Gen Two- Chapter Thirty Nine

I rolled out of bed earlier than I wanted to. That was mainly for two reasons. First was the headache. I had drunk a massive amount of water before I went to bed to help protect against whatever hangover I might have, but I couldn't quite tell if it worked. It might not have done anything, or it might have helped a lot. Either way, that headache was enough to force me off my pillow. The pressure of lying down on my head was enough to cause the pain to be even worse. The second reason I got up was because of all that water I drenched down my throat. I had to go to the bathroom like there was no tomorrow. After that was taken care of, I figured why not just give in to reality? I tossed away any thoughts of attempting to sleep more to take a nice cold-ish shower instead. That definitely woke me up some while also combating against the headache somewhat.

My fake eye went back in afterwards. Seeing myself in the mirror was always a weird thing. I looked normal. I looked whole. My reflection screamed at me that it should be possible to see like I always had, but the black mist kept on being a pain. However, I didn't mind it so much that morning. My mood was better despite the mild hangover, and today was going to be a good day. My friends and I had a bunch of things planned.

But, oh, how my life loved to completely screw me over. Even with it being early in the morning, I knew at least one other person would be up. Mom had a weird sleeping schedule and could be found puttering about at all hours. Dad was the other likely culprit for already being up and about. Seeing him and Uncle Blaze both wide awake talking to each other was a nice surprise- until I got further down the stairs. The pleasant, casual morning conversation I assumed they were having was not actually happening if their hushed, solemn, and stiff voices were any indication.

     "This just doesn't seem right at all," dad spoke with a disbelieving frown and shake of his head, "There's something we don't know, and I think it's going to majorly change what they think happened."

     "There's nothing we can do otherwise besides asking. I know you wanted to hold on a moment and discuss ideas first before dragging him into this, but we don't have any information to work with."

That was when I reached the bottom of the stairs and I was noticed.

     "Something going on?" I asked before either of them could address me.

     "Coal, can you come over here?" dad motioned for me.

     "Uh, sure?"

Now highly off put, I didn't know what kind of expression to make as I briskly made my way over. Dad and Uncle Blaze gave me the impression this serious conversation involved me, but what had I done that seemed so bad?

After standing in front of them for several tense seconds, it was clear that I was indeed involved with this somehow. I tried to glean what the problem was from their body language, but nothing came to me. I waited and waited and finally dad sighed. He looked even way more stressed out than I was beginning to feel. I pitied the poor guy. I pitied us. It was one mess to deal with after another.

     "Coal, we need you to be completely honest with us. Blaze and I give you the benefit of the doubt, and no matter what the truth is we're not going to get on your case. There's enough anger brewing already."

     "O-Okay?" I answered now extremely nervously, "Did I do something?"

Dad and Uncle Blaze glanced at each other.

     "What were you doing last night?" dad asked.

     "Last night?" I repeating, definitely feeling the desire to clam up upon remembering the previous evening, "Well, I went fishing with Mary. After she left I basically moped about for bit feeling sorry for myself, and I stopped by the western barn on the way home for a few drinks. Not enough to get me drunk or anything though. Holly met me on the way back as she got a little worried with me being off by myself for so long, and so she invited me over. I spent some time there before coming home."

     "You spent the evening with Holly?" Uncle Blaze wondered.

There was something about the way he emphasized that sentence that I couldn't figure out, and it didn't do anything to make their point more apparent.

     "When you say you 'spent some time' with Holly, what exactly did you do during that time?" Dad continued to press.

My jaw hardened into stone while my lips sealed themselves as if they'd been stitched together. What made it worse was with that statement I understand that dad and Uncle Blaze knew. They somehow knew what Holly and I had done. Now I was beginning to see what was most likely the trigger for the tension. Still, that didn't make much sense as I didn't see why it would lead to what was being made out into such a problem. None of the adultier adults should be having an issue since everything was consensual. That thought then stung a cold dagger into my chest as I inwardly panicked that perhaps Holly was the one having an issue. Perhaps, despite her promise, she did regret it all. What if she was freaking out now? I dreaded that being the case. Never did I want our first time to lead to something like that- hence me having her make that promise.

     "Holly and I cuddled on the couch for a while. She was calming me down and making me feel better. Then, well, I don't think you want me to go into explicit details, but if you're expecting me to tell you that Holly and I slept together then that's what you're going to hear. We did." I revealed, wrenching my lips apart to put it out there before it got completely stuck in my throat.

