Gen Three- Chapter Thirty Two

A deep churning of fire burned my stomach almost as much as it ravaged its way up my arms and down my legs. The amount of weight I was using for my workout was nothing compared to what Gilly and Confetti could handle, and even then I had to take a heaving break between each rep to make sure my body wasn't falling apart. Perhaps it made more sense to decrease the weight further, but with how pitiful the number already was I really didn't want to admit defeat. I realized bitterly that I would have to stop soon anyway lest I be useless the rest of the day.

    "Oh, it's you over here," mom spoke as she suddenly approached from the arch, "This is new. Not even Gil gets up this early to workout."

    "Exercising is best done in the morning, and I have to head out earlier than she does." I replied.

I held my breath to create the illusion the strain on my muscles wasn't absolute agony. However, the sweat on my skin and that my lungs refused to be silenced broke that immediately. Mom gave me an amused, studious look that caused me to cringe.

     "You wouldn't be trying to get more fit to look better for a certain someone, would you?"

     "No," I refused firmly and stubbornly, although my cheeks already burned brighter, "It's just that...you remember the reason Arbor gave when he had me start running before he left. That I'm healthy but mostly coasting by on good genetics. I have to put more focus on maintaining myself, so I thought I'd pick up the habit of trying again."

     "Yet it is only once he's here again that this motivation has returned?" mom prompted knowingly with a giggle.

     "Think whatever you want." I replied with a little too much bite.

Mom's expression softened instead of hardened, and, thankfully, she let the teasing stop as she took my snap in stride.

     "You do seem happier now that he's back though. It's good to see."

Unsure of what to say, I nodded.

     "You know, it's been several weeks. I fully get that you'll tell me what you want when you want, but I can't help but be curious. The two of you are getting along, but what are you thinking going forward?"

     "You're asking if we've started dating again or have talked about doing so?" I put the question out there more plainly.

     "Sure." mom shrugged.

     "I...I told him there was a chance. Maybe I'd want to date again, but as glad as I am to have him around whatever we'd have would only be temporary."

     "Why's that?"

     "I'm moving to the other side of the country at the end of summer, remember? Long distance didn't work out well for Arbor and me the first time. I can't imagine it'd be fine a second time."

     "Probably not, but have you considered that you might not have to do your relationship long distance?"

     "What?" I asked, confused.

     "You're assuming you'd go to Tinseltown and Arbor would stay here. He might have no problem going with you."

     "No way." I scoffed.

     "I can't say for certain one way or the other. I certainly haven't talked to him about what he wants for his future."

     "Last I knew, he doesn't know either. He said his parents won't force him to go to college and just want him to get some sort of job, yet even before his grandparents offered to take him overseas they never appeared to push that requirement either."

     "So he could very well want to go with you then."

     "I'm telling you, there's no-"

     "Perhaps check with him before denying the possibility?" mom interrupted with an impish, gleeful grin, "It won't do any harm, I feel, to be honest about your future together."

Any retort of mine faded. My fingers curled around the bench underneath me. Mom's words hit a cord to bring back more of what Rich said that day. He'd started out imagining he and Branch would split for sure one day, but now they planned their futures around the other. Arbor and I had said we were young with no idea what we were doing with love or the path it held. That was still true, wasn't it?

For me to contemplate if we would actually want to stay at it through the long haul...

Mom gave me peace after planting the seed in my head. A seed I ignored as much as I could. Seriously, I was still only nineteen. It felt like an eternity had passed since Arbor left, but the years had hardly started to roll. There was no reason to think of the long term past what I'd previously planned out. College, college, and more college. Beating the word into my mind over the course of the next few days returned my thinking to normal. If only the days could have been that way too.

     "Oh, sorry, grandpa. I thought you'd left for..."

Like that Wednesday. I had a bit of time before I had to leave for class, and everyone else had taken off. Or so I thought. That's why I went into Blaze and grandpa's room without knocking to bring their laundry they'd forgotten. It was a bad habit of the Vivid men, but at least grandpa only forgot the stuff he put in the dryer. The basket gently slipped onto the floor when I noticed grandpa remained. He sat there with his head hung low and tears falling without mercy down his cheeks. Any act or quelling of his emotions grandpa tried failed when I took a step closer.

