A loving family (Amaranthine X dwalls21)

[dwalls21]

22 year old Kay Sanders was pissed off at her life. At 22 the college graduate had thought that she would be able to coast by on her good looks, living the good life in a cushy job ordering people around and taking credit for their hard work. However due to a sever downturn in the demand for new bio chemists the young girl was left struggling to get by at the only place that would hire her, Denny's. She had not even remotely thought of her life leading her here, the worst part of the job was being eyeballed and groped by horny guys who couldn't take the obvious hints that she wasn't interested. Her chauvinistic boss was no better, her paycheck was the only thing stopping her from going postal if she felt one more male hand on her butt.
As she cleaned up another table with a crap tip from a family with screaming kids she thought about the one person who had made her life great, her best friend from grade, middle, and high school. Hard to believe that at 16 she had given herself to her female best friend but she liked women, birds fly, fish swim, facts of life, get over it. Kay once again kicked herself for playing off that amazing night as no big deal, of course it was a big deal you dumbass, she thought, but no you just had to put friendship first.
Just then her phone chimed with her text message tone, sitting down the tub she pulled out her phone to see who was texting her and seeing it was from her mom and thankfully not her deadbeat loser dad. Hi sweetie, call me when you go on your break, love you mom. Kay looked at the clock and yelled over at her manager that she was going on break, getting a wave in response Kay slipped out the back door phone already dialing her mom's number. As usual the phone was answered after one ring.
"Hi Sweetie," came the over enthusiastic and cheerful response, "Are you eating? Are they overworking you? Do I need to come clean and do your laundry? Do you need money?" "MOM," yelling was the only way to be heard when her mom fired off 10 million questions in a second, "I'm fine, tired but fine, yes I'm eating, no I take all the hours I can, no I cleaned and did laundry yesterday." "Hmm well if you say so, anyway I wanted to tell you I'm getting married!!" Kay did a hilariously perfect spit take of her precious Pepsi, "WHAT, WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?"

 

[Amaranthine]

Marley's life had been going rather smoothly; while high school hadn't been the easiest years of the twenty two year old's life, college came and went and she had grown in to the person that she was meant to become. After a gap year that she spent simply winding down after high school before she made her way in to higher education, the brunette had spent several years in nursing school. Now she was newly graduated, had found herself a job, and overall was loving life. Though a couple months back she had broken up with her girlfriend throughout most of college, Marley still wasn't letting anything get her down. In fact, things only seemed to be getting better - it was after one of her shifts (a daytime one, thank the Lord - Marley was sure she would never again be allowed to sleep at night after a few straight weeks of nights) that she got a call from her father.

Marley had been ten when her parents had divorced and ever since she had lived with her father. While she had no ill will towards her mother, who had walked away and pretty much abandoned both her husband and daughter, she had always been a daddy's girl so growing up with him to raise her was a blessing. Though some moments had been awkward (first periods, for example) overall things had gone smoothly. Now that she was an adult, the pair were more like friends than parent and child. Therefore, when he called to tell her that he was getting married she was ecstatic. Her parents had been young when they had her, her father twenty and her mother eighteen. Ever since her mother had left the picture, there had never been a solid woman in her father's life. To hear that someone had shown up, and just as she had moved back in to town, was amazing.

That is, until Marley discovered who the woman was. She held no ill will towards Kay or her mother, she really didn't - throughout high school Kay had been her best friend. The two had been thicker than thieves and closer than anyone else had been. They had been sixteen when, hormones raging, Marley had ended up sleeping with her. It had been her first time with anyone and for a couple years now she had been thinking that she may had been gay - well, she was. The sex hadn't ruined their friendship, they stayed close, but it was after she had gone away for college that the pair had grown apart. Now Marley was left feeling like the past was being dredged up - though she sincerely loved Kay even to this day, it was simply as a friend. Or, well, that was what she told herself at least.

As she sat on the beat-up couch in the living room of her one-bedroom apartment, a piece of furniture she had inherited so that her father could finally replace the one at his house, she chewed on the corner of her lip as she wondered if it was worth reaching out to Kay. Marley had a number for her in her phone, but would Kay even have the same number nowadays? Eventually, she elected to take the plunge and sent out a simple text: "Hey. Did you hear the news?"

 

[dwalls21]

Marley's life had been going rather smoothly; while high school hadn't been the easiest years of the twenty two year old's life, college came and went and she had grown in to the person that she was meant to become. After a gap year that she spent simply winding down after high school before she made her way in to higher education, the brunette had spent several years in nursing school. Now she was newly graduated, had found herself a job, and overall was loving life. Though a couple months back she had broken up with her girlfriend throughout most of college, Marley still wasn't letting anything get her down. In fact, things only seemed to be getting better - it was after one of her shifts (a daytime one, thank the Lord - Marley was sure she would never again be allowed to sleep at night after a few straight weeks of nights) that she got a call from her father.