     "You and Holly slept together?" dad asked for confirmation again, and I really started to hate whatever strange emphasis he was putting on his words.

     "Yes."

For a second time, dad and Uncle Blaze looked at each other. Their expressions grew more serious, and the stare lasted much longer than before.

     "Someone is definitely lying here about what happened," Uncle Blaze spoke, and he motioned for me to be silent when I was about to retort that, "And I don't think it's you."

     "Who's lying about what then? What is this big problem supposedly revolving around Holly and me sleeping together?"

     "The issue is that Holly was out seeing a play with her parents last night." dad answered stoically.

My mouth now hung agape. I almost laughed. Yeah, this was a real funny joke.

     "Uh, no," I countered, "It was Mimosa who went out with her parents to that play. That's what I was told."

     "By Mimosa, who is clearly the liar here," Uncle Blaze sighed heavily, "According to the delightfully polite phone call we got from Allium about five minutes ago, she came downstairs and couldn't contain her glee. She wasn't going to tell her sister at first, but Mimosa then began bragging to Holly about how she had managed to convince you to sleep with her. She was thrilled to prove to her that your relationship was a farce, and that you truly didn't care which twin you were with."

That coldness in my chest took control of my whole body. I recalled with dread that day I disappeared and the sensation of nausea that was a result of both alcohol consumption and heartbreak, for it returned with a vengeance.

     "I slept with Holly," I pressed, refusing to believe what they were implying, "She answered to Holly. She was wearing Holly's clothes. She wore her makeup exactly how Holly always does, and let me just tell you Mimosa is horrible with makeup. She knew things that Mimosa definitely wouldn't know. Rosemary doesn't even talk to her anymore, so how would 'Mimosa' have gotten word from her that I stayed behind at the lake?"

     "I don't know. There's a lot of answers we're going to have to pull out of her. This is...well, it's really bad. Al's freaking out enough thinking you cheated on his daughter with his other daughter, but when he hears what really happened..."

     "I am going to do something with that girl." dad suddenly growled with that furious type of anger he rarely showed.

He stomped about in a barely controlled rage. I cringed, fearing he would wake everyone else up.

     "She could have killed you at the hospital," he spat, "She got lucky and didn't, but she very well could have. I wanted to press more consequential charges against her than the ones she got, but I didn't because of Allium. He promised me he would rope her in, and he's been my best friend my whole life. Of course I trusted him. Of course I didn't want to hurt him. Of course I loved the sweet little girl Mimosa always was. I understand this is her disease controlling her, but I am no longer going to let her get off the hook because of that. She chose to stop taking her medicine when she was rational. She's going to face the consequences her actions bring. I mean...if what you said is really true, Coal, it is criminal what she did."

     "You mean criminal in that it's actually a crime? How does that work?" I questioned, tilting my head in confused curiosity.

     "By convincing you to sleep with her by pretending to be another person, clearly knowing you wouldn't touch her otherwise as the ruse was obviously necessary, that...that's, uh, it's technically considered a type of rape." Uncle Blaze explained softly.

Well, did that make the mood better. I didn't respond because I couldn't. I naturally didn't feel all that great with the thought, which I was still barely accepting by the way, that I had slept with Mimosa instead of Holly, but I didn't feel as if I would classify the situation under such an intense word. I felt violated, but not that violated.

     "It just...just, ugh! I can't believe this!" dad continued his rant, "Mimosa was seriously the most dearest little thing. How can she constantly profess how much she cares for you only to turn around and hurt you? I'm sure it was a big enough thing for you to trust yourself over to someone for the first time, and now you have to find out that it was all one big manipulated lie."

It was mine and Uncle Blaze's turn to look and stare at each other. The corners of his mouth started to twitch into a smile, and, despite everything, mine did the same as well. It didn't take long for dad to notice the silence, our stares, and the abrupt mood shift. Uncle Blaze did laugh then. He turned to dad with a big grin.

     "Am, your kid stopped being a virgin quite a while ago now." he revealed.

There was a brief pause on dad's part. His gaze quickly switched between me and Uncle Blaze.

     "Oh."

It was a weird syllable to classify in any sort of concise term. Dad sounded stunned, confused, relieved, curious, and perhaps even a bit impressed all at once. He turned to me for clarification.

