Gen One- Chapter Thirty Three

I took a deep, calming breath as I walked through the now quiet hallways. Fifteen minutes ago they had been filled with bodies rushing to get out of the school. It was nearing the end of the school year, and it was also the last day of mandatory testing week. Unlike most students, I considered it one of my favorite weeks. That was mostly because the tests were a piece of cake for me. I rarely had to study for them, which left the rest of my classmates who had goofed off all year seethe as they desperately tried to cram the year's worth of education into their minds within the span of several days. Another reason I liked testing week was because the school day was significantly shorter. The clock had only just chimed one. Like most days, I lingered about for a while to let the parking lot empty before I went to leave. My intention was just to take a single lap through the hallways, not to stumble across what I stumbled across. I knew what was going on before I saw them. The voices, and their current tone, had become far too familiar over the past months.

I peeked around the corner, and, sure enough, there they were going at it like what was now normal. I couldn't help but to sigh a little. Amaranth and Cocoa's relationship wasn't doing anyone any good anymore. It was getting harder and harder to think back into my recent memory to recall a time when Amaranth looked happy. The stress of trying to keep the two of them together when it was clear they were done was also transforming the sweet girl Cocoa had always been into something uglier.

     "Why do you keep avoiding me?" Cocoa exclaimed in a bitter half-cry.

I smiled wryly to myself. She was answering her own question by asking it like that.

     "Will you please listen to me for once?" Amaranth began in exasperation, "I'm not avoiding you. I just haven't had any free time. Whatever hours I haven't spent working I've spent studying. You know how important these test scores are towards me getting into Twilight North, and you know how important getting into there means to me. The most hours of sleep I've had in the past month is six, and that's partially because I do what I can to spend time with you when I can. I'm sorry we're not going on dates every other day like we used to, but stop using that as an excuse for me not caring."
     "You're lying right to my face! You say you don't have any free time, but I've seen you hanging out with Al and Frost and everyone else!"
     "Okay, fine. I'll spend a half hour or so playing video games with Al. Frost and I will pick up some junk food on the way home. Yes, I do occasionally take a few minutes here and there to meet up with my other friends. Forgive me for having other people in my life who I want to spend time with."

Cocoa mumbled something that I couldn't catch. Needless to say though, it wasn't an agreement that Amaranth had a point or any other sentence that would help quell the argument. No, they two of them went on. Amaranth soon returned Cocoa's barbs, and my mood lessened the more I listened to them. At heart they were both wonderful people, but the broken relationship was honestly starting to bury that fact. I watched Amaranth's expression twist deeper and deeper in frustration and anger. It was nothing like the smiles he gave me.

The smiles I still wasn't sure what to make of. I don't know what had been wrong with me that one day, but I really had gone somewhere wacky. I couldn't help but to think there was something hidden beneath those grins of his, but as ration had returned to me in the days following that outing I figured it was probably just because Amaranth was glad to be away from Cocoa and the stress she caused that made it be there. I hadn't been able to shake those imaginings completely out of my head though. A little voice constantly whispered what-ifs, and I occasionally found myself getting swept away by a swifter heartbeat. I ignored it every time. Amaranth wasn't treating me differently than before. There was no reason for me to get worked up.

I had a swifter heartbeat seconds later. It wasn't because of Amaranth though.

     "Have those two still not broken up?" the exasperated hushed voiced said startlingly close to me.

I only just managed to not let out a cry of alarm. The last thing I wanted was to let Amaranth and Cocoa know I was eavesdropping. I held my breath briefly instead.

     "Sap," I whined softly, "Don't sneak up on me!"
     "I wasn't trying to sneak up on you. I just walked over. We can call it even for that one time you scared me though." he chuckled.
     "Why haven't you gone home yet?"
     "Why haven't you?" he asked back mischievously, "Trying to get the most recent scoop on our friends' drama filled relationship?"
     "I was just taking a little walk so I could let the parking lot empty. I didn't meant to come across these two...going at it..."

My gaze fell to the floor. Seeing Amaranth and Cocoa behave like they were was actually quite heartbreaking.

     "I don't get why they don't just let go already." Sap pondered.
     "I think they're afraid if they break up that any hopes of being friends again will be ruined."
     "Like they're friends now? How can not being friends be any worse than that mess they're making over there?"
     "I don't know," I shook my head, "I've tried talking to both of them, but obviously they're not keen on taking any advice."
     "So I can hear," Sap grinned wryly, "You and Al seem to be doing well though."
     "We are."
     "Good. That's real good."

