PHOTOS TREVOR BRADY
Sara was torn about whether to include the sex notes. Yes, she and Tegan wanted to make their high school memoir as authentic as possible. Yes, they hoped to tell a queer coming-of-age tale we hadn’t seen before. And yes, without a doubt, the sex notes were a real page-turner, but – and it was a serious but – they were also deeply personal. In these precious, hand-written souvenirs of Sara’s teenage romance, her then-girlfriend had laid bare her innermost fantasies: “I start kissing your body all over, paying close attention to ‘that place’.” She had listed her favourite of all the special, secret things they did together: “When you touch me in certain areas and then pull away, you make me want it so much more.” Sara had very real concerns about exploiting their adolescent love story. Unsure how to proceed, she called the woman who had written those “sweet, odd, amazing” messages over 20 years ago. Although they’d been broken up for two decades, in classic gay girl style, they’d remained the best of friends. “This is a huge ask, but can I use the sex notes, because they’re fucking amazing?” Thankfully her ex-turned-BFF consented and queer culture was granted the gift of the Sex Note chapter in Tegan and Sara’s High School.