     "You remember when I told you about that fling I had with Candy back in high school?" I pointed out, and he instantly got it, "That was when. A few times too. That is also what I was making Prism and Desi keep quiet about that day you returned. I accidentally let it slip to Desi when I visited her earlier that afternoon that I had had sex, and she had been trying to spread the word around."
     "I see." dad accepted.

For a brief moment, it seemed like he might smile as well.

However, he let out a long exhale instead and pulled out his phone.

     "We have a better understanding of the truth now. I'm going to go ahead and call Al back, and hopefully he'll be in a more receptive mood to talk."

I wanted to slip away, hide in my room, and pretend this wasn't happening, but I remained rooted to the spot where I stood. Dad barely got the phone up to his ear before Uncle Al picked up. It was safe to say he wasn't in a more receptive mood given the incensed, loud manner in which he spoke.

     "Al, would you shut the hell up for a moment and let me speak?" dad eventually demanded, "How about you go get the truth out of your daughter before you start tearing into my son? Yes, I did ask Coal what happened, and he confirmed what I assumed. Mimosa wasn't telling you everything. Yeah, he slept with her, but seriously go ask her how she got that to happen. Ask her if she impersonated her sister. See what kind of reaction that gets."

Dad's words did something. Uncle Al's voice became practically inaudible, and dad lessened the anger in his own voice as they continued to speak.

Uncle Blaze and I didn't get to hear the answers from the conversation as dad received them. Mom stepped out of their bedroom, and the instant dad saw her he slipped himself out through the nearby glass door. Mom was groggy, but not that negligent though. With cautious curiosity, she walked over.

     "What's going on? I've been hearing you all talk in serious voices for a bit now."
     "There's been a small...incident of sorts." Uncle Blaze began reluctantly explaining.
     "What kind of incident? Is everyone alright?"
     "I mean, everyone's physically fine. There's definitely going to be some repercussion from this though."

I nodded to that with a saddened, frustrated exasperated frown. I didn't dare turn my head towards the front windows where I could have most likely gotten a view of the chaos happening in the Charm household across the street. The majority of me was glad I hadn't grabbed my phone from my room yet. I had not needed to find everything out from whatever kind of messages any of them might be sending me.

I waited for Uncle Blaze to continue, but he grew speechless for once. The burden fell on me.

     "I spent some time with Holly last night. I thought it was Holly anyway. Turns out it was Mimosa lying to me by pretending to be Holly. She expressed her desire to sleep with me, and I thought if she thought it was the right time for her that I didn't mind. Now Mimosa's over there bragging as if I slept with her knowing it was her."
     "Uh...that's...that's a mess." mom whispered in mild shock.
     "Yeah," I nodded wryly, "And don't worry about it having been my first time like dad did. I slept with Candy back in high school. Everything is seriously just turning to shit, so I don't care who knows anymore."
     "Her parents actually told me back when they found out," mom said with a tiny smile, "I knew Blaze was talking to you about it, so I didn't feel it necessary to let you know I knew."
     "Well, great."

I ran my hands through my hair and exhaled angrily.

     "This truly is complete shit. Holly's going to be so furious with me. I should have known. After all these years, how could I not tell them apart?"
     "It's not your fault, Coal." mom reassured.
     "It's not," Uncle Blaze agreed, stopping me once more from making a rebuttal, "Desire was in a similar situation with me and Coal like you are with Holly and Mimosa. She had known us most of her life, and I've told you all those stories about how I tricked her that I was Coal again and again even when she grew used to it happening."

I didn't feel better whatsoever from hearing that. I should have known. I should have known the second that kiss did nothing for me. I should have known when 'Holly' didn't smell like apples. The girl was obsessed with them. From her lip gloss to perfume to body wash, everything was apple. When we went all the way and there just wasn't the spark I was expecting, I should have known it wasn't Holly instead of thinking it was a detriment of the alcohol. My mouth opened to argue that case despite Uncle Blaze's guestering silence, but it was dad who interrupted. He slowly slid himself back through the door wearing a dry expression.

