Back to ‘Normal’...

The following chapter follows Stella and Cassie in 3rd Person POV

Last night, during Stella and Cassie’s Girls’ Night Out…

“To ‘third time’ being the charm?”

“To ‘third time’ being the charm.”

*Plunk*

Stella and Cassie are once again attempting a girls’ night out. With how their previous attempts have been ruined by the presence of ****, the two best friends decided it would probably be in their best interests to keep their third attempt a sober affair. The two decide to start their night by grabbing boba milk teas instead, before walking around the city to see where the night takes them.

“Aaah~, that hit the spot.” Stella remarks after taking a sip of her drink. Cassie just shyly smiles at her, before taking a sip of her own milk tea drink.

“Did that hit the spot for you?” Stella asks after Cassie takes a sip of her drink.

“Mm-hmm.” Cassie replies absentmindedly.

Stella allows for a beat to pass, raising her eyebrow in curiosity as she observes her best friend’s demeanor.

“You alright?” Stella asks.

“Mm-hmm.” Cassie answers, sounding more upbeat this time, after noticing the worry in Stella’s tone. “Are you alright?” Cassie asks back.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Stella answers with a reassuring smile.

“Good.” Cassie reacts.

“Good.” Stella agrees.

…

The two girls sigh simultaneously. They both mentally say ‘Jinx!’ as they look at one another, before they start sharing lighthearted chuckles at their obvious awkwardness.

“Just another one of our typical five star conversations.” Stella jokes with a **** chuckle.

“Yup.” Cassie replies, as she takes another sip of her milk tea, unable to hide her toothy grin. Stella initially raises her eyebrow again, before smirking as she realizes that Cassie’s playing into the awkwardness now.

“I still don’t understand why you like that stuff.” Stella jabs.

“Huh?” Cassie asks her.

“I don’t feel refreshed when I drink the powder based stuff.” Stella adds.

“What do you mean?” Cassie asks her.

“I mean, if I’m going out for milk tea, I actually want to taste… you know, tea?” Stella replies.

“Oh yeah. Says the girl who ordered extra brown sugar syrup on hers.” Cassie banters back.

“It’s for flay-veeer.” Stella jokingly argues, making both of them laugh.

“Uh~, hello? What do you think the honey dew powder was for?” Cassie asks back sarcastically.

“To make it taste like a Melona popsicle?” Stella jokes.

“Exactly! Ughh~ so good!” Cassie remarks in an exaggeratedly delighted tone.

“Then just get a popsicle!” Stella fires back.

“No.” Cassie flatly replies, before taking another sip to annoy Stella further, but the latter just laughs.

With the two girls finally finding their usual rhythmic banter, they make their way around the city, before deciding to walk along the park where they usually take their morning runs. It’s been a peaceful and refreshing walk around the park for them, absentmindedly passing the time with lighthearted conversation. The kinds of talk that they’ve never had trouble engaging in. The sense of normalcy isn’t lost on Stella, who relished at their rediscovered comfort around one another.

“*Sigh~* It’s good to know we don’t need **** to talk like we used to.” Stella comments, the tone in her voice sounding as if a heavy weight was lifted off her shoulders.

“Of course not. Since when did we ever need that?” Cassie asks her, surprised at the remark.

“Uh~, since you… um…” Stella starts to answer, but catches herself from answering truthfully. Stella begins to mentally berate herself from unconsciously saying her worries out loud.

“Since I confessed I had romantic feelings for you?” Cassie finishes the thought for Stella.

“Yes?” Stella admits, unable to stop herself from hunching her shoulders from the anticipated stress of the upcoming conversation. Cassie abruptly stops her stride, forcing Stella to turn around to look at her. Stella sees Cassie with her head down and her shoulders slumped low.

“You’ve been feeling awkward around me this whole time?” Cassie asks her.

“What? No!” Stella instinctively lies to try and assuage Cassie, despite fully expecting that reaction from her. Cassie lifts her head up to give Stella a knowing look that she knows Stella’s lying to her. “I mean…” Stella immediately crumbles, knowing full well that Cassie already knows all of her ‘tells’. “Obviously it’s not as awkward when we’re around my dad and the others, but it’s like… when it’s just the two of us, I feel like you’re uncomfortable around me… which makes me uncomfortable around you.” Stella admits.

“I’m not uncomfortable around you!” Cassie immediately denies.

“Oh! Sure~, you’ve always chosen doing chores over hanging out with me.” Stella sarcastically remarks.

“Hey! I asked you to join me and Marybeth. You’re the one who bailed.” Cassie fires back.

“I didn’t bail! You asked, I said ‘I’m not really feeling chores right now’ and you’re the one who said ‘suit yourself’ like you didn’t give a shit if I came with you or not.” Stella says defensively.

