Gen Two- Chapter Eighteen

There was only two ways this evening was going to go. Barely acceptable or badly. My money was on the second outcome. It was true I was smiling to myself in the mirror, but that was because I had been forcing myself to smile for the past half hour or so. If you put on a happy face, your mood increases naturally on its own. That's what they say anyway, right? It was what I was hoping for as I got ready. I figured the majority of my outing would actually be just fine. It was the choice I would have to make at the end that was causing my palms to sweat.

     "Well, at least I look alright." I mumbled to myself, adjusting my collar as the nerves coursing throughout my body had it feeling like it was strangling me otherwise.

Who I met when I walked out my bedroom door didn't help me to remedy my hesitant state. I cursed mentally when I spotted Cerise coming out of her room across the hall at the exact same moment. I wish I could have walked away, but the only path of escape took me right by her. Cerise dashed over anyway to crush me around my middle with a, most likely, purposely crushing hug.

     "Ooo, don't you look fancy?" she cooed, teasingly more than genuinely, unfortunately.
     "It's a dress shirt and pants. Nothing I haven't worn before." I answered nonchalantly.

I pried Cerise off my waist, but she set herself firmly in front of me to give me a giggle of hers I really didn't like. I naturally loved my little sister, but she could be such an annoying little imp sometimes.

     "So, does Mimi know that this is a fake date or...?" she instantly swung where it would hit the hardest.
     "The date part is real. It's just that Mimosa isn't going to be getting the answer she wants at the end of the night. If she'll accept it or ignore it like she usually does, who knows?"
     "It's going to be a fun evening either way then, huh?" Cerise continued to tease, placing her hands on her hips.

I poked her on the forehead before walking past her to run away as well as to force me to take the high road. Cerise, as always, made that rather difficult.

     "Don't forget to take some tissues with you!" she called after me.
     "You know," I stopped right at the top of the stairs and gave her a smile that barely contained the seriousness of what I felt, "You truly are lucky you have me a big brother, because I am way nicer to you than I should be. I'm not going to get mad at you now even though you're practically cheering on the heartbreak of a girl who has been nothing but adoring of you. You're still a little kid, so I get that you're ignorant about these kind of matters. When you do get older and most likely get your own heart broken, I'm not going to rub it your face by pointing out you're experiencing what you were making light of behind Mimosa's back. After all, it's not exactly a nice thing to treat others pain so jovially."

Cerise sobered up at that. Her smile was gone, and the expression on her face showed that she got the point. She glanced my way sheepishly, but I was already heading down the stairs desperately keeping my own smile on my face in my pitiful attempt of fooling myself this night could avoid pain at all.

I couldn't keep the smile up when I entered mom's room. We had already talked about the likely predicament I faced, and she knew my uneasiness about the whole thing. Still, that didn't stop her from having a mom moment when I met her over by her bookcase.

     "Oh, Coal," she said in that teary kind of reminiscent voice moms make when they realize their babies are growing up, "You look good. Nice and handsome."

She placed a hand on my cheek before tenderly straightening my collar and fixing my cuffs.

     "I'd rather be cute and adorable again. A little kid once more," I sighed, "I always kinda knew I was going to have to face Mimosa's inability to accept what I've spelled out to her hundreds of times, but I guess I was the one who couldn't accept that day was going to be sooner rather than later."

Mom mirrored my sigh with one of her own.

     "It looks like you're going to have to do a very difficult thing. I would suggest that you do take your time and give it all a chance though. Make sure you don't have any doubts, because if you do decide this is the point where you have to give Mimosa a firm answer then it'll be next to impossible to take it back." she said with sympathetic encouragement.
     "A large part of me doesn't want this to be the moment when I have to make a conclusive decision at all, but at the same time I'm pretty sure my feelings aren't going to change soon- if ever." I mumbled dejectedly.
     "All you can do is be honest then. Lying to avoid an inconvenience now will only lead to a much greater hurt in the future. No girl, or boy, deserves to be manipulated like that. If you're feeling pressured to continue this new sort of relationship with Mimosa simply because you don't want to hurt her feelings, I encourage you to think of what happened with Sap and me. He'd be eager, I'm sure, to give you a good talk of how bad leading someone on is if you think you'd need that kind of warning before you leave."
     "No, no. That's alright." I declined with the tiniest of chuckles.