     "Did they tell you?" he asked mom, and when she nodded he went right ahead with the news, "Al has at least gotten the evidence he needs. Mimosa was right there, so he asked her for the real truth. I even managed to hear it myself. She admitted to it with no problem. She fully confessed to tricking you."
     "That's some sort of good news." I mumbled with a scoff, hardly feeling better.
     "He...Al wants to bring Mimosa over so we can talk directly and get answers faster. Is that alright?"
     "Sure," I shrugged exasperatedly, "What about Holly?"
     "Dahlia is calming her down. He didn't go into details about how she's reacting."

Mom tenderly stroked the back of my head before wrapping her arm around my shoulder when another massive exhale drained from my lips.

I dreaded seeing Mimosa. I dreaded seeing Uncle Al. I did what I could to compose myself, but a mere half minute was all I had. Never before had I wished, and wished with such intensity, that our families didn't live so close together. Uncle Al looked awful when he walked through the door. Mimosa bounced in with a wide, almost innocent smile on her face. She stood in front of us as if she was about to be praised, and for a brief moment I desired to punch that smile away as much as I had wanted to get one decent hit on Buckeye.

Silence took over the living room. Dad looked at Uncle Al to say something while Uncle Al looked at dad to say something. Mom and Uncle Blaze glanced at everyone, and Mimosa smiled her smile at me as if expecting a cheerful 'good morning'.

     "How did you do it?" I broke the quiet, and everyone's head whipped towards me.
     "What do you mean?" Mimosa wondered.
     "How did you copy Holly so perfectly? How did you know where I was? Mary definitely did not tell you."
     "Oh, that kind of stuff. I've actually been planning it all for a while now."
     "Mimosa..." Allium whispered in exhausted horror.

 Dad, mom, and Uncle Blaze looked immensely perturbed.

     "Copying Holly was easy. She's my twin sister. We've been together forever, so I know exactly how she acts," Mimosa explained excitedly, "The makeup part was hard, but I practiced a bunch when no one was around. About the stuff I shouldn't have known, I got it by following you and doing some snooping. When Umber saw me that day at the bookstore, I was only hiding when he thought he got me going home. I was actually able to trail behind you and Holly when she showed up. That's when I heard you telling her about sleeping with Candy. I didn't like learning that at first, but it did let me know it wouldn't be completely out of character for Holly to want to sleep with you, so that made it a little okay. I found where you were by using Holly's phone to text Rosemary. The rest of it was just good acting on my part."
     "You're insane." I snapped at her.

Mimosa didn't react to that nearly as much as expected. She simply tilted her head and looked at me as if I was stupid.

     "No," she answered practically condescendingly as if I was a young child, "I'm incredibly smart. Well, I suppose I'm extremely lucky too. Not only did I plan everything out in order to properly convince you, but I've been tracking my periods and fertility for months now too. I was able to successfully get you to be with me on the day where conception would most likely follow."

Everyone except Mimosa definitely stopped breathing. The silence was so horrible I swore I'd also lost my hearing. However, anger, and me having some recent experience with a shortness of breath, allowed me to speak before the quiet trapped us all.

     "No. No," I rejected loudly, "I may have been stupid enough to have not realized it was you, but I wasn't that stupid. I used a condom."
     "That did have me worried for a moment, but right before things started to get really heated up you realized it would be better for you to use the restroom first, remember?" Mimosa pointed out in what I'm sure she believed was a kind manner, "You had already pulled the package out, so while you were in the other room I quickly grabbed one of mom's sewing needles to poke a few holes in it."

There was no way this was happening. This had to be some messed up drunk dream I was having.

     "Isn't it great?" Mimosa beamed, "I was finally able to prove to you that you can enjoy sleeping with me, and once I get pregnant you can marry me. If you'd like, I can even dress up as Holly from time to time."
     "This is roping your daughter in, Allium?" dad found his voice, but it crackled so greatly I couldn't tell if he was about to start screaming or crying.
     "I have been trying. I have always been trying," Uncle Al spoke, and he was the one who certainly sounded on the verge of tears, "Everyone always tells me to just fix the mess like it's so easy. How about one of you actually offers an idea this time around?"
     "I do have some I'd like to suggest," Uncle Blaze joined in, his voice also strained even after coughing to clear it, "Perhaps Mimosa should return back home first. I think she's told us enough."
     "You are all too stuffy and serious." Mimosa herself giggled, completely oblivious in a way I hadn't seen her be in a while.
     "Can I go to my room please?"

