Chapter 12

--- Kay, Charity, and Simone took a short road trip back to Harmony, picking up Faith on the way in Boston. The two families reunited and celebrated and tested their powers. Faith and her husband David decided to relocate to Harmony and commute to Boston for work so that they could spend more time getting to know the Bennett half of their family. After a few days, however, the college women had to return to campus. Blue couldn't help them pass classes that they skipped too often, after all.-

Three weeks later.

"HEY KAY!" yelled Simone into her cell phone. "It's CHICA'S NIGHT! WHEN ARE YOU GONNA BE READY?"

Kay held her phone away from her ears and winced as usual. "SIMONE, STOP YELLING INTO THE PHONE!" She continued at a lower decibel level, "I can't understand a word you say when you yell like that."

Simone grinned at Charity who was sitting next to her in her car. She whispered at Charity, "Kay still thinks I can't use a cell phone. She doesn't know I yell into it strictly to piss her off these days."

"I HEARD THAT!" yelled Kay. "Simone Russell, you oughta be ashamed of yourself." Kay grinned at her friend's audacity in spite of herself. "I'm on my way down the stairs now. Lata chica!" Kay had dressed in the mandatory uniform of chicas' night - funky jeans with a bright blue t- shirt. The three friends had instituted this night to commemorate that night a few weeks ago when Charity and Kay had realized their familial relationship, and to celebrate the friendship the three women had forged because of that. As she bounded down the last few steps, Kay had a brief moment to herself to reflect upon the recent turn for the better in her life. She had not only found the space she needed to discover an entirely new part of herself, but she'd done so without Miguel and without Nicholas. As images of the two men flickered through her mind, she gently shoved them back as she prepared to dive into ladies night.

"Let's get a move on, chicas," Kay said as she hopped into the backseat of Simone's car. "I don't know what took you guys so long anyway," she grinned innocently, knowing full well they'd waited for her for at least 15 minutes.

She was awarded a wack from Charity and Simone stuck her tongue out at her as she pulled off towards Haeva for milkshakes. --------------------------------

"Let's do something different tonight, chicas," said Simone with a sneaky grin.

"Uh-oh," groaned Kay and Charity. "What craziness do you have in mind now?"

Simone's sneaky grin always meant something fun. something insane, but something fun.

"There's this great new spot next door." she began.

Kay snorted. "Simone, you own this place, why would you have us go next door to a competitor when we can hang here?"

"And for free, might I add," interjected Charity.

"You guys, I'm not above flippin' the script every now and then, even if it does mean helping out the competition a little."

"RIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT," said Kay and Charity at the same time.

"Come on, Simone, give it up, what are you gonna have us doing tonight?"

Simone's grin got even more wicked. "Oh, you'll just love it, come on, let's go!" She dragged her friends out of their private room in the back of Haeven and pulled them into the street and down the block. She shot a quick glance over her shoulder, catching a glimpse through the tatters of her off the shoulder blue t-shirt of someone slipping out of Haeven behind them. "Mmmmmhmmmm." she thought. "This IS gonna be interesting."

Half an hour later.

"You see I'm searchin' for a real love and I don't know where to go!" bellowed Kay.

"I've been around the world and high and low; it seems I'll never know!" shouted Charity in response.

"How it feels to have a real love 'cuz it seems there's none around!" Simone finished Charity's line.

"I've gotta end it in this way, since he can't be found!" Kay embellished this line as Charity and Simone jumped in.

"Real Love! I'm searchin' for a real love. Someone to set my heart free, real love! I-iiiiiiiii'm searchin' for a real love!"

They all dropped their voices. "Got to have a real love." and burst into giggles.

"Ladies, ladies," came a disembodied voice, "That's the third song you've ended on giggles. As. er. lovely. ehem. as your voices are, could you please. PLEASE call it a night?"

"We can take a hint!" Kay shouted into the microphone she was holding. "Y'all ain't ready for us yet, I see how it is."

With that, she, Charity, and Simone laughed their ways to their table at the karaoke bar. Charity turned to Simone and admitted, "This has been, by far, the best idea you've ever had."

Kay snorted, "You mean singing 'Real Love' by Mary J. or coming to this bar?"