     "What's wrong?"

     "It's nothing," grandpa mumbled before gritting his teeth and shaking his head to cast off the miserable lie, "Sorry. I just...don't want to talk about it."

I hesitated. Grandpa didn't motion me back when I stepped closer again, but there was a massive wall he was putting up around himself for reasons I couldn't fathom. I'd never seen him so guarded.

     "Are you thinking about grandma?" I tried to make sense of the situation.

     "No," he granted me what answers he could, sighing massively, "It's that I got word of the passing of others."

     "Oh," I said solemnly, "And it's them you don't want to talk about?"

     "Yeah."

My tongue burned with questions. If whoever died was someone we all knew, grandpa wouldn't be keeping the truth so close to his chest. Who, then, did he know so deeply to cause him such pain that the rest of us didn't? He said 'others' too. Multiple people. Had their passing been natural? It made more sense if there was more than one death that some sort of accident occurred. However, I kept my curiosity deep inside. There was no way I could push grandpa when he dropped his shoulders even more miserably, and it wouldn't give me results anyway. I knew that.

     "Here."

I mustered a small smile as I took a seat on the couch. Grandpa went right for leaning over to place his head on my lap, fighting back sniffles and rubbing his eyes dry. He cuddled against me like a small child, and if the atmosphere hadn't been so somber I would have delighted in how cute and sweet he looked. The moment was a total reversal from how things generally were, but that was also why the moment was sobering.

     "I'm not afraid of dying, but getting old is awful. Too many people leave." grandpa mumbled after a bit.

His thoughts mirrored my thinking perfectly. I traced the wrinkles on his face as I stroked his cheek and hair comfortingly as I envisioned what awaited us all. A steady crumbling of the pieces we love most. A heart that gets chipped away more and more, never to heal until it's our time to leave.

     "Do you ever regret being with grandma?" the question tumbled out of my lips before I could stop myself, "Like, if you'd known how she would have died, do you think you would have looked for someone else? Someone to have still been with you all this time?"

     "There would never have been anyone else," grandpa shook his head as best he could from his position, not bitter or upset by my wondering, "The only regret I have is those years I lost being taken away. I think of how I could have prevented that all the time. But no, even if I had known how Ethereal would die I would pick her again and again. If her fate would have been to die a year, a month, a day into our marriage, I still would have married her. The pain of being without her can never be enough to win against the pain of not taking advantage of every moment we had the chance to be together. I got the love the woman I loved despite it not being as long as we wanted. That was enough."

His hand slipped into mine grasping my fingers tightly.

     "I have her in bits and pieces in the rest of you too. The family I have now is everything I ever wanted growing up. Big and happy."

     "I love you, grandpa." I said, blinking back the mist in my eyes now.

     "I love you too, Dia."

I couldn't help myself. I cried a little. Grandpa let his own tears fall freely until his eyes were so puffy and swollen I had to press a cold cloth over them. We continued to sit together for the longest time commiserating until my phone beeped to remind me to leave. My first classes passed with ease. I had a break at noon that lasted until four when my next class started, so I returned home as normal to relax. Grandpa must have decided to head to the bookstore for the rest of whatever was left of his shift as no one was home. Then I heard a soft crash from upstairs.

     "Merlot?" I called from the bottom of the steps.

He shouldn't have been home so early, but the noise definitely came from his room. My feet hurried up and I thrust open the door to find his space utterly silent. I didn't spot what caused the crash until I wandered to the other side of his bed.

     "What the hell?"

This made no sense. The lone item out of place was his bedside lamp. The noise I heard fit with the sound of a falling lamp, but how in the world had it gotten onto the floor without any force behind it? Even more puzzling, how had it landed perfectly upright?

     "Merlot?" I called more suspiciously.

No response came. I glanced around, but there was nowhere for him to hide.

     "Fucking weird." I mumbled, placing the lamp where it should be.