I understood what mom was saying quite well. What she was suggesting had always been my plan. I simply hadn't been looking forward to having to follow through. Desperate to get any sort of reprieve from thinking about it for even a brief moment, I changed the conversation towards another something that had been eating away at my noggin.

     "Are you meeting up with Uncle Sap tonight then?" I asked.
     "Hmm?"
     "Didn't you say something about you going out as well?"
     "Oh, right. No, I'm not meeting up with Sap. This is more of a girl's night out. Flower, Purity, Lia, Rose and I are going to that little festival they're holding on the beach before checking out that new bakery." mom corrected.
     "Do they make macarons there?"
     "I believe so, but I think they're also a little expensive. If you're asking for some, you're only getting one or two."
     "Cookies and cream or peanut butter if they have something like that."
     "You're never going to grow out of those two preferences, are you?" mom giggled.
     "Why would I? They're delicious." I defended merrily.

Mom did promise to check out what flavors they had. If only she knew that I couldn't care less about the macarons. Asking for them was actually my way of checking to see if she was telling the truth. It would be an ironic thing indeed for one teaching about being honest to be the one hiding her true actions. Seeing mom and Spruce together that day made me nothing but suspicious. Every time mom went out I wondered if she was secretly meeting up with him. I realized mom was most likely telling the truth this time around because her plans were so specific, but if she came home with no macarons and a dubious explanation for why that was...well, I guess I would have some better proof to back up my worries.

     "You probably did the gallant thing, didn't you?" I spoke to dad's snow globe.

Mom had left the room after our conversation finished, so I stood in the silence mulling over my thoughts.

     "You and her knew there was a risk of something happening. I'm sure you told her to eventually forget about you and move on if it did. You're that kind of type." I concluded somberly.

I didn't want to have a problem with mom starting a new relationship, but I did.

I paced about with heavy steps until it was time for me to leave. The open car window and the music I blared helped to shift my mood towards a semblance of something positive. My determined smile planted itself back on my face as I approached the restaurant joint Mimosa had picked out for our date. Some construction and heavy traffic put me a few minutes behind, so I scrambled to find a parking spot before rushing down the sidewalk. Mimosa was one of those people who were always on time. I didn't want to make her wait.

The restaurant came into sight, and I spotted a pink figure standing there. However, I swore it was the wrong twin who had come. Had Mimosa gotten cold feet and sent Holly in her place?

The answer to that was a no. Mimosa would never back out of alone time with me unless she was on her deathbed. Still, my eyes played tricks on me even as I got up close.

     "Mimosa?" I questioned uncertainly.
     "Yes?" she beamed at me with a big smile, and that was when I began to see more of her in her appearance again.
     "S-sorry, I just got confused for a moment. You're looking a lot different than normal." I admitted.
     "I asked Holly to do my makeup since I'm no good at it, and she went shopping for the outfit with me too." Mimosa explained.

That was it then. If Holly had had a hand in the makeup and outfit, then it made sense that Mimosa would end up looking like her sister.

     "I guess I have to say that I'm a little embarrassed. I always thought I was good at telling you and Holly apart, but now I see that was only because you two are good at differentiating yourselves through your clothing and such. If you dressed identically and tried to act the same, I don't think I' be able to tell you apart at all." I had to state.
     "It's fine. Just as long as you like how I look." Mimosa spoke in such a way that it immediately changed my mood and made me suspicious.
     "I like it as long as you like how you look," I put that out there, "I thought you didn't like...uh, skimpy clothes and lots of makeup."
     "I like them now." Mimosa defended brightly.
     "Then that's fine then." I smiled back.

I was putting the pieces together, and how Mimosa acted when we got inside confirmed my ideas for me faster. She was having a battle with her dress- wanting to pull it both up and down but really having no breathing room for either. She was constantly fiddling with her face as if it was irritated, but she would stop as soon as she started to not mess up Holly's work. It was safe to say that Mimosa hadn't believed me when I said I preferred cute as much as I enjoyed mature, nor when I had said I liked her softer pink. Her dress was much more reminiscent of Candy's coloring, and Mimosa struggled to be comfortable with a look that I doubted she truly did like as much as her typical choice of clothes.

