Up To Speed- After baby 49

Big mistake.

That was the phrase running through my head as I leant back from the kiss.

Big mistake. I had a feeling she'd never forgive me for this. Things would never be the same again. I felt a hand on my arm and the tear that followed it.

"I'm sorry Paisley" it was all I could say before I left. "I truly am." I whispered that to myself as I left. Yes. Things will never be the same again.

I arrived home on autopilot and started taking care of everyone. The baby needed feeding, Watson needed a hand with something, and Apple was nowhere to be seen. I wondered where to start.

Of course she would walk through the door behind me. "Apple, honey. Where were you?" I asked. She raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Mom, I was looking for you. You just VANISHED! Mothers don't do that to people." I hung my head. It was like she was the mother and I was the child. "I'm sorry sweetie. There was a lot going on in my head. I had some things to sort out." she grinned at me. A sly kind of smile that made you want to giggle. "Mom, I was kidding. Okay." I laughed at my own stupidity. Everything recently had me so on edge, stupid, I know.

Eloise came running around the corner straight into a kiss. I melted into her and completely forgot about our surroundings. I heard a gasp from Apple and Watson came thundering downstairs. If Ellie Jr could walk, I'm pretty sure she'd have followed. I turned around and realised. I'd not exactly... told the kids about me and Eloise. This was a bit of a shock to them. I sunk to the floor, crying, and prayed they wouldn't leave. Apple glared at me then stormed off to her room, and Watson was torn between me and his sister. Apple and Ellie won. He left to comfort his sister.

Of course it can't get any worse. That's what everyone says, isn't it. Well it can. it ALWAYS can. My best friend had to walk through the door at that very moment. She had to hear the slamming door, she had to see her cousin comforting me. But worst of all, she had to see me like this.

Apple's Point Of View

I could hear Mum and Aunt Paisley downstairs with Eloise. I don't know what to call her now. Is it Aunt Ellie, or Eloise or Mum. I don't know. I just found out my mother is a lesbian. How does that even work anyway? 

I could hear my mother sobbing and Eloise comforting her. Aunt Paisley was speaking but I couldn't quite hear what she was saying. All I knew is she didn't sound very happy. I walked over to the vent on the floor and put my ear to it. You could hear almost anything going on downstairs. 

"Paisley," I heard my mother say in between sobs. "I-I'm sorry."

"I know," Aunt Paisley said so quietly it almost wasn't audible. "But... why did you do it?"

"I needed to see..." My mother's voice trailed off.

"See what?" Paisley said, much louder this time. "See if your best friend is a--"

"What is going on?" Eloise exclaimed, interrupting her. "Skye?" When my mom didn't reply, I heard Eloise's voice directed at Paisley. "Pais?" 

She didn't reply either. Oh dear. This didn't sound good. "TELL ME SKYE! Do you love me?"

Watson came into my room, Ellie crawling behind. "Apple?" he asked, sitting on my bed. "Why is your ear pressed up against the vent?"

"I don't think I need to answer that, Wat," I replied, trying to make out the quiet sounds from the other side of the vent.

"What are they talking about?" 

I sighed. Did he even understand what was going on?

"Why was mom kissing a girl?" he asked innocently. That was my question. 

I sat up and explained everything to him. The part that needed the most explaining was lesbianism. That was fun. -_- 

"So... is that why Erik has stopped coming around?" 

"Yep."

"And why Eloise is always around?"

"Yep."

"But why is Aunt Paisley never around?"

I raised my brow. "I have no idea." 

What I did know is that things were beginning to get weird. My mom was apparently a lesbian, I gathered she kissed her best friend or something of that nature, and now the three women were having a conversation that didn't sound pleasant. Oh no...

Skye's Point of View

"You... kissed her?" Ellie asked sadly.

"Yes but it meant nothing!" I cried.

"If it meant nothing why did you kiss her?" she demanded.

Paisley got up to leave from her place leaning n my counter, but Ellie grabbed her wrist. "Ell, let me go," she begged.

"No. Did it mean something to you, Paisley?"

She looked at me, her dark green eyes holding no emotion. "No. Trust me when I say, I would have rather stayed away from kissing my best friend, but she apparently had other ideas."

Eloise sat my best friend and turned her attention back to me. "Skye, I'm willing to forgive you if..."

"If what?" I urged.

"If you stop seeing Paisley."

Her words literally cut me, or at least it felt like it. Paisley was then in tears and I could see a screaming match between these two cousins starting.

