05. This was a Mistake!

A short story by Corey Patten 23/07/25

The air buzzes with conversation and brings energy to the dimly lit bar. Aurelia stands in the doorway, eyes flitting between each table and examining each face. Their eyes catch on a hand waving in the corner of the room, and a smile illuminates their face. Claire stands as Aurelia squeezes their way through the maze of tables and wraps them in a tight hug as they emerge.

“It’s good to see you,” Aurelia says as they take their seat. “How have you been?”

“Really good actually. Ever since my birthday I’ve felt,” Claire pauses, “I don’t know lighter.”

“Ok, explain that to me.” Claire shrugs her shoulders and says,

“I guess I just feel like I’ve let go of a large weight.” Aurelia smiles deeply.

“I’m glad to hear that. How was your birthday by the way? I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there.”

“Oh,” Claire says, shaking her head.

 “Don’t worry about it, you were off having a great time in Lavandula. My birthday was great, surrounded by the people most important to me. Minus you of course.” A waiter pops up next to their table, ready to take their drink order. When the waiter nods and disappears again, Claire turns back to Aurelia and asks, “How was Lavandula?” As Aurelia recounts their time in the smaller countryside city, the spa treatments and aroma therapy, a waitress returns to the table with their drinks. Aurelia thanks the woman with a quick cursory glance. A second later though, her eyes grow wide, and her head snaps back to the waitress. She takes in the point of her chin, the dark bangs that frame her face and the hazel colour of her eyes. The waitress walks away, and Aurelia turns back to Claire, a haunted look in their eyes.

“Is everything ok?” Claire asks. Aurelia swallows, and when they speak it comes at a murmur,

“Yes, she just looked like someone I knew.” They force a smile onto their face, and quickly ask, “What else has been happening? How are Tegan and Sara?” Claire eyes Aurelia warily but takes a sip of her drink and begins talking about her cats.

“They are doing well, Tegan caught cat flu recently, so we’ve had to give her medication wrapped in cheese. Oh, and before I forget, Miss Violetta said she wants to speak to us about something important. Some kind of mission or something. Cher knows what that means.” Her eyes fall on Aurelia’s hand on the table. “Aurelia, you’re shaking. Are you sure you’re, ok?” Aurelia thrusts her hand under the table and now Claire notices their chest heaving. Aurelia nods and sweeps the hair out of their eyes.

“Actually,” they say, “I’m just going to run to the bathroom quickly.” Aurelia hurtles through the bar toward the bathroom, crashing through the door and stumbling to the sink. They throw the tap on and begin throwing handfuls of water against their face. After a few moments of heavy breathing, they look up at the mirror and into their face. They stare back at themselves and watch as their reflection melts away. Slowly the room too begins to dissolve, and Aurelia steadies themselves for the painful flashback.

I can feel my heart pounding as I enter the restaurant. I’m only a little late, hopefully she doesn’t mind. I look up and down the column of tables and see her sitting at one in the middle. I take a breath then weave my way over. When our eyes meet, she breaks into a smile, and I do the same. She is gorgeous, with a cute little heart shaped face and a head of bright bubble-gum pink hair. Her nose stud glints as she rises.

“Tania?” she asks as I reach her, and I nod.

“Aurelia?”

“That’s me,” she answers, dimples on full display. I wrap her in a hug and catch a whiff of her perfume, smelling of summer florals.

“You’re even more beautiful in person,” I say as we sit down. She giggles and thanks me. I notice the fact she doesn’t deny it. Some confidence can be a good thing I suppose. “With a beautiful name too. Where’s that from?” Aurelia isn’t exactly a typical Asian name as far as I’m aware.

“It’s just a name I liked, and part of the many changes I’ve given myself,” she answers, still smiling.

“Fair enough. Well, tell me more about you. How is such a cute girl like you still single?” Her smile falters for a second, but then it returns.

“Not sure,” she shrugs. “I guess I just haven’t vibed with anyone yet.” She pauses and it looks like she wants to add something.

“I get that, the world is full of assholes,” I say, hoping to put her at ease. “Hopefully its different for us.” Aurelia smiles again.

“I should probably mention, I’m non-binary, so I go by they or them.” I keep my smile and stop from rolling my eyes. It’s like I can feel the heat from the light bulb as it switches on above my head. She’s one of those confused girls. It’s alright though, I know how to fix that.