That made it all worse. Mimosa was trying hard to appeal to what she thought I liked best. It was an effort definitely appreciated, but it made my job harder. How were you supposed to look at someone who was putting in so much work and say it hadn't made the slightest difference? My solution was to follow mom's advice. I needed to stop worrying, actually give the date a proper try, and wait and see how I felt then before jumping to a conclusion.

     "Are you sure that you're full? You can have some of my food, if you want." I offered to Mimosa as we ate dinner.

She had ordered a tiny plate with next to nothing on it. I didn't doubt it was another attempt on her part to appear more desirable by eating less more delicately. The technique wasn't going to work considering I had seen her down half a dozen donuts once like it was nothing. The girl could eat.

     "I'm fine for the moment." Mimosa declined.

Not being content with that at all, I scooped up some of my food on my fork to carefully extend it out to her. Just like on that Valentine's Day so long ago, Mimosa ate eagerly from my hand. That seemed to relax her more. She ordered some dessert, and the two of us talked casually like normal.

I got dessert as well, but my stupid stomach continued to demand that it be filled.

     "Want a drink?" I offered to Mimosa again.
     "But we're underage." she answered with a nervous frown.
     "I didn't mean an alcoholic one," I smiled assuredly, "They have a bunch of mixes without any of that. They're basically glorified sodas."
     "Oh, that's fine. You pick for me though."
     "My favorite for both of us then."
     "Works for me." Mimosa giggled.

The drinks were gotten, and Mimosa and I made our way away from the dining space as we sipped at our fancy cocktails glasses.

     "You've come to this place before? I didn't know." Mimosa said.
     "I've come a few times, yeah. Mostly with Pris. This is the kind of atmosphere he enjoys, so he brought me every now and again before he left for college."
     "You must miss him with him being so far away."
     "Haha, I wouldn't say that," I smirked, "He calls home every other day to brag about all the cool things he's doing. It makes it feel like he never left."
     "Perhaps you should get him to make you the actor in something he makes. That way you can become even more famous than he wants to be, and you can do the bragging." Mimosa suggested teasingly.
     "That is an idea, isn't it?" I chuckled, "If only I wanted to be famous. I'd much rather not be."

Mimosa sent a supportive smile my way.

     "Still no ideas on what you want to do, huh?" she asked.
     "Not since last week when you first asked, no. I'm going to have to do a lot more thinking before I make any decisions," I shrugged hopelessly, "What about you?"
     "I remembered to ask Uncle Sap about what you said. He said once I started earning a certain amount of money I'd have to register as self-employed at my own business. I'd also have to pick up a few permits and licenses and go through some checks in order to sell stuff I make at home, but even with all of that it'd be way less work and hassle than opening up an actual store with a real staff. The legal stuff goes right over my head, but Uncle Sap is willing to help me work through it. Honestly, I was going to see if I could get it all set up now since I don't know if I want to go to college, but I need to wait until I'm at least eighteen." Mimosa explained merrily
     "You've got a solid plan of something that could support you really well set up. I'm glad that it can work out for you, and also that you are enjoying it. I hope it all falls into place." I encouraged.

I know Uncle Al and Aunt Dahlia had always been a bit worried of how Mimosa would take care of herself since a wide array of typical jobs appeared too stressful for her to handle, so to see that she was enthused about making a steady job of something that could work well for her was sure to be a relief to them.

     "If you continue to have trouble deciding what you want to do, I suppose I could always hire you as my one and only employee to help me out," Mimosa extended teasingly, "You can wash the dishes."
     "Only if I get to lick the bowls and spoons first." I bartered with one more laugh.

The two of us joked more after that, and we even got a second round of drinks in order to keep the pleasant atmosphere going. Then Mimosa made another suggestion.

     "You should play something." she said motioning to the drum set over in the corner.
     "I don't think I would sound very good playing alone without any other instruments. I don't know that many songs either." I replied nervously.

Drums, naturally, were a very loud instrument. Everyone in the entire restaurant would be able to hear me if I played, and I really wasn't that good where there was no possibility of me not making a fool of myself.

