Pursuit of Happiness, Pt. 2

“I’M SO SORRY!” Cassie and Stella both shout their apologies in unison, as you watch them hug each other tightly after their sprint towards one another.

“I should have just gone home with you so we could have talked about this some more!” Cassie shouts in between sobs.

“No! I should’ve told you to come with me! Or I should have gone with you! I was such a mess last night that I don’t know why I let you stay at Becca’s!” Stella responds.

“I was a mess too!” Cassie admits. “I was being such a drama queen!” Cassie shouts.

“No! You weren’t! I was the one who started crying their eyes out!” Stella shouts back.

“Because I **** you to do something you didn’t want to do!” Cassie retorts.

“You didn’t **** me to do anything!”

…

“I have no idea what’s happening.” Brooke jokingly comments, wiping tears from her eyes, as Cassie and Stella continue their back-and-forth trying to convince the other on who is more to blame.

“An emergency averted.” Becca replies with a delighted smirk. You realize though that it doesn’t actually help explain anything to Brooke, who seems even more confused after Becca’s answer.

“Long story.” Viv tells Brooke, after noticing her look of confusion.

“From context clues, I’m guessing they fought and getting them to apologize to each other was the ‘emergency’?” Brooke expertly guesses.

“I stand corrected. Apparently it wasn’t a long story at all.” Viv jokes back.

“What did they fight about that it had to be considered an ‘emergency’?” Brooke asks.

“That’s the long story.” Tanya jokingly answers Brooke this time.

“WAIT, WHAT!?” All of you suddenly hear Stella shout, which brings all of you back to listen intently at their conversation. “You wanted Dad to buy ‘polyamory’ for you?” Stella asks, unable to hide the shock in her voice.

“Wait, what?” You ask in confusion upon hearing Cassie’s plan from Stella, as this is also the first time you’ve heard of this plan too. You even have to shrug when Brooke turns her head towards you for an explanation.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t in the right headspace when I considered it! I was ****! I even wanted to do it behind your back… which is crazy, I know! I’m really sorry! I only thought of it because—” Cassie shouts defensively, before Stella interrupts her.

“No! You don’t have to apologize at all! I thought the same thing!” Stella informs her with a smile, obviously finding their shared line of thinking amusing. Although, your daughter seemingly missed the difference in their intended results.

You notice Maddy and Tanya react similarly to you, as they have worried looks on their faces. Meanwhile, it seems Viv and Becca have heard of Cassie’s plan, as they share similar looks with Cassie — a mix of surprise and hopefulness.

“WHAT!?” Cassie’s the one who shouts in surprise now, and it’s clear that she misunderstood Stella’s amusement.

Though you want to immediately clarify to Cassie what Stella asked you for, you couldn’t find it in you to intervene with their conversation now that they seem to be quickly patching things up.

“Why would you want Jay to buy ‘polyamory’ for me? I thought—” Cassie then asks Stella, the hope in her voice unmistakable.

“Oh… uh~” Stella stumbles, having realized that Cassie misunderstood her meaning.

Stella instinctively looks at you for help, which makes Cassie look at you as well. Your look of awkwardness while trying to find the words to explain to Cassie what exactly Stella asked for makes it clear to Cassie that they, in fact, were not on the same page.

“Oh.” Cassie replies. “You wanted the opposite.” Cassie plainly states, clearly disappointed with the realization. You notice Viv’s expression turning from hopeful to cringing, as she realizes what Cassie realized too.

“I spoke too soon.” You hear Becca comment under her breath.

“No, Cass. Not the opposite.” Stella clarifies, taking Cassie’s hands in hers. “If what I wanted was the ‘opposite’, I’d have asked for nothing and just let the situation stay like it is. I’d have pretended everything was fine between us just to avoid any more drama with you. But that would just be me lying to myself and to everyone… especially you. I don’t want us to end up resenting each other.” Stella explains.

“I want the same thing you want.” Stella continues. “I want us to fix our relationship too… even if it means relying on magic to do it.” Stella concludes, holding Cassie’s hands tighter as she does.

“What trait did you ask Jay to buy you then?” Cassie asks.