I put out the request because my hands started to shake. From what kind of emotion, I couldn't tell you. It was a mix of at least a dozen, I'm sure.

     "Go right on ahead." dad allowed in a miserable whisper.

I strode off without hesitation. I didn't even care to listen to the shocked, quiet conversation behind me. Uncle Al was trying to usher Mimosa home while dad and Uncle Blaze spoke in hushed tones together or something. That was the general gist my ears instinctively picked up before it all dimmed to a distant quiet as I reached the second floor. Me realizing mom followed also distracted me from whatever happened downstairs. I didn't mind her coming after me. I was quite relieved at the thought of her being with me. It was my desire to be away from the chaos that seemed to grow every second, not to be alone.

     "Can I pretend to be asleep, and can you pretend to wake me up and tell me everything is just how I want it?" I requested after curling myself up on my bed.
     "Everything can be just fine," mom responded, leaning over to pet my hair once more, "I can't understand how you feel right now, but as someone who spent a large portion of her life constantly having to be afraid of all the worsts that could happen I can tell you that in a few days, in a few weeks, perhaps in a few months that this burden will not drag you down as much as it threatens to do so now."
     "You say that, but what if she does wind up pregnant? How will I handle that?"
     "If that does turn out to be the case, you'll have all the help in the world. A few of us are quite experienced with babies, and a select few of us understand what it's like to have a pregnancy suddenly come out of nowhere."

At that, I laughed weakly.

It was a pitiful laugh that didn't last long. My head buried itself against my pillow, and the urge to disappear overwhelmed me. Running and running and running and never letting reality catch up once more felt like the most logical course of action.

     "I know you're not alright, Coal, but how are you doing? I'm afraid I don't quite know what to say or how to comfort you. Is there something about this that's upsetting you more than anything else, or is it all on an equal level?"
     "I sure as hell don't know. It's one fucked up mess, exactly like you said," I replied bitterly, "But, I do know all I can think about is Holly. You can tell me it's not my fault as much as you want, but I'm going to say screw you and take some of the fault no matter what you say. I've known Holly and Mimosa my whole life. There's no excuse for me not being able to tell them apart."
     "You've lost half your sight," mom retorted defiantly, "You're still accidentally knocking things over left and right while tripping over your own feet. Who would have ever expected Mimosa to make such an extreme and detailed plan as well? It's easy to notice her works in hindsight, but don't forget that her own family also missed all her suspicious behavior signaling something deeper too."

It made sense, but I shook my head regardless.

     "I still feel stupid. Uncle Blaze said what Mimosa did is technically a kind of rape," I revealed, glad I couldn't see mom's face because I wasn't sure if that was news to her or not, "I don't feel like I've been hurt to that extreme, but I feel...I dunno, exposed? I hate that Mimosa got to see me in a way I never wanted to show her, and I hate that I tried so hard. I was the one who had a good idea of what I was doing. I wanted to make it something special for 'Holly'. Now though I feel as if a million eye are watching me. It's almost as if I'm not even wearing clothes."
     "Now that is something I understand very well. It's a horrible feeling, and it hurts that you know what it's like too." mom's normally strained voice spoke with even more strain.

Perplexed and reluctantly curious, I rolled myself over and sat up with a frown. Mom gave me a forced smile before glancing down.

     "Three times," she began with an irate scoff, "I had three experiences with such a feeling, and it got worse in each instance. Before I tell you though, you have to promise not to say anything about any of it. Only a few people know, and I'd like to keep it that way."
     "Of course." I promised wholeheartedly.
     "The first time was when I was dating Charming. His friends in Bayport didn't believe he was dating me. They thought I was too pretty for him. He convinced me to go down to a party one of them was throwing to prove himself honest. I'll spare you the long version of it, but this boy, Absinthe, gave me a spiked drink. I was a little overwhelmed by the situation, so much so that I didn't realize I was drinking anything. After the drug started to take effect, he tried to lead me to his car. Charming came out, beat the guy up, and took me back to Berrybrook."
     "Shit. I had no idea." I spoke in horror.
     "As you shouldn't. As I said, there's almost no one who knows about these things. Even Amaranth doesn't know about that incident. Just Charming, Frost, and I do. A few more people know about the next incident, however. It was when The Company had me that second time. Of course everyone knows they artificially impregnated me, but the secret is that one of the bodyguards, Stratus, he got a bit of a feel when they had me half naked and strapped to the chair. I had pissed him off, and that was his way of getting revenge."

