~~~ Saturday ~~~
It had been a whole week since Rosie and Grace had spoken to each other. Both had tried to reach out to their friend but something always held them back.
Grace was just embarrassed and scared that she had crossed a huge line that would ruin their friendship and clearly she was right because she hadn't heard from Rosie at all and that awkward interaction at school on Wednesday proved it.
Rosie on the other hand was just confused. She didn't know how to deal with all these new emotions she was having. She missed her friend dearly. Normally if she was confused about her feelings she would turn to Grace but because Grace was the source of these feelings of which she was still unsure about, she couldn't talk to her.
Rosie had been moping around the house for days and it was starting to piss Dinah off. The two were still a little distant from the argument last weekend, the same could be said between Rosie and Normani. So that really wasn't helping Rosie at all right now.
She was sitting in the living room flipping through the channels not really watching anything when Dinah came into the room and sat down next to her.
"Hey." Rosie mumbled.
"Hey." Dinah replied.
There was that awkward silence again that had been looming between the two Tongans for days now. Both were stubborn and too proud to do anything to break it. But being the adult in all this Dinah bit her tongue and decided (more like Normani decided) to make an attempt to bridge the gap that was forming between the two.
"We need to talk about what happened last weekend and I mean talk...No yelling." She finally spoke up.
"Ok." Rosie softly replied as she turned off the TV.
Where to begin?
"I just...I don't understand why you said what you said." Dinah stated.
Rosie looked down and felt that familiar pang of guilt and remorse.
"I don't know Ma...I was just upset." She mumbled.
"That's not a good enough excuse. You've been upset before and you've never said something that hurtful. What's going on Ducky? This past week you've been moping around and being a total bitch to everyone in the house and its not just because of what happened with your mom. Is it to do with school? Or Cheerleading? Or Greg?" she gritted that last bit through clenched teeth.
Rosie shook her head and tried not to let any of the tears fall that were beginning to form.
"Then what is it? Did you have a fight with Grace? Because I haven't seen her here since last week and you haven't been over to the Jauregui house either."
Rosie didn't reply. A common trait with the Jane-Hamilton children was that if they never verbalized an answer it was mostly because it was true. Both Rosie and Ben were terrible liars when it came to their parents, especially Normani.
Dinah sighed and wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulder and pulled her into her side and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Rosie wrapped her arms around her mother's waist as a few silent tears fell down her cheeks.
"What was the fight about?" Dinah finally asked.
"We didn't...we didn't fight." She mumbled.
"Well something happened." Her mother pointed out.
After a few moments pause of Rosie deciding whether or not she would tell her mother the younger girl sighed and then explained.
"Grace kissed me." She whispered.
Dinah was a little surprised at that but said nothing she just waited for Rosie to continue.
"We were up in my room and we were talking about a few girls that she should ask out at school and then...She kissed me."
"What did you do?" Dinah asked.
"Nothing...I was just shocked. I pulled away and then she freaked out and left. We haven't spoken since."
"Ducky...why not? I'm sure this is confusing and hard for you but just think how Gracie is feeling right now. She's the one with actual romantic feelings for you she's probably feeling incredibly embarrassed right now and scared that she's lost her friend."
"She moved on pretty quickly." Rosie angrily mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Look, why don't you call her up and go out for lunch or something to clear everything up. Just tell her how you feel about all this and I'm sure everything will be fine." Dinah suggested.
"Maybe...but what if she won't talk to me?"
"Then you try,try again."
Rosie nodded.
"Well?"
Rosie looked up at her mother a little confused.
"What?"
"Go get your phone and call Gracie!"
Rosie smiled and got up but before she left the room she turned back around and gave her mother a hug. Surprising Dinah a little bit.
"Thanks Mama." She quickly whispered.
Dinah just smiled, yeah they would be ok. Now things between Rosie and Normani just needed to go back to normal and everything would be fine again.
Instead of calling Grace, Rosie decided to grow a pair and talk to her in person. So she headed over to the Jauregui house and waited for someone to answer the door.
