The Weight of Living by M.A. Hinkle

Author:M.A. Hinkle [Hinkle, M.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: NineStar Press, LGBTQIA+, contemporary, lesbian, trans, artists, caterer/chef, photographer/wedding photographer, teenagers, family drama, crazy weddings, Sailor Moon nerdiness, millennial angst, interracial/intercultural
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2020-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

2014, One Year Before: The Time Gabi Looked in the Mirror and Actually Saw Herself

Gabi was never sure why Soledad invited her shopping. Their styles were totally different. For one thing, Soledad was butch from the tips of her short hair to the laces of her beat-up men’s boots. Outside of work, Gabi dressed for a job interview. She couldn’t say it suited her. She only had to see Rosa to know how slinky dresses and skirt-and-suit combos were supposed to fit. They were meant to sit on you effortlessly, and you were meant to be as comfortable as you were in pajamas. Gabi had broken the habit of constantly pulling down her skirt and pulling up the collar of her blouses, but only after years of being on camera. She didn’t think she’d ever remember to stand perfectly straight in flats or how to properly walk in heels.

And, objectively speaking, Gabi had no taste in clothes. Sarah was something of a fashionista; she could rattle off different designers and their favored styles (as well as all their production chain issues) without breaking a sweat, and she seemed to have been born knowing the difference between argyle and houndstooth. Gabi was lucky if she knew the difference between an A-line and pencil skirt.

But when Soledad announced she had a bonus from work and wanted to spend it on clothes, she’d smirked at Gabi like she already knew Gabi was going to point all those things out. Like she thought Gabi would be embarrassed to pick over the men’s side of the store.

Soledad knew the best of everything, including thrift stores, and she shopped the same way Sarah did, with laser precision. She’d glance at an item, touch it, sneer, and move on to the next, only dropping something into Gabi’s arms—because she shoved all her selections at Gabi without even asking—if it met some strange criteria. Button-downs with floral prints and short sleeves. Distressed jeans. Sweater vests and waistcoats.

“What are you even trying to find?” Gabi demanded once she was holding at least ten things.

“Dunno yet.” Soledad shrugged one shoulder the way she always did. She pulled out a shirt and held it up, not against herself, but Gabi. “This would fit you.”

Gabi glanced down at the clothes in her arms. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You think I wear shirts for tall people?” Soledad wasn’t smirking, but there was the dare in her eyes, right on cue. “Nah. I can already tell there’s nothing here for me.”

Gabi glanced again at the clothes, this time trying to understand what she was supposed to do with them.

“I don’t dress this way.” It should have been a firm statement, the way Rosa and Sarah said anything. But it sounded wishy-washy. As if she’d gone twenty-five years of her life and never picked up a style.

She had, but other people didn’t need to know. Other people didn’t know. Her whole family had been born effortlessly stylish. Only Gabi couldn’t sense

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