After a while of enjoying one another's company, Adora and Catra turned off the stage lights for the night and left the auditorium. They were just talking about calling one of Catra's friends to pick them up when they saw Bow sitting up against the wall outside the auditorium doors.
He stood up as he saw them approach. Adora shot him a tired little half-smile and waved.
Bow immediately rushed her and gave her a big hug. She hugged back and took a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" He asked as they slowly broke the hug.
"No," Adora answered honestly.
"Yeah me neither," Bow said quietly. "How are you doing Catra?"
"I...man I'm fine but... I'm just worried about you two."
This interaction between Catra and Bow felt so strange and new to Adora and it reminded her of one of the more surprising details that had been dropped in the heated discussion they had all had just recently.
"Hold up," Adora said, raising up a hand. "So apparently you two know each other?"
Bow and Catra looked at each other and then guiltily turned back to Adora.
"You could say that," Bow answered.
"We were…" Catra started and then looked around them. The school was empty, but Catra was eager to get out of there. "Look. I assume you can give us a ride, Bow?"
"Yeah of course. I don't know how else you'd get home."
"Alright," Catra said with a nod. "We'll tell you about it on the drive. All of it. I'm so done with all this secret garbage."
"Agreed," Bow voiced glumly.
Adora nodded solemnly in agreement and Catra could tell that her and Bow were thinking about Glimmer.
"C'mon, let's get going," Catra said as she ushered the pair towards the front entrance of the school.
They walked quietly out to the lot and all piled into Bow's car. The two girls in the back seats and Bow up front. They sat there for a bit, huddled up in his small car, as Bow turned on the heat.
"So…" Catra said, breaking the silence. "Did anyone else think it was kinda funny that all that happened on a stage? Like...dramatic irony or whatever."
Adora slowly regarded Catra with a deadpan expression and Catra frowned. "Okay...tough crowd. It's a sore subject. Anyway. Do we wanna just hash this all out now?"
"I'm…actually kind of worn out," Adora answered honestly. "I'm not sure how many more big surprises I can handle."
"I entirely agree with that," Bow chipped in. "I'm having a hard time coming up with something positive to say."
Catra breathed a sigh of relief. "Well thank goodness. I was not looking forward to that at all. We do need to talk though."
"We do," Adora affirmed. "And we need to talk to Glimmer too."
Catra laughed bluntly and Bow sucked air in through his teeth nervously.
"What?" Adora asked.
"You haven't seen Glimmer mad," Catra answered, a far off look in her eyes.
"I gotta agree with her on that," Bow said forlornly. "When Glimmer gets mad she stays mad. And I doubt she'll wanna talk to any of us about anything any time soon. But we can always try?"
Adora groaned, regretting everything. Literally everything. "Great. Man this sucks. And on top of that I'm probably gonna have to be the one to ask her."
"Well...I can text her and call and stuff," he answered supportively. "But she might block me honestly."
"Yeah well I have to live with her," Adora worried to herself frantically. "It's gonna be so weird. She's gonna hate me. She's gonna be all weird. Dinner will be weird. So awkward. It'll be all quiet and nobody will talk and it will just be the sounds of passive aggressive chewing and t…"
"Okay, Adora, you're spiraling," Bow said as he turned around to face her in the back seat.
Catra put her cold hand on Adora's shoulder and gently squeezed.
Adora looked to both of them, wordlessly pleading them both for help with what to do.
"You have Angella," Bow suggested. "She'll be super supportive!"
"Oh yeah," Catra agreed, nodding her head. "She's a quality mom."
Adora looked to Catra, confused, before remembering that her and Glimmer had been friends. Well apparently they had been more than friends. Adora managed to force that somewhat disturbing thought out of her mind and refocused on the present.
"Here's what I think we should do," Bow said as he got tired of stretching around in his chair and instead turned to face them, propping his knees up on the car seat. "We ask Glimmer if she wants to meet up and talk tomorrow. With all of us. Probably won't happen."
"Definitely won't happen," Catra agreed.
Adora buried her face in her hands.
"And then regardless of if she says yes or not," Bow continued, "we meet up somewhere and talk. We clearly have some catching up to do. And if Glimmer stays mad we're gonna have to come up with a good way to deal with that."
"Which I'm sure we will do," Catra added, trying to raise Adora's spirits.
"Nice enthusiasm, Catra," Bow congratulated the girl.
"Yeah that's a good idea," Adora responded. "I just hope we can all sit down and have a civil conversation and just get everything out on the table."
"Well I promise I will do better next time," Catra assured Adora. "I had a long day and Glimmer was just getting on my nerves in there. But I won't do it again. Really I won't."
"Thanks," Adora said sincerely. Adora hadn't even gotten to talk to Catra before everything had gone down. She had mentioned Scorpia. Adora hoped everything was going alright.