Not shockingly, my chest grew even more hollow while my heart ached with extra passion. I almost asked mom to stop. Maybe I was better off being kept in the dark.

     "The third time was actually on the vacation where you were conceived." she continued after I lost my chance to say anything, and that was just intriguing enough to keep me silent.

Mom paused before smiling briefly.

     "It was the one Am and I took with mom and dad to Tropic Luna. It was the first time Am and I had a real proper break from being parents since our honeymoon, so we got a little 'eager' and went without protection."
     "I thought you said I wasn't a 'whoops' baby?" I reminded her, finding the slight humor in the story and smiling briefly myself.
     "You weren't. I was telling the truth," mom promised amusedly, "We were well aware I was at the point in my cycle where conception was likely. We had no intentions of actively trying for another child, but we decided we were fine with it if it happened. You were more of a 'If-it-happens-it-happens' baby. Turns out you were just meant to exist. That time we did it that first night after our arrival was the lone time Am and I slept with each other on that vacation."

The somber mood was back.

     "The following afternoon, I was wandering down the street a bit from the other three in order to glance at a shop that'd caught my interest. What I hadn't realized was that I had gathered the attention of two horrible men. I have a tendency to draw eyes to me, as you know. It was all so rapid and upsetting that I don't remember much, but the next thing I knew they had me in the alley trying to do what they wanted to do. Again, I'll spare you the details. Amaranth noticed my disappearance, found me, and beat the ever living hell out of them well before anything actually happened, but I had issues for a while after that. I flinched when anyone even put their hand on my shoulder. Interestingly enough, it was finding out I was pregnant with you that made me normal again. I was so glad I had something good come out of it all that the worst faded into a memory easy enough to forget."

I found a reason to smile at that. I placed my hand on mom's to get her attention.

     "Is that why I'm your favorite?" I questioned brightly.
     "Remember what you promised, you tell no one, especially your siblings, about what you've discovered in these past moments." mom joked along back, putting her finger over her lips.

Me sitting up straighter had her joining me in relaxing on the bed.

     "You'll be fine in the end, Coal. I know you will. You're worried about Holly, and that's understandable, but I'm certain she'll understand as well."
     "Maybe," I spoke hesitantly, "But she's always been an awful hothead. I'm planning on things going poorly whenever I get to talk to her next. That irrationality of hers is going to bite me big time."
     "It is a painful situation. Things will get better, but it will take work to make it so."
     "It's a good thing my life is already so easy."

One last chuckle escaped mom's lips.

     "I know that feeling too. How about I join you in pretending to be asleep and pretending this isn't happening? I am a bit tired still, in truth."
     "Heh, that sounds like an amazing idea."

Pretending to be asleep morphed into actual sleep. Mom and I tried to share my bed back like old days when I was a little kid and she would lay down with me to tell me stories and sing lullabies only to drift off into dreamland herself. However, I was a tad too big now to make that possible. I got myself comfortable on my couch instead, and, while mom protested that she should be on the couch, she was out like a light well before I was. My sleep was light enough that dad coming into the room instantly woke me up, but that was fine. Enough time had passed. Both Uncle Al and Mimosa were long gone, my siblings had woken up, they had been given the general explanation of what happened, and the day began to progress with some semblance of normalcy.

Dad and Uncle Blaze discussed with me some of the ideas they'd planned with Uncle Al. One of them was, well, blackmailing Mimosa to take her medicine by threatening to take her to mental hospital if she didn't, and the other main proposal was pressing minor charges against her for her breakdown at the hospital to have the court order an indefinite requirement that she continue her treatment. I prayed the first plan would work. I did not need to add a legal case to the list of everything else going on. My hands already shook again when Aunt Dahlia texted me telling me I should come over there to try and talk to Holly. That crossing of the street never took so long, and I could tell my premonition of this not going right was accurate when Holly already stood agitated and defensive in her backyard even before she saw me.

     "Holly?" I pretty much whispered.

And that made that stance worse still.

She whipped around without missing a beat. The tears streaming down her face confirmed further this was a battle already lost.

     "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Holly demanded to know.

My mouth stayed closed. Even when she got right up to me, I had trouble even thinking of what to say. It tore me down deep to see her so upset, and all I wanted was to hug her and promise it was fine. Knowing that would probably get me punched had me at a loss.