I was pleased to see his reaction was genuine with support.

     "I've heard that it turned out to be Purity who took my advice." I changed the subject.
     "Yeah. I'm meeting up with her a couple times a week to teach her the basics of what she'll need to know. She's a lot smarter than I thought she was, and she's actually kinda...pleasant now. My dad's been enamored with her too on the few occasions when we have our study sessions at my house."
     "He's not trying to set you up with her now, is he?" I wondered in amusement.
     "Unfortunately, yes. My dad actually knows her dad quite well, and, y'know, she is white." Sap admitted with a roll of his eyes.

I held back my laughter since there was still the argument going on around the corner.

     "I'm quite thrilled to hear that if it means he'll finally give us a break about it." I said.
     "I think he has accepted our friendship. He's hopeless on trying to pair me with the first girl who he thinks is acceptable though. I mean, I've only just gotten used to the fact that I might be able to stand Purity. We're not even friends yet, and you can be sure I wouldn't even think of making any sort of move until I am sure next time around."
     "Good Sap." I praised as I both lovingly and jokingly ruffled his hair.

He and I said our goodbyes soon after that. Amaranth and Cocoa's argument became impossible not to listen to, and I was anxious to get away from them and the bad atmosphere. Sap made his way towards the exit while I went to my locker to get what I needed to take home. However, I wasn't the lone person heading towards it. Sunflower was coming from the other direction, and I stared at her curiously when I realized I was her goal.

     "Have some after school activity or something?" I asked when she got close.

She shook her head.

     "Did you miss the bus?"
     "No. I...I was looking for you..." she mumbled quiet timidly.
     "Oh. Uh, did you need something?"

I was trying not to frown. I had though Amaranth's expression had looked abysmal, but Sunflower's was on a whole new level.

     "I was hoping I could get your help with something. I wanted to see if I could come over. Maybe stay the night..." she mumbled as her voice almost became a whisper.
     "Sure. You're always welcome over. But, is there something wrong?" I went ahead and asked even though it was insanely obvious that there was.

Wrapping her arm around her waist, Sunflower glanced down to the ground. She bit her lip and looked like she was pushing a surge of emotion back. I wanted to just give her a big cuddle right then and there. She had been looking down for the past several days, but when I talked to her she perked up right away. Now it seemed like whatever secret she had was bubbling over what she could control.

     "I'll tell you when we get to your house." Sunflower promised.
     "Alright. No problem. Just let me get my books, and we can leave." I responded as optimistically as I could.

It was a mildly awkward drive home. Normally, Sunflower and I could talk the whole twenty minutes and have it only feel like a five minute drive. This time, however, it seemed to take an hour. I swore I caught every red light and got stuck behind the slowest drivers in the world. Sunflower wasn't interested in speaking. She merely stared out the window with a glazed look in her eye, and I did what I could to make myself comfortable by playing some light music in the background. I was immensely relieved when the house finally did come into sight. It was even better when Sunflower smiled slightly when she greeted Button. I let them interact while I read the sticky note on the mirror. It was a form of communication Eden and I often used when we were too lazy to simple text the other.

     "Ms. Charm's book club thing got moved to today. Eden accepted her invitation to come, and then he's actually going to be spending the night with Blaze since they're going to some...flashlight hunting thing. I don't know. I can't read his writing. They're going to be trying to find something in the dark with flashlights or whatever. In any case, he won't be back until tomorrow."
     "That's lucky." Sunflower continued to speak softly.
     "Does it make you feel better that he's not around?"
     "A little." Sunflower admitted.

I wanted to push her right away into saying what was on her mind, but I forced my mouth to keep itself closed. Sunflower was deeply worried about something, and she had to have a good reason as to why she was coming to me for help instead of anyone else. Pressuring her or being too eager would only make her regret asking me. My curiosity was overwhelming, but I was just going to have to be a bit more subtle. Sunflower also walked away from me too, which took away my chance to ask anything.

     "Now here's someone I haven't seen in forever." she said as she spotted Fluff in the living room and picked him up.
     "Eden and I were watching old home movies last night of when we just moved to Berrybrook. I was feeling nostalgic, so I took him out."
     "To be honest, I was a little surprise you still slept with him up until you were twelve."
     "I wasn't eager to move out of my childhood." I replied with an amused shrug.