Bow looked at Adora and Catra and thought about the two of them. He had to admit that despite his enthusiasm when Catra had first told him about the forbidden romance between them, he had definitely had his doubts. But now, as he watched them comforting one another, he could sense a real connection between the two.
"At least that's one good thing to come out of today," Bow considered as he turned back around in his seat, buckled in, and started to drive away.
The car ride was pretty quiet. It wasn't exactly tense but there was definitely something on everyone's mind.
Bow was planning to drop Catra off first as her house was closer, but she insisted on waiting so she could see Adora off. Bow thought this was cute and happily obliged.
When they made it to Adora's house they could see Glimmer's car parked sloppily on the curb. Bow pulled up beside the house and parked, looking back to Adora and giving her a supportive look.
Adora attempted to smile back. She looked out at the house and realized that she had a familiar feeling creeping up on her. She hadn't felt like this since she had first moved in. She felt unwelcome.
Catra saw the turmoil in her eyes and wished that there was more she could do. "Hey it's gonna be alright. Maybe you'll have one awkward night. Possibly two. But then she's bound to come around. I mean, she kinda has to. You two live together."
Adora nodded but she wasn't convinced.
"Glimmer's been mad at me before," Bow said in reassurance. "I mean not this mad, but… Anyway, she probably won't talk to us for a while and then she'll probably make some underhanded comments. Those are the worst. And then after that she burns herself out and starts to get better. That's how it's gone in the past."
"And I'll be around whenever you need me," Catra said.
"She means we will be around whenever you need us," Bow interjected.
"And that goes for either of you two," Adora said. "I mean sure I have to live with her while this is all happening, but you two are going through a lot too. I mean, honestly, Bow I'm surprised you're holding up so well."
"Well I'm holding it in until I get home and then I'm gonna cry for a few hours straight," Bow said in resignation.
Adora put her hand on Bow's and patted it gently. "It'll be okay. We're still the best friend squad."
"Woah you guys have a name?" Catra asked, barely able to keep from chuckling in spite of the situation.
They ignored her and Adora started to open the car door. She turned back to them. "Text me. Let's make one of those group chats or whatever. I'll let you know what Glimmer says about tomorrow."
Both of them nodded in response. "Good luck," Catra said, wishing they had more time to talk.
Adora shot her a thankful look and turned to leave.
"Good luck! Keep us updated!" Bow yelled after her as she left the car.
The pair watched her walk towards the house and up to the front door. She stalled for a bit before entering.
"You think she'll be okay?" Catra asked as they watched the door close behind her.
"Yeah I do. This whole thing probably hit her harder than any of us. Except Glimmer I guess. But Adora is one of the toughest people I know. I'm not actually sure there's something out there that she couldn't handle."
Adora walked in and instantly saw Glimmer's backpack on the floor. It was in the middle of the living room and looked like it had been flung off in a hurry.
Adora looked upstairs and saw that Glimmer's door was shut. She slowly walked up the steps to her room. As she approached the door, she heard a sound coming from Glimmer's room and strained to hear what it was.
As she took another step towards the door, she stepped on a squeaky floorboard and it groaned under her weight. The sound stopped immediately.
Adora sighed and walked up to the door, knocking gently. There was no reply.
"Glimmer?" Adora said gently. "It's me. Can we talk?"
Adora waited a bit for a response, but she didn't hear anything. She realized the lights were off in the room. After waiting for a while longer she tried again.
"Glimmer I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have lied and I should have trusted you. I messed up. I just...I just wanna talk about it."
Adora waited a while longer. The only sound she heard was a brief shuffling from within.
"Please?" Adora asked, trying one last time to get through to her foster sister.
She received no response and realized it was hopeless trying to talk to her right now. "Okay. I'm gonna be in my room with the door open. If you ever wanna talk…please let me know."
Adora wasn't expecting a response and she didn't get one. She walked over to her own room in defeat. The first thing she saw as she entered her room was the big mural that her and Glimmer had made after their fishing trip.
Adora frowned and laid down in her bed, staring up at the ceiling as tears formed in her eyes.
Angella got home from work just over an hour later. She kicked off her shoes and let out a sigh of relief, glad to be home.
"Happy Friday!" Angella yelled up to the girls. She didn't get a response. "I was thinking we could have Chinese tonight! From that place we like that gives us, like, a million fortune cookies!"
Angella didn't hear anything back and she craned her neck, looking upstairs to see Adora's door open and Glimmer's closed.
Angella usually greeted them both when she got home and asked how their day was. She also usually got a more enthusiastic greeting.
After some deliberation, she went and put her bag down on the dining table before heading upstairs. She saw the lights were off in Glimmer's room and figured she had fallen asleep.
She knocked on Adora's door frame as she peeked in. Adora was laying on her bed, facing the ceiling. She was clutching a pillow to her chest and had headphones on.
Adora saw Angella out of the corner of her eye and sat up excitedly, thinking it was Glimmer, but soon realized it wasn't.