     "You've known me and Mimosa for twenty years! How can you not fucking tell us apart by now?!" Holly pressed harder.
     "I can give you a lot of answers. I can say it was made difficult by me losing half my sight, the fact that I had been drinking a bit, or that how would I ever have expected Mimosa to trick me in such a manner. I know that you won't think those excuses enough, and I don't count myself blameless either. I don't know what else to say but sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't able to see what I should've."
     "Yeah, you really damn should have!" Holly half yelled, "I guess you've learned your lesson, but it doesn't make a difference to me! I'm not going to risk getting hurt like this again! Maybe you should just learn to love Mimosa and prepare for your stupid baby, because there's no relationship between you and me any longer!"

That caught me off guard more than I wanted to admit. The idea that Holly might try and break up with me had had no choice but to dance around in the back of my mind, but I assumed despite her hothead she wouldn't go that far. She did truly have that loss of control when she was hurting like she was now, which is why I straightened my back, looked her in the eye, and got rid of the submissiveness in my voice.

     "No."

Holly was caught off guard now. She turned silent and did nothing but stare for the space of a long held breath.

     "What?" she barked in angry confusion after another moment.
     "No, our relationship isn't over. Not to me. I can't stop you if you refuse to call me your boyfriend, but to me you're still my girlfriend. You're upset, and you know as well as I do that you make decisions you almost always regret when you're in this kind of state. If we talk about this later on when emotions have calmed, there's been time to think about everything, and you still want to break up, then I will accept it then. Until then though, no," I spoke firmly at first before trying to plead more with her, "Holly, I know you're hurt, but do you really think I would have ever slept with her if I had thought for a moment it might be? I truly believed it was you, even if I shouldn't have. I was just...I was just trying to give you what you want. I did what I thought  you thought would make you happy."
     "Oh, shut up!" Holly cried, lightly pushing me in the chest, "Don't spin this around so you can pretend you're such a noble gentleman! Don't act after all of this that you do actually know anything about me! I would have never wanted our first time to be like that!"

I was pushed again. Nothing about it hurt me, physically anyway.

     "Go away!" Holly gave another demand, "I only met you out here because mom forced me to! I don't want to see you or think about you, and I certainly don't want to be your girlfriend!"
     "I'll leave," I acquiesced, "And I'll always be willing to answer your call or text if ever you find yourself wanting to send one my way."

Holly didn't appreciate the calm tone of my voice, as well as my statement, but she retracted from shoving me away to cry out loudly in frustration and turning away furiously. I sadly sighed so quietly I could barely hear it, I stopped myself from reaching out to take her shoulder and attempt to comfort her like I really wanted to do, and forced my legs to walk me out of the backyard.

I didn't want to go home, but I didn't know where else to go either. Thankfully, something went a little right for me. Midas stood outside his house tending to some of their flowers, and when we made eye contact I moved towards him without pause.

     "Can't ever have things calm, can we?" he joked weakly, "I've heard the basics of what happened from mom."
     "My mom told her?"
     "Yeah."
     "Well, I didn't expect it to stay quiet for a long."
     "Are you alright?"
     "No," I grinned wryly, "I hated things enough by losing my eye and my career, and now I might lose Holly."
     "Have you talked to her yet?"
     "I just did. She's incredibly upset of course. She tried to break up with me."

Midas' eyes narrowed in confusion.

     "Tried?"
     "She said she was done with me, but she's in that pigheaded state of hers where she just can't help anything she says or does. I promised that I would allow the breakup if she still wants that when she's calmed down, but that I wouldn't consider us apart until then."
     "I'm gonna assume that simply made her angrier in this moment, but I don't disagree with what you did. I do think Holly might have a different opinion when she calms down too. All of us know you would never sleep with Mimosa just because it would be an easy opportunity."
     "Thanks," I replied gratefully, glad I had a supporting voice outside of my family, "I wish I knew what to do with myself now though. The plans we made are thrown out the window thanks to this, yet staying at home sulking the entire day isn't going to do me any favors."
     "How about we get a few drinks?" Midas proposed with kind optimism, "Just a few. We can even go to the activity center so you can watch Mary destroy me at bowling at the same time."
     "That sounds great." I accepted with a tiny, sad, childlike nod.