First Kiss

Chapter 24

After that, the rest of the week is pretty interesting. Dylan responds, asking if they can bump it up to tomorrow instead of Friday. Mom seems surprised but agrees to have Dad drop him off at Dylan's house. When he gets home, Jaiden tells me that ironically, Dylan is now the one obsessing over the kiss. He says that Dylan originally didn't react because he didn't think he wasn't into guys. Now, he's the one asking to do it again. Jaiden leaves out the special details but the gist is that it did happen. Neither of them know what it means for their relationship which I can understand. I assure him that they can take their time to figure that out.
On Thursday, Mom goes out with Margaret for the open mic night. We're disappointed to hear that they didn't sing a duet but still had a good time watching everyone else. We make fun of her for how much worse that sounds. She laughs it off and tells us about Margaret's comment to do that next time. Mom agrees playfully and Margaret kisses her. We're shocked because we didn't know it was going that well. Regardless, they kiss and call it a night after that. Mom acknowledges that it's her first time kissing a woman but she likes it. She clearly likes Margaret so that's all that matters. She also agrees to invite her over for dinner. The dinner happens on Saturday. I don't know how to explain it but I get good vibes from her before she even greets us. She's wearing a brown top with black pants and brown heels. She treats us with kindness the entire time and talks to us when Mom is in the bathroom. She asks for our permission to make the relationship official. We're already won over but that's the cherry on top. We agree that it's okay which makes her happy. She even asks us for our input as to how she should ask her. I'm more subtle with my suggestion to ask romantically but Jaiden tells her to do like a prom-posal. We both laugh but Margaret says that she'll do something in between.
We attend morning mass and they have another date that night. Margaret incorporates both of our ideas by taking her out on a romantic picnic in the park and having a sign that asked her if she wanted to be together. Mom says yes so they officially start dating that night.
At school, I'm hanging out with my friends during lunch and Heather walks up to the table. The others are quick to give her attitude but she doesn't care.
"Amelia, can I talk to you?" She asks.
"Go ahead."
"Can we do it in private?"
"Okay."
"We're here if you need anything," Keri says.
"You know it," Adam agrees.
"I think I'll be okay," I assure them.
I stand up and follow her outside. She takes a deep breath before she speaks.
"I want to apologize for everything. I treated you all so badly but I think I was the worst towards you."
I open my mouth to speak but no words come out. I didn't expect this. I just assumed that this is who Heather is now. She continues.
"I don't even recognize the person that I became. I did everything that I thought I would never do. It all happened after I met Donald."
"Donald?"
"I call him Donny. That's what all his friends call him. I did terrible things when I was with him. I can never take it back."
"What made you change back to your old self?"
She looks down sadly.
"I lost all my friends. I figured that Donny and his friends were also my friends but they weren't. You guys were my only real friends but I made you hate me. Even if you don't forgive me, I thought that I would at least try."
I sigh.
"You really had us worried."
"I know."
"How did you stop smoking so easily?"
"It isn't easy. It might seem that way but it's actually a struggle. I managed to quit because I don't want to go back to that person. It isn't me."
"At least you're self aware."
"Yeah. So, what do you say? Can we be friends again?"
"If you were the same person who was smoking outside my house, I'd still say no. I can see that you're not."
"I'm not."
"Then I guess I say yes. You still need to talk to everyone else."
"I will."
"Okay."
"Thank you, Amelia."
She reaches forward to give me a hug. I didn't expected that either but I roll with the punches. I hug her back.
"Sure."
We pull away.
"We can go back inside. That's all I wanted to say," she says.
I nod and lead the way. I sit back down at the table. Heather puts her hand on the table and looks at the others.
"Guys, I just want to apologize for everything I put you through. That wasn't the real me; it was some weird drugged up version of me that I don't even recognize. I don't deserve your forgiveness but I still wanted to say that I really miss you," she says.
"We were really worried. That didn't seem like the old you at all," Desiree says.
"Yeah. We missed the sweet version of you," Adam says.
"I did too," Heather says.
"What changed?" Keri asks.
"I lost all my friends. It sucked to be alone when I really wanted to be with friends. I realized that you all were my true friends and I missed that."
"Are you still doing the same shit?" Desiree asks.
"No. I quit. I cut all ties with Donny since it began after I met him. Unfortunately, I'll never be able to take back what we did."