Angella noticed the look of excitement-turned-disappointment and raised an eyebrow. "Are you doing alright, Adora?"
Adora looked confused briefly and then quickly took off her headphones. "What'd you say? Sorry I was listening to music."
Angella could hear the music blasting from the headphones all the way from where she stood. It sounded sad. "You really shouldn't listen to music that loud. You'll ruin your ears."
"You're right. Sorry," Adora said with a solemn nod, turning the volume down.
"Well you don't have to apologize, I didn't...are you okay?" Angella noticed Adora was acting a little odd and watched her concernedly.
Adora saw Angella studying her and bit her bottom lip nervously. "Not really."
Angella quickly covered the ground between them and sat down next to Adora on her bed, resting a hand on her upper back. "Oh sweetie, what's wrong?"
"I...Glimmer found out. About me and Catra."
"Ah," Angella replied slowly, understanding the situation a lot better now. "I imagine that didn't go well."
"It really didn't," Adora said worriedly. "I should have just told her right after you told me to. I should have done it way earlier. I mean, she probably would have been upset, but it'd be so much better than this."
Angella began to rub Adora's back in an attempt to soothe the girl, who was getting very worked up. Angella could tell this wasn't easy for her. And judging by Glimmer's closed door it wasn't easy for her either.
"Well at least you did tell her," Angella reasoned. "You couldn't control the outcome."
Adora looked up at Angella guiltily.
"Oh no. You didn't tell her did you?"
"No she found out!" Adora said in exasperation.
"Well that is a problem," Angella admitted. "How did she take it?"
"She took it how anyone would. I mean all of her friends lied to her."
"All of her friends?"
"Yeah apparently Bow and Catra had also been hanging out or something. I'm not sure on that one yet. It was awful."
"Oh my," Angella said, surprised at how badly the situation had gone.
"And now Glimmer won't talk to me or Bow. How are we supposed to apologize if she won't talk to us? It's all a mess. And it's my fault."
"It is not your fault, Adora," Angella said calmly but firmly. "You are free to spend time with whoever you want. Including Catra. Now...should you have told Glimmer about it? Probably yes. But it's too late for that now. Things happen how they happen. Now you just need to work on getting past it. And not by blasting sad music into your ears."
"You're right," Adora agreed. "But what do I do?"
"Honestly, I think for now you should give Glimmer some space. It's hard, but if you keep pushing her to talk it'll only make her more upset. Give it time."
Adora didn't like the answer, but she figured if anyone could give her the best advice on the matter, it was Angella. "Alright I'll try. I just feel so bad about it."
"Try not to. It was just a difficult situation all around. I'll go talk to her and see how she's doing. You just take it easy. And don't worry about it. It'll all work out." Angella moved her hand to Adora's head and patted her gently.
"I hope so. Thanks."
"Of course," Angella replied as she got up from the bed and slowly left Adora's room. She walked a few steps to Glimmer's door and knocked.
"It's mom," Angella said. "Can we talk?"
She was met with silence. For a few moments, she thought that Glimmer was pushing her away as well, but then she heard a shuffling sound and footsteps approaching the door.
The door opened and Glimmer peered up at her mother from her darkened room, her face red and puffy from tears.
"Oh, honey," Angella said, immediately concerned. "Can I come in?"
Glimmer opened the door wider and let her mother in before shutting it behind them.
Adora could vaguely hear them talking in the other room. She couldn't make out words but Glimmer sounded hurt.
Adora put her headphones back on, cranking the volume back up again to drown it all out.
"I know it's a little public, but there are little rooms in the back where nobody ever goes. I figured it'd be a good place to talk," Bow said, eyeing the old building that he, Adora, and Catra now stood in front of.
"You know, I assumed we'd go to, like, your house or something, but this honestly feels more on-brand for you," Catra said impressively.
"Well his dads run the library," Adora explained and Bow nodded.
"You can finally meet them too!" Bow said to Adora.
Under normal circumstances Adora would be more excited, but in light of everything it wasn't exactly enough to make her day.
"Wow. Your dads own a library?" Catra asked as the group made their way into the old brick building.
"Yep. Only library in town! It's kind of a family thing. Passed down through time and stuff. My grandpa passed it down to Lance, my dad, and now him and George run it."
The inside of the library was a new sight to Adora and Catra, who had never been here before. It looked how most libraries probably looked. It felt kind of vintage and cozy with warm lights and tall aisles of books in snug formations. There were a few reading areas with tables and chairs and there were computers set up at desks around the library.
Bow led the girls to the front desk where an older woman behind the counter waved to Bow. "Good morning, Bow. It's so nice to see you. Are these your friends?"
"Good morning, Heather! Yeah they are. We were gonna go to one of the back rooms. Are my dads here?"
"You just missed 'em," the woman replied kindly. "They went on an early lunch. But they should be back before too long."