     "You can play that one song Mr. Trail taught you incredibly well. Play that one." Mimosa pointed out.
     "I don't know..."
     "Pleeeease?" Mimosa pleaded, batting her eyelashes and pouting perfectly.

I caved, but not before taking a big breath and letting myself panic mentally. My hands sweated like crazy, and I nearly jumped right back up when several people caught the motion of me moving and turned to watch. Determined to get the gentle nightmare over with quickly, I started playing before my shaking hands became useless. I made a few mistakes here and there, but I doubted anyone knew the song well enough to notice. The situation became slightly more bearable towards the end when I got used to it, and Mimosa smiling so happily as I played helped too. I was definitely glad though when the song finished.

I kept us going all over after that. The place had a bit of everything. Mimosa and I spent a lot of time battling each other on the arcade games. The only spare changed left in my wallet when that was done was a lucky quarter Uncle Blaze had given me back when I was about three or so. Other than that, I was kinda broke for the night. There was also a pool table we played three rounds at. I won all of them. Mimosa then declared that we had to take lots of pictures in the photo booth upstairs to commemorate the evening. Like the arcade games for me, that was the thing she was willing to empty all her pockets for. We took enough photos to keep us in that booth for half an hour. I was having a good time and genuinely enjoying myself. So much so that it had already been nearly two hours since the date started. I even forgot Mimosa was going to want an answer at the end of our time together. It would have been nice if I didn't have to remember, but my companion didn't give me a choice.

     "Hey, Coal." Mimosa began.

I jumped slightly. She had taken a restroom break, and I hadn't heard her come back. Her manner of reintroducing her presence was incredibly, um, close. Mimosa wasn't there, and in the next moment she was pressing her, well, everything tight against my back. It was something impossible to ignore, and my mind rank blank.

     "U-uh, yeah?" I questioned, my voice quiet.
     "The stage upstairs where they have performances is empty, but they have the lights and music running. Let's go dance." she half whispered into my ear, bringing her face near mine.
     "Sure..."

The sudden shift in my attitude wasn't noticed. Mimosa slipped her hand into mine while she excitedly took the lead. She continued our conversation from before as if it had never stopped, and I scrambled to keep up. Now I was in the thick of it. The adoring glance Mimosa kept sending my way wasn't the friendly kind, and as I was pulled onto the dance floor I wondered if I should let myself be.

     "The setup here looks like the decorations in the photos from your mom's first homecoming." Mimosa pointed out as we started to get into position.
     "Yeah. It kinda does," I agreed, trying not to stare blankly at her, "You know, dad always said he was disappointed with that dance in a way. He was the one who suggested the 'Among the Stars' theme. He meant the actual stars, but the rest of the student council wanted to turn it into a Tinseltown theme instead."
     "I can totally see that happening."

There she and I stood. Mimosa appeared to be too enthralled simply staring at my face to once again catch any of the clearly apprehensive signals I was showing. Mimosa looked pretty. There was no doubt about that. However, as I stared at her to try to determine if me thinking that she was pretty did anything for me I only got confused as Holly's face kept popping out at me. Couldn't she have done her sister's makeup just a little bit differently? Holly was just my friend too, so seeing her didn't do anything to pull to the surface any non-platonic feelings that might be there.

Impatient to get started, Mimosa took her chance before I could establish boundaries. She suddenly yanked me in, and yanked me in tight. There was little space between us- if any. I went along with that type of close proximity dancing for one reason. So far the friendly feelings I had for Mimosa had not been shaken that night. If there was any chance for them to be shaken, then dipping my toe in a bit farther was the natural thing to do. I wrapped Mimosa closer to me as we swayed back and forth. Instead of feeling awkward and trying not to recognize the sensation of her body pressed against mine, I welcomed it all. Heck, I even purposely thought of nothing else.