“Nothing specific.” Stella answers, which makes Cassie look at you to confirm. “Hey,” Stella says before you could answer Cassie. “Don’t you trust me anymore?” Stella asks her, taking Cassie by surprise.

“I-I’m sorry. That was… Of course I still trust you.” Cassie apologizes.

“What I asked for was nothing specific because I didn’t even know if it was possible. I wanted Dad to look for a trait that could maybe make you lose interest in me romantically so we could go back to just being best friends… to being sisters.” Stella tells her.

“And I wanted a trait that could make you more open to dating me.” Cassie admits.

“And I~ wanted you guys to just talk this out because I know for a fact you two love each other way too much as friends to let one disagreement ruin it.” Viv chimes in, before immediately putting a hand to cover her mouth and looking at Tanya afterwards, as if expecting to be admonished. But Tanya only gives her the ‘ok’ hand signal.

“Well, consider me up to date.” Brooke jokes.

“Can I ask? Why did you think the ‘polyamory’ trait was the solution?” Stella asks.

“Well… I thought… maybe… what’s holding you back was…” Cassie tries to say in between long pauses.

“Cassie theorized that your apprehension was caused by her pre-existing relationship with your father.” Becca answers for the struggling Cassie, making you and Stella react in genuine surprise.

“If you thought that monogamy was expected of her, I agreed that acquiring the ‘polyamory’ trait could be a possible solution. However, that is only if that was indeed the reason for said apprehension.” Becca further clarifies, getting understanding ‘ohs’ from Maddy, Tanya, and Brooke.

Based on Becca’s tone, it’s clear even she already knows the answer to that ‘if’.

“Cass,” Stella addresses Cassie after hearing Becca’s explanation, placing a hand on her cheek.

“You don’t need to explain, Stella. It was a vain hope to begin with.” Cassie tells her, obviously disappointed. “I just wanted to believe it… to believe I could find such an easy fix to the guilt I was feeling.” Cassie adds, making Stella drop her hand from Cassie’s cheek.

“Stop taking the blame for everything! Jesus! You sound like Dad!” Stella says in annoyance, clenching her fists now.

“I~ hurt you~ too!” Stella points out to Cassie with very animated hand gestures.

“I’ve been wracking my brain all day just as much as you have about this. I’m just as much to blame for this ‘shitshow’.” Stella adds.

“Why would you feel any guilt? You can’t blame yourself for speaking your truth.” Cassie rebuts, completely missing the irony of her defense.

“You’re kidding, right?” Stella asks back, unable to hold back her smirk. “Cass, you really need to listen to your own wisdom sometimes. This is NOT on you.” Stella tells her emphatically.

“We told each other our truths. Maybe it wasn’t the best way we could’ve told each other, but we said what we said because we didn’t want to lie. Isn’t that what you told Brooke just a few minutes ago?” Stella tells Cassie, and Cassie’s tears begin to flow.

Stella immediately wraps her arms around Cassie’s into a hug. Cassie lowers her forehead onto Stella’s as she continues to bawl, her shoulders shaking from emotion.

You go towards them silently, before enveloping both girls into your arms, hoping that the magic of your touch could soothe both of their minds from the mental toll they’ve been suffering through.

Without another word being said, Brooke stands up from her seat and approaches on the opposite side of you, before enveloping both Cassie and Stella as well. Your other girlfriends seem to take this as a cue to join in, and they all take different sides to wrap the two girls into a group hug.

…

“I love you, Cass.” You all hear Stella tell Cassie. “And you don’t have to ‘Han Solo’ me either, I know you know what I mean by that.” Stella adds.

“And the reason I can’t say it the way you want me to say it is because I know there’s a difference.” Stella continues, and it’s at this point that the rest of the group separates themselves from Stella and Cassie so the two could talk more comfortably.

“It would have been unfair to you if we pursued a relationship together and I constantly compared you to Dad. I don’t love you as equally as I love him.” Stella continues, and now it’s you who’s feeling a bit guilty for being the wedge between them.

…

“What’re you saying, Stella?” Cassie finally asks.

“I’m saying… if there is a chance that that unfair comparison is the only thing holding me back from loving you in the same way… then I think we should do it.” Stella answers.

“You should get the trait.”