"Awesome. Thank you," Bow said politely as he waved Adora and Catra behind the counter and they walked through a closed door. There was a small but well utilized space with two desks in the first room.
"This is where my dads work usually. And through here," Bow said as he opened another door, "is the storage room!"
The moment the door opened, the strong smell of old books wafted out. Catra grimaced at the familiar odor.
The three of them walked into the room and saw that it was dimly lit and crammed from floor to ceiling with boxes upon boxes of books. There was a thin walkway available that led to what was almost a clearing of sorts in the middle of the forest of book filled containers.
They made their way in single file to the cleared out space and Bow sat them down on the carpet, which was surprisingly comfortable.
"This is so cool," Adora said, looking around at the little area.
"Yeah," Bow said fondly. "I used to spend all day back here doing homework and reading."
"Wow. The nerd level in here has got to go down a few notches because I'm feeling uncomfortable," Catra said with a snort.
Adora smiled at Catra's comment. She realized it was something Glimmer would have said too. They were actually very similar, Catra and Glimmer. Adora could see why they used to be...close.
"So…" Adora said. "There's some stuff I gotta know. For one, and this has been driving me crazy, you and Glimmer." She pointed to Catra. "How?"
Catra winced and thought about how to go about being cripplingly honest. She had not been looking forward to this meeting today and had only gotten a few hours of sleep due to her nerves.
Bow leaned forward. "You know, Glimmer never really told me much about you two either. We kinda became best friends after you and her split up."
Catra took a pointer finger into her mouth and began to bite at it. Adora reached out and gently grasped Catra's hand, pulling it back down to her side and stopping her from chewing her nails.
"You're gonna tear 'em up even worse if you keep doing that," Adora scolded her calmly.
"Okay Mom," Catra said, rolling her eyes.
"Anyway, back to the story," Adora said impatiently.
Catra groaned and squirmed a little bit where she sat. "I just...man I don't like talking about it. And neither does Glimmer clearly. I would've told you, Adora, but I just wanted to, like, leave it in the past, y'know?"
"And I would've told you, but I didn't wanna upset Glimmer by bringing it up again," Bow explained.
Adora nodded. "Yeah you two dodged me for a while with that. Man. Well...Catra if you're really uncomfortable about it you don't have to give us any details. I mean it."
"No I want to," Catra said decisively, surprising even herself with her words. "I'm so sick of not being upfront with everyone. So here we go. The whole thing."
Adora and Bow watched on and listened like they were children being told a new story.
"Oh boy. Glimmer and I met in middle school. I'm not sure exactly when but sometime in seventh grade I think. It was at lunch. I think I stole her corn dog or something and I remember we got mad at each other and got sent to the office. We had to do that dumb thing in the movies where you write something a lot of times in a row. And we were in the same room and we thought it'd be funny if we slipped random words in among all the repeated phrases." Catra shook her head. "Wow this is embarrassing."
"Nobody's judging," Adora said sincerely and Bow nodded.
"Yeah I think that's adorable actually," Bow admitted. "Keep going, keep going."
Catra scowled at Bow but continued. "Well we kinda hit it off after that and became friends somehow. And that was actually pretty fun. Like, I don't long for Glimmer's presence and reminisce about the past, but we were definitely really close." Catra sighed and looked down at the hem of her jeans as she began to pick at a loose string. "And you know. I was already very...aware that I was into girls. Glimmer was...less aware. And now I think she's openly bi so I'm happy she figured it out or whatever." Catra coughed awkwardly, her eyes shifted around but stayed trained on the floor. "But basically, we were friends for a while. And then I...gosh...I was young and dumb and you know how middle school is. I wanted to, um, progress things with Glimmer. She didn't. I kept pushing for some reason. Eventually she gave in and said we could try it out. Well actually she said we could give it a 'test run' because she didn't wanna ruin our friendship."
Bow and Adora looked on with wide eyes. Bow had never known these details before now and this was entirely new to Adora, whose mind was being blown.
"I was just happy that she said yes. So I went along with it. And it was weird in hindsight. She wanted to keep it on the down low so it was kind of a secret I guess. She never told, like, anybody at school. She never told her mom. I...may have bragged to my parents but Glimmer never knew that. I was happy at first, but then it got weird. I mean she got so...different. It felt kind of like we had traded friendship for something worse. Which is not what I had wanted. So I confronted her about it. And she got upset. And I accused her of being, I don't know, ashamed of me or...ashamed of us or something. It was a long time ago. And we fell out a bit. We both knew it was weirder now but we were too scared to, like, end things. And I think…" Catra paused. "...I think we both maybe wanted it to work out still. But we were young and just so stupid. And she wasn't comfortable with herself just yet. And I was mad and my parents were fighting a lot at the time and I was spiralling and so...I sort of...kind of...started seeing this other girl. Uh...without exactly telling Glimmer."
