Maternal Relationships

The breakfast became a lot less tense once everyone was comfortable enough to laugh with each other. Stella, Tanya, Sofia, and Nelly all calmed themselves down and reached a point where they could hear each other out.

Everyone assured Sofia and Nelly that Tanya and you were serious, but that it was okay for them to have their reservations about it. Tanya herself admitted that she’s the one to blame for why Sofia thinks what she thinks, and explained that her relationship with you is different from anything she’s ever had with anyone before. Something that both of them admit, they’ve never heard their mom say about someone ever.

It eventually led to the three of them agreeing that they need to have a family talk, and you and the girls all agreed to give them that space after you all finished breakfast.

“I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier… and for what I said the first time we met. I’m sorry for calling you a skank.” Stella apologizes to Sofia as the latter, with Tanya and her twin, makes her way to exit the apartment.

“Calling us skanks.” Nelly corrects Stella.

“Right. Sorry for calling both of you that.” Stella corrects herself.

“Apology accepted.” Sofia replies.

“We’re not going to apologize for going after your mom though.” Nelly says right back.

“In hindsight, she was lucky I was there and you guys didn’t deck her. ‘Talk shit, get hit’, am I right?” Stella jokes.

“Hmph.” Nelly reacts, while Sofia just gives Stella a polite smile.

“Oh, mijas, you have no idea how much she means that.” Tanya comments. “She was about to fight her own mother after she heard her talk shit about me the last time we ran into her.” Tanya informs her twins, and Stella can only awkwardly chuckle at the memory.

“For real?” Nelly asks in shock at Tanya’s story. Stella, Cassie, and Tanya all nod to confirm that the story’s true.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Sofia tells Stella, her voice full of pity.

“Yeah.” Stella replies, a sadness in her voice. “Me too.” She adds. You immediately wrap an arm around Stella’s shoulders to comfort her.

“Can we… Can we go?” Nelly asks Tanya.

“Oh yeah! Of course.” Tanya reacts, before opening the door to let the girls exit the apartment first, as she gives you a peck on the lips before saying goodbye.

“I think I need to go too. Need to check up on the gym.” Brooke tells you guys after Tanya and her twins leave the apartment.

“Chad still hasn’t shown up, huh?” You ask her.

“Brad said he and Courtney supposedly talked yesterday. He hasn’t heard anything so far, so he had to open up the gym today.” Brooke answers you.

“At least they talked it out.” You point out.

“Yeah. At least, maybe now I don’t have to couch surf just to avoid Courtney ruining my beauty sleep.” Brooke jokes.

“I mean, if you’re having roommate troubles, you can always move in with me. I have an empty room in my apartment you can use.” Viv offers Brooke.

“For real?” Brooke asks in reaction.

“Yeah. I’ll give you a deal on the rent too, B.” Viv sweetens the pot.

“No way! That’s… that’s awesome!” Brooke reacts in excitement. “Oh, but I’ll need to talk to Courtney first. I don’t want to leave her hanging.” Brooke quickly adds.

“Of course. Take your time to figure it out. The offer stands.” Viv tells Brooke with a wink, and Brooke can’t help but give Viv a hug for being so generous. “Don’t take too long though. If Junior over here starts dating Paige and she needs a room, she’ll get the same offer from me too.” Viv jokes.

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that. What’s the four-one-one on you and Paige, hmm?” Brooke asks you teasingly.

“Jay’s not going to say no if Paige wants to date him.” Cassie answers Brooke.

“He’s not going to say no? Are you going to wait for her to ask you out?” Brooke teases you.

“Dad doesn’t want to change tactics since his patented move of letting girls fall on his lap hasn’t failed him yet.” Stella jokes, getting the girls to laugh at your expense.

“All I’m saying is, if I was a guy and I saw a girl like Paige? Yeah. I’ll make a move on her.” Brooke adds.

“I’m not a guy and I’d make a move on her.” Viv jokes. “Heck, I’m tempted everyday to make moves on all of you.” Viv adds.

“Yes. You’ve made that very clear.” Stella jokes back.

“Can you blame us, Stella?” Cassie jokingly asks Stella, before wrapping her arm around Viv. Cassie may be treating it as a tease to Stella, but you can tell that Viv loves the support she got from Cassie. You wrap your own around Viv’s shoulders and ask Stella the same question.

“Yeah, baby. Can you blame us?” You ask with a chuckle. Stella awkwardly glances at Brooke, probably waiting to see if she’ll pile on the joke before reacting.

“Don’t look at me.” Brooke replies with her hands up. “I don’t plan to sleep with you.” Brooke adds, getting everyone to laugh.

“Speaking of planning to sleep with someone, is everything set for your date tonight?” Viv asks you and Brooke.

“Way to ruin the sexual tension, Viv.” Brooke retorts.

“Pretty sure you removed all that sexual tension when you said it’s my turn to eavesdrop with how loud you’ll be tonight.” Viv replies, with a smug smile.