As curious as the incident was, I soon forgot about the lamp. I closed my eyes for half an hour, got lunch, studied for a while, watched a few funny videos, and then proceeded to meet up with Timber. With his job and my schedule, he was another one I barely had time for anymore. We did what we could to see each other. Wednesdays were a shorter shift for him. It didn't leave quality time in the afternoon for hanging out, but there was enough that he could walk me to campus.

     "You're in an awfully bright mood today." I relayed after watching him walk with a spring in his step.
     "That's because I got some good news this morning."
     "Oh yeah? What's that?"
     "It's a secret." Timber merely smiled.
     "Really?" I pouted, "You can't act like this and then not tell me."
     "Sorry, but I have to," Tiber shrugged merrily before patting my shoulder, "Believe it or not, Dia, there are some things I like to keep private- even from you."
     "I know. I just have to try." I smirked back.
     "Of course," Timber chuckled, "What I can say though is that there's something I've been wanting to do for a long time, but there was something stopping me from doing it. Now I believe that obstacle is no longer there."
     "Well, I'm glad for you for whatever is it you have planned."

I paused as a memory slowly came back.

     "Hey, Timber?"
     "Hmm?"
     "You remember way back when we I threw you that party, but you and your dad got stuck in traffic and couldn't come? You said afterwards you were planning a surprise to make up for that. Then the hurricane came."
     "Ohh...you're right. I never delivered on that. I completely forgot," he replied slowly, deep in thought until a beaming expression took over his face, "This is perfect though! You know what, I did want to say I was going to tell you this new secret of mine someday. I can work it in with that surprise I owe you to make it the most life changing day of your existence!"

I laughed loudly.

     "If what you have in store is that grand, I'll look forward to it."
     "It'll take me a bit, but yup, just wait. I'll make sure you're stunned speechless." Timber promised eagerly.

Timber assured me relentlessly of how amazing the day was going to be when he unveiled his surprise. I let him ramble on the entirety of his walk. I hadn't seen him this gung-ho over something since he came forward with his plan to reunite with his mother. Thankfully, this most certainly wouldn't end up like that. My mood when I walked into the school building after saying goodbye to my friend was a complete contrast to my mood when I walked in earlier that morning after comforting grandpa. It was a bizarre day, and got a bit crazier when classes were done. Cherry, Rich, Branch, and I walked out together. My eyes instantly caught the figure who stood there.

     "Oh, hey, Arbor." I greeted him, unsure of the reason for his presence.
     "Hey."

He opened his mouth to continue, most likely to explain why he was here, but Cherry cut him off with some misinformation she'd gotten. Perhaps I hadn't explained how I'd reacted to Arbor's return well enough to my friends.

     "So this is your boyfriend?"
     "I..." my tongue slipped at first, and then it spat out something surprising even to me, "Yeah."

It didn't hit me until after I spoke of what I'd done. The word came out before I could stop it, and even though Arbor's eyes widened slightly in surprise, perplexed more than happy, I couldn't deny how claiming him as mine once more didn't feel wrong. Instead of Rich's words, the ones grandpa spoke that morning haunted my brain. For him, the pain of grandma's death was far less than the thought of not being with her. Seeing Arbor there before me triggered an agreeing sentiment in my chest.

     "Hi," Arbor greeted my friends, ignoring what he figured a lie, "I'm Arbor Thicket. I was just out doing some errands, and I knew you'd be done with classes soon, Dia, so I thought I'd come by and see if you wanted to do anything afterwards."
     "Oh. Um, we...we were planning to head over to Red Hot's Grill and Bar for dinner and to chill." I explained.
     "Mind if I join then? Sounds like fun."
     "Sure." I nodded, willing a smile.
     "Yeah, the more the merrier. It's nice to finally meet you." Rich spoke as he stepped forward with an outstretched hand.

Of course it was him to first approach Arbor. The memory of the misunderstanding cleared up the quiet, awkward air between Arbor and I as the amusement of it all invited something warmer to settle in. My friends covered the time it took to walk to the restaurant with question after question to understand their new companion. Mostly they were interested in the time he spent overseas and his tattoos. Arbor proudly showed off a few new smaller ones he'd gotten. In fact, he gushed over them so greatly for a brief instance I contemplated the thought of wanting one myself. The desire passed by the time our food arrived. The cheerful atmosphere continued, heightening around dessert, and only stopping after Cherry, Rich, and Branch bounced to the pool table. Arbor and I were left semi-alone.