"Hi Rosie!" Charlie greeted the girl.
"Hey superstar I would ask how you're doing but we get daily updates from Ben all the time lately." Rosie said with a little smirk.
She couldn't help but smile at the small blush that appeared on the little girl's cheeks.
"Gracie's up in her room." Charlie informed her trying to change the topic.
"Thanks." She gave her a quick smile before she headed upstairs.
"Who was at the door baby?" Camila asked when Charlie came back into the kitchen to finish off her new drawing that she had started while Camila worked at the kitchen table
"It was Rosie." She replied.
Camila quirked an eyebrow and looked a little concerned.
Rosie walked down towards Grace's room. She had made this trip many times in her life. She remembers the two of them running up and down the hallway when they were little to see how long it would take to get Aunty Lauren to snap. It took 4 and a half minutes. Their personal record. She remembers sneaking down to Toby's room to try and scare him after they had watched a scary movie. Like his mother Toby couldn't stand horror films, he didn't mind the blood and guts of slasher films but the thriller type movies that focused more on the scary and not the gory...he just couldn't watch them.
Rosie had never felt this nervous when walking towards this familiar door. She took a shaky deep breath and knocked. She really didn't know why she was so nervous. She really shouldn't be. Big deal, so Grace had kissed her. It wasn't even a real kiss, more like a peck.
"Come in." Grace yelled through the door.
Rosie hesitantly walked across the threshold. Grace had her back to her as she was standing at her closet looking at her clothes. She was only wearing her boy-shorts and a bra. And now things were uncomfortable again and that weird feeling was back, the one that confused Rosie to no end, the one that she hated. Rosie cleared her throat.
"G-Gracie." She stuttered out.
Grace froze then quickly turned around the shock was written all over her face.
"ROSIE!...w-what are you doing here?"
Unable to look at her friend for some unknown reason Rosie looked at the floor instead. Clearly it was far more interesting than the cute pink and black bra that her friend was wearing.
"I...I um...I came here to talk, we need to talk." She explained.
"Oh." Grace sighed then looked down.
She then realized her state of dress and the way Rosie was avoiding looking at her. She blushed and quickly grabbed her soccer jersey and put it on then sat on her bed.
There was an awkward silence that was suffocating the room. Someone needed to say something.
"So-" Grace states but was cut off by Rosie.
"You kissed me."
Grace sighed and looked ashamed.
"I'm so sorry Rosie...I didn't mean to."
"Yes you did, you have feelings for me." Rosie stated a little bit defensively.
"I'm sorry". Grace mumbled.
"Well you should be! Grace we're friends ok. That's all I want, I'm not in love with you." Rosie replied getting a little angry.
She really didn't mean to get angry that wasn't her intention when she decided to talk to Grace. She just couldn't stop herself.
"I'm straight! I have a boyfriend...who I love. So kissing you...it's not what I want. We're friends and we will only ever be friends." She continued.
"Don't you think I know that!" Grace yelled.
"Well you have a pretty messed up way of showing it!" Rosie yelled back.
"Don't yell at me! Do you think this is easy for me?"
"Do you think it's easy for me? Having to constantly worry about whether or not your best friend is...is checking you out or...or is going to take advantage of you!"
"I didn't take advantage of you."
"Yes you did! You kissed me!"
"Well you flirt with me! Even after you knew how I felt you still did it. What the hell was I supposed to think?"
"You don't kiss your best friend!"
"Yeah well you don't have to worry about that because I'm going out with Hannah and clearly we aren't best friends anymore." Grace stated.
Rosie felt a pang of emotion at that she wasn't sure of. Was anger, pain or was it jealously?
"Well…good! B-BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH A DYKE!" Rosie yelled.
"What did you just say?"
Rosie and Grace turned to look at where that voice came from.
"What did you just call my daughter?" Camila asked with enough venom to even scare Normani and Lauren combined.
"Ma...it's ok." Grace tried to calm the situation down. Rosie was petrified.