“Technically, I didn’t say anything about sleeping with him. That’s on you, perv.” Brooke argues.

“Oh? So what are we going to do loudly then?” You teasingly ask Brooke, who gives you an annoyed smile.

“Talk shit about Viv behind her back.” Brooke quickly answers you, not falling for your tease. Stella and Cassie have a good laugh at that one.

“Sounds like a shit date to me.” Viv jokes back.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” You jokingly support the idea.

“Okay, jokes aside, can you pick me up at my place later?” Brooke asks you.

“Yeah, of course. Do you want to grab dinner first before the show or after? Just so I know what time to pick you up.” You ask Brooke.

“We can eat in the venue, but if we’re still hungry, let's just grab a drink and a bite to eat afterwards.” Brooke suggests, and you agree to the suggestion.

“By the way, you want a ride to your place? I need to go to the restaurant too.” Viv asks Brooke, who agrees. “Can you drive us, boyfriend?” Viv then asks you.

“Yeah, of course.”

[Minisode] #7 A family of our own

“Hey-um… Stella?” Cassie grabs Stella’s attention.

The two just finished their run at the nearby park, and are resting on the same bench they usually do after runs. The same bench the two of them had their conversation about Cassie possibly dating Jay.

“Yep?” Stella asks back as she tries to control her breathing.

“You got plans tonight?” Cassie asks her.

“You know I don’t.” Stella answers with a laugh. “You want to go out?” Stella asks Cassie.

“Yeah. I-I do.” Cassie answers.

“Yeah, I think we should too.” Stella agrees.

“You do?” Cassie acts, a subtle hint of hope in her tone.

“Yeah~. We should invite tweedle dee and tweedle dum so we can all get used to each other.” Stella replies. “I should probably stop calling them that though.” Stella chuckles at her self-awareness.

“Oh! Oh, of course. Right. Yeah. Sounds like a good idea. Yeah.” Cassie reacts, trying miserably to hide her disappointment.

“It doesn’t sound like it's a good idea based on how you’re reacting.” Stella observes. “You alright, Cass?” Stella asks her, and it forces Cassie to take a deep breath to gather the courage to just ask what she wants to ask.

“Do you wanna go out with me tonight? Just me. I mean, with just me. I mean, just the two of us?” Cassie finally asks Stella, stumbling somewhat.

“Oh. Like a date?” Stella asks casually.

“Yeah.” Cassie shyly reacts.

“Yeah. Sure. What’d you have in mind?” Stella answers nonchalantly.

“Wait, just like that?” Cassie asks in disbelief.

“What? You want me to act all shy and ‘Oh my God, Cass! That’s so naughty! You’re so bad!’ like I have no clue you don’t like me?” Stella jokes. Cassie’s about to answer, but Stella continues.

“Relax, Cass. We’ve been over this. I want to find out where this could go too, remember?” Stella adds, placing her hand over Cassie’s and holding it, getting Cassie to chuckle a little.

“What? What’s so funny?” Stella asks, after seeing Cassie’s reaction.

“It’s nothing. It’s just… sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky.” Cassie tells Stella.

“Lucky with what?” Stella begins to chuckle now too.

“With Jay. With you. With all of this.” Cassie replies.

“The only lucky thing I can think of is the part where your mom just kept leaving you with us to party all the time.” Stella jokes. Cassie laughs about it, but Stella can also see the pain in Cassie’s eyes upon hearing it. “I know it’s fucked up. I’m sorry I made a joke—” Stella immediately apologizes before Cassie interrupts her.

“No! Don’t be. You’re right though. If mom wasn’t as selfish as she was, we probably wouldn’t be as close as we are. I’d probably be into a guy my age instead of your Dad.” Cassie jokes.

“Luck goes both ways, right? Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, sometimes the bad leads to good and vice versa. My mom being mostly selfish and irresponsible, your mom doing what she did; it’s up to interpretation what kind of luck applies there since it led us here.” Cassie observes.

“I don’t think that part’s luck, Cass.” Stella confidently replies. “I always had a feeling this is where we were always supposed to go. We built this. We’re still building it. You, me, and Dad… and I’m not just talking about the past two weeks either. We’ve always been building up to this for all these years, and dad confirmed it last night…” Stella continues.

“We’ve always been building a family of our own.”

A few hours later…

“I have no idea how that could possibly be recommended for me. I’ll try to talk to my father some more and see if he’ll hint at something that could possibly relate to it.” You read Becca’s message, after she finally replies to the news about the ‘Family Comes First’ trait that is most recommended for her.

Well, there goes your hope that Becca could shed some light on the app’s recommendation. You’re about to check the app again, to try and find more clues, but you’re interrupted by the doorbell.

~ DING DONG ~

“I’ll get it!” You shout to the girls, as both of them are lounging in the living room, talking about their second attempt at a girls’ night out later.

As you open the door, you’re greeted by someone you haven’t seen in a while.

“Hey, Jay.” she greets.

“Who is it, Dad?” You hear Stella ask from the couch.

“Where’s my daughter?”