him she was a lesbian.
Sally wasn't cruel or heartless, which somehow made it so much more painful. She seemed so scared and uncertain about how to react, and then she just told him. She even apologised for not making it clear earlier. Chris just felt so stupid; how could he have not seen the signs? Were there signs? Would he have even known what to look for? He couldn't say anything to her, he just collapsed in on himself. He left with out a word and just ran back to his room trying to force back his tears.
Afterwards was even worse. It wasn't just the rejection, Chris had lost his best friend. There was no way their relationship could carry on as before. What was worse was that he had just ran off without talking to her. Goodness knows what Sally had thought, had he rejected her as forcefully as she rejected him? Did she think he was some sort of homophobic bigot? That would have been unbearable, that she was thinking something so horrible about him some where.
Days and weeks passed and Chris was no better. He cut himself off from everyone and everything, trying to bury his feelings in a deep place inside himself. His studies were slipping, he doubted that he would be able to pass his exams, not that he cared. Sally's rejection had left a wound far too deep to ever heal. And that was why he now found himself at the front door of a student house whose address was written on a torn sheet of paper, his last most desperate hope.
Nervously Chris rang the doorbell. A women in a brown T-Shirt and a long skirt answered.
"Um... Holly?" Chris stammered.
"Upstairs," came the reply and the women gestured to the end of the hallway. She was obviously used to these sort of requests. Chris cautiously made his way up the stairs to a room with a light green door marked with a nameplate that read "Holly Shaw." Chris knocked on the door, but it was off the latch and slowly opened with a threatening creak.
"Come in", came a clear voice with a slightly rural edge. Chris did so, the room was lit softly by the light of candles and he could smell incense. It was decorated with a variety of nick- nacks and souvenirs, including a collection of beanie babies and troll dolls. Somehow, this had not been what Chris had expected. Holly had her back to him and was wearing jeans and a baggy T-Shirt, faded red. She was in the process of feeding a large Alsation dog, strictly against the rules in University owned accommodation.
"Good girl Fiona," Holly said warmly to the dog. Chris thought this a somewhat unusual name for a dog, but gave it no further thought. Holly turned to face him, she was short, curvy with mousey brown hair that seemed to go everywhere.
"Hello," she said, "what can I do for you?" She didn't seem in the least bit surprised to see him.
"Its.. um... well, My name's Chris and er... I've heard people talking, you know.. around campus," Chris stammered.
"Come on Chris, spit it out. I promise not to bite," Holly flashed him a lopsided smile.
"There's a rumour going around that you're a witch," Chris finally blurted out. Holly's expression didn't change.
"You shouldn't believe everything you hear," Holly replied calmly.