Unfortunately, in the end, the results of that line of thinking would not bring us to a good ending. I have to admit there was a weak, basic, instinctual crave that built inside at having an incredibly attractive girl pressed against me, but it was nothing like what I knew I was supposed to be feeling. In fact, I actually worried for a moment that what Azure teased me about might be true. Mimosa, as barely dressed as she was, was hardly getting that hint of a response out of me. It was my second-to-last year of obligatory education, but I hadn't had a relationship or really desired to have one with a girl. Could I be gay? I tested the theory out by recalling a current popular male actor that all the girls at school gushed over. I imagined him being in Mimosa's place. I imagined him standing right up against me like she was. I imagined him being in as few clothes as possible. By the wave of absolute disgust that washed over me in addition to the tightening of my muscles from recoil at the thought, it was safe to say that, yup, Coal Vivid was not gay.

It was that reaction that finally captured Mimosa's attention.

     "Something wrong?" she asked with a tilt of her head.
     "Ah, just something stupid Azure said popped randomly into my mind." I brushed it off.
     "What did he say?"
     "Let's...not talk about that. Anything but that."
     "Okay. Well, how about..." Mimosa spoke with a much greater hint of allure than I had ever heard her speak with before, "Since we were talking about homecoming before, why don't we talk about it again now? I'd still really like to go with you."

Shit. Fuck. Those were the two main words coursing throughout my head. They very nearly danced off my lips as the seconds ticked by. Mimosa smiled and waited, and I waited too. I put all the effort I could muster into ignoring the Holly in her face to see the Mimosa there. I looked deeply at that pretty face, and I remembered the amazing friend Mimosa had been to me during my lifetime. When I had stood in that grove bawling my eyes out, she had been the first one to reach out to me. She cared about me and appreciated me in a way that almost no one else did. I loved her for that.

Just...

Not in the way she wanted me to.

Mimosa's smiled faded somewhat when I slid out of her grasp. The smile I gave her was pained. The hours we spent together that evening had been fun as they normally were when we spent time together. Unfortunately, nothing had been done to convince me that normal needed to become something more. I didn't want normal to become something more. I definitely wasn't interested in members of my same sex, but at this point in time there wasn't a girl around me yet who had me interested in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex either.

     "Mimosa, I'm...I'm afraid I have to repeat the answer I gave you last time," the words heavy on my tongue came out slow, "I'd love to go with you to homecoming, but only if it's as your friend."
     "But I want you to come with me as my date." Mimosa countered right away, already sounding desperate.
     "I'm sorry. I just don't see you in that way. I only see you as a friend."
     "There's still lots of time left until the dance. We can keep going on dates until then!" she suggested with a last ditch batch of optimism.

She clearly expected me to jump all over that, but the response of silence I gave her as I failed to find the appropriate words to crush her hopes and dreams without doing it too painfully failed to enter my brain.

     "But I thought you were having a lot of fun tonight." she pouted at me miserably.
     "I did have a lot of fun. I do like you a lot, and I always have a great time when we hang out. It's just that you and me don't mesh romantically."
     "How can you be so sure though?"
     "I just am. I gave it an honest go to see if I could feel for you as more than just a friend, but the longer we stay here the longer I realize that I'm not wrong saying that I don't." I expressed as honestly and calmly as possible.
     "Your feelings could change." Mimosa fought stubbornly.
     "They're not going to. I wish I didn't have to say it because I don't want to hurt you, but I look at you as another one of my sisters. That's it." I declined more firmly.
     "Maybe you won't in the future."
     "Again, I'm sorry," I said earnestly, "But my feelings will not-"
     "Let's head down to that cafe nearby," Mimosa interrupted abruptly, "I'm hungry again, and they have really good sweets there."

She took my hand with an iron grip in an attempt to lead me off the small platform stage, but I couldn't let that happen. It was easy enough to gently tug her back to keep her in place as I was the stronger one. Mimosa stared at me with pleading eyes from under lowered lashes. That look just about broke my heart. Tears were forming, and I could only usher on their downfall.

     "I'm not going to go with you," I spoke softly yet with conviction, wondering if the tightness of my throat was echoed in my voice, "I'm tired of this thing we've been doing continuing on and on, and I want it to stop. My feelings shouldn't be a surprise to you because I've stated them so many times, so I don't want to wake up tomorrow and find you've ignored them yet again. I can only take so much. I care about you and I love you Mimosa, but I am not in love with you. You are beautiful in both appearance and personality, but the spark that would make me want to be with you as your partner is not there. It's not going to be there. Pretending that it is or that it might wouldn't be fair to either me or you. You will be so much better off finding the person that does carry that spark within them."
     "But I want you." Mimosa mumbled sadly, tears absolutely dominating her eyes now.
     "I'm sorry." I sighed out, having no clue what else to say.