The night is cold as I walk Aurelia back to her apartment. Aside from the little revelation, we’ve had a lovely night. I’ve made an effort to use the proper terms, only slipping a couple of times, which I think shows how patient a person I am. We reach a tall apartment building, mottled in different shades of brown, and she turns saying,

“Well, this is me.”

“You going to give me a tour?” I ask. I can see her hesitate, but I wait with a smile. I’ve been good all night, I should at least be invited up.

“Uhm, yeah. Alright,” she says. She leads me inside, up the elevator and to her front door. Inside her apartment is small but cozy, with lots of colourful furniture and rugs. “There’s not much to show. There is a bathroom in there, my bedroom in there and the little kitchen there,” she adds, pointing in different directions. I close the door behind me.

“And where’s the bed?” Aurelia whirls around then, no longer smiling. Then she gives a small laugh.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m up for that kind of thing tonight.”

“Don’t worry,” I say, taking a step forward and catching her in my arms. “I’ll do all the work.” I turn her chin up to me and place a kiss on her lips. Her hands press back against me, but my arms hold her in place. She pulls her face back from mine.

“No please, I don’t want to,” she says, but I know that’s a lie. I begin to push her toward the bedroom. “This was a mistake,” she adds, her voice cracking.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to make you feel like a real woman.”

“Why did I have to get stuck with the night shift?” I mutter as I click absent mindedly through programs on the computer in front of me.

“Barry!” Denise calls from the front desk. “There’s a woman here wanting to report a crime.” I sigh, just what I need, a drunken brawl or something. I make my way out to the front desk where a young woman stands shivering. She’s got bubble-gum pink hair like one of those odd kids you get nowadays.

“What can I help you with Miss?”

“I- I’d like to report a sexual assault,” she stammers. My eyes trail down from her face to the cleavage she shows and the tight skirt hugging her thighs. Not at all surprising

“Alright Miss, come this way.” I lead her to one of the private rooms, picking up a clipboard and report forms on the way. I direct her to the seat on the other side of the table and sit across from her. “Name please.”

“Aurelia Heung.”

“Alright miss Heung, tell me what happened.”

“Actually, I’m non-binary. My pronouns are they them.” I glance up from my clipboard, her lips form a straight line across her face. Another needless difficulty for my night.

“Apologies,” I say. “Could you tell me what happened?” She swallows before she speaks.

“This woman, Tania, forced herself on me.”

“Did you say woman?” I ask, my curiosity piqued. Miss Heung frowns when she says,

“Yes.” Interesting. “Anyway, we were on our way back from a date. She came up to my room and then she forced herself on me.” I nod.

“And is this what you were wearing on the date?” She looks down at herself, then back at me.

“How is that important?” Oh, here we go. I raise my hands defensively.

“I’m just trying to paint a picture miss.” She winces but appears to relent. “Now, you left the date, and she forced her way into your apartment.” She pauses.

“Not exactly.” I look up at her again.

“Not exactly?”

“I invited her up,” she says, then quickly adds, “but I didn’t want to.” I put the clipboard down on the table.

“So, you went on a date with this woman, invited her to your apartment and then slept with her?” I’ve heard this story before.

“She raped me,” she says with an edge to her voice I don’t much appreciate.

“Is it possible you gave her mixed signals?” The girl’s frown turns to a scowl.

“Is it a mixed signal to tell someone no?”  It takes every effort for me not to roll my eyes.

“I’m just saying-,”

“You know what, this was a mistake,” she says, cutting me off. She lurches out of her seat, which scrapes loudly along the floor, then grabs her bag and storms out of the room. I lean back and sigh. At least I can go back to my desk now.

I give a little wave as the kind young man shuts the door. I scribble down a few notes on his file of the progress we made today. I look at the time on my watch and my breath catches. Quickly I flip over to the next patient file with a start. Quickly reading over the notes, I walk briskly out of my office, down the hallway and to the small waiting area.

“Aurelia Heung,” I call out. A young woman with bright pink hair startles and quickly stands up out of her chair. She nods and I lead her back to my office. We both take a seat, and I introduce myself, “My name is Martha and I’ll be your counsellor today.”

“Nice to meet you Martha,” the young girl mumbles to me.

“Now Aurelia, can you tell me a little about why you’re here today?” She begins to fidget with her fingers, but I wait and give her time to find the words.

