Hester gaped at Amber.
What?!
Did she just say what Hester thought she did?!
A...
A date?!
"With who?" Anadil asked without looking up from her laptop.
She had always been better than Hester at controlling her emotions.
Amber shifted uncomfortably.
"Theresa."
Hester was about to yell, but Amber put a hand on her shoulder calmingly.
"Yes, Amber, you can go on your date tonight," Anadil said without looking up.
Hester gaped and was about to argue, but Amber had already hurried away with her albino mother's blessing.
Hester rounded on her and didn't even notice that Hilda was gagging at the kitchen sink.
"Ani, how could you do this?!"
Anadil smirked and Hester felt herself calming.
Anadil always had a plan when she smirked like that.
~
"This is your plan?" Hester asked incredulously as they sat in Dot's minivan.
Of course she had a minivan.
It made sense considering not only did Dot, Kiko, and Dede use the car, but Hester, Anadil, Hilda, and Amber lived with them.
That meant that Dot, the usual group driver, needed a car that could carry seven people.
But that definitely didn't stop Hester and Anadil from making fun of their childhood friend.
"Do you have a better one? We need to make sure that Theresa treats Amber right."
Hester grumbled and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest and staring out the windshield.
They were parked outside the movie theater that Theresa was taking their little girl to.
It was a terrible romantic comedy.
So bad that when Hester and Anadil had overheard (read as spied on) Amber on the phone with Theresa, talking about the movie, they expected Amber to cancel the date and hang up the phone immediately.
But instead, she'd just blushed and muttered an "alright, whatever."
"They're here!" Hester hissed.
Hester grabbed onto Anadil's hand and pulled her down out of sight.
"How are we supposed to blend in with this piece of garbage?" Hester asked, gesturing at the car.
It was a modest black color (something that Anadil and Hester had insisted upon when they had helped finance the car) but it had almost a million bumper stickers on the back of it. And, most embarrassingly, it had one of those stick figure families.
But it wasn't exactly a regular one.
There were two tiers, one for the parents and one for the kids.
On the top row, there was a blindingly bright white female one, something Hester had no idea how Kiko found, beside a regular dark black female with little red demon horns Dot had found and super glued on top of it. Anadil had even insisted they added three little rat figures next to her, even though she insisted that it was stupid and frivolous ("if you're going to do something, at least do it right," as she had said).
Beside that couple, there was a cute little couple (both female obviously) holding hands and snuggled up together. One of them was a big more rounds something that none of them could understand how Kiko had managed to find.
Beneath the two pairs, there was another pale white one that the twins had colored green highlights on as well as one that matched Hester's almost exactly, but instead she had tiny little mice. The final one was a little girl with pigtails and a bit of chocolate in one hand.
Hester had never respected Kiko until she had heard the little petite woman screaming at companies to make them the perfect little family stick figures.
Yes, they were very recognizable in this thing.l
Anadil's dark red eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Then let's not stay here," she said.
~
Hester knew this was a terrible idea.
And yet she found herself sitting in the back row of the theater with Anadil at her side, sunglasses on in a vain attempt to stay incognito.
They saw Theresa and Amber walk in a few minutes later (they'd passed them when they were buying snacks earlier, which made sense considering how much they'd gotten).
Theresa was carrying pretty much everything, which made Hester eye her suspiciously.
She just didn't trust that girl.
Maybe it was because she was supposed to be so perfect or because her father was... well, she'd known him for a long time and she wasn't exactly a fan.
Her mother was pretty alright, however.
Agatha has settled, if you asked Hester.
Maybe it was because of how filthy rich the family was... but Hester knew that Agatha wouldn't do that.
But that was off topic and she needed to focus on the girl trying to hurt her daughter.
They had a small popcorn set between them and Hester eyed it suspiciously.
The movie started soon after and the two of them were already whispering and laughing.
~
Amber stared at Theresa in shock.
"You think I picked this movie because it's romantic?" Theresa laughed quietly.
"No way! I picked the absolute worst, most scarring movie in the world. That way, we can always remember it."
Amber blushed deeply at the words and looked back at the movie screen.
Theresa reached her hand into the popcorn bag and bumped into Amber's.
The latter girl froze as she felt fingers wrapping around her own.
Theresa was suddenly holding her hand while glancing at her and grinning.
No, she was absolutely beaming at the other girl.
Amber blushed and glanced at the other girl, but she allowed Theresa to pull her hand out of the popcorn bag and set it on the armrest between them.
