Title: Getting to Know You
Author: Jennifer MD Cox
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 05/28/2024
Heat Level: 1 – No Sex
Pairing: Female/Female
Length: 98900
Genre: Contemporary, contemporary, romance, lesbian, actors, Los Angeles, stage theater/play production, Jewish culture, toxic ex, found family and community, following dreams, pets
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Description
Maggie Fromm moved to LA to follow a dream: to become an actress and live happily ever after with her high school sweetheart. When her heart is broken after a year of eking out a living, Maggie finds herself fighting for her dream alone. Her luck may change when she meets Gwen Knowles, a talented and spirited director drawn to Maggie’s energy on stage.
As they work to bring an independent play to life, Maggie and Gwen face shadows from their past—but this time, they have each other.
Getting to Know You
Jennifer MD Cox © 2024
All Rights Reserved
The party took place in the courtyard of an apartment complex—a much nicer one than Coral and Maggie’s. The yard had trees and wooden terraces draped with fairy lights and paper lanterns, giving it a gorgeous but casual party atmosphere. There were already about twenty people present, spread out across the yard in chatting groups. Maggie spied a table of food toward the back of the yard, numerous places to sit, and a small speaker system set up to play music.
Coral took Maggie by the elbow and guided her to one side as soon as they arrived. “C’mon, let’s look at what they have to sell before all the good stuff gets taken. Then I can introduce you to people.”
Coral steered them toward a table laden with various pins, flags, shirts, bags, and other pride merchandise. “Bobby!” she chirped to the brunette who appeared to be working the table. “What’s new?”
“Honestly, not much, but I’m pretty excited with these fabric pride flower pins we got,” Bobby responded, showing one with bi pride colors for Coral to examine. “Who’s your friend?”
“This is Maggie,” Coral said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Maggie, this is Bobby. She’s one of the masterminds of the group, constantly arranging events like this. She might be the most important voice for LGBT rights in the city ever.”
“You exaggerate,” Bobby said lightly, reaching across the table to shake Maggie’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Did Coral drag you here, or are you here by choice?”
“Why does everyone keep asking that?” Coral complained.
“I’m here by choice,” Maggie reassured them. “It’s nice to meet you too. I’ve never been to anything like this.”
“Well, relax and have fun,” Bobby urged her. “And if you want to help support the cause, you can buy anything on this table, or you can order from my book over here.”
Coral and Maggie searched through the merchandise. Coral seemed quite interested in trying to buy the whole table. After a moment, a set of enamel pins caught Maggie’s eye. She was about to pick up the rainbow pin but paused, fingers hovering.
“Coral? What are all of these?”
“The pride flags?” Coral joined her. “Oh, wow, Bobby, you have almost everything here. Has the bear pride flag been popular?”
“Nah, but Gene isn’t here yet.”
Coral laughed, then returned to Maggie’s question. “So, you recognize the gay and bi pride flags, obviously, but some of these are more obscure. Like, here’s the straight ally flag, that’s the ace-aro flag… This one’s interesting.” She picked up a pin with five stripes on it: dark orange, orange, white, pink, to dark pink. “The lesbian pride flag, or at least the newest version.”
“How many versions are there?”
“Oh lord, I have no idea. I don’t know what it is with the lesbian flag, but the community just can’t seem to settle on one. There’s an extensive history of fighting over trans inclusion and femme versus butch representation. But if you wear this, most people who are familiar with the concept of pride flags will probably recognize it as a lesbian pride flag.”
Maggie picked it up. Something about it resonated with her in a way that felt more personal than the rainbow flag. She checked the price tag on the table, then reached for her wallet. She handed fifteen dollars over to Bobby, who smiled.
“Great choice. The couple who makes these pins take a lot of pride in their work. Thank you for your support for the Los Angeles LGBT Center!”
Maggie stuck the pin on her shirt, over her heart. As she turned to face the growing party crowd, she felt different. Less like an outsider.
“It helps, doesn’t it?” Coral said as she debated between a bi pride frog patch and a trans ally drawstring bag. “Obviously, everyone is welcome here, but it’s nice to be able to show a little of what’s inside on the outside.”
Maggie nodded enthusiastically. She opened her mouth, about to ask Coral to hurry up so they could join the group, suddenly excited to participate. Her voice choked in her throat as her eyes fell on the entrance to the courtyard—where Gwen Knowles was walking in, wearing a stunning navy-blue sundress with a halter top and her hair tied back in a partial ponytail. Before Maggie could decide how to react, Gwen’s eyes were on her, and she was headed straight toward the table.
“Oh, hey, Gwen,” Coral said cheerily as she set both the frog and bag down, her attention now on a rainbow plushie bear. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Gwen stopped, standing directly in front of Maggie. Her eyes settled briefly on the pin on Maggie’s chest, and a strange smile graced her lips. “What a nice surprise to see you here, Maggie.”
“Coral brought me,” Maggie said, clearing her throat.
Gwen turned to her roommate, who had set the bear down and was closely examining a rainbow fleece blanket. “Coral, what do I owe you for continuously bringing the lovely Miss Fromm into my life?”
Maggie’s cheeks and ears flushed hot as Coral responded.
“Hey, it’s just luck that you and I have the same interests,” she said. “I suppose Maggie is one of those interests.” Coral held up rainbow earrings to her ears. “What do you think?”
“Smashing,” Gwen said, “and they match your hat.”