Catra looked visibly ashamed at this and scrunched her legs up to her chest. It looked like she was trying to recede into a shell that wasn't there.
"So she found out. Duh. I think I wanted her to. And she was understandably upset. I told her that it didn't even matter because we were barely real anyway. It escalated. She said some...hurtful things. And I probably did too. And then she said she never wanted to talk to me again. And I agreed. And uh...well, you know the rest."
Catra stayed curled up, holding herself tightly. Adora could tell that this was hard for her. Being so open. Especially about something she clearly still felt bad about.
There was a long period of silence where Bow and Adora just kind of processed everything. It was almost absolutely quiet in the back room they sat in, surrounded by all the mountains of books.
Eventually Adora scooted over next to Catra and sat next to the girl. She put a hand on her shoulder.
"Thanks for sharing all that," Adora said genuinely. She squeezed Catra's shoulder lightly and instantly saw Catra loosen up just a little.
"I mean. That's why we're here I guess," Catra responded. She had actually been most scared about what Adora would think of her. She had technically cheated on Glimmer. And while it wasn't super serious and it had only been middle school, Catra had never shared that with anyone who hadn't already known. And that was only Scorpia, Lonnie, and Glimmer. She was still ashamed of it though. And she had been scared Adora would be troubled by it too. But as she studied Adora's face she couldn't find any hint of disgust or disappointment. It was just a familiar supportive look that Catra had grown to love.
"Well it's a big deal to tell us both something so personal," Adora countered.
"It really is, Catra," Bow agreed. "I'm actually kind of sorry that we asked you to tell us about it."
Catra shrugged. "Well. I might as well tell you. Get it off my chest and everything. Anyway you two probably should know at least some of it. I thought Glimmer would've told you."
"Well she didn't really," Bow explained. "But from the second I met her she was telling me that you were bad news."
"Same actually," Adora seconded.
"Yeah," Catra said forlornly. "That still hurt a bit. Granted, I had a rough patch that started around that time and lasted for way too long. I don't wanna blame it on anything cuz it's my fault, but I wasn't doing so well. At home or school or really anywhere. And I was, uh…a jerk I guess."
Bow gasped lightly. "Was it you who egged Glimmer's house that one time?"
Catra snickered. "Possibly," she said with a suspicious grin before she returned to a serious expression. "But I turned it around. I really did. And I've been proud of myself for a while now. I get better grades and I'm nicer to people. I care more just in general."
"Does Glimmer know that?" Adora asked.
"Probably. But she wouldn't admit it. Hence her telling you I was bad news back before you even started school here."
"Well," Adora said decisively. "I'm glad I didn't listen."
Catra shot a grin at Adora and as Adora grinned back, dimples flaring up, Catra found it surprisingly and overwhelmingly difficult not to kiss her right then and there.
Bow watched the two and smiled to himself knowingly.
"But I get why Glimmer is mad still," Catra explained. "And I'm still a little hung up on it too. Clearly. Yesterday didn't go that well."
"Yeah it really didn't," Bow agreed. "By the way, how was Glimmer?"
Adora inhaled slowly. "Not...ideal. She didn't leave her room all night. Angella had to bring dinner to her. And I don't know if she has, like, bucket in there or what, but I swear she never even left to go to the bathroom."
"Wow," Bow said almost reverently. "Man. We messed up."
Adora nodded in response.
"Well I don't know," Catra objected. "She doesn't own you two. You can talk to whoever you want. Why should you have to report to her every time you talk to someone she doesn't approve of?"
"Well I think it was more that we clearly didn't trust her with it enough to tell her," Adora said. "But I get what you're saying."
"Yeah. It was a bit of a bomb to drop. And you were there. And it was kind of a double whammy," Bow explained.
"Yeah speaking of the double whammy," Adora mentioned. "How in the world did you two meet? And why didn't I know about this?"
"Oh…" Bow said. "Well...hmmm…see that's..."
"I'll take this one," Catra said, keeping the boy from falling all over himself. "That was on me. All me. Bow definitely would have told you, but I sort of urged him not to."
"Why?" Adora asked, confused.
"Well…" Catra scratched the back of her head. "This is weird. Uh. Man. Jesus, it's hot back here."
"I'm kinda cold actually," Bow answered honestly and Catra shot him a deadly look.
Adora continued to look on questioningly.
"Well basically, I went and talked to Bow...after I met you, Adora. To, uh, to ask about...you. Which sounds just super creepy in hindsight, but I really honestly just...uh...liked you and wanted to know more about you." Catra shot this explanation out quickly and hoped Adora wouldn't question her further.
Bow was extremely proud of Catra for being so honest. He didn't expect her to tell Adora every detail, but this was definitely the right thing to do. He was glad that she was finally doing it.
Adora let this new information sink in. Several pieces of the puzzle began to fit together. "And Frosta was part of that too?"
Now it was Catra's turn to be surprised. "You...you knew about that?"