     "You don't have to lie." he told me after some silence.

My fingers fiddled together without abandon.

     "I know it would have been awkward to correct her and you'd feel bad denying me when it's what I want, but pretending and lying won't do either of us any good." Arbor continued softly.
     "That's not..." I struggled to put my thoughts together, "I didn't actually mean for it to be a lie. I...I want it to be the truth."
     "Don't you think the resuming of our relationship should involve some conversation? At the very least telling me that we're dating again?" Arbor raised a brow.
     "I'm sorry. I've been wishy-washy and all over the place, and even over these past weeks I haven't been as honest with you as I should have. There's a lot I've been thinking, there's a lot I've been feeling that I've excluded you from when talking to you, as usual, would give me the answers I can't find on my own. Guess I have some habits I just can't kill."
     "I suppose we should start killing them then, and let's go with the obvious. You said you want us dating to be the truth. Shall we make it so?"
     "Yes."
     "And do you mean that?"
     "Yes."

Arbor stared me down, but I didn't waver. Doing otherwise would be the true lie. Arbor had basically had me captured the moment we met again. Everything seemed simple in his presence, we kissed often enough, and imagining him not being mine anymore drove a knife in my heart. I loved him, he was here, and I refused to let my mistakes force a gap anymore. Dating was the only choice to make even if the future remained uncertain. After studying me for a good long moment, Arbor accepted my answer and placed a kiss on my cheek before wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

     "And what about the rest of it? The thoughts? The feelings?" he wondered.
     "I don't know if right now is the best time to talk about them, but," I sighed, "Mom and grandpa both have said things recently that have struck some chords with me. Basically I've had this plan set for my future that I've been following for forever, but at the hint of things changing I'm left overwhelmed."
     "Like you don't want to be a doctor kind of things?"
     "Oh no. That won't ever change." I laughed.
     "That's good to hear. I have to say, that would unfortunately be a lot of time wasted."
     "A fuck ton of time."

Branch cheered after getting a good shot in, and Arbor used the time it distracted me to brush a strand of hair out of my face and land another peck on my cheek. I bet he would give anything to have it be just the two of us now that his day had been made. I slipped my hand into his.

     "Speaking of jobs, is there anything you've decided on yet?" I put forth the question to keep him preoccupied and to subtly get hints to my questions.

Arbor groaned, and I laughed harder.

     "Mom asked me that too about a week back. You would think after traveling all over another continent for a year and a half that my mind would be full of ideas, but there's still nothing. I mean, there is something I really want to do, but it's not exactly the answer my parents are looking for."
     "What is it you want to do?"
     "That's my thing I think it's better talked about later."
     "Alright." I caved as he'd given me such a courtesy as well.

It was clearly a day for secrets though.

It was also a day with a troublesome ending. The tickle in my throat that'd started during my afternoon classes hadn't gone away even after the second cup of honeyed tea I'd ordered. My nose filled uncomfortably following several sneeze, and my mind droned with a fuzz as my eyes, bulging with a swollen ache, demanded more with every blink to be closed.

     "Not feeling well?" Cherry asked, catching me go to the bar for the third time to request some tissues.
     "Yeah." I sighed.
     "Let me take a look," she requested, moving closer to examine my face and feel for a fever, "Yup, you've got what we in the medical community call a 'cold.' It's best you head home and begin treatment right away."
     "But, doctor, what about the movie we were to see? Keeping happy when when sick is also part of the treatment." I teased.
     "I guess the rest of us will simply have to see it twice then. You're going to bed whether you like it or not."
     "Yes, ma'am."

