If you haven’t read February 16 yet, you can do so here.

If you stumbled onto this post by accident and haven’t read any of the other stories, head over to this post to find out more about this project.

Mikaela sunk into the theatre chair with a tequila sunrise in one hand and a box of tissues in the other. A movie was just what she needed. Or more accurately, a good cry. The cruise had seemed like a good idea when she booked it. And for the first month it had been fun, at least until she remembered she was bad at people and that Gabi chick had decided to ignore her for weeks. Mikaela thought she and Gabi had gotten along pretty well. Well enough that she would have liked to get to know her better. It seemed Gabi disagreed. Though really, Mikaela had no idea what Gabi thought since they hadn’t spoken in ages. If it wasn’t for the fact that she saw Gabi in the dining room on Valentine’s Day she would have assumed Gabi was gone. 

It was convenient for her that someone had decided a long weekend of old movies was what the ladies needed. The quality of the late 80s and early 90s movies on the timetable left a lot to be desired, but their stories were second to none. Mikaela had sat in on A League of Their Own the day before, and she’d already watched Romy and Michelle battling it through their reunion. The moment she’d seen Beaches on the schedule she knew it was exactly what she needed. Hillary and CC had never failed her yet. 

What she hadn’t counted on was the very handsy couple who settled into the seat next to her. On another day she might have been able to half enjoy the occasional glimpses of bare skin as they explored one another’s bodies, but Mikaela was already feeling a little put out by everyone, there were always people. Everywhere.

“Excuse me. Um, if you don’t want to watch the movie, maybe you could be somewhere else?” The movie was due to start in a couple of minutes.

One of them giggled but neither of them paid any attention to Mikaela. 

“They won’t notice you,” said a voice from behind Mikaela.

She turned to look at the speaker. Younger than her, the same kind of awkwardness Mikaela saw in herself.

“No?”

“Yesterday they blocked the elevator buttons for so long after I got on that I had to find a different elevator. After I finished my lunch they were still in there.”

“Well, guess I might as well give up on Beaches. There is no way I’ll be able to relax with those two next to me.” Mikaela sighed.

“You can come back here, there’s an empty seat next to me,” the girl gestured next to her. There was an empty seat. Not as far as she would have liked, but it was available and the girl seemed nice.

“Cleo,” she said as Mikaela slipped into the seat. 

“Mikaela.” Mikaela looked at the girl again. “Now you’re making me feel old. There is no way you were even born when this came out?”

Cleo blushed. “Well no, I wasn’t. But my mum loves it.”

“Geez, no need to bury the knife any deeper.”

Cleo smiled. “Sorry. I wouldn’t have guessed you were alive when this came out either.”

Mikaela decided in that moment that she quite liked Cleo, and wouldn’t mind spending two hours sitting next to her crying her eyes out. 

You can read February 18 here.

Thanks for reading! If you’d like even more Pride 365 including cool bonus stories, head over to Patreon and become a supporter.

If you’d like to keep up with Pride 365 and be notified when the ebooks and paperbacks go on sale, subscribe to this email list. If you’d like to see cute photos of my pets and hear about my life as well as new releases, subscribe to this email list.