"I'm sorry!" Rosie exclaimed, seeing Meg approaching her locker, offering an apologetic – and hopefully forgivable – expression.
Briefly, Meg glared at her, arms crossed over her chest. But only briefly. In the next moment, she'd flung herself at Rosie to wrap her arms around her neck in a choking embrace. "I'm sorry too!" she insisted. "I shouldn't have said what I said...or at least not in that way." She shook her head, sighed. "Rosie, don't you get..."
Rosie shook her head insistently, not wanting to hear those words. "Look, I know what you're going to say. I know the odds aren't in my favour, but this kind of thing does happen, okay? Not often, but it happens."
Meg's brows rose with skepticism. "Yeah, in pornos, maybe..."
"Well, that would be better than nothing," Rosie said with a lighthearted shrug.
A beat. Then, both girls burst out laughing.
"I don't want to leave..." Alex murmured against Emily's neck, wrapping her arms around Emily's waist from behind. She interspersed the words with kisses. "Let's stay here forever."
Emily laughed softly, though she wholeheartedly agreed. "Well, I can work anywhere, but you on the other hand, have teenagers to teach. Including my daughter. And you've already used a personal day today, so..."
Alex groaned. "Why do you insist upon bringing us crashing back to reality?" she complained. She shook her head, clicking her tongue scoldingly. "So, how should we spend our last few hours of freedom?" she asked, changing the subject.
Chewing her bottom lip as she debated internally. "Maybe we should be getting back," she said reluctantly. "There's always such terrible traffic and..."
Turning her in her arms so she could look her in the eyes, Alex said, "Em, we barely get time to be alone, to be a normal couple. We're always sneaking around and hiding for the sake of keeping this a secret. As much fun as it is, I'd really like to take you on a normal date."
Emily tenderly caressed her cheek, then kissed her softly. "You know it won't always be like this..."
She said nothing, merely fixed her with a skeptical expression. When Emily just returned the expression, she said, "Em, we've been 'round and 'round on the matter of telling Rosie. You have good reasons and I know that, but part of me can't help but wonder: do you really want a future together or is this just sex?" She paused, sighed, tongue flicking out over her top lip. "If it is, that's fine, but I feel like I deserve to know..."
For a few moments, Emily's mouth hung open while she struggled to digest the words Alex had just said. Part of her wanted to be angry that she could think so little of her, but the bigger part of her felt like the worst person in the world for letting someone she cared so much about feel so broken. "Alex, no," she said urgently. "I absolutely do want a future with you. It's just...things are so hard lately with Rosie. I know she's growing up, but she's changed so much that I can barely remember the sweet girl who used to tell me everything."
She trailed off, shook her head, not having intended to go down that particular verbal tangent. "The point is," she continued, "I don't want this to be another reason for her to hate me even more. I want all three of us to be happy about this relationship when we finally tell her."
Alex nodded, offering an understanding smile.
Still, Emily felt like she needed to say more. "How about we choose a day next week and we'll sit down and seriously discuss what our next steps are?"
"Em..." Alex said gently, "You don't need to do this just to make me happy. You should do it because you genuinely want to."
Several moments of silence passed then, neither quite seeming to know what do say.
Finally, Alex broke the quiet moment by suggesting, "How about we take the scenic route home? We can enjoy a little more time together, but you can still be home in time for dinner with Rosie?"
She nodded slowly, swallowed thickly. She couldn't help but feel like she'd inadvertently ruined one of the best things in her life...
"Rosie!" Kate greeted upon entering the living room to find Rosie and Meg watching TV and painting each others' toenails. "It's always nice to have you around."
Offering Meg's aunt a polite smile, Rosie said, "Hello, Mrs. Callahan."
Kate waved dismissively. "Please, call me Kate. I've known you since you were in kindergarten, you're like a daughter to me." She settled on the nearby armchair, snatching one of the bottles of nail polish to touch up her own nails. "Tell me, Rosie – since I get yelled at every time I try to talk about these things with my own daughter – is there someone special in your life these days?"
"Mooooooom," Meg whined.
"I'm just asking," Kate defended herself, holding up her hands in surrender.
Blushing bright red, Rosie shyly admitted, "Well, it's just a crush really. Though, to be honest, sometimes I wonder if she even knows I exist." A beat. "Well, I mean, she knows, but..." She trailed off, not quite sure what to say that wouldn't give the game away...and regretting not avoiding the question in the first place. "It's just hard," she finished lamely.
Kate just smiled knowingly. "Twenty years ago, I thought the same thing," she said, smiling in the direction of the kitchen where Chris was singing (quite off-key) to himself as he prepared dinner. "He was still dating his high school sweetheart and everyone was convinced they'd get married, but...well, here we are." She gave Rosie a knowing wink. "Just because something's hard, doesn't mean it's impossible."
Meg hid her face in her hands. "Please, don't encourage her..." she groaned, already knowing that her aunt's words had gone straight to the part of Rosie's brain that refused to see logic, no matter how blatant it was...