Marley had been ten when her parents had divorced and ever since she had lived with her father. While she had no ill will towards her mother, who had walked away and pretty much abandoned both her husband and daughter, she had always been a daddy's girl so growing up with him to raise her was a blessing. Though some moments had been awkward (first periods, for example) overall things had gone smoothly. Now that she was an adult, the pair were more like friends than parent and child. Therefore, when he called to tell her that he was getting married she was ecstatic. Her parents had been young when they had her, her father twenty and her mother eighteen. Ever since her mother had left the picture, there had never been a solid woman in her father's life. To hear that someone had shown up, and just as she had moved back in to town, was amazing.

That is, until Marley discovered who the woman was. She held no ill will towards Kay or her mother, she really didn't - throughout high school Kay had been her best friend. The two had been thicker than thieves and closer than anyone else had been. They had been sixteen when, hormones raging, Marley had ended up sleeping with her. It had been her first time with anyone and for a couple years now she had been thinking that she may had been gay - well, she was. The sex hadn't ruined their friendship, they stayed close, but it was after she had gone away for college that the pair had grown apart. Now Marley was left feeling like the past was being dredged up - though she sincerely loved Kay even to this day, it was simply as a friend. Or, well, that was what she told herself at least.

As she sat on the beat-up couch in the living room of her one-bedroom apartment, a piece of furniture she had inherited so that her father could finally replace the one at his house, she chewed on the corner of her lip as she wondered if it was worth reaching out to Kay. Marley had a number for her in her phone, but would Kay even have the same number nowadays? Eventually, she elected to take the plunge and sent out a simple text: "Hey. Did you hear the news?"

Kay sat on her creaky futon couch/bed in the living/bedroom of her studio apartment contemplating what her mother had told her this afternoon. Her mother was getting married again, well she certainly kept this quite, she thought. Usually her mother couldn't keep something secret to save her life. Her mother was getting married to the father of her best friend/love of her life, Marley.

No, no, Marley and I are just friends. That night meant nothing, we're friends that is all.

Ahh well then why do you still dream about her like she is yours? Why does your heart still race when she is on your mind? Why can you still feel the way she once kissed....

Oh shut up, she told her internal, rational voice. She had convinced herself that there was no way Marley could ever love someone as messed up as her, never. She heard her phone's text message alert go off on the coffee table in front of her, it was from Marley under the contact name Love of my Life, not that anyone would ever find that out.
She wanted to know if Kay had heard the news, taking a deep breathe to keep from snapping back a nasty text message that could ruin the friendship and keep the I love and miss you texts in her head Kay responded, "Yes, mom called me this afternoon at work. Guess that makes us sisters now huh? lol" A quick prove read to make sure the 5 million I love you's hadn't made it from her head to the screen she hit the send button.

Kay let herself flop back on her bed couch and think, she was sure her mom would want to get everyone together. A dinner with her best friend/love interest, this is gonna be hard, she thought, oh hey Marley, how are you? Oh me I'm doing great, only dream about you every night. Yeah this is gonna be a disaster. Heaving herself up Kay decided to take a shower while she waited for a response.

 

[Amaranthine]

Marley had figured she might not even get a reply back, though that wouldn't exactly be good "sibling" behavior, now would it? Damn that was a weird thought - if she'd had her way back when she was a teenager, her and Kay would have been together and they still would have been straight through until now. Not everyone got what they wanted, though. Maybe at sixteen she should have taken the risk - now? It was too late for her to make such a call. While Marley still could and did see the good in the world, she knew that life was a bitch and the world was cruel. In the scheme of things, sex didn't mean anything; anyone could fuck, it just took two bodies. Or more... Or less, if masturbation counted. Basically, sex was a commodity while true passion was a luxury that very few, if anyone truly found. She'd had no reason to think their encounter meant anything and assumptions were dangerous things.

When she did get a reply, she had to mull for a few seconds before she replied: "Guess so."

Two words, short and simple. She didn't want to talk to Kay right then, not like this. She didn't want any interaction with that beautiful, outrageous, perfectly crazy girl to feel forced but there she was letting just that happen. Why was it that the girl had to show back up just as she had been clued in to reality? Ivy had walked away because of Marley, not the other way around. Marley knew that she was at fault, that she was the one who gave up on the last three years. Ivy had been fun and then she had been comfortable but there was one thing that she had never been - Kay. Marley had loved Ivy, God had she loved her, but she had a feeling that no one was ever going to compare to the way that her best friend had made her feel.