Sunflower clutched onto Fluff as she stared down at him. I couldn't see her expression, face, or eyes, but I could tell another million thoughts were going through her mind again.

     "So, what did you need help with?" I asked as openly as I could to at least approach the subject.

I wasn't overly surprise when Sunflower shook her head again.

     "In a little bit." she said.
     "Alright," I shrugged of the rejection again, "Are you hungry at all? I'm starving."
     "I could eat."
     "Awesome. Anything you want in particular? I'm kinda thinking of doing breakfast for a grand after school snack. Eden just bought a whole new pack of bacon, and I'd love to devour it before he can swipe it all for himself like he normally does."
     "That sounds fine." Sunflower agreed with a small smile.

I told Sunflower to just go ahead and relax and watch some television while I went into the kitchen to cook. She wasn't in any kind of cooking mood, and her trying to help would have made things harder anyway. Hoping good food would really her open up to talk, I went all out. Soon I was on my way to preparing cinnamon waffles with scores of fresh fruit to place on top, bacon of all varying degrees of crunchiness, fluffy scrambled eyes, and I pulled out the newest bottle of orange juice for good measure. I took a few chances to sneak a peek to see how my friend was holding up. Sunflower sat quietly on the couch watching television. Her eyes never moved away from the screen, although she would occasionally play with Fluff's feet.

Just about done with everything, I jumped lightly when Sunflower appeared behind me. She was so quiet I hadn't heard her. I opened my mouth to speak, but she got her sentence out first.

     "I'm late." she said reluctantly.
     "Late? For what? Do you have to leave?"

I hid the irritation in my voice. I would be supportive of her if she needed it, but if she came over only to not tell me anything and then leave before she touched the food I made, I was going to have to have a talk with her when she was feeling better.

     "No. Not that kind of late..."

She clutched the hem of her shirt and fiddled with it like a young child.

     "My period is two weeks late."

And then, I just kind of stared at her. I knew what she was implying, obviously, but the shock was so great it took me a good long while to accept what she was telling me.

     "You think you're pregnant?" I forced myself to ask when the horrible silence stretched on for too long.
     "I don't know," Sunflower admitted, her voice wavering as if she was about to cry, "I don't feel any different, but if I'm only a couple weeks along I don't think I would feel different anyway."
     "You haven't taken a test?"
     "I'm scared to buy one. Cloudy is too eager these days. He's ten, but he gets into everything as if he's still a toddler. There's no way I'd be able to hide a test before or after I threw it out. I don't think I could stand even buying one itself. The thought of the cashier looking at me as he rings it up...or what if someone I know spots me getting it? There would be rumors all over school. It would get to my parents as well. I just...I just can't."

Sunflower rubbed her hands over her face, desperately trying to contain the tears that wanted to come out.

     "I was hoping you might get one for me. It's a lot quieter at your house, especially since Eden isn't even here. I have a way better chance of no one finding out until I'm sure one way or the other."

I bit the inside of my lip. She was asking me to take the risk for her instead. The risk that I could be seen with the test instead. The risk that everyone would think I was the one who was pregnant. My mind instantly went through all of the complications. I was sure Eden would come around quickly once I told him the truth if he did find out. Allium would freak if the others spread the information to him before I could explain, but I knew he would understand as well since the whole thing involved Sunflower. Besides facing momentary ire from them, I was more worried about the rumors that would start at school. The one about me sleeping around with Amaranth, Allium, and Frost had been bad enough, and to this day it occasionally came back to haunt me. I wasn't eager to put myself in that position again.

However, when I looked at Sunflower's expression there was no way I couldn't say no. Her eyes red with withheld tears glanced up at me from lowered lashes with a weak optimism. She kept on clutching at her shirt, and her stance was so withdrew it was as if she had shrunk a foot.

     "I have an idea," I began reassuringly when I thought I got my own sudden surge of emotions under control, "I can go to that store down by the laundromat. It'll be a bit of a drive compared to the one right down the road, but that place has a self checkout. There were some groceries I needed to get anyway. I can hide the test under them, and unless someone is creeping on me then no one should see me ring it up."
     "That's so smart. This is why I knew I had to come to you. I didn't even think of that." Sunflower said in awe.
     "Well, it looks like you've been incredibly stressed these part couples week- worrying about this and our test tests. And maybe stress is just the reason for this. If you've been worrying for a while, that can mess with your cycle."

Another nod was my response, although Sunflower didn't look convinced.