"No, Gracie it is not ok."
"I...I'm sorry...I-" Rosie stuttered.
"Get out of my house and stay the fuck away from my daughter." Camila hissed.
Grace and Rosie were both shocked at the harshness of Camila's words. Rosie just quickly nodded then ran out.
"Ma...you didn't-"
"Yes I did Grace. I will not have anyone call you that the way she did. I don't care if she is my God-Child or that she's the daughter or my best friends I will not tolerate that language in my own house or towards my own child."
~^~^~^~ That Afternoon ~^~^~^~
Grace was in her room getting ready for her date with Hannah. She was kinda looking forward to it. She really wanted to get over Rosie because things between them were getting worse especially after what happened that morning. Once Camila left her room Grace messaged Rosie but the girl didn't reply so Grace gave up.
She felt horrible about how things had gone between them. Honestly she really didn't think Rosie would react the way she had. Considering all the times she had flirted with Grace and the fact that she had two mothers. Sure she would have been a little upset about the kiss but the way she acted today totally surprised Grace, she just didn't see that coming. She was scared that their friendship wouldn't be able to repair itself. They had never fought like that before.
Camila came into her bedroom to check on her.
"Hey baby are you ready yet?" She asked with a big smile.
"Yes." Grace blushed.
"Are you nervous?"
"No...maybe...yes a little."
"Aw don't worry sweetie she asked you out so clearly she's interested."
"I know but still."
Camila walked over and gave her daughter a big hug.
"Is Mom still crying?"
Camila laughed.
"No I think she's stopped now."
"Good. I don't know why she cried in the first place it's not like I've never been on a date before."
"I think she's just emotional today her babies are growing up that's not easy to accept for some parents…also I think it might be that time of the month."
Grace just giggled.
"Well you seem to be handling it ok." she said to her mother as she put the final touches of her lip gloss on.
"Oh don't be fooled, underneath this happy exterior lies the broken hearted woman who wants her babies to never ever leave her..Ever."
"Ok you've defiantly got the Latina guilt down pat there Ma."
"I've had years to perfect it. You'll just have to deal with having not one but two very clingy and overprotective mothers."
"Great." Grace replied weakly.
Camila smiled and gave her a big sloppy kiss on the cheek.
"Ahh Ma!"
Camila just laughed as she walked out of her daughter's room.
Grace headed down stairs to find her entire family sitting in the living room
"Oh come on, please tell me you aren't all waiting to see Hannah and completely embarrass me?"
"Yep." Toby smiled widely.
"I hate you all." Grace pouted.
"Even me?" Charlie asked with her big sad brown eyes looking up at her big sister she looked like she was on the verge of crying.
"No not you Charlie." Grace quickly replied not wanting to upset her sister.
Not a second later the tears were gone and a big smile took over her face.
"That's what I thought." She replied a little smugly as she settled onto Lauren's lap.
"Damn you and your fake tears!" Grace groaned, while the others laughed.
"Even I saw that one coming Gracie." Lauren replied as she played with her daughter's hair.
"Now Grace I wanted to talk to you before you go on your date. First of all we want you back home before 11pm. Also no sex." Camila said.
Grace blushed.
"Ma! It's the first date!"
"I know but I'm just throwing that out there. Also just like you mentioned this is the first date so I expect there will be no kissing either."
"Ma.."
"Camz honey don't you think your being a little over the top I mean you remember our first date don't you?" Lauren replied.
"Yes and that's why I'm telling our daughter this."
"Oh wow ok that's too much info guys." Toby scrunched up his nose.
"Wha...No we didn't have sex on the first date." Lauren assured them.
"Ok so not what I want to have in my head while I'm on a date." Grace complained.
"We didn't." Lauren defended.
"Yeah it took at least three months before I got her into bed." Camila replied with a smirk.
"Uhh MA!" All three groaned.
"Oh come on guys you know that your mother and I express our love for each other in a physical manner and it is natural and healthy for any long term relationship." Camila replied.