Marley wanted to sound more interested but very little actually interested her nowadays besides naps, netflix, snacks and weed. Nursing was fun but in her everyday life she was happily secluded, and loved being able to have space to herself. While some people found being alone to be the end of the world, she found peace in it and those who were welcomed in to her space nowadays were few and far between. Marley decided to try to properly reach out, though. She owed Kay that much for letting them grow apart and though there was a piece of her that resented Kay for letting that happen, there was also a piece of her that knew she was just as at fault. It took two to maintain a relationship of any kind, and between school and work and trying to keep her love life on track everything else had suffered. Kay hadn't deserved that. "I'm sorry we haven't talked in so long. Been busy, y'know?"

 

[dwalls21]

Kay looked at her side profile in her crappy bathroom mirror. The woman who looked back at her had a deep frown on her face, not because of her looks but at the thought of how she had once thought to get by on good looks, No wonder mom was disappointed, she thought. She placed her hands on her still perky breasts, she had no idea what her actual cup size was, she preferred to wear her standard bikini top and let the girls bounce freely. She had gone of a wedding last year for one of her co-workers and the dress fitter had measured her and told her she was a 36C.

She shot the mirror one last dirty look and walk out of the bathroom, she could get dressed but why bother, no one was coming over, that was how she preferred it anyway. Walking into her kitchen she pulled out tonight's supper, a chicken pot pie. With the microwave humming away she bent over to get to the bottom shelve of her fridge to get a beer, as she straightened up she began to wiggle her butt around to an invisible song only she heard. She figured if someone wanted to watch they should at least get a good show.

She walked over to her futon and flipped on the tv to Netflix, Hmmm, Orange is the new Black or anime? she thought. Bringing up Inuyasha she settled in to watch the back log, just as her phone lit up for a full charge and saw she had a text message. She read the message from Marley and gave a willful sigh, she should have taken the chance when they were alone after graduation and kissed her, told her that night wasn't a mistake. Hell she still had wet dreams about it to this day, but that ship had sailed, "Yeah, I've been busy too, no excuse I know but well."

The excuse sounded flimsy to her but it was all she had, Kay couldn't tell Marley the truth, especially since she never stopped smoking pot. There was no way Marley would still smoke pot, better to try to let Marley go for good. However she already knew it was a lost cause, she couldn't just let Marley go but maybe she could make herself better, show Marley that she was someone worth being around. Reaching down onto her coffee table she picked up a brochure she had picked up years ago for a renewal course for Bio-Chemistry, flipping to the financial aid page she picked up her cell phone to dial the number.

It was time to live up to the intelligence she had always claimed she had.

 

[Amaranthine]

"Still - I've missed having you around. Guess we'll be seeing more of each other again soon." That's no lie; Marley had missed Kay like there was no tomorrow. She truly hadn't meant for them to grow apart and if she had her way that would have never happened. After turning the tv on, letting it play Criminal Minds in the background, she got up and started working on something to eat. There weren't many options - in the end she elected for kraft dinner and after she put a pot on the burner she threw her dirty blonde hair up in to a low, loose ponytail. She was due for a haircut; while was she was younger Marley had kept her hair long, now for it to pass her shoulders meant it was time to chop some off again.

As she waited for the water to boil she wandered around her apartment, cleaning up here and there. In a very Marley-like fashion, she left her phone on the coffee table in the living room and she didn't return to check it again until after she'd put the pasta on. Unlike most people, she wasn't attached at the hip to her phone. More often than not it was left on the table or in her backpack on silent and not touched unless she knew she was getting a message and even then half the time she would forget about it. In fact, she had time to smoke a bong before she even thought about picking it up to see what Kay had said back - if anything.

 

[dwalls21]

"Thank you so much for the chance ma'am. I'll be down after work tomorrow to sign the paperwork." Kay hung up the phone from the financial aid department of the local college, exited for the first time in a very long time. Since she already had her degree she was allowed to take the accelerated refresher course for thankfully half the cost. Flopping back on her futon she let a happy squeal out at the thought of finally getting her life back on track.

She looked down at her phone and opened the message from Marley, her first thought was to tease Marley about what she had really missed. Kay was able to restrain herself, barely. Pulling out her weed, Kay rolled a joint and lit up to try and calm her wayward feelings down, to very little success. She sat up with a face covered groan, why wasn't this easy, it had been so easy in high school, she had liked, borderline loved Marley, so why was she acting like a lovesick 12 year old again.

"Yeah guess we will-sis," it was the right thing to call her now, but why did it make Kay feel like she had just kicked her own heart through her stomach. Oh well, to late to send her a full body nude shot now. She picked up her empty plate and rinsed it off in the sink, returning to bed she began to finish off her joint watching her anime, I bet Marley isn't wrestling with love sick thoughts, Kay moodily thought.