Admiring the Light

Ep 8

"Can't eat before Mass, Lola. Not like either of us do." Natalie snatched the pop tart box away, more of a directive to Guinevere. "Oh, oh Nat, if we can't eat, then why're you grabbing the box?" She teased, getting an agreeing nod from Natalie's younger sister. "Exactly."

"I rarely eat before going? I can stop myself for one day of the week!" The tallest of all of them held no power in this situation as the other two banded together. "Then watch, Guin, tomorrow she's gonna eat two packages for compensation. Ima find two silver wrappers in her truck after school."

"Nah! You're full of crud, I only eat pop tarts from the toaster! Y'all are wacky." Natalie shook her head, but she couldn't hide her glance at the toaster oven. "So you wouldn't find wrappers there, don't eat 'em straight up." She clarified quickly.

"Whatever you say, girl. You're defending accusations of sneaking pop tarts, I'd be scared to get you in court." Lola shrugged, she really didn't seem to care. "But I think Alex is in AP gov, that's her thing."

"This is getting nowhere... pfft." She let out a big yawn, fully comfortable with letting her stomach show from under her shirt as her arms went over her head. "Can't ever... get enough sleep."

"I'd say my sleep schedule is consistent throughout the week. Unlike my big sister, that gets away with it just because she's funny." Guinevere's crisp monotone really shut down the conversation, for a reason none of them could identify. "Always nice, Sport! Sleep is important...?" Not even Natalie could get their chat running again.

"I'm surprised that lasted, three autistics having a coherent talk? About something specific?" Lola tried to make a joke, getting some laughs from the other two girls. "The neurodivergent trio, love that." Guin smiled.

"Nahhh, there's you, funky little Sport, and then there's me just chilling over here. I will force social interaction on all of you, hehehe." Her little gremlin laugh scattered them. "Speaking of forcing interaction, I'm gonna go pester our new friend!"

...

"Natalie, I really-" But Natalie remained persistent in her efforts. "Nah, come on! Mass might be fun." She sat up under the covers of her bed. "What do I even wear though, Natalie...?"

"I dunno? It's church, I just dress up a little more." She rubbed her eyes and set her phone down on her dresser, still in nightclothes. "So instead of wearing a t shirt I'd pick a turtleneck, big difference." She rolled her eyes even if Caitlyn couldn't see it, putting a black turtleneck over her jersey and some gray sweatpants.

"Not necessary, but a pretty medium color jacket or even just a hoodie always works. Splash of color in the grayscale outfit." She laughed. "Preference, me and Lola do our own thing in church just for funsies. Nobody cares much, we're too tall for them to do anything."

Caitlyn had barely responded as Natalie rambled, patiently waiting. "And would the big guy smite me if I wore a t shirt and shorts? Or do I need to be nice?" She asked.

"To show respect, I'd wear something else, nicer than your school clothes. But this isn't difficult." She rubbed her face. "It's a bunch of elderly people that just want to see mass and go home, nobody is looking at your outfit."

She wondered if the other girl had even gone to a service before, she didn't seem to know what she was doing, frazzled. "Just throw on a pair of jeans and something else, meet me at my house in 15. See ya, Cait!"

...

"Yo, Sport? Ready for church?" Natalie called upstairs; to Guinevere, making sure that everyone around her was prepared. Only problem being, nobody else was listening of course, as she gazed at the coat of dog hair in the black of her sweater. Trying to swat it off, she only spread the rich brown further, and as much as she loved Callie, it was a pain. She'd even given Lola and her sister 20 minutes, longer than she'd expected.