“A few months ago, I was sexually assaulted.” I pick up the patient form and my pen and say,

“I see, and did you know this man?” Aurelia frowns for a moment.

“It was a woman,” she says curtly. “And sort of. We’d been on a date.” I make a note of that and suppress the flicker of my surprise.

“Apologies, a woman. You went on a date with this woman.”

“Yes, and then she came back to my apartment and assaulted me.” I nod, taking down notes as she speaks.

“And did you report this to the police.” I glance up at her when she doesn’t answer, her lips pressed together into a firm line.

“No.” I try to keep my face neutral, why do these girls never report it. “I mean I tried to. I went to the station, but the police officer was really unhelpful.” Holding my pen in place I say,

“So, you did make a report?”

“No, I left before finishing because the police officer was being a dick.” She got all the way to reporting and yet couldn’t stick it out to finalise the report. Careful to keep my face neutral, I say,

“Well, I would recommend you go back and finalise that report.” Aurelia stares back at me stone faced. “Not just for yourself, but for the safety of others.” Aurelia closes her arms over herself then, putting a wall between us. They never like hearing the hard truth or taking responsibility.

“The Police officer was suggesting it was my own fault. And continuously misgendered me,” they say with a scowl.

“I’m sure he wasn’t meaning to,” I say gently. “Anyway, let’s move on. How has this event impacted you? Her mouth opens, but then Aurelia hesitates. She shakes her head briefly saying,

“You already aren’t listening to me, what’s the point?" She stands and heads toward the door adding, “this was a mistake.”

“Aurelia, wait please,” I begin, but she’s already closed the door behind her. I take a deep breath and cross her name off my file. Another one who isn’t ready to face the truth. Hopefully she’ll reach out again when she is ready.

The door opens and Claire steps inside the bathroom. Claire and Aurelia’s eyes meet in the mirror and Aurelia begins to dab at their face with a paper towel. “I’m sorry, I haven’t had an episode like this in a while.”

“Aurelia, what happened.” Aurelia takes a deep breath, then turns to Claire and says,

“A few years ago, before I came to Rainbow City, I was sexually assaulted.” Claire clamps a hand over her mouth with a gasp and simply stares at Aurelia for a long moment. “A woman I went on a date with.”  Then Claire’s hand moves to her chest, and she says questioningly,

“It was a queer woman?” Aurelia tenses ever so slightly and waits. “Aurelia, that’s awful. I’m so sorry. I had no idea that happened to you.” The tension seeps out of Aurelia as they breathe in deeply, eyes glistening.

“It was a long time ago. I did a lot of work, and I mean a lot,” they say. 

“But it never really goes away. You just have better days and now again you take a loss. It’s one of the reasons I got into being a therapist.” Their breathing had slowed, and their hands were no longer shaking.

“It must have been really difficult telling me, I appreciate it,” Claire says, causing Aurelia to smile. “What can I do to support you?” Aurelia approaches their friend and turns her around with a hand on her shoulder.

“Honestly, just knowing that you are here listening to me, and that you believe me, is the biggest thing. But even more, let’s just have a nice dinner.” As they get back to their table, a new closeness between them and a bond strengthened, they quickly reclaim the light and joy in their lives.

“You know what,” Claire says, “We need to have a friend’s trip.” Aurelia stares at Claire, their eyes glistening, knowing for certain that their friendship wasn’t a mistake.

About Corey Patten

is an Australian short story writer who spent 2023 traveling around Europe, concluding his journey by volunteering with Fighting Fear, where he supported LGBTQ+ forced migrants. His work has earned special mentions in various literary competitions, with his piece "I Don't Know How to Be Gay" gaining recognition in 2024. Corey, a Gay man, is passionate about telling the untold stories of Queer lives. His series, "Tales from Rainbow City," builds a unique universe where diverse LGBTQIA+ characters’ lives intersect as they navigate their identities and confront the challenges they face. For more information about his work follow him @astorywithcorey on Instagram.

Our Authors

are part of the LGBTQIA+ community and want to create and contribute the literature that we as a community wanted and needed growing up. Their mission is to transport your mind to a world where anything and everything is possible. From fantasy to romance, thriller to horror, we can do it all! Sit back and enjoy Queer literature but our authors who come from all around the world! Learn more about them and their journeys.

If you are interested in publishing with us please do not hesitate to contact us and we can discuss your ideas. 

Contact Us