~
Hester growled and almost rocketed out of her seat.
But Anadil grabbed onto her hand and pulled her back.
Anadil opened her mouth to speak, but nothing she could say would calm Hester down.
She was unstoppable now-
Anadil connected her lips and the vengeance-seeking woman melted against her touch, moving closer and twisting a hand in Anadil's hair.
Anadil traced the demon tattoo she'd gotten when they were still in high school.
People had said she'd regret it later in life.
She didn't.
Especially considering the way Anadil traced each and every curve of the demon's path around her neck with a gentle finger.
Hester moves closer and ignored the couples beside them that were either arguing or doing pretty much the same thing as them.
They pulled apart about fifteen minutes later, both panting for breath, and looked up at where their daughter sat beside Theresa.
Theresa was wearing a light, sky blue coat almost the color of her eyes when she walked in.
But as Amber shivered the coat transferred from around Theresa's shoulders to thee daughter's.
Hester felt Anadil trace the demon tattoo again and she found herself too distracted to notice the way Amber looked at Theresa (or the way she pulled the coat around her as if she had no intention of ever letting it go... which she didn't),
The movie had just finished and the credits were rolling when it happened.
~
Theresa casually wrapped an arm around Amber's seat and slid it down around her shoulders.
Her father had shown her how to do this and she had practiced on Axel for hours to get it just sneaky enough for Amber's jumpy self to not notice.
It paid off as Amber suddenly flinched and looked at her with eyes as wide as saucers.
Theresa grinned and moved a bit closer to her.
Amber didn't move for a long moment and Theresa started to think she'd done something wrong, but suddenly Amber crashed their lips together forcefully.
Theresa grunted in surprise and wrapped an arm around Amber's waist to keep her from falling onto the ground or into Theresa's own lap.
Amber pulled her closer by the collar of the t-shirt she'd worn under her coat.
Theresa grinned and moved closer, allowing a hand to reach up and cup Amber's face reverently.
She thought she'd gone too far for a moment, but then Amber ran a hand through her short hair and she allowed herself to move closer, igniting the arm rest that was supposed to be separating them.
~
"WH-" Hester was cut off as Anadil pulled her in for a kiss, pulling Hester fully out of her seat (which she had halfway been out of, about to storm over to Theresa and Amber) and into the albino's own.
Anadil usually let Hester sweep her along when they kissed, but she smirked and she allowed herself to move Hester until she was sitting halfway in her lap and halfway in the seat.
Hester always did this when they were with their friends and made Anadil blush, but today was her turn and she wrapped her arms around her wife's waist, pulling her impossibly closer while simultaneously distracting her from their daughter.
Their daughter that had just pulled back from Theresa and the two were quietly speaking.
Anadil allowed herself another minute before she pulled back to see a very stunned and slightly dazed Hester.
"We need to get out of here before they see us," she whispered.
The tattooed girl nodded and followed her as she led them out of the theater to the minivan they'd been staking out in.
~
Anadil pulled the car around and rolled down the window, glancing at Theresa and Amber who were standing awkwardly close to each other and both smiling.
"Here," Amber said gently as she handed back Theresa's coat.
"Keep it."
Theresa grinned and leaned a bit closer.
"Blue looks good on you," she whispered lowly before she took off and jumped into her father's car, waving goodbye at her new girlfriend.
Hester looked oddly dazed and kept glancing at Anadil with her black eyes wide.
Amber didn't comment on it and quietly answered Anadil's questions about the date.
Weirdly, Hester didn't seem to have any questions.
~
The minivan was coming back up the street and Hilda cursed, glancing at Milly.
"What's wrong?" Milly asked.
She and Serenity had come over to study for chemistry while Amber was at her date (gag) with Theresa (double gag).
"Nothing," she said, turning back to the textbook.
She'd just been hoping that maybe she and Milly could get a moment alone...
She felt her face turn red and frowned in confusion.
Now why would that be?
~
Amber kept texting for the rest of the day and Hilda wouldn't stop almost throwing up.
Anadil and Hester were off the rest of the day two, both of them sending each other wide smiles.
Maybe it was okay if their kids went on dates.
After all, they could find their soulmates that way.
Like Anadil and Hester.
Dot and Kiko looked at a sulky Hilda, weirdly energized Anadil and Hester, and far too cheery for normal Amber. They glanced at each other and shrugged, deciding not to question it. A wise decision.