Howdy gamers, I am back at it again despite everything. Life sucks, my mama died a few months ago, but we push through with terrible coping mechanisms and an existential dread. Hope y'all enjoy. ~Shaymie

Kasey

The first thing he noticed as he walked into the house was the delicious smell of apple and cinnamon.

The second thing he noticed was the gathering of people around the dining table.

Maisie, Reina, and (least surprisingly of all) Chase were here. Molly looked up from her odd little penguin appliance and lit up when she saw Kasey. He didn't think he'd ever grow tired of seeing that sparkle in her eyes.

"Hi, Kasey!" Molly giggled excitedly and ran over. He caught her before she crashed into him. He couldn't tell whose running hugs were worse: hers or Gideon's. They're both stronger than they look. Chase took over her spot at the appliance like it was nothing, unaware of Reina's curious look. There's a reason she's best friends with Angela. They're both nosy as hell.

"Hey, Molls. You... having a party?"

"Kinda." She explained that she's finally pinned down the exact kind of pie she wanted to make for Thanksgiving. She initially just wanted to invite Kasey over to have some until she started thinking about how this would be their first Thanksgiving away from Reina and she wanted her to have some too. Chase was invited because she trusted his sense of taste and knew he'd be honest with her. Maisie invited herself over with her brother.

"Ice cream's ready," Chase called out, closing the lid of the penguin and grabbing some plates from a cabinet. Kasey didn't think he'd ever get used to seeing someone else in Molly's kitchen. She must really like him to trust him in her space so easily.

In her space... Kasey frowned, thinking back to the evening of the circus. He spent some time watching them while Gideon was busy with the elephants. From where he was standing, he couldn't see Chase's face but he saw Molly's and she looked flustered, to say the least. Chase liked her, that much was clear, but it felt like he was almost playing with her. If he wasn't willing to face his feelings then he could at least stop toying with Molly like that. If he was willing to be so touchy and whisper in her ear in public, Kasey could only imagine what happened in private.

Actually, I don't want to imagine it...

He could only hope that the guy wasn't taking advantage of Molly in any way. Angela gave her a talk on consent but that would mean nothing if the guy she had a crush on managed to smooth talk his way under her skirt. As much as Kasey loved his sister, he knew that she was naive enough to let that happen. When she fell for someone, she fell pretty hard. It was part of why he worried about her so much.

Kasey bit the inside of his cheek. Surely he's just overthinking things and making up scenarios in his head. He'd make an enemy out of anybody for Molly's sake. It's no wonder she didn't come to him for relationship advice.

Molly giggled excitedly as she started explaining the basis of the pie. She wanted to do something special for this one since it's her tenth year making the Thanksgiving pie. He had a feeling there was something more to it since she started to say something else, but quickly snapped her mouth shut and looked away. Now that he thought about it, she didn't make anything last year. Was she trying to make up for that? Nobody blamed her for it or anything, and they got on just fine with Aunt Dee and Mrs. Sawyer's cooking.

"It's like a caramel apple in a pie!" Molly grinned, looking quite proud of herself. That certainly explained the sticky sweet smell. Kasey always enjoyed watching the way Molly lit up when she talked about her baking. It's different from how she was with ballet. She loved both, but the way she talked about ballet was more... stiff, always filled with an air of concentration. When it came to actually performing, she was a mess. She'd get frustrated if she messed up and pushed herself until she was absolutely perfect. He lost track how many times he had to patch up her blisters.

With baking, she was more relaxed. There was no strict routine to follow. She was free to do whatever she wanted. She was happiest in the kitchen. He had a feeling baking's been her real passion all along, but she was too scared to ever tell Dad. He lit up when he saw her on stage. Always said it was like seeing Mom again. There's no way Molly would ever try to take that from him.

Kasey happened to glance up and caught a glimpse of Chase looking at Molly with a soft smile on his face. Angela wasn't kidding when she said his crush was obvious. Maybe Molly's the one who needed glasses if she couldn't see what was so clearly in front of her. Still... of all the guys for Molly to fall for, she had to go for the guy with a manbun?

"I think we're going to have some left over so you can take some home to th— shit." She was in the middle of plating a slice of pie as she spoke and dropped it. Pretzel perked up from his perch on the couch but shockingly didn't run over to eat any. Molly let out a frustrated huff and knelt down to pick up the pie. She hated wasting or messing up any kind of food. Guess there was still a bit of a perfectionist in her after all.

Reina looked stunned. In all honesty, Kasey was feeling it too. Since when did Molly... swear?

"Looks like Angela's finally rubbing off on you," Chase snorted, kneeling down to help her. Kasey could only see the top of her head, but he heard the odd little squeak she let out and could just imagine how pink her cheeks were. Which only made the confident, flirty tone of her next words even more of a surprise.