     "I guess there's no way to know until we know though. I'll just get it out of the way and go right now." I said.
     "I'm sorry. You just made all this nice food too." Sunflower apologized.
     "This is way more important than some waffles. And the food will still be here when I get back. Unless you eat it all." I teased.
     "I'll try to save you a few piece of bacon." Sunflower returned the joke with a weak smile.

I have to admit, I did shake horribly when I got out of the car and walked into the store. The terror that someone would spot me buying something I didn't want them to see me buying was real no matter how slim that chance was. I grabbed a few groceries before basically sneaking into aisle with the tests, hurriedly grabbing the first one I found, hiding it under the items, and then bolting out of the aisle as fast as I could to bury it further with more groceries. I even waited until there was no one in line for the self checkouts. I felt like I could only breathe once I was safely in the car.

Sunflower nearly jumped on me the second I walked through the door. She wanted to take the test right away, but I reminded her she had to wait until the next morning if she wanted it to be really accurate. Getting a wrong ready would be horrible either way. She could think she was pregnant when she wasn't, or she could think she was clear when she wasn't. I hid the test away upstairs just in case Eden came home, and then I sat Sunflower down at the table with me. We ate the food I had made and attempted to relax as much as I could before I had to bring up the conversation we had to have.

     "I have to say," I started, placing my fork down, "It won't be surprising to learn, but I'm rather surprised. I guess out of Sunset, you, and me, you were the last I would ever think who would be in this kind...of situation."
     "I've thought the same- except with you." Sunflower admitted with a tiny grin.
     "Al and I got close to doing something once, but we both decided to wait until marriage- if it gets to that." I revealed with a blush.
     "Good on you."
     "Do you know who...who the father, potential father I guess, is? I know that makes it sound like I'm saying something horrible about your character, but I really don't know where to go with this. Oh gosh, I haven't even asked if...the act was voluntary or-"
     "No, no, no," Sunflower stopped me quickly, "It's nothing like that. Don't worry. Everything was perfectly, um, consensual. And, I've only ever been with one guy."
     "So, who is he? Do I know him?"

Sunflower tightened her lips and shifted even more uncomfortably than before, if possible. I took a page out of Allium's book. I waited and waited for a response no matter how awkward the silence got and no matter how many looks Sunflower gave me wishing I would let her off the hook.

     "You know him." she finally spoke in a pitiful mumble.
     "And?" I prodded gently.

It was hard to wait through another impossibly long silence where Sunflower tested her will against mine. Eventually, she grew more comfortable with the situation. She sat up straighter, took a breath, and looked me in the eye.

     "It's Frost."

I opened my mouth and then instantly closed it. Sunflower's eyes and mine stayed locked for a good long while as the information sunk it, even if it didn't actually sink in.

     "Frost," I said as if the word was foreign, "Like, Frost Chill? That Frost? Our Frost?"
     "That Frost." Sunflower confirmed before smiling sympathetically at me and continuing when all I could do was sputter pathetically, "I know this is all a lot to take in in a short amount of time. I know dragging it out will only make it worse, so I'll simply have to tell the blunt truth. He and I have been seeing each other since about, well, the beginning of the school year. I wouldn't really call what we've been doing dating though. Not in the traditional sense anyway. It has been more of us just hanging out at his house with us eventually realizing that...that we weren't just friends anymore."

I rested my cheek in my palm for a minute.

     "Why has everyone been hiding their relationships? First it was Amaranth and Cocoa, and now it's you and Frost. Maybe Set's been complaining about not having a boyfriend just to throw me off her trail." I sighed.
     "It's not that we didn't want to tell anyone. It merely seemed to make it so much simpler, and everything was simple until we decided to get intimate."
     "How long have you two been getting together like that?" I asked, not realizing until I asked that I wasn't overly enthusiastic about the particulars of two of my friends' sex life.
     "The first time was back in December, a few days after Christmas. The holiday mood and whatnot spurred it on. After that, there's been five other times. That includes the most recent one, which was the first time we did it stupidly and didn't use a condom."

Sunflower let out a massive exhale and buried her head in her arms.

     "Now everything is going to get messed up. My parents are going to be so furious. Mr. and Mrs. Chill are going to hate me. They're so serious about stuff like this. And Frost, he going's to..."

I reached across the table to rub her arm encouragingly.

