the park bench

f o r t y t h r e e

f o r t y t h r e e

"i'm surprised you still have your job." joanne laughed as lark threw a grape in the air and it landed painfully on her left eye. "you are on the clock, right?"

the blonde rolled her eyes. "i am, but no one's here and pete's probably getting baked in some random guy's bed."

"well, what about your family? how are you going to find them?"

"dunno." lark shrugged. "i've reactivated my old facebook account and just wrote 'being a waitress in my pasta time.'"

joanne snorted. "yeah, they're going to take you seriously and, wow, okay, and they did. if they're all blondies with scowls, then they're right there staring at you like you've grown seven heads and one of them is breathing fire."

"what?" lark gasped, not daring to turn around to face her family.

the brunette rose to her feet, wrapping an arm around lark's waist and put her chin on top of the blonde's hair. "breath, larky. they're coming over here, i think."

"um, excuse me, miss?" the younger of the two men with matted dirty blonde hair and sea green eyes tapped on joanne's shoulder. "do you know a waitress named lark?"

before joanne could reply, lark stood from the booth and turned, finally showing her face. "i do."

"lark!" the woman with the lightest blonde hair joanne has ever seen rushed forward, knocking past joanne and hugged her daughter. "i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry. come back, lark."

the brunette backed up from the family reunion, watching as they all took turns hugging a grim looking lark. the blonde curtly nodded to the two men of the walter family. "father. caleb." she glanced at her mother with guilt filling her eyes. "mother, i'm sorry."

"it's nice to see you again, lion." the oldest man spoke as his family stared at lark as if they couldn't believe their eyes. "are you going to come back?"

lark instantly shook her head. "i have a life here now, if you want, i can visit."

mr. walter nodded. "of course, but i must know, was it a phase?"

"what?" lark narrowed her eyes at her father, her sibling and mother both gave mr. walter a disbelieving look.

"you know? the lesbian thing, was it a phase?"

joanne took a few steps towards the exit, feeling like this was a private family situation.

"yeah..." lark started, eyes staring into joanne's as the brunette felt her heart drop, the soft smile dropping from her face as she started to back up speedily to the door. "about that, father."

the walter family watched lark push past them and head towards joanne. she wrapped her arms around joanne's thin waist and pressed her lips softly onto the brunette's.

when they broke apart, joanne's eyes were still closed as she lay her head against lark's chest, hearing her loud heartbeat.

"dad, mom, caleb. i'm in love." she unhooked one arm and led joanne to her family with a hand on joanne's lower back. "i'm completely and utterly in love with this asshole."

mr. walter's red face broke into a fake smile. "i will try to accept your choices."

"it's not a choice, mr. walter." joanne replied curtly watching with glee as lark's brother and mother nodded with approval. "i'm joanne gibson."