Coral laughed and put the earrings down. Bobby, who had just completed another transaction down the table, approached with a grin.
“Gwen, good to see you,” she said. “How’s your evening?”
“It’s going very well. Did you sell Maggie this pin?”
“I did, would you like to see?”
Maggie bounced on her heels in confusion as Coral continued her indecisive shopping, eyes darting back and forth between Coral and Gwen. Gwen selected a lesbian pride flag pin, paid Bobby, and pinned the flag to the neckline of her dress. She glanced over at Coral.
“How long have you been here?”
“Shhhh,” Coral said, waving her away. “I’m just going to take a look at the book real quick.”
“Do you mind if I steal Maggie from you, then?”
“No, I don’t mind. I’ll catch up with you!”
Gwen turned to her, that strange smile dancing again. She gestured over to an open bench several feet away. “Shall we chat?”
Mouth dry and head dizzy, Maggie nodded and stiffly moved to sit. Gwen sat close to her so they could hear each other over the music.
“I hope you won’t think me too forward,” Gwen said, “but I’m happy to see you here.”
Maggie laughed nervously. “I’m surprised to be here. Coral was very persuasive.”
“Why’s that?”
“Coral said it would be good for me to have a friend group that’s, well, not straight.”
“Mmmm…you’re not openly out, are you?”
“I wasn’t. I guess I am now?”
“I suppose so. Congratulations.” She shook Maggie’s hand. “And I’m happy for you. Is this your first time coming out to anyone?”
“Well, no, I told Coral a couple weeks ago. And lots of my high school friends know. The first person I ever came out to was Jess.”
Gwen paused, then asked, “Your girlfriend?”
“How’d you guess?”
“Honestly, a young lesbian couple moving to LA straight out of high school is pretty on-brand for the LGBT community.” They giggled, and she continued. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Coral’s right; it makes a difference being able to hear from people who share your experience.”
Maggie snorted. “I hope not a lot of them have my experience.”
Gwen glanced at Maggie’s hands, which were tightly gripped together in her lap. “You seem pretty tense. And frankly, since you didn’t confide in me after I came out to the cast a few weeks ago—”
“I hope you don’t think I lied to you. I’m new to this.”
Gwen reached over and placed a hand on top of hers. “I understand. I only want to make sure you’re comfortable being here. I know how enthusiastic Coral can be, but participating in events like this is a personal choice.”
“I know that. And I think I’m ready for this.” Maggie took a deep breath. “In high school, my friends knew, but not their parents, and certainly not mine. It was always this secret. Jess and I were this sneaky couple none of the adults knew about except her parents.”
“Her parents were accepting?”
“Oh, they were great.” She sighed wistfully. “The best parents ever. It was like having another mom and dad.”
“And…your relationship with your parents?” Gwen asked gently.
Maggie paused, gathering her thoughts. “What I told you about Jess talking me into not going to college was only part of the story. It was her idea, but I went along with it because…I just couldn’t handle being closeted at home anymore, and I knew how my parents would react.”
Gwen’s hand squeezed hers as she continued. Words were falling from her mouth as though she was afraid she would stop talking, and Maggie suddenly needed to tell this story.
“My whole life, it was so hard, you know, pretending to be what they wanted, pretending I was going to marry some nice Jewish boy, all while they were saying these…awful, hateful things about people like me. We’d eat dinner, and I’d have to force myself to swallow my food while my dad and mom talked about how gay people are unnatural and indoctrinating children. So when I finally told them, I did it knowing they were going to kick me out, and my suitcase was already packed.”
“Oh my God,” Gwen said softly.
The words kept coming. “It was literally like, ‘Hey Mom, Dad, I’m lesbian. Jess is my girlfriend. I’m leaving.’ Mom screamed at me, and Dad was trying to lecture me about how I wasn’t welcome anymore, and I was like, ‘I said I’m leaving, didn’t I?’ And it was still just…yelling as I left. I’d never heard them yell so much. They didn’t even stop when I got in the car.”
Just as suddenly as the words had come, they stopped, and Maggie started to feel ashamed. Here she was at a party, and the first thing she did—to Gwen Knowles of all people—was spill her downer coming-out story. Before she could apologize, Gwen spoke.
“Maggie, I am so, so sorry for how I acted this week.” She rubbed her forehead with the ball of her hand. “I’m an idiot. I got so focused on how jealous I was of your academic skills and got caught up in my own ideas about what you should do. I never stopped to think.”
“It’s okay—”
“No,” Gwen said firmly. “It’s not. I made an assumption I never should have, and I lashed out against you because of it. I know you said you forgive me, but I want you to know I’m going to do better. That was completely unfair of me.”
Maggie nodded slowly. “It was a little hurtful. But understandable. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be so smart but struggle with reading.”
“And I can’t imagine what kind of person I’d be if I thought my mom hated the real me growing up.” Gwen stood. “Come get a drink with me. I want to start over. No lectures or confrontations today.”
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Jennifer earned her minor in creative writing from Alfred University in 2016. As a pansexual genderflux individual and a trauma-informed mental health counselor, they’re passionate about representation in fiction. Each story she tells is an opportunity to explore the beauty in nonconformity, healing, and diversity. After a lifetime of putting imagination to paper, Jennifer’s debut novel, Getting to Know You, came into being as a promise kept to a friend. Jennifer lives in the Finger Lakes with her family, where they enjoy tabletop roleplaying games, sewing, and cuddling their cat.
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