Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 74th cycle. Now cycle 75!

"Pretend & Ignore"
Nora (AU!Beth), Grace (OC), Emily (OC; Nellie V)
Sunshine Girls 2 series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

They had not talked about it, not once since the basement. They'd just suddenly pulled away from one another, out of breath and in total shock as they looked at each other, when they suddenly heard feet on the stairs and a couple of loud voices they quickly identified as Emily and her aunt Tina. Making quick work of fixing themselves up and making sure nothing was out of place, they'd stood just as the door opened. Tina asked if they were alright, and they could still see the furious look on her face, which would be directed at her niece. She must have figured out something was going on and dragged the truth out of Emily. After that, they had both gone home, and while it would have been a valid reason to blame their departure on what Emily had done, they knew better, but said not one word.

They had since then gotten messages from Emily, who was profusely apologetic. Oddly enough, at least to her, they were surprisingly understanding, though they didn't tell her why.

Sooner or later they were all going to have to see each other, and that was what Mondays were for. One by one they arrived at school, and it would without a doubt be their most awkward reunion. Emily had had an increasingly bad weekend, between her aunt's wrath and her parents' presence and the thought that she might have gone too far with her friends. It had come out of frustration which they could not exactly blame her for though, and that would be the case. Then there was Nora, and there was Grace, and there was the two of them and what had happened in that basement room.

They had not spoken since they'd left Emily's house that day, so they couldn't possibly have agreed on a course of action, but when they showed up at school on Monday morning, they were both going about like nothing happened, so they went with that. Moreover, they were going in with one thing in mind, and that was to make amends with Emily. They knew their friendship had been strained and twisted and confused lately, and though they still didn't have quite all their cards on the table about what each of them was thinking or feeling, they knew that strain had been set about through them and their… situation.

Their Monday mornings were not ideal for the three of them to manage to sit down and talk, so at lunch, having gotten their trays and located Emily alone at their usual table, Nora and Grace arrived, putting their trays on the side opposite their friend, side by side. Emily looked up nervously.

"Relax, we're not here to yell at you," Nora told her.

"I didn't think you… Alright, maybe a little," Emily admitted, lowering her head for a moment before lifting it again. "I'm sorry…"

"Em, don't," Grace insisted. "I told you I wasn't angry."

"And I said it, too."

"We understand, and we're the ones who are sorry," Grace went on.

"You do?" Emily frowned, surprised.

"Well… Not completely," Nora admitted. "But… some of it." She couldn't look at Grace as she said this.

"We're going to be better from now on," Grace vowed. Emily still looked completely baffled. Something about this did not add up, she could tell. There was no way they could be so pleasant about the entire thing. There was something they weren't telling, and she knew it.

"First order of business, tell us how it's going with your parents. Are they still there?" Nora asked. Emily looked at her, at Grace. They were both waiting, staring at her. So with a sigh, she started to tell her story, and after a while, she did forget about the rest, feeling that her friends were there with her, and maybe things could be the way they used to be.

She couldn't see into their heads, and she certainly couldn't see how, absentmindedly so, Grace's foot had accidentally nudged into Nora's, and their legs remained stuck to one another's, playing together. Something had opened up in between them, and they had not spoken, so they couldn't figure out what it was or what it would mean. They both had feelings they'd kept under wraps, and once that first step had been taken, there was something like an addiction to giving in to one feeling or another. They knew it was wrong, oh how they knew, and if they actually realized what they were doing, they would stop immediately, but for the time being, with no one the wiser, they were giving up control, all the better to feel the other near. It was like a dream.

But then they had realized it, or Nora had, and her foot became still. The moment it did, Grace's did as well, and though they were still paying attention to Emily, discreetly their eyes had turned to one another.

They had been friends for years upon years, they were supposed to know each other more than anyone, and they did. But in that moment, how were they supposed to know? They looked at the other, and they wondered what they were doing. Grace still had her fears, about how she'd come in too late and she risked hurting people, and Nora was so very, very aware that she was coming closer and closer to doing something irreparable, and it scared her that she almost didn't care.

"But whatever, they'll be gone soon, and we can all go back to living our lives the way they are, not how they want us to pretend they are," Emily sighed, shoving the contents of her plate around with her fork in an almost violent manner. Nora and Grace had quickly looked back at her. "By the way, Grace," she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, which she slid across the table. The redhead stared at it, confused.

"What's that?"

"It's a phone number, you've seen them before?" Emily frowned. "I found you a guy. He wants to go out with you this Friday if you're free."

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!