Simone wacked Kay lightly, and grinned at both of them. "I know, BOTH ideas were some of my best yet." She paused for effect. "And apparently, those guys over there think so too." She nodded her head in the direction of three guys who were sending not so covert looks their way. She looks more closely at one of them, who's making no attempt to hide his ogling. "And that one right there sure has it bad for you Kay."

Charity looked in the direction Simone was indicating and added, "Oh man, and he's the hottest one over there. Wait a sec, he looks really familiar."

High on the joys of bonding with the chica's, Kay began flippantly, "I'm sure he's not all tha.oh SHIT!" she ended abruptly.

Charity and Simone gave her surprised looks. "I mean, damn, he's not THAT fine," Simone began.

Kay tried to keep a smile on her face as she abruptly turned her back on the group of guys. "That's MIGUEL, you guys!" she whispered urgently. "Oh God, don't let him come over here. Don't tell me he's coming over here."

Simone smirked, enjoying Kay's discomfort immensely. "Okay, I won't TELL you he's not. but he is." She thought it was high time Kay dealt with this old baggage and moved on.

Kay bit her lip to keep from groaning out loud. She turned around all smiles as Miguel approached. "Hey there, how's it goin'"? She asked, hoping that her voice maintained some degree of normalcy.

Miguel grinned awkwardly. He'd really missed Kay this past month and a half, and he was hurt to realize that she seemed to be getting along just fine without him. "I'm fine, Kay. And it seems like you're doing wonderfully as well."

Kay took a brief internal pause and assessment, and realized that he was right, she had been doing wonderfully. She gave him an honest grin in return. "You're right, Miguel, I have been. It's good to see you."

As Kay and Miguel began a tentative, yet increasingly less awkward conversation, Charity absently flirted with his two friends, who seemed to be called Reese and Chad. Simone saw movement out of the corner of her eye and smirked to herself. She hated for her friend to have to go through what was about to happen, but it needed to happen. She faded into the background as much as a beautiful woman with a barely there neon blue t- shirt could to watch the action.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but the last time I recall you two talking, I believe Kay informed you that she didn't need to hear from you again," said a quiet, yet stony voice.

"NICHOLAS!" Kay shouted. "What on earth?!"

Miguel groaned on the inside. He'd just been making headway with his old friend when his main competitor for her attention appeared out of nowhere. He gritted his teeth and turned around to face Nicholas.

"It appears that she does want to hear from me and that you're the uninvited guest here right now." Miguel said sharply.

Charity, Reese, and Chad ended all pretense of other conversation and listened to the escalating voices with interest.

"Actually, neither of you were invited to this table, but I appreciate both of you stopping by," said Kay with a calm that surprised herself.

Neither man was sure what to make of such a succinct, yet definitive dismissal. Miguel, the bolder of the two, was not about to let the interaction end just like that.

"Kay, why don't you and I catch a movie sometime next week?" At her skeptical look, he continued, "Nothing. nothing, you know. nothing serious, just a movie. if. if that's okay. with you. okay, I mean." he stuttered. This new Kay, who seems immune to his considerable charm, made him nervous.

Please to see the effect her poise was having, Kay replied, "Sure, let's plan for Saturday evening." Her grin faltered slightly as she watch Nicholas slowly fade towards the front of the bar. She recovered quickly and smiled dismissively at Miguel. "I'll meet you at the Cineplex, we can pick something when we get there."

"Sounds good." Miguel replied, and he slowly backed away from the table, knocking into several on his backwards retreat to the bar across the room.

Kay looked at Charity and Simone, who were barely containing their laughter at the man's awkward retreat. The looks they shared dissolved their last bit of control and they began giggling and repeating snippets from the conversation in mock-deep voices.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but I am going to, and embarrass the hell out of myself in the process!" snorted Simone, mimicking her dear friend Nicholas.

"Uhhh.er. um. just a movie.ummm. duhh." snickered Charity, imitating Miguel's unfortunate stutter.

Kay began to exaggerate walking backwards and falling into people and tables on the way.

The women order a round of "dirty girlscout" shots to finish up the night, and, much to the dismay of the DJ, treat the bar to their own special rendition of Aaliyah's "Back and Forth" before stumbling back to Simone's for the chicas' night sleepover/hangover after-party.