Adora chuckled. "I mean yeah I'm not sure how you were planning on keeping Frosta quiet. She doesn't really do that."
"Oh man," Catra said, suddenly very self conscious and wondering how much Adora knew. "Yeah. That was me. And...and Perfuma and Mermista too. It was all a mistake, honestly. I'm sorry. Like, really sorry. I shouldn't have pried. Or gone behind your back."
"I mean...probably not," Adora said and Catra's heart dropped a little bit. "But," she continued slowly, "I get it."
Catra looked surprised at this. "You do?"
"Yeah. I mean. It seems a little, uh…"
"Awkward and unnecessary? Borderline obsessive?" Bow suggested and Catra shot him another look.
Adora laughed. "Yes. That. But also...I mean…" Adora trailed off and wondered if she should tell Catra about how she felt. Not that this was really a great time. She looked over at Bow and made up her mind. "I get that when you're trying to make, like, a friend or whatever, you want to maybe get more...uh, information about them."
"Yes!" Catra exclaimed, jumping quickly to the defense of her actions. "I just wanted to know more about the new kid cuz and I took some back roads to get there."
"I mean, you could have just asked me," Adora said.
"I...should have. But I'm bad at the whole...expressing my feelings thing. And you were...I don't know. I really wanted us to…"
Adora understood what Catra was trying to say. "I get it. I wanted us to work out too."
Catra smiled over at Adora, glad that she seemed to feel the same way. There was a lot between them that they both knew they needed to sort out. What a bad time for everything to blow up with their friends.
"Well," Adora said, thinking over everything they had talked about. "That's a whole lot of questions answered. Now it's just Glimmer. Angella said that it's best if we just let her simmer for a while.
"I agree," Bow said. "The hard part will be not talking to her during school." Bow frowned. "And lunch will be weird. And we won't get to pass notes in our math class. And…"
"Bow stop," Catra advised him quickly.
"Okay," he said defeatedly, rubbing tears out of the corner of his eyes.
"Angella said after talking to her that she's alright. I mean she's sad. And mad. But alright. And she'll come around. We'll just keep letting her know we're sorry about keeping so much a secret and eventually she has to forgive us."
"You're right," Bow said. "I just hope that sh…"
Bow was interrupted by the sound of the storage room door opening. All three teens looked over towards the door, which they couldn't actually see as their view was blocked by the stacks of boxes.
"Bow? Are you back here?" A calm voice crept out from behind the boxes.
"Maybe," Bow answered and a laugh came from the doorway.
"You've spent more time in here than any of these old books," the voice said as the speaker walked around the corner and saw the gathering in the room.
He was tall and lean with long black dreads and a relaxed pair of reading glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose. He wore a cozy looking fleece shawl and he had a big smile on his face as he noticed Catra and Adora with his son.
"Oh! You have your friends over! I didn't mean to interrupt. It's nice to meet you both! My name's Lance. I'm sure you know, but I'm the dad of this beautiful boy," Lance said warmly.
"Daaad," Bow complained, a grin on his face as he knew his father was trying to embarrass him on purpose.
"I'm Catra. Bow's...friend," Catra stalled a bit as she realized that her and Bow really were actually friends now. What a strange world.
"Well it's lovely to meet you Catra. You two are welcome to come by the house or here anytime." He turned his attention to Adora.
"I'm Adora. Nice to meet you," she said with a small smile.
"Oh, you're the Adora I've heard so much about!" Lance exclaimed excitedly. "Bow has talked very highly of you. It's great to finally meet you."
Adora raised her eyebrows, flattered and looked over at Bow. He just smiled sweetly at her.
"Yeah we just needed a place to hang out for a while so I figured we'd linger back here for a while," Bow told his father.
"Of course, of course," Lance said. He began to say something else when another voice came from the other room.
"Honey, is Bow back there!?"
Lance smiled and rolled his eyes. "Yeah he and his friends are back here!" He yelled back.
"Do they want any leftovers!?" The voice came again.
Lance turned to the group. "You kids want some food?"
"What is it?" Bow asked.
"Quesadillas from that food truck," Lance answered.
There was a resounding yes from all three of the teens and Lance chuckled.
"Yeah they're definitely on board!" Lance yelled back.
There was a pause and then the voice came again. "Do they have any allergies?!"
Lance sighed. "Do you girls have any allergies?"
"As long as there aren't any bees involved," Adora said with a childish grin directed at Catra.
Catra groaned in response and mumbled something.
Lance nodded approvingly and shouted back. "No they're good!"
"Do they want salsa?!" Came the reply.
Lance began to answer before stopping himself. "This is ridiculous," he muttered. "George, honey, just bring the quesadillas!"
George headed back to the now crowded storage room and introduced himself to the girls before offering them some quesadillas. George and Lance offered to take them out for a real lunch, but Bow declined and said they were gonna sit and talk for a little longer.
