summer

I haven't written anything in like months and it's for a rarepair, but maybe I'll write a beach episode in the future. family alolan dynamic is what i'm here for.

Wicke shut her eyes with a smile, listening to the tinny sound of a Spice Girls cassette as the car coasted along the Ula'ula Highway. Usually she hated riding in the old car. Whenever she drove in it, she had the terrible habit of braking every five seconds, which so far resulted in three accidents that the insurance company was not too happy paying. And every time Guzma drove, they always…well, it was probably bad to badmouth his driving, but he enjoyed drag racing more than a proper driver should. And…getting sidetracked. One time they were supposed to get gas right down the road and ended up nearly halfway across the other side at a seasonal water resort.

Now that she thought about it, they ended up having to have the car home that day.

But Plumeria was such a gentle driver. Assertive, but gentle. No accidents, no wild hijinks, and little traffic despite being almost the end of a school day. It was like they were finally on a vacation, just by themselves. Between the three of them, taking care of two children and housing extra guests with limited incomes was hard work, and with all of their expenses that meant working long hours with little breaks or off-days. Usually they had to leave Gladion and Hau by themselves until dinnertime, and she felt so bad that she had to leave those poor boys, out of all people, all alone. This was the one time in a blue moon that she and Plumeria got off work early, at the same time.

It was…nice.

She never really had a buddy to hang out with after work. Even when she and Faba were married, much of everything felt like a chore. Beyond their interests in Aether, they really didn't have anything in common, and they never spent much time outside of work. If she ever had an off day, she usually spent it assisting Faba in his duties or cleaning up around the house. The other Aether employees only saw her as the president's assistant, going about with their own gossip and business.

On the other hand, Plumeria saw her as a close friend…she was sure of it, right? Plumeria was the kind of person who didn't make a lot of idle chatter, so every word that came out of mouth sounded so important that it needed to be cherished. Even if she was talking about a grocery list. "-icke….Wicke?"

Wicke jolted forward, her chest almost hitting the glove compartment, and winced. It wasn't like she was in her bed, so she should've been more attentive than this. "I'm sorry, Plumeria. What did you say?"

Calm and collected as always, Plumeria lowered her sunglasses ever so slightly and merely smirked. There wasn't a lot of stuff that could truly bother her. "The groceries. We need to go grocery shopping on the way back from picking up the boys. Gotta start prepping for our beach trip, too, but what do you want to eat for the next few days?"

"Who's cooking?"

"Probs Gladdo for a two-dayer, and then we'll probably pick up on a pizza the night before the trip. Unless you want to eat on Faba's quinoa bean sprout disasters or whatever the hell he pretends to like."

"What about Guz-"

"No."

The syllable rolled harshly off Plumeria's tongue, and they both knew why. Although Guzma had a lot more enthusiasm for cooking in recent times, any time he entered a kitchen his meal-making would last an entire day, from prepping to cleaning up the inevitable messes he made. A simple dish of macaroni and cheese or fried green beans served with malasadas would end up from the stove to the windows across the kitchen. When Guzma had almost burnt down their then-apartment the last time, Plumeria banned him from all cooking matters for the next year.

It was understandable, although Wicke wished she had a little more time to set aside for helping Guzma learn how to cook without imploding everything in his path. The car rolled in silence for a couple of more minutes before Plumeria lowered her sunglasses again, raising an eyebrow. "Do you have any ideas? It's okay if you don't. I just want Gladion to remember to eat three meals every day. He tends to forget if he's not bothered about it."

Wicke bit her lip. It was hard to plan meals for so many people, but she was confident in her gained knowledge of the household. "Definitely some rice. Gladion eats a lot of rice, and he usually has it with vegetables and no meat, but sometimes he'll have some grilled fish with it. Hau enjoys anything with a malasada on the side. Some eggs, since Guzma's been on an egg kick lately. I keep telling him not to eat them raw, though." She scrunched up her face at that. Raw eggs? She really needed to invest more time with him. "And maybe some coffee for Faba. If he comes around, he'll usually just bring his food."

Plumeria rolled her eyes. "That jackass is always coming around lately. How were you married to him for so long? I can barely stand him for five minutes."

"He's always had his good moments."

"You're a lot more fine to be able to pick up better-looking guys than him." She gave Wicke a side-glance. "Or girls."

"I haven't really looked around after Faba. Rice, vegetables, egg, coffee…maybe some fish…anything you want, Plumeria?"

"Me? Uhhh, nah, you can decide on a main dish if you want."

"Some grilled fish and rice sounds good, then. We can have vegetables, malasadas, and eggs with that. Oh! I could also make some salad with that. And for dessert…do you want me to pick up a cake or bake the cake?"

Wicke noticed the car drove ever so slower at that. She knew Plumeria loved cake despite not having much of a sweet-tooth, and to be honest it gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling, throwing her best pal off-guard. Gripping the wheel tighter, Plumeria's eyes darted back and forth before they squinted at Wicke again, her attention fully gained. "If you can make one of those tasty cakes with the tiny bit of chocolate frosting on top, I won't stop you. But. Only if you have enough time."

"I should have enough time."

"You're always doing anything. You're gonna let me help you."

"Help me? You need to focus on work and school."

"You're gonna let me help you." Plumeria turned onto the familiar exit where Gladion and Hau's school was. They wouldn't have time to argue this one out like usual, so Wicke sighed as the other woman grinned. She almost missed it when her best pal continued, "You're not thrashing around all green-faced as usual. Is your stomach okay?"

The blush that Wicke had tried to contain now spread across her face, and her stomach tumbled, once. This was not her usual carsickness. Judging from Plumeria's comment earlier about dating better girls, this might've just been…lovesickness. And she was flattered, although she wasn't used to such forwardness. Well, that wasn't quite true. Guzma was always very blunt and forward with her; however, Plumeria usually kept her feelings in check. Now she was the one who was thrown off-guard. Dabbing her forehead with her handkerchief, she coughed. Summer couldn't come sooner. "Yes, your driving style's very smooth. Thank you very much for driving."

"Well, after driving anywhere with the boss, I guess my driving would feel like a cakewalk. Glad you're comfortable, though. I'll keep it in mind to do the driving when we go on our trip, then."

"Why?"

"So if we go out swimming the first day, I can see your cute booty in a bikini. No carsickness to stop you from enjoying those waves."

The cough turned into a coughing fit as they turned towards the school's pickup line. Gladion and Hau, who were already waiting by the sidewalk, quietly shuffled in while Plumeria slowly drove the car forward. The coughing fit continued for another minute or two while Gladion slid off his jacket and threw it in his backpack. Then he stared them both in the eye through the mirror, his green eyes in unimpressive slits. "Plumeria, are you teasing her again?"

"Maybe," she said nonchalantly.

"You could at least try to have a little tact, y'know. Are we going to the store?"

"Yeah. Unless you wanna eat sandwiches for the next three days."

"I wouldn't-"

"I know you wouldn't mind, but we're going to get groceries like actual civilians…"

The conversation tuned out after that, and Wicke shut her eyes as they headed towards the grocery store, still slightly flustered. If they were going swimming, she would have to get a bathing suit, wouldn't she? And a bikini? Would she even be able to find a comfortable bikini of her size by then? What if she and Plumeria wore…matching bikinis?

At this rate she'd be up late for more than just baking cake.