However, no more words were necessary. Mimosa stared at me with those large watery eyes in utter disbelief and heartache before suddenly dropping her hand out of mine. I half reached out to her, but I quickly understood that would be a useless gesture. I wasn't fast enough anyway. Mimosa was walking away from me and down the stairs before I could register that even being friends with her now was going to be difficult to accomplish.

The drive back home was the opposite of the drive down. I kept the windows up to hide my shame, and I didn't contemplate turning on the radio at all. It was a horrible half hour. I dreaded meeting Cerise or Glade upon entering the house, but they were thankfully both upstairs. I found myself instantly making a beeline for mom's room instead of heading to mine to sulk. She had returned home from her outing too, and she simply watched me from where she was over by her armoire as I shuffled over to flop myself on her bed. The addition of her weight to the other side signaled her sitting down to join me.

     "Exactly as we feared, huh?" she asked sympathetically, leaning over to rub my arm.

I nodded pitifully at first, but I somehow recovered my voice.

     "Exactly is the right word to use. We had a good time and I tried to give a romantic 'us' a go, but in the end I had to set it straight once and for all that friends is all we're ever going to be. Mimosa just walked away with tears in her eyes. I feel like shit."
     "You did the right thing- for the both of you. I know it wasn't easy, but it was something that had to be done. I'm proud of you for that. I wish I could say the next few days and the next few weeks aren't going to suck, but they will. I know you and Mimosa will be able to be friends again before long though. If I could be friends with Sap and Charming again, you two can work it out." mom encouraged.

Another nod was all I could manage before continuing to sulk. Mom gave me a kiss on the cheek before presenting me with a small, plastic box.

     "Here. Your macarons. They didn't have cookies and cream or peanut butter, so I got you raspberry and vanilla instead."

Mom gave me a sympathetic smile and small chuckle when I pouted as I accepted them, weakly took the raspberry one out of the box the box, and pathetically nibbled on it. She pet my hair for a while before letting me laze about on her bed for as long as I liked.

Sleep was a hard thing to find that night. I miserably staggered up to my room, reluctantly changed into pajamas, and slipped under the covers with a mind that would just not shut up. It replayed the whole evening again and again and again. It called me stupid, idiotic, and a few other choice words for daring to go on the date in the first place. Now that the obviousness of my platonic feelings for Mimosa were indeed so obvious, I couldn't figure out why they hadn't been that way before. At around four in the morning I got up to take some nighttime medication despite not being sick just to help me sleep. I did manage to doze off, but I still woke up relatively early anyway. I messed about in my room, playing computer games and watching television, as there was no point trying to go back to bed. It was around nine when my phone buzzed.

     "Hey, Holly." I answered the call dismally.
     "You poor thing," she said with the lightest hint of a laugh, "You sound like you had an awful night too."
     "Mimosa's been a wreck?" I asked the question I didn't want to ask.
     "She spent hours last night watching horribly sappy romance movies with mom the couch and bawled her eyes out the whole time."
     "Fucking great," I mumbled with a heavy sigh, "I'm sure your dad is furious with me too."
     "No, no, no," Holly corrected quickly, "Coal, we all knew this was going to happen. The only one who was oblivious was Mimi. Mom and dad don't blame you for standing up and being honest with yourself and her."
     "She hasn't said anything along the lines of 'I hate him' or something like that?" I wondered nervously.
     "She hasn't said a bad thing about you. Mimi's just upset that her feelings aren't reciprocated."
     "I didn't want to do it, but...it is a relief now that we can start working past with her obsession with me."
     "Uh, Coal, I hate to break this to you," Holly said slowly, "But as Mimi's sister, I gotta warn you. I know her better than anyone, and so I know how this is going to work. She'll be upset for a while, she'll tone her adoration for you down once you two start hanging out as friends again, but once you give it enough time she'll be right back to how she was before."
     "But it seemed like it really sunk in this time. Mimosa didn't brush my words off like normal. That's why she's so upset right now." I countered with dread.
     "You have to know she's doesn't fully believe you. To her, this is just a momentary setback. As long as you're not dating someone, heck- even if you do date someone, Mimi will be convinced that someday your feelings will shift towards her if she keeps on waiting."
     "Can't you talk to her?"
     "I have been- for years. Honestly, the only way to truly escape her obsession is for you to die." Holly teased dramatically.
     "I'd rather that not happen." I grinned wryly.