George and Lance gave them their space and left the room.
"Well they seem pretty great," Catra said with a smile as she devoured a quesadilla.
"Catra, Jesus," Adora said as she looked around for napkins. "You're getting stuff all over yourself."
Catra looked down and noticed the mess she had made. "Oh wow." She went back to eating.
Adora gave up on finding something to clean her up with and settled back with a sigh, resting her back up against a pile of boxes. "They did seem cool though."
Bow nodded. "Yeah they're pretty great. Maybe a little...restrictive? But still pretty great."
"How are they restrictive?" Catra asked with a mouthful of food. She remembered that Adora was there and regretted her bad manners, but when she shot a glance at Adora, the girl just smiled back at her.
"Well," Bow said. "It's not...I mean they're great. But they just have, like, expectations and stuff. They want me to fit into a role they've kinda crafted for me my whole life. Which I guess is unavoidable when you have thirteen kids."
Catra whistled impressively. "That's way more than anyone even needs, right?"
"Probably," Bow agreed with a grin.
"What do they have planned for you?" Adora asked.
Bow rolled his eyes. "Little Bow has always been the kid who will stick around and take over the library for my dads. Which, I mean, I like books and stuff. But I don't wanna run a library. And I don't wanna live here my whole life."
"Well…" Adora said slowly. "Have you told them that?"
Bow pondered the question and then shook his head. "Not seriously."
Catra gestured at the boy. "Well there's your problem. You gotta own that stuff. Just march into their office and say, 'Dads, I don't wanna run this old place.'"
Bow frowned. "I dunno. It's not that easy. I always figured I'd tell 'em when I graduated."
"Bow, I think the sooner you tell them, the better it'll be," Adora suggested. "I mean I have no idea, but it sounds like you have aspirations and if I were a parent I'd wanna know that."
Catra nodded her agreement. "And they clearly love you a ton."
"And that," Adora agreed.
Bow looked between his friends. "I'll think about it. Man. We need to have talks like this all the time. We've thrown like a million things out into the open in just one afternoon."
"I say we don't do them often," Catra stated.
"Maybe we should just get better at telling each other things," Adora suggested. "It's something we could all use some work on. Except maybe Bow."
"I just like talking about my feelings," the boy admitted with a grin. "And I like helping my friends." After Bow said friends, his smile faltered a little bit and Adora could tell that he was thinking about Glimmer.
"We're all gonna help each other out," Adora assured her friend.
"Yeah and I'm part of this too now so that's triple the friend help or whatever," Catra said, glad that she was there with them.
The three hung out for a while longer in that little back room and got used to the feeling of all being together.
Adora opened her front door and instantly locked eyes with Glimmer, who was sitting on a stool in the kitchen.
They stared at each other for just a brief moment before Glimmer got up from her stool and quickly began making her way upstairs.
"Glimmer!" Adora yelled after her. "Please don't ignore me. I just wanna talk!"
Glimmer stopped about halfway up the steps, but didn't turn around. "Why talk to me when you've gotten to hang out with your new friend group all day?"
"I...it wasn't like that...we were actually trying to figure out how to make things better between us."
Glimmer was walking up the steps again before Adora had even finished what she was saying.
"Glimmer! Just give me a chance! I just want…" She was cut off by the slamming of Glimmer's bedroom door. "...to talk."
The second Adora had left Bow's car, he turned around in his seat and looked at Catra, who was sprawled across the back seats.
"Okay for one, put on your seatbelt," Bow said sternly.
Catra snorted at the demand, but sat up anyway and buckled herself in.
"And now that that's out of the way," Bow said excitedly. "We need to talk about how freaking adorable you and Adora are!"
"Let's not and say we did," Catra said, smiling at her friend's enthusiasm.
"Oh c'mon!" Bow whined. "This whole thing with Glimmer has got me in a funk and the only thing I have to look forward to is you two being cute together."
Catra shook her head and looked out her window. "Are we actually cute together?" She asked tentatively.
"Uh, duh," Bow said, adjusting his hair in the mirror before pulling away and heading towards Catra's house. "Oh my gosh. You two were all over each other at the library. Like there was stuff going on."
Catra tried not to let on that she was as excited about this as Bow was. "I mean maybe, yeah. So. You think she was, like, receptive and stuff?"
"Oh for sure," Bow nodded. "She's stricken. I'm not sure what happened with that other girl, but whatever you did must've worked."
Catra felt her chest fill up with nerves and excitement. "You know I was starting to think that too, but I just wasn't sure. But now. I mean, it's definitely getting more real."
Catra watched as Bow squirmed excitedly in his seat.
"I'm so happy for you two. Oh my gosh you have to break the tension. Just go for the kill."
"The kill?"
"Yeah, you know, the kill. You gotta tell her how you feel in a beautiful display of love and affection. Or at least have a nice date or something."