Cherry, Rich, and Branch were the three who continued on to the movie theater. No surprise, Arbor instantly volunteered to take me home. He even walked me to the door and forced me to tell him for the dozenth time there was nothing he needed to run and pick up for me. We even had so many snacks I couldn't ask for any of those. He eventually went on his way after more prodding, leaving me to get some of that medicine, take a steaming shower, quickly dry my hair, alert my family of my status, and then collapse into bed to drift off the whole night. I fell asleep around seven and didn't wake up until eight the next morning.

     "To let you guys know, I've already emailed my professors to let them know I'll be staying home sick today." I announced to my parents in a scratchy voice.

Everyone else had already eaten breakfast, and mom and dad were putting away the last of the dishes they cleaned. I rolled my eyes when they looked at each other and grinned.

     "Wow, I wonder if she might be dying." mom began the joking first.
     "Yes, for us to not have to argue and fight with her to keep her home when she's like this..." dad nodded along.
     "I will cough over both your pillows if I have to." I warned.
     "Okay, no, she seems well enough to me. Not dying." dad continued.
     "Ugh."
     "Is there anything we can get for you?" mom offered kindly after chuckling softly.
     "Mmm, maybe. There's nothing I need. I'm thankfully not nauseated though and still have an appetite. Could I get some Peking Express for dinner?"
     "Sure."

Mom and dad both gave me hugs before they left for work despite me telling them not to. It increased the risk of spreading the cold. They refused to hear it though, and the fact that they offered to stay home if I needed prompted more thinking in my head. I was old enough and more than capable enough to take care of myself, yet they still worried and fretted over me. Having children had to be terrifying. Mom described it once as placing your heart outside your body.

Of all the things to notice before they left, I noticed their wrinkles. More than thinking of how old they were, I thought of how young they'd been once. Especially dad. He hadn't been that much older than me when he had Ember. It made me love and admire him that much more, but it frightened me too when I thought of how grandma had Uncle Wisp at my age. It wasn't that I was planning of having kids soon, but the realization I hadn't ever let into my brain sang loudly of how plenty old enough I was to have them. For the longest time I'd said I'd pick my career over having a family. However, now I didn't know what I wanted. My career, of course, but perhaps my heart wished to take itself off the straightforward path it'd been on. Almost every doctor out there had a family of his or her own. Not having children wasn't a requirement for the job. It was plenty possible. And to make children, one would need a spouse.

Sleep was my relief from my thinking, and that blessedly came in bucket-loads. Save for one particular moment. Music abruptly coming from down the hall jerked me out of my peaceful snooze. The only place it could be coming from was Merlot's room.

It was once again far too early for him to be home though.

     "Merlot?"

My call received no response as I padded over to his door. Opening the door showed me no one was around, although I certainly took a surveying glance. If only there was a place for him to hide to have this make sense. His bed didn't have enough space underneath, and the wardrobe he'd bought I knew was stuffed full of his junk. I couldn't explain why his speaker was playing music then. Merlot had slowly been buying more things to entertain himself, and the speaker had been one of them. The music playing wasn't even the kind of stuff he liked either. Frustrated with curiosity but too exhausted to care, I turned off the noise and returned to my room.

No more of that nonsense bothered me the rest of the day. My eyes closed and I slept perfectly fine until Gilly's quiet shuffling into the room prompted me back to consciousness. She kindly got me more medicine, brought me up some sports juice, and left the room to give my head pounding with ache continued silence. I lounged about in a daze until the right hour came and the front door opened by the person I wanted to see.

     "What's up?" Merlot asked after I motioned him from the hallway into my room.
     "You're not skipping school, are you?"
     "What?" Merlot frowned heavily, "No, I'm not. I know I can be lazy, but I wouldn't do that. If I wanted to stay home, I'd pretend to be sick. Why did you ask that?"
     "Sorry, it's just...I dunno. I feel like weird things are happening in your room. Two days I ago I heard a little crash, and I found your lamp on the floor perfectly straight up. Today your speakers suddenly started playing music from your player."
     "I have no idea about the lamp, but I know about the speaker. I bought it used. The guy was selling it because of faulty wiring that turns it on at random times. You can stop that by taking out the battery, which I forgot to do this morning. My bad."
     "Oh. Well, okay. That makes sense."