All Jauregui kids looked a little horrified, Grace more so then the other two, she still had nightmares over that.
Lauren just looked at her wife like she was a crazy.
"Camz...Too much information." Lauren whispered.
"What? Lauren we decided that we would be open in discussing this with our children to educate them on what a healthy relationship should consist of."
"Yeah but-"
Lauren was interrupted when the doorbell rang indicating that Hannah was there. Grace went to answer the door.
"Please don't embarrass me." She pleaded before she left the living room. Unfortunately Charlie got there first.
The little girl opened the door.
"Hello." She smiled at the girl.
"I'm Charlotte Jauregui-Cabello. But everybody calls me Charlie." She said with a big smile as she held out her hand.
Hannah raised her eyebrow and took the little girl's hand and shook it.
"Hi Charlie, I'm Hannah." *Hannah baker*
"I know who you are. You can't hurt my sister or you will have to face the consequences." Charlie tried to give Hannah her mini-Lauren glare it still needed a little work.
"Umm...o-ok." She gave her a hesitant smile.
Grace quickly came to the front door and pulled a glaring Charlie out of the doorway.
"Sorry...Hi." Grace smiled.
"Hey"
"Umm ok so this is probably kind of weird and so not my idea but my mothers want to meet you before we go out." Grace nervously explained.
"That's fine. I'd love to meet them especially if they're like your little sister. I think she tried to threaten me." Hannah laughed.
"Uhhh, I'm sorry. I promise we'll just say hello and then we can go."
"Nah it's no problem." Hannah smiled.
"Well...come on into the crazy house."
The two girls headed into the living room to find four expectant faces.
"Um, mom, Ma this is Hannah, Hannah these are my mothers, my brother Toby and you've met Charlie."
"G'Day how-ya-goin?" Hannah held out her hand to Camila who swooned a little in a non-creepy kind of way because the girl was 16 years old.
"She's Australian!" Camila stage whispered to Lauren before taking the girl's hand.
She then shook Lauren's hand and gave her a lop sided smile.
"So Hannah as my wife so elegantly pointed out your Australian."
"Yeah"
"Where abouts in Australia are you from?"
"Well I was born in Darwin but then I moved to The Alice and grew up there but we moved around a lot."
"Oh, so how long have you been in the states?" Lauren asked.
"Bout six weeks now."
"Wow, you have a really great accent." Camila sighed. Then realized she said that out loud and looked away pretending to fix up the stack of magazines that were on the coffee table.
Hannah just laughed.
"Yea lots of people tell me that here, I don't see the appeal of it though I thought I just sounded really nasally. You should hear me when I try not to sound so Aussie. Most people find it hard to understand me."
"You sound great." Camila once again turned away after blurting that out this time she blushed Lauren just stared at her wife with a raised eyebrow.
"So where are you guys going?" Toby asked.
"Were going to the park for a picnic then to the pictures...I mean the movies." Hannah replied.
"Yeah Hannah promised she was going to make me some tradition Australian food." Grace replied.
Hannah smiled.
"Aww that is so sweet." Camila cooed.
"Well it's not so much traditional food really it's just a few snags on the barbie and a bit of pavlova for dessert."
They gave her a questioning look.
"Sorry I tend to forget that I'm not in Oz anymore. Basically it's just a mini barbeque type meal…thing."
"Wow, so that was part of the famous Australian slang. What else is there?" Camila asked a little too enthusiastically.
Hannah just giggled Grace rolled her eyes.
"Umm well...umm Ooh ok so what you call flip flops we call thongs. Umm we would never put a shrimp on the barbie because we call them prawns. We tend to add an 'o' or 'ee' sound to most words like arvo for afternoon or footy for football."
"Wow...what else?" Camila asked.
"Um..."
"Ma please don't make her."
"What? I'm just trying to show an interest in your friend's culture."
"It's ok Grace I don't mind."
Smiling Camila replied.
"See! She doesn't mind...so Hannah is it true that Australia has a lot of dangerous creatures?"
