Prelude to a Magic Show

“Is this the girlfriend's only secret that we were talking about earlier?” Viv asks you, and you give her a nod as an answer.

“Pardon?” Becca tries to clarify, after hearing Viv’s question.

“Jay has a secret mind reading technique that only his girlfriends get to know.” Viv answers Becca nonchalantly, to Becca’s obvious confusion. Becca’s eyes widen, and her eyebrows raise, as the answer isn’t one she expects.

“It’s not a mind reading technique, Becca.” You assure Becca, to try and clarify for her. “It’s something more than that. I’ll explain once everyone’s here.” You add. Becca still looks confused, since you may have not chosen your words carefully, but she nods that she’ll remain patient for the explanation.

“~and you're telling Becca about the girlfriend's only secret too? Doesn’t that mean—” Viv starts asking, and you cut her off before she gives Becca any ideas.

“I think it’ll be better if Becca knows about it, yes. As for what it means… it doesn’t mean anything yet.” You answer Viv. “Remember what I said about not wanting to tell people until I confirm our feelings for each other?” You ask Viv.

“OH! OH!” Viv reacts in excitement. “You mean you’re telling Brooke and Maddy too?” Viv confirms with you, and you give her another nod. “That’s great!” Viv says excitedly.

“It doesn’t mean we’re boyfriend and girlfriend but—” You tell Viv to try and calm her down, before Becca interjects.

“But it means you’re open to the idea.” Becca finishes the thought for you, and you give her an assuring smile and nod that she’s correct. She gives you a shy smile and a nod back, after basically confirming that you’re open to her proposal to start dating each other, and possibly domming Viv with her.

“I know you said it doesn’t mean anything, but that sounds like a big deal to me.” Viv points out.

“I did say it doesn’t mean anything YET.” You clarify to Viv, who rolls her eyes; but has an amused look on her face.

“It WILL mean something though. So it IS a big deal.” Viv counterpoints. You just smile and shrug, agreeing to her point.

“I assume you want to wait for everyone before you tell us this secret ‘more than a mind reading technique’ of yours?” Becca asks you. It was apparently a rhetorical question as she continues without giving you a chance to answer. “You can tell us once your dinner arrives. I received a message from Frank that he will arrive in around fifteen minutes.” Becca adds.

The food arrives before any of the girls do. Frank arrives with three pizza boxes that he places on Viv’s dining table.

“Three boxes of Mel’s Pizza. Freshly made, as you instructed Ms. Hoffman.” Frank announces, and Becca thanks Frank for bringing the pizzas himself.

“Mel’s Pizza!? Who told you?” You ask Becca.

“Pardon? Who told me what exactly?” Becca asks you back.

“Mel’s is my favorite pizza place in the city!” You answer her in a mix of surprise and amazement at the coincidence.

“Oh! I see.” Becca responds, taken aback by your answer. “Mel’s is my favorite in the city as well.” Becca informs you.

“Why does it seem like it’s a big deal that she likes the same pizza place you do?” Viv asks you, after noticing the look of amazement you still have at the coincidence.

“It’s not! I’m just surprised that somebody else prefers Mel’s. Most people put Tony’s over Mel’s in general.” You answer Viv, trying to convey the rarity of finding another Mel’s Pizza aficionado.

“I never understood the preference for Tony’s. I find their sauce quite bland. Not to mention their crust has the consistency of cardboard”, “CARDBOARD!” Becca says in agreement, as you and her say the word cardboard at the same time. Becca has an amused smile, after both of you use the same word to describe Tony’s pizza crust.

You try not to be shallow, but your heart skipped a little at that little moment you had with Becca. Viv seems to notice it too, as she gives you a teasing look with a wide toothy grin while staring at you suggestively.

You look back at Becca, embarrassed at the level of enthusiasm you showed for something so trivial as liking the same pizza place as you. Your embarrassment seems to be transferring to Becca secondhand; as she seems to be a lot more unsure of how to respond now, after seeing you rub the back of your neck in embarrassment.

You and Becca are snapped out of your mutual feelings of embarrassment by Frank, who informs Becca he’s going to take his leave and wait for Becca by her car.

“Oh. Right. Thank you, Frank.” Becca addresses him. “Did you get a box for yourself like I asked?” Becca asks him. Frank answers in the positive, and Becca tells him she’ll call him when she’s ready to leave. Frank gives her a slight bow before leaving Viv’s apartment.

“I didn’t know you like Mel’s Pizza.” Viv then addresses you. “I thought after all this time we’ve been together, I would know that by now. What else have you been hiding from me?” Viv asks dramatically, but obviously being playful and sarcastic.

It doesn’t take long for Viv’s doorbell to ring after that.

Stella, Cassie, Tanya, and Brooke all arrive at the same time. The four of them immediately hug Viv, asking her how she’s doing now, and how their talk went. Viv and Becca update them, and Brooke immediately tries to apologize once more once Viv and Becca finish their story. Viv remains with Brooke and Becca while you talk to your other girlfriends, and inform them that you’re telling everyone about the app tonight.

“No complaints from me, papi.” Tanya answers.

“That’s what I’ve been saying since this morning.” Stella teases you, and you can’t help but give her an embarrassed chuckle.

“After everything that happened with Maddy, I think it would be better if they do know about it. I know you haven’t been able to talk to Brooke about your feelings for each other yet, but I don’t see the harm of you telling her about the app already before your date. I mean, you told Stella and I about it before we got to talk about our feelings for each other too.” Cassie points out.

“I’m glad you all agree then.” You tell them with an appreciative smile.