“What was I supposed to do? Beg you to hang out with me?” Cassie asks sarcastically.

“Oh right, because begging is the only other option in that scenario.” Stella returns the same level of sarcasm.

“What did you want from me then?” Cassie asks, though her tone wasn’t one of curiosity.

“Was it too much to ask for you to have asked me again?” Stella answers calmly, though her furrowed brow betrays her tone. “Like, ‘hey~, I know it’s not our typical hangout, but I still want you to come with me’, or even a ‘but you’ve watched Shrek a million times already!’ would’ve been nice. Instead, you wanna know what I got? I got a ‘too late’ look when you saw me eavesdropping on you guys spilling tea.” Stella adds, and Cassie immediately returns to her defeated stance like before, with her head down and her shoulders slumped.

“Cass…” Stella says, her tone full of genuine concern. Hoping she didn’t hurt her best friend’s feelings. Stella walks closer towards Cassie, grabbing both her hands in hers to comfort her.

“No, you’re right.” Cassie shamefully admits. “I was avoiding you the other day.” Cassie continues.

“Cool. Thanks for admitting it.” Stella tells her casually. “Now can I ask why? Did I do something?” Stella asks her, genuinely curious.

“No. I did.” Cassie answers.

“Yeah? What do you think you did?” Stella asks.

“I don’t think, I know. I know I made an ass of myself in front of you during our last date.” Cassie explains. “I was… embarrassed.” Cassie admits, and Stella smirks in relief at Cassie’s honesty.

“Why would you be embarrassed about that? You make an ass of yourself around me all the time!” Stella jokingly remarks.

“No, I don’t!” Cassie defensively shouts back, unable to hide her annoyance at the accusation. Sadly missing Stella’s more humorous tone.

“Duh~. That was clearly a joke.” Stella tells her flatly. “A joke that you would’ve easily picked up on before you started being all serious around me.” Stella tells her.

“I’m sorry.” Cassie apologizes.

“Oh, stop it. You don’t need to apologize for that. You never have to apologize for something as trivial as that. But the fact that I even have to tell you… that’s why I feel like something’s off between us.” Stella tells her, and Cassie goes back to her embarrassed demeanor.

“Plus, it’s not like I didn’t make an ass of myself first.” Stella reminds her, trying to get Cassie to at least find the humor in their unfortunate parallels and feel less embarrassed around her.

“I know you’ve had a lot going on—first it was that thing with your mom, then it was that thing with the ‘sperm donor’, then it was realizing you’re dating the same guy as your newly discovered half-sister—anybody else’s brains would be fried with all those revelations at once.” Stella says while she rubs Cassie’s palms with her thumbs to continue comforting her.

“Shit, I only had to deal with being attracted to my dad and my brain was already fried.” Stella adds to further her point.

“Fried more than it already was on a regular basis, you mean.” Cassie jokes.

“There’s my girl.” Stella says sweetly, before booping Cassie’s nose with her finger tip, getting both of them to chuckle.

“All I’m saying is, it’s not like I don’t understand why you’d have less time to hang out with me, or why you’d want to be alone with your thoughts more often… but none of that used to affect how we were together when we were actually hanging out. We were never awkward with each other before. Now it feels like you have your guard up whenever we’re alone together. That’s what’s worrying me.” Stella tells Cassie.

“I didn’t know you felt that way.” Cassie replies.

“You already had a lot on your mind. I’d be a shit best friend if I added my own small gripes on top of that.” Stella tells her. “I’m telling you now since I feel like you’ve gotten past that. You’re good with your mom. We’ve dealt with your dad. You and Becca don’t seem to mind that you’re both dating my dad.” Stella adds. Cassie can only nod as she agrees with everything Stella mentioned.

“So, I guess what I’m worried about is… why are you still awkward around me?” Stella asks, causing Cassie to take a deep sigh, preparing herself to answer Stella’s question truthfully.

“Sometimes!” Stella then unexpectedly adds, breaking Cassie from formulating her answer. “I mean, you’re not awkward around me all the time. Just… sometimes. You know? What I mean is, I’m not trying to make you feel bad, okay? Oh, Jesus. Now I’m overexplaining shit.” Stella adds, grunting in frustration after realizing what she was doing.

“Now who’s being awkward?” Cassie teases her.

“Shut up.” Stella immediately reacts, playfully pushing Cassie on the shoulder, and causing both of them to laugh. “But you see what I mean!? I feel like you were being overly conscious about yourself, which makes me overly conscious about my~ self, and that’s… that’s not normal for us!” Stella explains.

“I just… I just want us to go back to normal.” Stella finally says.

…

“I don’t.” Cassie replies.