"Oh yea. I mean we've got the funnel web spider, there's the brown snake. The white pointers, the box jellyfish and also the platypus."
"What? But isn't that supposed to be like the cute little Koala bears?"
"Well technically they aren't bears. But yeah the platypus can be deadly. The males have like these spurs at the back of their legs that are poisonous."
"Wow I did not know that."
"Yeah most people don't."
Lauren and Grace just looked at each other unimpressed that her wife is having a serious girl crush on her daughter's potential girlfriend and Grace not impressed that her own Ma was creepily flirting with her date.
"So there's the crocodiles and such as well." Camila added.
"Yeah there's crocs and also dingos."
"Right, right I heard about that poor woman and her baby. Well i saw the Meryl Streep movie about it."
"Ok that's...Camila baby I need to see you in the kitchen. Girls please feel free to go on your date...Right now."
Camila sighed as Lauren dragged her out of the living room she just waved goodbye to the two girls before leaving the room. Toby and Hannah just laughed.
"God she is so embarrassing sometimes." Grace cringed.
"Nah she's alright. She just wants to know about my culture."
"Ok that's just creepy how you just said that. Did you want me and my mom to leave so you two can be alone?" Grace joked.
"Tempting but no I'd rather be with you."
Grace blushed.
"Really?"
"Yeah, come on let's go."
Hannah took Grace's hand as they walked out of the house.
^~^~ Jane-Hamilton Residence ~^~^
After running out of the Jauregui house Rosie stormed into her own house and made her way up the stairs to her room. Normani and Dinah witnessed the whole thing and then looked at each other with concern. Dinah had filled Normani in on what Rosie had told her.
"I'm guessing it didn't go well." Normani said sadly.
"Guess not."
"Should we go see if she's ok?" Normani asked.
"Maybe give her a few minutes to calm down first." Dinah suggested.
Rosie flung herself onto her bed and sighed, what had happened was so not what she had intended. She had no idea where all those hurtful words came from. She didn't know why she felt the way that she did. She just wished things could go back to the way they were before Grace had kissed her. When she knew who she was and what she felt.
She vaguely heard the buzzing of her phone indicating that she had a new message. She contemplated not bothering to check it but she got up and went through her bag and read the message, it was from Grace;
G: I'm sorry, plz call me. We need 2 talk.
She wanted to reply and tell her she was sorry too, but she just couldn't.
Downstairs Dinah put the phone down and looked mad.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Normani asked.
"That was Camila…want to know what our darling daughter said to Gracie?" She asked sarcastically.
"What?"
"That she didn't want to be friends with a dyke."
Normani looked shocked, the D word was forbidden in the Jane-Hamilton house, even though Dinah used it every now and then, but for her children and everybody else it was a no go zone. Normani hated the word mostly because of all the hurtful things the word reminded her of. Her parents were the first people to ever call her that and they had said it with so much hate and disgust Normani had quickly grown to loath that word.
"I don't know what is going through that girl's head lately." Dinah fumed.
Normani didn't reply she just made a move to go upstairs.
"Wait babe what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to talk to our daughter." She simply replied.
Rosie was laying on her bed staring at the celling when Normani came into her room.
"Rosie."
The brunette cringed, she hated the way her mom would say her name like that. For some reason when Normani would call her by her name it just sounded wrong and mad. She had been hearing it a lot lately. She didn't reply so Normani moved into her room and sat next to her on the bed.
"Aunty Mila called, she told us what happened."
Rosie cringed again and closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
"You should be, that was a horrible thing to say."
"I know…I regretted it the minute I said it…I didn't mean it mom." She explained.
"You know how I feel about that word."
"I know." Rosie looked down ashamed.
"I don't know what's going on with you Rosie, but you need to figure it out because this kind of behaviour is not good."
She just nodded as her response.
"You know you can talk to me about anything…I know things have been weird between us this past week but if you need to talk I will always be there to listen."