“Of course we agree.” Stella replies. “Honestly, if you didn’t make such a big deal out of it earlier this morning, we might have been able to avoid the whole Maddy fiasco.” Stella points out.

“Give your papi some slack, Stella. That still worked out for the better, all things considered.” Tanya comes to your defense.

“You weren’t here. You didn’t see Mrs. O’Brien tear Mr. O’Brien a new one while we were eating lunch.” Stella points out, to Tanya’s look of shock.

“About that.” Cassie interjects. “Did you…?” Cassie asks suggestively.

“I did. I bought a trait for Maddy to help the O’Briens out a bit. I’m not entirely sure of its full effect, but I’ll definitely find out after Maddy’s trip back to talk to her dad.” You answer Cassie.

“Okay~, what did you normalize now… Daddy?” Stella asks you suggestively, making Cassie and Tanya stifle laughs.

“Ha-Ha.” You react sarcastically. “I didn’t normalize anything.” You tell her, doing air quotes on ‘normalize’. “I’ll tell all of you once Maddy gets here. She obviously deserves to know about my interference with her family’s issues.” You answer your daughter. Just as you answer Stella, the doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it!” Tanya shouts out so that Viv doesn’t break away from her own conversation with Brooke and Becca. “Maddy’s here!” Tanya shouts from the door, making you, Cassie, and Stella look towards the door.

“Sorry I’m late. Grammy didn’t want me to leave without getting a bite to eat first.” Maddy greets everyone.

“I should’ve messaged you! We’re having dinner here. You could’ve told Mr. and Mrs. O.” Viv says to Maddy after she facepalms.

“Oh? We’re eating here! Awesome! What’d you cook for dinner, Viv?” Cassie asks excitedly. However, it immediately turns into disappointment upon seeing the pizza boxes on Viv’s dining table. “Mel’s?” Cassie asks in disappointment. “Again!?” Cassie looks at you accusingly.

“Hey! Don’t blame me. Becca ordered it this time.” You say defensively, getting a curious eyebrow raise from your daughter.

“I thought I’d share my favorite pizza place in the city. I was unaware that it’s Jay’s favorite too.” Becca informs everyone. Cassie blushes in embarrassment, and clarifies to Becca that she likes Mel’s too and only said what she said to tease you for ordering it for what feels like every other day. You call her out on preferring Tony’s teasingly, and Becca chuckles in amusement at Cassie’s even more embarrassed look.

“Just accept the fact that you have an inferior taste in pizza, Cass.” Stella teases Cassie, who sticks her tongue out at Stella in response. The eight of you are a bit more than what Viv’s dining table can handle, so you each just grab a slice before heading towards Viv’s living room. You and Brooke grab chairs from the dining area to add to Viv’s living room so everyone can sit comfortably.

“Is this the same pizza we had the other day?” Maddy asks as she chews her bite of pizza, and Stella confirms that it is.

“Oh, wow. You really do like Mel’s, don’t you?” Becca teases you. “I have to admit, it’s more of my guilty pleasure; so I rarely get to have it.” Becca shares.

“Based on the amount of pizza boxes we had to clean the first time we got back, Jay seemed to have it every other day after his divorce.” Cassie shares.

“I’ve heard from Celeste and Vivian about that. If you don’t mind me asking, how long has it been since your divorce?” Becca asks, before taking a bite from her pizza.

“It’s only been a month since it’s been finalized, but Diane and I have been separated since the start of the year.” You answer Becca. “I’ve been wallowing in misery before the girls got back… hence, the pizza boxes…” You jokingly explain. “...but the process of moving on has been greatly accelerated since Stella and Cassie arrived. Not to mention I started dating Tanya too. Now, Viv as well.” You add on, looking at your girlfriends as you mention them. Viv seems to get a kick out of it as she gives you a wink and an air smooch when you mention her.

“That’s a good segue to talk about the app, Dad.” Stella points out.

“The app?” Becca asks with a raised brow. Brooke, Viv, and Maddy all also look at you with curiosity after Becca’s question.

“Right. I guess the accelerated process I’m talking about does have a lot to do with the app.” You say out loud, in response to your daughter’s observation. “The app is the secret I need to tell all of you about.” You confirm to them.

“An app? Like an app on your phone?” Brooke asks you in confusion.

“Yeah. Exactly. It’s an app on my phone.” You answer her.

“I don’t quite understand. Are you developing a secret app? Is that what you mean?” Becca asks you for some clarification.

“How is a phone app your big secret? I thought this had something to do with your secret mind reading technique?” Viv asks you right after, even more confused.

The barrage of questions leads you to pause for some time. Unsure of which question to answer first, or if you should even answer those questions and just explain the app directly. It was during this time that Maddy interjects with her own realization.

“OH! Is it possible that the mind reading… sorry, we’ve established it’s not mind reading, it’s more of a-uh… uh~... NOT THE POINT! The point is, you knew V’s hesitation about wanting to sleep with you… because of this app?” Maddy says in an excited ramble.

“Yes! Exactly! Thank you, Maddy!” You confirm for her excitedly. Hoping that it clarifies some of the confusion for most of the women who don’t know about the app yet.

“That’s some magical app.” Brooke sarcastically comments, and your three girlfriends laugh.

“Are you going to ask it, or can I?” Tanya suddenly chimes in.

“Ask what?” You ask back, not understanding what Tanya means with her question.

“Girls…” Tanya addresses the four women who don’t know about the details of the app yet.

“Do you believe in magic?”

Author's Message: No Valentine's Special / Super Bowl Sunday Special (that's a holiday in the US right? XD) since I'm focusing on writing the main storyline for now and progressing it so that I can continue to update every other day even for March. Congrats to any readers of mine that are Rams fans!