Catra thought to herself. "A date. Where...uh...where would you recommend?"
"For a date? Anywhere. Well not anywhere. Somewhere sweet. Meaningful. Like it could literally be your house, but just light a candle and make her dinner or something."
"I don't know if I own a candle," Catra muttered.
"I'll lend you a candle," Bow said quickly.
"Okay," Catra said, now seriously planning things. "I was thinking...I might, y'know, ask her to the Fall Formal?"
"Oh my god," Bow said. "Yes. One hundred times yes. That would be perfect!"
"Oh good. That's good," Catra said excitedly. "Should we do something else that night? Like go somewhere before the dance? Or after?"
"Yeah sure! You could go somewhere to eat! She likes the outdoors so maybe a picnic or something? Maybe see a nice movie? Countless options."
Catra thought about it, already brainstorming ideas. "Well we already did a picnic," Catra said dismissively. "And movies are too long, but maybe if…"
"Hold up," Bow said, interrupting her. "You guys had a picnic?"
"Uh... yeah," Catra answered, unsure where this was going.
Bow got quiet and suddenly pulled over down a side street and into the parking lot of a gas station.
"Bow?" Catra questioned. "Do you need gas or…" She trailed off and waited for a response.
Bow turned off the car and put his hand to his brow. "Catra, my dear," he said slowly. "Did you, by chance, go roller-skating before this picnic?"
Catra sat forward in her seat and leaned toward the front of the car. "Yeah. What. How do you know that?"
She saw that Bow was shaking his head slowly and she began to hear laughter coming from the boy.
"Bow, do I need to call somebody?" Catra asked, concerned by his antics.
"Oh my god, that little liar," Bow said to himself. "I should've known."
"What? Who? What?" Catra was very lost.
"Catra," Bow said as he turned to face her with a big smile on his face. "It's you, Catra! Oh man. It's been you since the very beginning!"
"It's...I'm...what?" Catra was still entirely lost by Bow's words.
"Adora told me forever ago that there was somebody, a girl, that seemed to be interested in her. She wasn't sure how to feel about it, so she asked me about how to tell if this person was actually into her," Bow explained, barely able to contain himself. "She said it wasn't someone I knew. That threw me off. And she never told me a single detail as to who it was. I figured a friend of hers and I definitely wouldn't have guessed you. No offense…"
Catra was starting to see where this was going and she listened intently as Bow continued.
"Well over time she confided in me that she was starting to feel things for this same person. And she did tell me one thing a while back. She told me, very specifically, that her and this mystery girl...went roller-skating and then picnicked together." Bow stopped and watched as his words settled over Catra.
Catra was momentarily stunned and her brain felt fuzzy as she tried to draw all the connections together. "I...woah," she finally choked out.
"Catra there never was another girl!" Bow exclaimed. "She was talking about you! And I really should have known. Gosh it was right there the whole time. I'm a terrible spy."
"Woah," Catra repeated. "Me. Man, the whole time?"
"The whole time," Bow affirmed.
A dumb grin spread over Catra's face and she fell back into her seat, spreading her arms wide and feeling a massive wave of relief wash over her. "It was me!" Catra exclaimed suddenly, excited by the revelation.
"It was you!" Bow yelled back, matching her level.
"I'm the secret admirer! I was a secret admirer and now I'm the secret admirer! And it's not even a secret!"
"You never had a thing to worry about!"
"Whoohoo!" Catra exclaimed, pumping her fists into the air. "Suck it, world!"
Bow laughed loudly at this and the friends continued to celebrate together.
Everybody who walked by Bow's car in that gas station on that Saturday afternoon heard muffled shouts and laughter from inside the car, and could see a couple of teenagers jumping around like idiots.
Later that night, Catra was in a great mood. So much so that even the issue she was facing with Scorpia didn't faze her.
She picked up her phone and sent a message over to Scorpia. 'Can we hang out tomorrow? You and me? I want to tell you everything. You deserve it.'
Catra plopped down on her bed, still satisfied from earlier in the day. She played her guitar for a bit and was really getting into it when she heard her phone buzz.
She picked it up and read the message from Scorpia.
'Tomorrow sounds good. We do need to talk.'
Catra smiled to herself and felt good about the situation for once. She would just tell Scorpia about Adora and how she had been lying and sneaking around because she was really into her and everything would go back to normal.
And then Glimmer would come around eventually and then Adora would be happy and then the dance and then…
Catra sighed contentedly. "Catra and Adora," she whispered quietly. Just saying it aloud made her smile. She liked the sound of them together.
Hey guys! These last two chapters have been so great for getting all these secrets out! I feel like I've been holding them in with the characters sometimes! Anyway Catra and Adora are adorable. Finally met Bow's dads. Serious friendship fractures and young love trying to persevere through it all. So fun to write. And thank you all for reading and enjoying it! I really really really hope you all stay safe and healthy and I hope you all have a great week.
