At the Sundew Tea Shop, Ivy panted as she laid atop one of the tables as her mom Felicia closed up for the night. "Oh frooooog was this shift exhausting!" Ivy complained.
"I do agree, the extra business can be overwhelming." Felicia said as she wiped a beat of sweat from her forehead as she approached Ivy. "But hey, on the bright side now we have enough coins for that new dual sided mace you wanted."
"Yeah, that's cool." Ivy let out as she sunk onto a chair.
Felicia sat beside her, "So, are you ready to discuss what happened this morning?"
Ivy shot her head in the direction of her mother, "I don't know what-"
"This morning, when your little boyfriend came in." Felicia flash backed.
Earlier that day Sprig came in asking for Ivy, where she was found bringing a tray of tea to a table. "Hey Ivy." Sprig lowly greeted.
Ivy saw him, "Oh... uh. Hey Sprig." Her voice didn't sound all that excited as before, now it was just kind of awkward as she handed the customers their drinks.
Sprig just rubbed her arm, "I... see you guys have been busy."
Ivy hopped over tot he counter before took a tray of scones to different tables, "Yeah, we've been... getting more..." she said as she placed each scone plate at the correct table. "Customers since Anne left... and newts and toads have flocked here." She then hopped back to Sprig, "And since we're expecting a huge blowout today, I can't really hang out today."
"Oh, well that's cool. I can't get in the way of your family business." Sprig said in almost relief, "Well I'll talk to you later." He headed out.
"Bye." Ivy lowly waved, she then sighed.
"Everything alright miss?" A newt from Newtopia asked.
"Uh, nothing. What would it be?" Ivy asked the newt. Ivy got back to the kitchen where she set the newt's order, her mother came over and picked it up.
"I mean you two were always so cutesy and loving to each other." Felicia gushed before she got serious "But lately all I saw from you two is the most stiff awkwardness outside a rom com stage play. What's bugging yah?"
"I don't really wanna talk about it." Ivy turned away.
"Ivy deary." Felicia scooted beside her daughter, "I told you that if you let your feelings boiling inside for too long, it will blow up all over the kitchen."
Ivy sighed, she turned herself back around. Twiddling her thumbs as she asked her mom. She was never great with emotional talks, and didn't know how to let people in when she was down. But like when facing that giant beaver wolf, she'd had to jump in. "When did... when did you find out that dad... wasn't who you wanted?"
Felicia was taken aback, "What?"
"Forget it." Ivy tried to leave.
"Sweetie, we divorced years after you were born. And you never asked about it until now." Felicia told her as she pulled her back to the table.
Ivy just kept her gaze at the floor, "I didn't think you'd wanna talk about him anymore. You never mentioned him after he left, like he just didn't exist."
Felicia sighed as she sat Ivy in her lap, "Honey, your father and I. Well, we had some good times sure. We traveled together, fought together, trained together. Good times."
"But, then what happened?"
Felicia sighed, "We wanted different things, we had different ambitions, we got into arguments. And overtime things just kind of flatlined after I caught him stealing money from other businesses, and I wanted nothing to do with him."
"Oh."
"But that's just my experience, is that why you're worried about you and Sprig?" Felicia wondered. "Arguments are a part of any relationship, even the healthiest can have small disagreements every now and then."
"It's not that." Ivy said, "I don't know, I just... I just don't feel the same... stuff that makes me feel... good I'm with Sprig." Ivy groaned, "Frog I stink at this. I mean yeah I still have fun exploring with him and combat training, but whenever we try and do couple things I maaaaaay get a little too physical. And I'm pretty sure he's hiding some seriously bruised ribs from me. But overall I ... I don't... I don't know okay! I Just don't know! I don't know why I don't feel as close to Sprig as I'm supposed to. I mean I know I love him, but why don't I feel that love?" Ivy cried into her hands
Felicia sighed as she patted her daughter's head, with Ivy coming down from her breakdown. "Oh Ivy, it's only your first relationship. Sometimes love can fade, we can't control how we feel about others or how long those feelings last. Or you might have what some scholars call... limerance." Ivy tilted her head to the side, "Basically its like love in a sense, but completely different. Sometimes its triggered by seeing the obect of your obsession doing something cool or heroic, oh like when Sprig saved your life at Anne's frog of the year party."
Ivy looked down again, more confused now "So which is it? Do I really love Sprig, or am I just infatuated with Sprig because he saved my life?"
"That I can't tell you, but Ivy. No matter what happens, you and him will always have a close nit relationship. The kind you'll have is up to you." Felicia booped her nose, "Now how about some late night frog quan do sessions?"
Ivy's eyes sparkled, "ALRIGHT!" Ivy flipped off her seat and took a stance in the middle of the restaurant, "Just what I need after talking about my feelings."
Felicia chuckled as she got up, "The little grasshopper always so eager." the two then hopped towards each other as their fists collided. "Loser cleans up any debris." The mother stated.
"Deal!"