A Chance at Life

My Oh My

I woke up to a loud crash in the kitchen and saw that everyone was also woken up by the noise except Shelby and Fatin who were missing.
"What the fuck was that" I get up and go look.
Shelby and Fatin are stood in the kitchen and there's a bowl on the floor. "You sure enjoy breaking our dishes Shelby"
"It wasn't even me, Fatin dropped it!"
"And you didn't even take the fall, what kind of friend are you Shelby (!)" Fatin smiles and cleans up the broken bowl.

I go back into the lounge and I have 5 pairs of eyes on me waiting for an answer. "Fatin dropped a bowl"
"We should all get ready for school" Dot starts to search in her bag for her spare clothes.
"I forgot it was a Tuesday" I slumber back into my spot and watch as the girls get ready for their day.

"Toni can you feed Helsby, he has-"
"Marty I know what my kitten eats"
"Yeah but just to be sure, he has-"
"Marty! I got it! I promise" I hear a meow from upstairs and then 3 loud bangs from the same place.
"He didn't" I run over and Helsby is stuck on the 3rd step meowing for help. I pick him up and show him to the girls.

"This is the most pussy Toni is going to get for a long time" Fatin laughs and punches my arm.
"You dick"
Shelby comes over and takes him out my arms. "He's a very calm cat"
"He is"
I go into the kitchen and prepare Helbsy's breakfast as well as my own. Every now and then someone would come in and grab a snack bar.

Finishing up my food I go back into the lounge and move the tv back to its stand. I continue to watch Lucifer as the girls all prepare to leave the house.
I look over and see Shelby still in her pajamas.
"Shelby!" Marty looks over at her. "Are you not coming in?"
"I feel sick again, maybe it's my nerves. I'll be alright staying here right?"
"Uh..." Marty looks over at me.
"She's good, I'll just be doing my own thing" I search for Fatin and can see she's standing behind me smiling. I hate this bitch more than she'll ever know.
"Shelby enjoy your day and Toni make her feel welcome. Where's Rachel and Nora?"
"They left already" I hear Dot call out.
"Okay come on let's go" The final girls grab their things and head out to school.

"Do Rachel and Nora even go to our school?" Shelby looks at me as she eats her snack bar.
"No, they attend that sports one since Rachel is a swimmer" I make myself comfy on the bigger couch and feel that Shelby is watching me. "Do you want to join me?"
"Sure" she gets into the blanket and lays her head on my chest. "When does Marty's mom come home?"
"In a couple hours, she was working all night so she comes home to relax and rest"
"What's her job?"
"She works in a hospital, I'm not sure of her actual job title but she's away a lot so must be important"
"You've lived with her-"
"2 years and have yet to learn her job title. Call me useless I know." We laugh and then sit in silence just watching the tv.
It was around an episode later when I noticed Shelby was sleeping. She's a cute sleeper, her face seems at peace from all her problems. No parents, the passing of Becca, no Andrew. The way she sleeps it's just comforting to know it's her happy place of life. I kiss her head and get comfy again.

I don't know how long it was until I fell asleep but I woke up to Mrs B sat on my other couch watching the tv. I look over at her and freeze. Shelby was still asleep on my chest and my arm was wrapped around her.
"Morning sunshine" She looks at me and probably isn't as shocked as she was when she saw us as she came home but I could still sense a hint of shock from her when I woke up.
"I uh-" I start to move but Mrs B gestures me to stop
"Shh, You'll wake her if you move. We'll talk about this when Shelby's awake"
"I uh don't-"
"Just watch your show" the whole time Shelby slept I couldn't think about anything but how I was going to explain what was going on.

Mrs B was in the kitchen when Shelby finally woke up and I was more anxious than when she slept..
"Morning beautiful" she says as she sits up and stretches. She goes to kiss me but I stop her. "What's wrong?"
"Shh Marty's mom is home" I watched Shelby as she goes from half asleep to internally freaking out.
"What the fuck. Oh Lord what the fuck" she starts to visibly freak out realizing that Mrs Blackburn had seen us. "What did she say?"
"I...She told me to just wait until you woke up and we'd talk. I've been freaking out for over an hour waiting for you to get up"
"What?! An hour! Why didn't you wake me up?!"
"She told me not to and to leave you sleeping"
"What are we going to do?"
"What can we do?"

Mrs B comes back in with a plate of crackers.
"Shelby you're awake"
"Mrs Blackburn I can honestly say that this is all a mistake, this is the first time this has happened. I wouldn't normally do this, it's out of character for me. Marty is one of my best friends and I wouldn't ever disrespect her by being with Toni."
Me and Mrs B just sit and listen to her rant of trying to get out of it.
"Shelby?" I tap her arm.
"Yeah?"
"You can't weave your way out of this" I awkwardly laugh. She relaxes a little since she doesn't really know what to do.

"Are you going to tell Marty?" I asked looking at Mrs B
"No, that's your job. Shelby I'm not telling your parents, that's also your job. I don't know how long this has been going on for but I do know Shelby was here the other day when I came home for lunch."
We were both visibly stunned when she said that.
"Toni I went into your room for laundry after you left and Shelby's perfume was strong. So I knew you'd had a girl here and you seemed more nervous than usual. Coming home today, I could smell the same perfume and then seen you both cuddled up"
I could feel Shelby's body besides me relax from shaking and I felt her hand on mine.
"We don't really know what this is either, it's just I haven't really had time to process anything within these last couple weeks" Shelby says as I turn my hand to hold hers.
"Shelby I heard about Becca. I'm sorry for your loss, from what I heard she was a great person."
"The best..."
"Well you kids do what you need to do, I'm going to bed, I have to work again tonight. Shelby don't stress everything will be okay, you have the greatest of friends around to support you"

I watch as Shelby starts to break down.
"Shelb it's gonna be okay. I trust her with my life, she won't tell a soul until you're ready."
"I know. It's the news about Becca is getting out now and I know I'll start getting more eyes on me when I go back to school"
"Come on we'll just chill out today, wait until Marty gets home and then we can take it from there?"
"We can't tell anyone else, I'm not ready. I'll lose everything Toni. My parents, my sister and brother, my church group, the rest of my family everything."
"We have enough time to figure it out"
"I didn't expect us to move this fast. I don't even know what I'm doing" she starts to cry again and I hug her trying to comfort her as best as I can. I kiss her forehead and she just sits with her head in her hands.
"Come on, let's relax? You just need time to grieve from Becca and we don't have to be anything until your ready"
"You're willing to wait?"
"I'd wait until the Earth stopped rotating" she looks up and smiles.
"Maybe you should cry more" I laugh looking into her eyes trying to make a joke. She joins in laughing and kisses me.

We spend the rest of the afternoon binge watching Lucifer, catching her up on everything she's missed during the previous seasons.
It's when Marty gets home that things will go back to being awkward and tense.