"Maybe you're the one rubbing off on me. Shame on you for corrupting a poor innocent soul."

"Where the hell did you get a tattoo?!"

Kasey gawked at the fresh ink on his sister's arm. He hadn't noticed it until now. Angela smirked, seeming very proud of herself. She's always wanted tattoos but they were something she could never afford. On top of that, she always complained about having too many options and wanting her very first one to be meaningful. After that, she said, she didn't care what she put on her body as long as it looked cool.

"From Syd. They told me they used to be a tattoo artist and offered to give me one. Pretty sweet, huh? Took like all day yesterday." So that's where she was. He assumed she was hanging out with Reina before she went back to Olive Town. He came over today to grab Angela for their usual lunch meet-up and found her pacing around her living room. He still hasn't asked why yet.

Angela's answer only led to more questions. Syd gave her the tattoo yesterday? Where? In their room at the inn? Did they go all the way back to Olive Town just to get their equipment? Were they in the habit of just giving out tattoos to anyone who asked? He wasn't sure if he wanted the answer, to be honest. He just hoped they kept their equipment clean. The last thing Angela needed was some kind of skin infection. She was already losing her mind dealing with the sprained wrist. She hated not working.

"So what is it? You said you wanted your first tattoo to mean something, right?" He didn't think Angela cared about astrology at all. She'd call it "useless bullshit" whenever Muffy brought it up. Yet she'd gotten a tattoo of seven stars trailing down her arm, connected by a curving line. There were several spots dotted around the line going down, maybe intended to be smaller stars. It didn't look like any constellation he's ever seen.

"It's all of us." Angela raised her left hand to point at the tattoo, taking care not to actually touch it. Kasey tried to stamp out any anxiety he felt about her potentially disrupting her wrist. She wasn't made of paper. She smiled as she spoke, pointing to each star in turn. "You, me, Molly, Aunt Dee, Fritz, and the kids. The line's supposed to be like our family bond."

That's... Wow... Kasey's mouth fell open, an unspoken apology lying just at the tip of his tongue even though he knew she'd still be too stubborn to accept it. How could he have ever implied that Angela didn't care about their family? She was willing to move here with Molly just to make sure she'd be alright. He had no doubt that Angela was part of the reason Molly's health has improved so much. With all the worrying Kasey did, he probably dragged her right back down.

"It's pretty shitty timing for a tattoo though," Angela sighed. She started her pacing again, brows furrowing together as she crossed her arms. "Luke forgot to tell me that his mom's parents are coming in for a visit. An early Thanksgiving or something since he'll be out of town with me. I wish he'd told me that before I went and got this thing! I'm going to look like an idiot! They'll probably think I'm some stupid punk girl not worthy of dating their one and only grandson! At least with Mikhail, he didn't have any family I had to worry about!"

"Uh..." This was a side to Angela he's never seen before. She's never cared about what strangers thought of her. Her confidence was something he's always admired about her. She's always done whatever the hell she wanted. He couldn't recall a single time she's ever had second thoughts about anything. It more often than not led to trouble, but it was still admirable. Better than how he handled things.

"Kasey, what if they hate me and get Luke to break up with me because I'm not like, perfect wife material or something? We both know I'm a mess."

He was surprised to see tears pooling in her eyes. He knew she liked Luke. Liked him enough to want to spend every waking moment with him. He didn't think those feelings were strong enough to bring her to tears at the impossible thought of him dumping her because of someone else's opinion of her, though. There's no way in hell that'd ever happen. Luke was too in love with her to ever do that. He'd fight for her.

"No offense Ange, but I think you're being a bit ridiculous. Luke's obsessed with you. Do you really think he'd let you go that easily?"

"I don't know, Kase! I'm not exactly a catch! I mean, he could certainly do a lot better than me!" Angela's voice broke at the end of the sentence. She sniffled and shook her head. He racked his brain for something to say but couldn't find anything. After a few tense moments, she wiped at her tears. Her voice trembled as she spoke. "Never mind. You're right. I'm probably just overreacting or something."

"Ange..."

"Forget it. I'm fine now. Let me just fix my makeup and we can head out for lunch, okay?"

"Yeah... Take your time..." He waited until she closed the bathroom door behind her and pulled his phone from his pocket. He didn't have Luke's number but he had Owen's. He sent out a quick text explaining the situation (praying that Owen was already out of the mines for lunch) and waited for Angela to clean herself up. Kasey doubted he'd be able to give his sister any useful advice. She probably wouldn't even listen to him if he did.

The best thing would just be to have Luke talk this out with her.