Merlot left to do his homework. The moment with the lamp remained weird with my mind, but weird things could happen. Perhaps he left it too close to the edge of the nightstand, and the gentle blow of the heat running through the house was enough to tip it off. It could have landed straight as it did despite the low chance. I'd seen Gilly opening our bedroom door cause enough hint of a draft to knock an empty water bottle off my desk once. The idea wasn't far-fetched.

The idea then didn't have a place within me anymore as an hour later Merlot escorted a visitor to my room. Arbor and I had texted a little throughout the day at the points where I got up. That was enough for me, but he stood his ground and said he was staying against all my arguments to get him to leave.

     "It's fine if I get sick. I don't have a job or any obligations to worry about missing. I'd rather be here for you."

Those were the words that broke my resolve. They were also the ones that returned to the forefront all my fretting. That, and how we ended up on the couch. Sitting was too uncomfortable for me while watching television, so before I knew it Arbor prompted me to lay against him. His warmth was my blanket, and the peace of mind being like that granted bubbled understanding in my chest. It was clear as day now. No matter how uncertain the future, I couldn't imagine it without Arbor. The thought of him being missing from all my years clawed at my insides. I would have to find a way for us to work if he didn't want to move with me. However, my lips wouldn't bring up the questions I had to ask. Did he want to come? Did he put me in his future too?

     "Arbor?"
     "Hmm?"
     "Stay mine."

The gentle mumble against his neck was the result of my exhaustion. I couldn't stand keeping quiet anymore, and, being too weak to fight, instinct pulled out a simple compromise. The two words were both a request and a question. A way to gauge if our interests aligned. A moment of silence passed. Arbor nestled me to him closer and kissed the top of my head.

     "Always."

That was what I needed for now. My worries found solace, and I accepted an impending reality with ease. Many more complicated conversations would have to take place, yet my life arced how I wished it would once more. I simply enjoyed the time Arbor and I had before such serious matters popped up though. My cold faded while his blossomed. It came as no surprise given how many hours I spent breathing my sick germs near his face. While I felt guilty, I made no effort to comfort him as he'd comforted me. I send texts, calls, and snacks to his place, but the illness would keep bouncing back and forth if I strayed too close. Arbor recovered fine after three days. We spent as much time as we could then to make up for the lack.

     "Seriously!?"

A few weeks passed. It was a Tuesday afternoon, and I entered my room to find something horrible.

     "My bed is off limits!"

Me catching my sister and her girlfriend getting riled up happened less often due to my busier schedule, but it still did happen. At least most of the time I caught them with some form of covering on. This though was far worse than the incidents where I caught them with nothing.

     "Sorry, Dia," Gilly apologized profusely as the two rapidly pulled away from the other, "The sun's hitting a bad angle on Gil's bed. It kept getting in her eyes."
     "Doesn't matter!" I huffed, folding my arms and sending a scathing glare, "You promised. This better have not happened before."
     "It's hasn't," Gilly said quickly, "We weren't going do anything more here either. We were just waiting a few minutes for the shade."
     "Then wait on the couch."

Gilly and Confetti nodded quietly with cheeks blushing. With guilt or their exertion, I couldn't tell. Likely a mix of both. Dropping my bag at the end of my bed, I did my best to ignore the state of their mostly naked and heavily breathing bodies. As much as we'd come to accept this was inevitable with Gilly and I sharing a room, it didn't mean we were indifferent about these moments. However, despite my anger I found my lips curling up. My gaze found its way to my sister, and she stared curiously.

     "I have to say," I began, "Remember when you were too nervous to ask Confetti to the school dance because you thought it would make things weird?"

Gilly laughed.

I said that casually, but when I went downstairs to entertain myself while the couple finished up I grew amazed at how I never noticed exactly how long the two had been dedicated to the other. Their feelings had been there even when children and lasted through years of living in different places and Pyre choosing to be just be friends with them. I could hardly read my book I was so stunned. Gilly and Confetti came downstairs not too much later. They'd decided to let their desire fade or they could really push it that fast. I didn't want to know the answer. My sister approached me with a bag of marshmallows as an apology. The three of us lit up the fire pit.