~^~^~^~ The Park ~^~^~^~
Hannah and Grace packed away the picnic blanket and put the paper plates into the bin and got ready to head to the movie theatre.
"So what are your thoughts on the pavlova?" Hannah asked.
"Oh my god I could live off of those and die happy." Grace swooned.
The other girl just laughed.
"I'll make you some more then if you want."
"Yes! Thank you! Could you also make those other things too?"
"The lamingtons?"
Grace nodded.
"Sure." Hannah chuckled.
The two girls walked back over to Hannah's car and put the picnic stuff away before getting in.
"So what movie are we going to see?" Grace asked.
"Um…well there are two different ones showing at the same time and I wasn't sure which one you would like so you can choose. It's either New Beginnings which is apparently a comedy or Unrequited Love which is a drama…or thriller I can't remember." Hannah explained.
Grace sat there and could literally taste the irony of those movie titles; it was like some weird cliché sign from above telling her to choose her next road to walk down in the proverbial crossroads of life. Hannah looked at the girl expectantly; Grace gave her a small smile.
"I've always liked comedies." She replied.
After the movie finished Hannah took Grace home and like a true lady Hannah walked Grace to her front door.
"I had a really great time today." Hannah smiled.
"Me too…maybe…next time…I could…I mean if you w-wanted to…"
"Yes I will go on a second date with you Grace." Hannah replied with a cheeky grin.
Grace blushed and ducked her head down to try and cover it up.
"You're adorable." Hannah laughed.
"Shut up." She giggled and playfully pushed the other girl.
A comfortable silence fell over the two girls.
"Well I better get going." Hannah whispered.
"Yeah, I've got tones of homework to get through…stupid maths." Grace grumbled.
Hannah hesitated for a moment before she inched closer and quickly kissed Grace on the lips completely surprising the other girl.
"I'll see you on Monday." Hannah smiled brightly before she quickly turned to leave.
Grace just sort of stood there.
"Gracie are you going to come inside at some point today or are you just going to stand out there with a goofy grin plastered on your face all night?" Lauren said through the door.
Grace blushed even harder as she rolled her eyes.
"Shut up mom." She grumbled as she made her way inside and passed her mother who was giggling at her.
~^~ Cabello-Jauregui Residence Monday Morning ~^~
Grace sat eating her toast and was texting Hannah, while Toby scoffed down his eggs, toast, bacon and fruit.
Lauren watched in fascination as her son ate. He just ate so much.
Camila walked into the kitchen holding her briefcase and placing it on the counter to grab some coffee.
"Grace not while you're eating."
"She's messaging Hannah." Toby said with a mouthful of food, Grace glared at him.
"Toby don't talk and eat. Eat and then talk." Camila said.
"Grace you'll see Hannah in like half an hour can't it wait?"
"No." she replied not even looking up from her phone.
Camila looked at Lauren for some help.
"I've already tried." she answered.
"Ok we've got five minutes to finish up before I'm heading out so get your buts into gear" Camila announced.
Grace and Charlie jumped off their chairs and went to get their stuff. Toby shoved the rest of his food into his mouth and chugged down a glass of juice while Camila quickly kissed Lauren on the lips before she headed out to the car.
"Hey Toby can I talk to you for a moment?" Lauren asked before he could move.
"What's up Mom?"
"It's about Ben...you haven't noticed anyone giving him a hard time have you?"
"I dunno, I spend most of my time on the court with Billy, Ty and Pete."
"Well could you maybe just for today keep an eye out for him. He's been feeling kind of down lately and San told me that he's been having trouble with some bullies."
"Mom I can't hang out with a ten year old."
"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying keep an eye out ok?"
"Fine."
"Thank you. You're a good boy." Lauren said while giving him a crushing hug.
"Mom I just ate like a whole plate full if food do you want me to throw it all up on your pretty jacket?"
"Ugh boys are gross." Lauren faked gagged.
"Yes and that is why in this house we all love the ladies." Toby laughed.
"Smart Ass." Lauren playfully replied.