Holly and I talked for a bit longer, but mom eventually called me down for breakfast. I took a shower after that, got dressed, and entertained Cerise and Glade while mom and Uncle Blaze went grocery shopping before I was able to go my own way. Azure and his parents were visiting his grandparents and Holly was in 'Cheer Mimosa Up' mode, so that left it at only Midas and Rosemary to hang out with. Holly must have spread the news around to them, for they both knew exactly what was going on before I mentioned a single word of what went down.

     "I can't believe you tested to see if you were gay or not." Rosemary giggled after I told them the one part of the story they didn't know just to feel as if I had control over something.
     "It was only for a second," I pouted, "I mean, you can't blame me for being a little worried. I really haven't had much interest in girls either."
     "You just haven't been listening to Blaze when he talks about how much you're like your dad and grandfather. You're nothing more than that hopeless romantic type who's only deeply attracted to that one person who will hold your heart forever. You simply haven't found her yet." Midas said with a hint of sarcasm.
     "Uh, I'm not quite sure it's that." I chuckled hopelessly, raising my brow at him.

The teasing continued on from there. We used one of the computers at the shop to look up various photos of attractive women who adorned themselves in various styles to gauge my reaction. Rosemary also pulled up a search of mostly naked beefy men, which did nothing other than give me a second confirmation that gay was not my way. It provided a good laugh though- something I seriously needed. I stopped feeling entirely like shit, and eventually the three of us moved on to searching through the comics, playing a quick game of hide and seek amongst the shelves, and me begging Midas to buy me a snack from the cafe seeing as I naturally remained penniless after the previous evening. We walked out of the store in good moods. Then Midas spotted something.

     "Hey, isn't that Mr. Trail?" he spoke curiously, motioning across the street to the empty park lot, "I wonder who he's with."
     "Ooo, kissy kissy." Rosemary taunted with a large grin as even from the distance we were at it was easy to see how the two were entwined.

A massive frown was already embedded on my face. I had dimly realized when mom gave me the macarons last night that she had indeed not met up with Spruce, and I hadn't give him a second thought since then. Now I was dashing down to hide behind a row of parked cars in hopes of sneaking a better glance at my old teacher and his new companion. My heart was bubbling with a mix of anger, confusion, and worry. Azure had been right when he said mom and Spruce had been acting too friendly that one day. Maybe they weren't at a super intimate stage yet, but there clearly had to be something going on. However, there was something even more obvious going on with Spruce and this other woman. I thought I knew the man well, and I couldn't picture him being the type to get around. With what he was doing though...

Then Rosemary pulled out her camera. A true budding photographer, she took it with her almost everywhere. It was expensive as hell, and it had a crazy zoom on it. She was the one who eagerly joined me at my hiding spot while Midas followed much more reluctantly. Rosemary lined the camera up, and the three of us watched through the viewfinder the couple enlarging.

     "Is that," Rosemary said when she noticed something, and she focused on the woman's hand, "She's wearing a wedding ring."
     "But, those two aren't married. Are they?" Midas questioned curiously.
     "No, they can't be. Spruce is over at least once a week. Mom hangs out with him at least twice a week. If he had gotten married, I would have heard something about it," I revealed slowly, my suspicion growing ever stronger, "I don't even think he's dating anyone. From what I've heard from his and mom's conversations, he's as single as he's always been."
     "Could it be his ex-wife?" Rosemary proposed.
     "She was all brown." I said with a shake of my head.
     "Then..." Midas trailed off in lightly horrified awe.

The three of us went silent as the apparent truth hit us all. That truth struck me down much more than it did my friends. Only Azure and I knew there could be something going on with Spruce and mom. Now I was only one who knew mom was most likely being led on by a good for nothing, home wrecking cheater.

What a wonderful twenty-four hours this had been.