     "So, here's the thing..." I said.
     "C'mon, I even brought out the fancy chocolate. Can we not have a lecture?" Gilly requested with a pout.
     "This isn't about that, although I know I should lecture you."
     "What is it then?" Confetti wondered.
     "I just realized you two have been together a long time. I've always assumed you would be like you are forever, but I've never heard you talk or mention your future besides us heading down to Tinseltown. Like, you have to have talked though, right? That you two plan to stay together forever. Get married. Have kids. That sort of thing."
     "We've talked." Gilly confirmed, twirling her marshmallow with zest over the heat.

Neither she nor Confetti said anything further. They only continued after I frowned. The teasers.

     "It's not like we have it that set in stone, but yeah, we plan to stick together. Once we get solid footing in Tinseltown, we'll enjoy a couple years before we go towards marriage. We're thinking at most three kids. Whether we'll adopt or go for insemination, we're not sure yet." Confetti explained.
     "Ohh, I see."

I tapped my finger against my cheek.

     "If you do go for insemination, which one of you would it be? The same every time, or would you take turns?"
     "It'd be me," Confetti smirked wryly, "I don't mind, and Gilly has no interest in being pregnant."
     "Why would anyone want to get pregnant? That's a lot of stress and a lot of pain. I'm sure I'd say it was worth it if for some reason I carried a child, but right now there's no way. Besides, don't forget about mom's horrible pregnancies with us and Merlot and the miscarriages she had. I don't want to find out if she's passed that trait on to us."
     "That's true. I never thought about that."
     "You've always said you're most likely not going to have children, so that makes sense," Gilly noted before giving me an eagerly suspicious look, "Or has that changed now that Arbor's in the picture?"

My burning face gave it all away before I could begin thinking of an answer.

     "What plans do you two have for the future?" she prompted.
     "We're still getting back into the habit of dating again, so I don't know. I...I've been thinking a lot about it recently though. It never occurred to me to contemplate the long term until mom mentioned me checking with Arbor to see if he might want to come with me to Tinseltown. To consider a future together like you two have, I'm barely coming to terms with the fact that I kinda want to marry him someday. And having kids..."
     "You definitely need to talk about it at some point, but there's no need to rush," Confetti smiled encouragingly, "There's all the time in the world. My parents didn't get married until they were thirty one. Had me at thirty four and my sister at forty. Just enjoy your time and let things fall into place as they will."
     "Yeah. You're right." I nodded slowly.

As part of the silent apology I received, Gilly and Confetti didn't dig into my relationship and instead let me know more about theirs. There was a house next to where Ember and Tamarix lived that they wanted to buy. It wasn't on the market currently, but they hoped someday it would become available. If not, the two had glanced at other places. Which parlors or spas or therapy locations they desired to work at were already picked. Gilly and Confetti had even discussed their potential employment with some of the owners. Overall, it didn't look like they'd have much trouble even if there was a little worry about the bills of the place we would rent. Mom and dad were using the funds saved up to keep me supported for college, but since those two would officially be out in the working world they'd be on their own for the first time. I'm sure our parents would give in to pick up the slack if things went wrong somehow. My sister and her girlfriend were confident they could pull everything off successfully though.

And so that afternoon passed. Tuesday became Wednesday where once again my different schedule from everyone else had me home alone. Yet that wasn't the truth. A package arrived for Merlot, something else he'd bought for his room I'm sure, and I saw no harm on leaving it on his bed. The package dropped out of my hand and onto the floor upon the jolting burst coursing my heart after opening the door. I froze first in fear and alarm and then absolute surprise and shock. The girl standing in my brother's room wearing Gilly's old clothes at ten in the morning froze much the same way. Besides the fact that she existed in the house at all, I noticed there was also something off about her even if I couldn't place it exactly.

     "Who the hell are you?" my voice unlocked from my throat.
     "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she instantly pleaded, her voice shockingly deep, "Please, I know I shouldn't be here, but you can't say anything!"

Dumbfounded, I stood there cursing my life. It was just one thing after another.