Chapter 10 Ceci's Organization and Nicky's Jokes

Thanks to When-A-Sprite-Meets-Unicorn, Verarose19, Johanna002, MS S, for your adorable comments. It's a winter fic and I will finish it in summer. It's a little strange, lol.

Good reading to you.

XXX

"Don't you think it weird that we are helping Benny move out tomorrow?"

Elena adjusted the bag that held the bottle of wine and the apple crumble she had made over her shoulder. She took a few seconds to answer her sister's question.

"No, not really. It's just a move, not a brothers and sisters weekend."

"That's right. But the last time we saw them, it was two or three years ago."

"It's just a move, Ceci," Elena repeated. She had left Isla with Migel until the following evening. She wanted to enjoy these few hours, as a cingle girl, without mentioning anything that could be strange in their family.

Cecilia understood. She walked around the car to join her, her hands in the pockets of her woolen coat. The days were beautiful, almost spring, but the nights were cold.

"What's their address, actually?",?" Elena asked.

"Number 12."

They scanned the suburban street for a few seconds, with its gravel sidewalks, and the cars wisely parked in front of each little brown house.

"They are kind to invite us."

"Yeah," Ceci replied. It's true that we never really had the opportunity to spend time together.

"And Ingrid, she doesn't come?"

"She joins us later. She had a meeting with her LGBTQ group."

"Oh yes. The militant ones?"

Ceci nodded. "They are working on gender representation in social networks."

"Is there something wrong with this?" Elena smirked at her sister's mournful tone.

Ceci chuckled. "No, not at all. It's just that I don't feel ready for this, To militate. I'm a bit of a sucker, as a lesbian."

"You are who you are. Nobody blames you for anything."

"It's true," Ceci admitted. Then she rang the doorbell of number 12.

Elena looked at Shani who was coming to open the door for them. She greeted them warmly, commenting on her sister's pretty dun boots, and asking them if they had found the house easily. Elena handed her the cake.

XXX

Gloria would have preferred to meet them at Flaritza coffee. There, all you had to do was press a button to make hot drinks, and there were some pastries left over from the day before. But the parking lot of theresidence where she lived was more suited to the imposing vehicle in front of the building.

For that reason,the most scruffy and indolent group of girls she had ever seen since leaving Litchfield was in her living room. As she walked out of the kitchen, she looked at the mountains of shoes stacked in the hall: Nicky's converse, Shani's discreet black boots, and several pairs of uggs.

"Serv yourself," she announced, putting a stack of cups and the full coffee maker on the table.

A general 'thank you' was muttered in response.

"So, hat were we saying ?" Nicky asked, pouring the brown liquid: the majort part in the cups, a few drops on the tablecloth. Gloria frowned in annoyance at the thought of the marks it will leave on the cotton, but said nothing. She just listened to their chatter, spinning a large mug, where "best grandmother of the year" was written between her fingers. She took a sip of hot coffee.

"How sad she's not here," said Shani, thoughtfully, probably talking about Flaca.

"She's not dead, though." And then, coming back from Colombia for every little thing, it's complicated. "

"True," Elena asserted, taking a sip of coffee.

"You can send him pictures of the stuff we broke putting it in the truck," Cecilia muttered, her head resting on her crossed arms.

"It's very unlikely that we will break things," Nicky said , yawning.

"The last two moves we made together were pretty disastrous."

Nicky laughed at her wife's words. "Ah yes, I forgot the hole in the truck. Luckily we have a nurse with us today.

Ceci lifted her head painfully. "The nurse is going to take a nap in the car."

"Remind me what you girls did last night?" Gloria asked mischievously.

"We had a vegan meal, and played cards," Cecilia replied, in the sleepy, weary voice she already had as a little girl.

"Til something like 4 AM," Elena added.

"The crumble was so good, and nobody wanted to go to sleep." Shani smiles.

"Yeah, but I can't wait to stop for a burger this lunchtime." As she said this, Nicky brushed a strand fallen on her wife's forehead, and slid it behind her ear.

Gloria was touched by this small gesture. For a moment she thought there was something beautiful about seeing them gathered there in the gentle tiredness of a Sunday morning. They all seemed happy, freed from the worries of everyday life. She knew the feeling was fleeting, that it would soon go away, but Gloria glimpsed the possibility of a simple life for a few seconds.

XXX

Benny lived in a small apartment in Newyork. And, he had moved to a slightly larger apartment, a few blocks away. If he had had the idea to put his things in boxes before the big day, the move would have been easy. But, he hadn't.

Still, with Gloria's energy, Ceci's organization, and Nicky's jokes, it had been a pretty good day. Usually, Elena didn't like Sunday, had the shadow of Monday, which hung over every moment after 4:30 pm But today, she had hardly thought of the next day. She looked at the parking lot around her, the gas station behind. They were enjoying a little break on the way back to Litchfield. Elena pulled back the shiny foil that wrapped the bar of chocolate she had bought, bit into it. It was delicious. Ceci laughed softly, hers fingers quickly typing a message.

Their mother was on the phone. An imperceptible change in her attitude, she didn't know what, pushed Elena to look at her more closely. The upheaval she had known in her childhood made her sensitive to such details: a voice a little more anxious than usual, rushed words, a few stammered sylables, and she knew something was going to happen.

She looked up at her mother, and saw the worried look on her face. Then Gloria ended the conversation.

"What's happened?" Cecilia asked calmly.

"It was the guy who lives in one of the apartments above the coffee shop. He wanted to warn me. There's a water leak over there."

"How can he know that?" her sister asked, pragmatically.

Gloria put the phone in her pocket, rubbed her face with a weary hand.

"The leak comes from his place, from his fucking bathroom."

Elena sighed, in relief. It wasn't that bad, actually. They knew worst. But, she knew, their carefree little weekend was over.