"Ellie, please," Paisley started. "I know how you are when you're angry. You... you're not the same. You're going to regret this when you cool off--"

"How do you know what I'm going to regret?" Ellie nearly screamed, her purple eyes flashing with rage. "You have always pretended to know what's best for me, but you don't! And then you go and steal my girlfriend!"

My best friend's emotionless eyes were suddenly very angry. "I did NOT steal her! She kissed ME! And she WON'T stop seeing me because we aren't together, we're friends! Best friends and nothing will ever change that! Ellie, you know that I lost Anna-Leigh and if I were to lose Skye too..."

"Oh yes..." Ellie said, lost in thought. "I forgot that she died..."

"You also know that I was kidnapped and almost murdered and I seriously need Skye right now."

Ellie got up and walked over to her cousin. She sat on the couch and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm sorry Paisley, but that doesn't change my mind."

Paisley pushed her off and ran out the door. "Paisley, wait!" I called, jumping from my seat to run after her but Ellie grabbed onto my leg.

"Is this what Paisley was talking about?" I asked. "That you're violent and possessive when you're angry?"

"I guess so, yes."

Watson came into the room and we both shut up. "What's going on?" he asked.

I could see he was trembling. Probably afraid of all the screaming. I shook Ellie's hand off of me and brought Watson back upstairs so I could comfort him. I explained everything to Apple and calmed down Watson. I asked Apple to go down to see what Ellie was doing, but apparently Ellie had gone.

"Where did she go?" my daughter asked me, handing me some coffee.

"I have no idea." Two days went by and there was no word from either Ellie or Paisley. Jesse called and said that she had locked herself in her room and wouldn't let anyone in. She refused to talk about it so I clued him in on my own.

"Oh," was his dumbfounded reply. "So... you're gay?"

"Really?" I asked. "That's all you gathered from that?"

I heard him chuckle.

"I'm bi you twerp."

We both hung up.

I decided to let Ellie go, even though that was going to be hard. To get my mind off of her, I hung out with the kids. Everything was going smoothly and I was pretending that I wasn't hurting, when Ellie barged through the door at around midnight. Her hair was... different and she was smudged. That's the easiest way to describe it.

It immediately reeked of alcohol and her words were slurred. I brought her to our room and laid her down on the bed. "Are you alright?" I asked, tucking her in, she yawned, stretching her arms up and lay down before she nodded and instantly fell asleep curled at the bottom of our bed. I walk around to my side and lie down near her.

The next morning I walked out of our room to see Ellie sober and cooking breakfast for Apple and Watson. "Good morning!" she sang happily. "I see you're finally up!"

"What was that last night?" I asked, taking a seat next to the kids. "And will it ever happen again?"

She smiled crookedly. "Yeah, sorry about that. No, it won't happen again... And I'm sorry, really, I have no right to tell you to stop seeing Paisley. I know how much you mean to each other."

I got up from my place and kissed her. "Thank you," I said. "Now you just need to make up with Paisley and everything will be fine."

After breakfast, I sent her out the door to go to her cousin's house.

Ellie's Point of View

The drive to Paisley's house seemed to drag on forever, but I knew I had to do this. "Gosh, she honestly had to pick the house the farthest away from the town?" I mumbled to myself as I looked at the paper that had her address written on it. 

When I finally made it to her house, I was rethinking the whole thing, but Jesse saw me and forced me inside. "You must be Ellie," he said as he nearly dragged me.

"What gave it away? The pink hair or the purple eyes?"
"The slight French accent you still have. I'm Jesse." he said. Extending a hand.

He laughed and sat me on their couch. Everything looked so nice. There were pictures lining the common area of her house. Pictures of her and my other cousins, Cassie and Chase. My Aunt Susan and Uncle Trent hugging her tightly. The one that caught my eye was one with her and I in the photo booth when she was about nine and I was about four. Before her father faked his death.

One picture that made me smile was she and my father, Jude. I missed him so much. After my dad died the Parker family wasn't the same. I wouldn't know every little detail since my mother gave me her last name and she separated me from the family, but I still knew most things.

Paisley walked out of her kitchen, looking much happier and more put together than the last time I saw her. I leaped off the couch and wrapped my arms around her. "I'm sorry," I said, not letting go.

"I know," she replied. "It's alright." And a single tear drifted down our cheeks, to pool on our hands. 

Yes. It was all right.