     "No one is going to hate you. Just a bit angry and upset for a while. If Mr. and Mrs. Chill hate you for this, then they're going to hate Frost as well, which I don't think they're capable of. Frost is the last person you should worry about too. Naturally, I can't say what will happen to this romantic relationship of yours if you do turn out to be pregnant, but we both know he's not the kind of guy to blame you, get angry at you, or turn you away because of it."

Sunflower raised her head a bit and nodded tentatively.

The two of us talked a little more about the situation, but soon I was suggesting we do something else to take our minds off it for the moment. I know I needed more time to begin processing. Sunflower, as it was, only gave me more to deal with. I didn't mind in the end, but boy did my head hurt by the time the day was out. It started with us sitting on the old swingset and enjoying the late spring wind. I was calming down some when Sunflower dropped the bomb.

     "If I tell you something horrible, will you promise not to get mad?" she requested uncertainly.
     "Umm, well, I can try. I can't make any guarantees until I know what I'm going to be dealing with."
     "Fair enough." Sunflower accepted.

She stopped swaying and tightened her grip on the chains. So much more silence passed that it made me wonder if she was going to go ahead and say anything, but she eventually did.

     "I used to hate you."

That, much more than the reveal that Sunflower could possibly be pregnant, rocked my core. My head whipped in her direction, my heart already aching, but she continued staring straight ahead.

     "Oh."

It was all I could say. With Sunset and me, there had been many times when our personalities clashed. She was louder, more outgoing, more determined, and bossier than I could ever be. There were times during big fights of ours when I wondered why we were even friends. There was even one instance where I truly did think I hated her. Sunflower, however, had never evoked any emotions like that at all. We had had our fights, of course, but there had never been a single moment where I considered that I didn't like her or that she didn't like me. We were the ones who would always be good. The ones that really got each other. That was what I had thought anyway. Learning that the truth was vastly different from what I assumed, well, I had a hard time holding back my emotions.

I figured looking at my reaction directly was why Sunflower was avoiding my gaze again. She stared at her foot instead as she dug her heel into the dirt.

     "It wasn't that I hated you at first sight," she continued softly, "That first day we met, you seemed perfectly normal. A little quiet and a little shy, but normal. Then we hung out more, and you slowly got more annoying. As the weeks went by, I understood better why you were homeschooled. I thought you were the stupidest person I had ever met. Even Cloudy could read better than you, and my brother was only three at the time. Your constant questions about the simplest of things got on my nerves. You were ten. How could you not know how to dial a phone? Tell time? I thought you had some sort of disability that Eden wasn't mentioning."

She ground her heel more intently.

     "But, that was why I found you annoying. Why I began to hate you, well...I was jealous. Horribly, horribly jealous. Sunset was enamored with you. She didn't look at you as a broken thing like I did. She saw you for what you could be. She loved answering your questions. She loved helping you grow. You're older than her, but I think she kinda looked at you as the younger sibling she really wanted. And she doted on you like an older sister, with all of her attention..."

Sunflower paused, rubbing her fingers against the links and taking a deep breath.

     "Sunset helped me out a lot too. You've mentioned that you had no friends in Shiny Sands. That you were always alone. I knew what that was like for a time. There were those kids as you know who bullied me about my gray being ugly. It got so bad at one point that one of the boys held me down while another went to cut off my hair to try and make me not so hideous. Windy stopped them before they could do anything. She actually beat the crap out of them too, but the damage had already been done. I was so terrified of everyone that I hid myself away. I isolated myself and made myself believe that everyone was bad. It took the little orange girl who had moved in down the street a few months prior to change my mind. She snatched away all my fears with a few smiles and hugs. She became my savior. She didn't just give me someone to call my friend, she gave me a best friend."

She shook her head.

     "Then a little green girl moved in too, and I had to share Sunset. The sleepovers we had dwindled as she spent more and more time at your house.  The two of you would hang out together, and you wouldn't invite me along. The secrets that Sunset had only ever trusted me with, she told them to you. The two of you had your own secrets that you wouldn't tell me. You had your own jokes and tiny signs I wouldn't be let in on. I had to do some things on my own again. I had to face the reality that there was someone else besides me that Sunset liked."

Sunflower glanced up once more, her words strengthening as I could do nothing other than listen along.