"You can still do it with better people," Adam points out.
"Or save it until marriage from here on out," Desiree adds.
"That's true," Heather says.
There's a brief moment of silence before anyone speaks.
"If you promise not to go back to the way you were, we can be friends again," Desiree says.
"I promise," Heather agrees.
Adam huffs.
"What?" Desiree asks.
"That's a hard thing to promise but you went for it anyway. What you should've said is that we'll be there for her if she's ever tempted to go back to that," Adam says.
"That goes without saying."
Keri rolls her eyes and looks at Heather.
"We miss you too. It'd be nice to hang out again," she says nicely.
Heather smiles.
"Thanks, Keri."
"You can sit down if you want," I offer.
"Thank you."
She sits down in her old spot. It feels like no time has passed but we all know that it has. She seems unsure if she should move to a new chair since she hasn't completely won over Desiree. Desiree holds her palm out to reassure her that she can stay. Heather smiles a little.
"So, what have I missed?" She asks.
"Actually, I have some news that even they don't know yet. I was gonna share it anyway," Adam says.
"What news?" I ask curiously.
"You remember Alec?"
"Of course we remember Alec," Desiree says.
"Well, I ghosted him after the whole 'date but not a date' drama," he begins.
"As you should," Desiree interrupts.
"Last night, he DMed me asking why I ghosted him. I apologized and explained how it would feel weird to stay friends after that. Then it was his turn to explain. He said that I had misunderstood. He did want to go on a date but it wouldn't be at the movies. He's never done any of this which is why he wanted to ease into it."
"Like, you would do things as friends but eventually go on a date?" Keri asks.
"Yeah. It isn't ideal but I understand how it could be harder for him. So, I apologized again for the misunderstanding. He said that he should be the one apologizing and asked to hang out later."
"Hang out? So it isn't a date?" Heather asks.
"Not yet. If he's being sincere, I'm sure it'll lead up to that."
"That's a start," I say.
"Yeah."
"I hope it works out," Heather says.
"Thank you. So do I," Adam says.
"What about the rest of you?" She asks with intrigue.
"No news," Desiree says.
"My mom has a girlfriend," I say.
Apart from Keri, I haven't told anyone else about the development with Margaret. Adam, Desiree, and Heather stare in shock.
"What?" Adam and Desiree ask in unison.
"I didn't knew that she's dating women," Heather says.
"We knew. We just didn't know that she got serious with anyone," Adam says.
"When did this happen?" Desiree asks.
"Last night," I answer.
"It sounds like you knew," she tells Keri.
"Girlfriend privilege," Keri jokes.
"Oh. I'm glad you're still together," Heather says with a smile.
I smile.
"Tell us everything," Adam demands.
"You know this part but she asked me and Jaiden for permission to ask our mom to be her girlfriend. Last night is when she did it. She used both of our ideas as to how she should do it. She set up a picnic in the park to be romantic like I suggested and used Jaiden's prom-posal idea by asking her with a sign. Needless to say, Mom accepted," I explain.
"That's cute," Adam says.
"How did Jaiden even know what a prom-posal is?" Heather asks playfully.
"That's our Dad's fault. He told him how he had asked a girl to prom and the whole concept of a prom-posal came up in the conversation," I say.
She giggles.
"Are you okay with this?" Desiree asks.
"Yeah. We like Margaret. She's been kind to everyone."
"It sounds like she likes you too. The way she asked for your permission before she got into the relationship," Heather says.
"Yeah. That was sweet of her," Adam says.
"It's still pretty wild. Your mom is in a relationship with a woman," Desiree says.
"I never thought I would say that either. The important thing is that she's happy," I say.
"And you guys are okay?" Heather asks.
"Yeah we're great," Keri answers.
"They should be after two years," Desiree says playfully.
I laugh.
"Two weeks," I correct her.
"It feels like two years."
"It has not been two weeks," Adam says in disbelief.
"The party was two weeks ago. We got together the next day. So yeah it has. I know it's hard to believe," Keri says.
"I didn't mean it like that. It just seems like it's been longer."
"Maybe it's because we've told you so much about it. You've had two weeks worth of details so it feels like a lot," I say.
"Yeah that must be it. I'm happy that it's working out either way."
"We all are," Desiree says.
"Thanks. So are we," Keri says.
We kept hanging out until it's time to leave.