I was flat – on – my – back sick for a while there, so apologies for not updating my schedule fics on schedule and apologies for being AWOL with reviews. I start a new job tomorrow, but I'm still hoping to get some reading in before I have to go. In the meantime, here's something for the rest of you to read.
Florence paused the video she was watching and took off her headphones before swiveling her chair around until the easy chair was in view. "Hey Sylvester?"
He was holding one of his newer action figures in his hand, squinting at his phone screen. This figure was supposedly a numbered limited edition, but he had grown suspicious over the day that he'd had it that it was a fake. He didn't look at her or give any indication that he had heard, so she tried again, a little louder. "Hey, Sylvester?"
"I said yeah."
"No you didn't."
He finally looked at her, seeming surprised. "I didn't?" At the shake of her head, he put the figure down and shifted his weight toward her. "Whatcha need?"
"Do you ever think about what we're doing?"
It was poorly phrased. She knew this. His confused reaction confirmed it. "You mean like, tonight, or…"
"No. Just in general. Like as a couple."
"Are you having concerns?"
"Yes. No. Not…yes and no. Ugh." She hated that she still got flustered when she tried to talk about things. "I don't have concerns about you. Not at all. The opposite, actually. I am very sure of you."
Sylvester leaned over, stretching his arm out, and she leaned forward until their fingers curled around each other. "Good," he said. "I'm very sure of you, too."
"What I mean is," she said as they settled back into their respective seats, "all this stuff with Ralph has gotten me thinking." She really should have thought of how exactly she wanted to say this before she did. Perhaps even written it down. Sent it in an email complete with bullet points and…she shook her head. No, this was an in – person conversation. "Ever since Brianna announced her pregnancy, it seems that everything else has just…stopped."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's every conversation. We go into work and it's Brianna and Ralph and the situation. And…and I know that we're going to be paying off those debts she put us in for a long time so it makes sense it would come up a lot at the garage. But it's like everyone's personal lives are revolving around it too and...it just sort of got me thinking about what we're doing."
"What…are we doing?"
"Exactly."
Sylvester cocked his head. "I'm sorry, you lost me."
"I mean," Florence said, "Happy and Toby adopted Tad and then had Ellie. Walter and Paige got married and now they're having a baby. Cabe and Allie got married and now they have their side business. And we're…" as she trailed off, she saw Sylvester's face change slightly, and she thought he might be catching on. "We're right where we were when we started. Both of us spent months thinking the other was out of our league and then when we finally got over that, it was great, and it is great. But it's like we're the side couple in a book. Like the author just forgot about us while progressing everyone else. I'm…I'm not saying anything is wrong. I'm saying…I'm saying I don't know if something is. I don't know how this works. I don't know if lack of progress over more than two years is a red flag."
"I wouldn't say there's been no progress," Sylvester said. "Relationships aren't about the milestones. It's not like we haven't been through things together."
"Well, of course," she said. "And you have enhanced my life in a way that I wouldn't have thought feasible. Our relationship is the best aspect of my being. However." She took a deep breath, "I can't help but worry that our friends all progress much more quickly."
"Do you want more?" Sylvester asked. "Do you want to…get married?"
"I would never ask you to marry again," she said firmly. "Ever. I've told you that."
"And I've told you," Sylvester said, standing up and taking the few steps that separated them, "that you never have to feel guilty about the way I feel about you just because I've been married before."
She knew that just as well as she knew he loved her, but she also knew he would always love his wife. That was something that didn't bother her – and it certainly didn't cheapen her relationship with him – but no matter what he said, she still did feel a tiny bit guilty whenever she woke up from any dreams that featured her wearing a white dress for the first time since her parents forced her into Catholic sacraments. "We've never talked about it. So I just operated under the assumption that it wasn't something you wanted to do again." She felt especially small sitting while he stood in front of her, so Florence pushed her chair back and got to her feet. "I'm not saying we need to get married, I just…you have more relationship experience than me and I need you to reassure me right now."
Sylvester reached out, taking a small piece of lint off of her sweater and letting it drop to the floor. "I'm not an expert on relationships, but I have been very in tune with my feelings since I was an infant. Usually being so aware of things like that is a curse. But when it comes to feeling things for people, it's the greatest blessing. It's what made me accept my feelings for Megan before it was too late; it's why I did the things that I did for her. And it's what makes me so content with us, just doing what we're doing." He ran a finger through her hair, down her cheek, and booped her nose. "Megan made me realize how wonderful the mundane, day to day parts of a relationship are. And things are so good with us, I've just been enjoying that. To me, we are progressing, because each day is another day in the rest of our lives."
The rest of our lives. Florence felt a blush creeping up into her cheeks.
"You're blushing," Sylvester said teasingly.
"Stop," she said, looking down, trying to keep a smile from overcoming her face. Sylvester moved closer, and she let out a quiet giggle as he pulled her close. "The rest of our lives, huh?" she asked after a minute or two, tipping her head to look up into his eyes.
"Well, I mean," Sylvester said, "I don't have any plans to go anywhere. Unlike that so called limited edition over there. That phony is going right back to his old owner."
