Audrey sat across from Seymour at one of the rickety but hopefully still sanitary tables of the food court of Green Firs Mall, one of the many pleasant surprises that the town it had been named after had to offer and that they were currently oh so delightfully discovering and exploring together as husband and wife. The subconscious battle for his attention that was currently raging between his lovely wife and the food, only the former of which he had ever really cared about, was won completely by her as her captivating eyes lit up from the taste of her reuben sandwich. She had just finished that first bite when she enthusiastically leaned slightly closer to him to address him, flustering him as their legs got pressed further together. "The food here is so much better than at Schmendricks'!..." She paused for a moment, contemplating something, before letting out one of those sublime laughs of hers. "You know, I'm so used to calling it that, I don't think I can remember what it's actually called..."
Despite the extremely relieving assurances Audrey had offered Seymour that she didn't care about... the events that had transpired between him and the man who had both raised him and frequently lambasted Skid Row's local deli to the point that it had become a private joke between him and her, the anxiety and guilt that had always followed even indirect mentions of Mr. Mushnik motivated him to attempt to change the subject. "I'm glad you like it! Where do you wanna go after this?" He slid a few of his onion rings into her basket as he spoke, feeling a mix of rare pride and not so rare love towards her as she beamed at him as if he had actually done something great for her there. "Ah, thanks, Seymour!" She moved several of her fries to his basket as she thought for a second. "...I think I've heard something about them having a pet store here, maybe we could-"
Suddenly, Audrey trailed off and Seymour jerked to the side in alarm as he heard an entirely new and unfamiliar voice right behind him. "...Audrey? Is that you?" Seymour briefly looked around at the woman before switching to gauging his wife's reaction, and Audrey seemed to be confused for a moment before a simultaneously slightly concerned and warm look crossed her face. She stood up to meet her, with Seymour quickly following suit, and gave her a brief hug that she broke away from first while addressing her. "Julie! Yes, it's me, and-" Audrey took Seymour's hand in hers and raised it slightly. "This is my husband Seymour-Seymour, this is Julie, we-uh, we knew each other at... you know..." Seymour gave her a reassuring nod before exchanging an awkward handshake and greetings with the woman... while remembering why that name sounded familiar.
When he and Audrey had laid their pasts bare to each other in their ongoing journey of knowing the other completely, not that he had had much of a past to share with her, she had mentioned Julie as her 'first love' who hadn't really been a first love while he had because she had only agreed to date a woman in the first place due to not feeling like she had the right to refuse the advances of any client and still bearing some misplaced notions of not having the right to be a woman herself or be with men as they did. With this revelation, Seymour tightened his hold on Audrey's hand as she broke the uncomfortable silence that had settled on the odd group. "...So how's everything going? ...Are things better with your... parents?" Julie looked at the ground for a moment before redirecting her gaze at Audrey, alarming Seymour with the definite note of longing in her expression.
"...You could say that, yeah... they... definitely approve of..." She dejectedly held up her left hand for a moment, presumably to show her wedding ring. "Him... Mark, more than they did you... Sorry again for how they treated you, I uh... didn't handle that situation as well as I should have, and I... wish I could go back and do things differently." Audrey supportively and totally... probably completely platonically placed a hand on her wrist, which did not mean that she was starting to develop feelings for her again because there had been no feelings of that nature on her end in the first place... right? Her quick return of his desperate hand squeeze as she spoke mitigated his anxiety slightly. "No, it's okay, really-It was for the best anyway, I'm very happy with Seymour now... Are you-do you need... help with anything?" Seymour uneasily shifted closer to Audrey so that his side was pressed against hers, receiving a small amount of comfort from Audrey's reassuring hand squeeze.
"...W-What would she-you need help with?" He was simultaneously pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised to see the jealously that hopefully wasn't coming across in his facial expression... but was admittedly probably coming through in his gestures and general demeanor... mirrored in this stranger from his wife's past as she looked between them before refocusing her gaze on her. "...Nothing, don't worry... nothing you could help with, anyway... I'll see you around?" Audrey hesitatingly and very relievingly returned her hand to her side. "...Yeah, I'll see you around, since we have a house here now and all..." Seymour was very relieved to sit back at the table with her, and she gave her a slight friendly hand wave, which was returned with a respectful head dip before Julie thankfully started making her way out of the food court. Audrey distractedly took his hand in hers, moving a few of her fries around slightly without eating them. "...I wish there was something I could do to help her..."
Seymour started reassuringly running his thumb in circles on her palm and leaned slightly closer to her after she met his eyes with a mix of distress and love. "I mean, I can't even imagine how awful it would be to be with someone you don't love forever..." Her voice took on a joking note. "My experience before you was more like bein' with a string of someones I didn't love for what I thought would be forever... I don't know how similar the two situations are, but I'm so glad to be with you and not have that be my station in life anymore." Simultaneously relieved and horrified at what his lovely wife had had to go through, what she had been able to prevail through and come out the other end still the kindest and most wonderful woman that ever lived, Seymour released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "I love you so much, Audrey." She briefly looked down at the table, breaking into her adorably shy smile, before once again meeting his eyes. "I love you too, Seymour."