Separated seats

You sat on your own in the middle of the back seat while Emma and Grace were up front, Grace purposefully separating the two of you when she had directed you into the car without you even realising it. The car had left the street and left your homes behind you, no longer feeling as confident in yourself when you had everyone else there with you.

“So…” Grace said breaking the silence momentarily before it took over again.

Emma turned back to look at you with an expression that wanted you to take charge, her earlier confidence with Sarah now nowhere to be seen now that she was gone.

You were sure the conversation would turn to her pretty quickly given that Emma was Grace's main concern so while it felt selfish, you found yourself calming down when you knew that the conversation was likely to revolve around her and you probably only speaking when you needed to back her up.

“What is it that you want to know first?” you asked, watching Grace tap her finger on the steering wheel as she thought of what to ask.

“You’ve both said you wanted to wait until the other was here before you gave away too much so what’s the big secret between you that you can’t reveal without the other?” Grace questioned, getting straight to the point of the matter.

“Well there's a few smaller secrets that kinda all link to one big one. I didn’t want to reveal the big one and I don’t think Emma could tell you the big one with you asking about the little ones. So do you want the big one or the little ones first?” you said starting to ramble, continuing to put the conversation back to Grace.

Again, another silence followed but her finger stopped tapping.

“Will one of you just tell me what this is already” Grace urged, raising her voice when she didn’t get a straight answer.

Emma looked your way again but at this point, it was her secret that needed to be told first. You gave her a look back and she seemed to accept that she couldn’t put it off any longer.

“Mom I…” Emma tried to start, taking a few deep breaths which seemed to calm down Grace when she saw her attempting to reveal this, her mood immediately switching now that she knew the two of you weren’t just trying to avoid the subject.

“I know I’m pushing you sweetie but mommy would really like to know what’s going on with you” Grace responded, trying to reassure her.

Emma took her time and while both of you had gone over what you wanted to say in this moment, even you knew that actually getting the words out was never that easy.

“It’s not as simple as this but me and Max found out together that we’re both happy for our relationship to be open. But only for him. It’s not like he can do it with anyone though, we just decide together. And it wasn’t his idea. Solely that is, both of us…” Emma started to explain, her words tumbling out of her mouth as she rambled.

“Honey, it’s okay. Calm down” Grace jumped in, stopping Emma from continuing. “It’s okay…I think I get it and I’m not angry or disappointed or anything like that. I just need a better picture is all”

Emma took a deep breath but it seemed like every time she was about to start a wave of anxiety was over her and she couldn’t get the words out. You had been hoping she could help explain it like she had done with Sarah but you could tell that Grace being her mother had upped the pressure.

“You do it!” Emma whispered as she turned towards you, Grace hearing her in the small space of the car but pretending to let it go unnoticed.

From the amount of times she had tried to do it herself, it felt like asking if ‘she was sure about this’ was redundant and that wouldn’t help the situation anyway.

“Okay, stop me if you think I’m saying too much” you answered, seeing the tension flow out of her as she curled up in her seat, hoping to explain this well enough yourself without messing up.

You saw Grace’s eyes flick to you in the rear view mirror and she gave you a slight nod before looking back at the road, happy for you to take over.

“So like Emma said, we have an open relationship but she doesn’t want to have it open on her end. She’d prefer it that way even. Everyone has a kink or two. Like Mom seems to be a bit more submissive or if we turned this towards you as well, it seems you like showing off your body more than you would admit” you started to explain.

“Well I don’t think…” Grace went to interrupt.

“My point is, Emma is the same as everyone else. It’s just her kink is called a ‘cuckquean’. Basically a female version of a cuckold if your aware of the term.” you interjected, hoping the mention of your other subjects would put less of a burden on Emma.

“I’ve heard the term before” Grace admitted, making your job a bit easier.

“Okay then. So it’s not like I’m running around flirting with anyone I see either. We both decide on who is okay and who isn’t and at the moment, that number isn’t really planning on changing.

“And how many is that?” Grace asked, the most obvious question that you would have asked in her shoes.

“Five. Six including Emma and yes that number does include you” you replied.

“And who’s idea was that?” Grace questioned, making you unsure if she was talking about six being the number you had gone with or the fact that she was included in that number.

“Mine” Emma cut in, with you staying silent for a beat too long while you considered that for her to jump in and say it was her idea before you could.

You and Emma stayed silent while you let Grace figure out whatever she wanted to do with the information you had given her, the time stretching while you waited to see what she would think. It seemed she finally realised how long she had been silent as her focus came back and she gave a look back to Emma.

“Sorry I… got stuck in my thoughts then. Err… so you said six right? Me, Emma and who were the other four? Well, I guess your Mom is one from the way she was on her knees in the back of the taxi last night but…” Grace rambled, acting almost exactly like Emma had done earlier and you could tell Emma had noticed, staring at her Mom as if she was properly looking at her for the first time.

“...Oh shit. Did you already know about that or had you not told her yet? Or is that not how you two are doing this?” she asked, fearing that she had said something she shouldn’t have after revealing what she had seen on the way home from the bar yesterday.