The Human Side
By Cori Garrison
Copyright 2015 Cori Garrison
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Statement
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
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Prologue
Shawn was eleven when she realized she wasn’t like other girls. She had always been a tom boy, something that caused her parents great distress. In their world, appearances were everything. For them, the appearance of their three blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls acting like perfectly mannered southern belles was what they expected.
When she was thirteen, she was caught kissing her best friend. Her mom was furious and threatened to send her away to boarding school. “This type of behavior is not acceptable! We will not speak of this again!” Her mother had shouted at her. Shawn had not been allowed to see her friend again.
It was then that she began to withdraw from everyone, except her younger sisters. She was, after all, the oldest and it was her job to watch out for them. She didn’t consider anyone a friend. Why make friends when her parents would just tell her they weren’t the kind of people that a lady associated with.
She excelled at sports in high school and wanted to be a nurse. Her parents however, wanted her to attend Columbia College, an all-women’s college in her home state of South Carolina. When she approached her parents about attending Duke University in North Carolina, they exploded telling her that if she did not attend Columbia as they wished, they would not pay for any of her education costs.
She had always had a stubborn streak in her and she felt like she was being smothered by their disapproving demeanor. She was a straight “A” student, all-state in volleyball and softball, yet her parents never had a kind word to say to her. She decided she had to get away from them and made the decision to go against them, applying to Duke.
Duke accepted her with a partial academic scholarship. Without her parent’s financial assistance, she was forced to take out student loans to cover the remainder of her tuition. Her parents cut her off completely the day she left for North Carolina.
She bloomed during her freshmen year at Duke. She loved the freedom of being away from her judgmental parents. She began dating women; well, really it was not so much dating and more like sexual encounters. She didn’t have time for a relationship and quite honestly, she didn’t trust anyone.
Her sophomore year, she was assigned to a new room in the dorms and a new roommate. Her new roommate was another sophomore nursing student named Jenna Lambert. Shawn found her incredibly easy to talk to and before she realized it, they quickly became best friends. Shawn shared how difficult her life had been and that she was now basically on her own with no safety net. Over the next two years they became inseparable; living, studying and hanging out together in what little free time they had.
Holidays were always the most difficult for her. She had nowhere to go “home” to, no one to celebrate with and no one who wished her Merry Christmas or Happy New Year. Jenna invited her to come home with her to New York for Christmas their sophomore year but she declined, preferring to keep everyone at a distance. She was afraid of rejection if Jenna’s family realized she was a lesbian.
When Jenna returned to school from the winter break, she found Shawn sick in bed. She hadn’t eaten for two days and she was running a high fever. Jenna scolded her for not calling her or going to see someone at the campus clinic. Jenna had watched over her as her fever remained high, finally climbing into bed with her and cuddling to stop her violent chills. She finally fell asleep with Jenna holding her tight. Jenna had studied her and wondered what it must be like to have parents who turn their back on you because of who you were for something that you had no control over. She knew underneath Shawn’s hard persona was a woman who had a great capacity to love, she was just too afraid to let anyone in.
Jenna and Shawn continued to grow closer as the semester’s passed. They were even a couple for a while, but she could not commit to an actual relationship that Jenna wanted. The two decided that rather than ruin their friendship, they would break up. The decision was the correct one; it created a stronger friendship than ever as she began to realize that Jenna would always be there for her. Jenna accepted her for who she was, however flawed she may be.
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Seven Years Later
Shawn woke to the sound of the birds singing and the sun streaming through the blinds. She stretched, feeling Rebecca’s warm body next to her. Rolling on her side she studied the beautiful woman she had fallen in love with. Rebecca had dark hair and a dark complexion, a reflection of her Cuban heritage. She had the most gorgeous almond colored eyes and when she was fired up about something they seemed to almost burn. She couldn’t resist reaching out and tucking Rebecca’s hair behind her ear, letting her hand linger on her cheek.
Rebecca stirred and opened her eyes to find Shawn staring at her. She immediately felt a jolt of adrenaline shoot through