     "But I was doing what I had done before. I was so upset at someone else that I was hiding myself away. I ignored phone calls and invitations if you were included. I made you out to be the enemy even though I was the one causing my problems. I scorned you for having the same issues I had had instead of being the kind of friend that Sunset had been for me. I lost my chance to pass the favor along," she said dejectedly before scoffing in light amusement at herself, "And it was actually Frost who set me straight. He's been the one to always somehow know what's going on in my head. He looked me right in the eye and told me how shallow I was being. That I had no idea what you were living through. My parents weren't dead. I hadn't been uprooted and moved halfway across the country, leaving behind everything that was loved and familiar only to be met with hatred for struggling. He forced me to look at the person you were, not the challenges you faced. That was when I stopped playing the part. The way I treated you when you were in front of me became genuine. I felt like I was the stupidest person in the world when I realized that I hadn't lost my best friend, but that I was one of the lucky ones who had two of them."

Her sentence faded into silence, and after a slow exhale her stare was on me. I didn't answer back right away, for I definitely need to discover what I felt before I responded. To my surprise, the anger or lingering hurt never came. I believed every word Sunflower said, but I truly took to heart what she said about us being friends.

     "You know, I'm actually not all that bothered by what you just said if you can believe it," I chuckled, "It stings a little to know that's what you thought about me once, but that's not what you think now. I am the one you came to today, after all. Not your sister. Not even Sunset. Revealing your secrets also proves that you feel confident with our friendship too. I hope you feel good getting it off your chest."
     "God, I do," Sunflower laughed an almost ecstatic laugh, "I'm so glad you're not furious with me that even me possibly being pregnant hardly seems a big issue at the moment."
     "I guess that's good." I laughed along.
     "Since I've shared a secret, you can always go ahead and share whatever secrets you want to share. Particularly any ones about a secret trip you took with your brother."
     "Nice try, but it's not going to happen." I smirked.
     "Ah, well, it was worth a try." Sunflower shook her head, swaying lightly back and forth in her swing again.

The mood changed drastically after that. Sunflower, having gotten one burden off her chest, was much easier to cheer up as I took our focus farther and farther away from what could be happening in her womb. As our time together became more like a normal sleepover, even I almost forgot her original intention in coming over. Sunflower and I played video games. We watched movies and had a more in depth discussion about her and Frost. We crank called Eden and Blaze. The two of us gorged ourselves on snacks before having a wrestling session with Button. When the sun went down, we changed and spent an hour making shadow figures on my bedroom. Sunflower and I also had a lengthy discussion on if my elephant looked like an elephant or not.

Sunflower fell asleep easier than I did. That was because she snored ever so lightly. The noise kept me up, and Button didn't like it either. She constantly whined, which forced me to make her sleep in Eden's room so the both of us had a chance at dozing off. I drifted into dreamland somewhere around midnight, and I slept so deeply that I didn't notice Sunflower getting up. I was then jolted awake when she shook me vigorously.
 I leapt out of bed when I realized she was holding the pregnancy test in her hand.

     "What does it say?" I hurriedly asked both nervously and with anticipation.

Sunflower's eyes lightly filled with happy tears and a relieved smile on her face gave me the answer before she could answer.

     "Actually, I didn't even have to take it. I only woke up this early because I was a little, um, wet." she began.

I glanced to my clock. I hadn't noticed that it was a mere six-thirty in the morning.

     "To tell you the truth, I've never been so happy to have accidentally stained my underwear," Sunflower continued with a laugh, "I did go ahead and take the test though just to confirm it. This whole thing was just a scare. Nothing more."
     "I think even I might cry in relief." I teased, for a few tears had trickled down her cheek.

Sunflower wiped them away and beamed.

     "I think what you said yesterday about it being stress that caused me to be late was right on the mark. The morning after Frost and I did it, I've been freaking out about the possibility of me getting pregnant. I haven't been sleeping right. Sometimes I've forgotten to eat. The tests we had in school this past week didn't help any either. I should have just dealt with the issue right away- talking to Frost or taking a test soon or something. But, whatever, I suppose. You helped me calm down so my body could show me the truth. I'm glad I can go ahead and forget all about this now."
     "Well, not quite." I pointed out.

Sunflower tilted her head curiously.

     "You do have to talk to Frost about this. This isn't something you should keep quiet from him, especially if you're going to continue sleeping with each other- condoms or not."
     "Yeah, you're right. I know." Sunflower accepted with a nod, "But, I'd at least like to momentarily forget until I wake up again. I don't know about you, but I would like to catch a few more winks."
     "You've just spoken music to my ears." I agreed with a wide smile.

I wrapped my arms around Sunflower to give her a big squeeze before we both crawled back into our respective sleeping spaces to find our way into relaxed and unburdened dreams.