Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
KITTY SAT ACROSS FROM SUGAR in the office. The two women having arrived earlier than the majority of the other employees used their time to catch up with one another. Not having been able to spend enough time due to the stress of trying to fix up the restaurant from the brink of bankruptcy.
Kitty observed the way that Sugar had been acting lately. Knowing very well that she was keeping something hidden. The constant eye-shifts, running off to take phone calls in the bathroom and the vibe that she held, constantly looking like she wanted to open her mouth and say something before she would slam it shut and shake her head.
Sugar watched Kitty. Having noticed a major difference in her just as she had done in Sugar herself. She had spotted the way she communicated with Richie. Something that startled her the very first time she saw it. Having never imagine to see the pair talking so civilised. Not even in her wildest dreams.
Sugar glanced out of the office, noting that there was no one around. But that didn't stop her from shutting the door anyways. She went back to sit in the chair opposite Kitty, the two woman looking at each other. Their chairs pulled up so close their knees were almost touching.
"You tell me your secret, I'll tell you mine," Sugar said.
Kitty nodded, "On the count of three?"
Sugar hummed in agreement.
"One...Two...Three..."
"I'm pregnant!"
"I had a sex dream 'bout Richie!"
"What!?"
"What!?"
Kitty grinned, "You're pregnant?" She asked, glancing at Sugar's stomach, which was obscured from view with a loose fitting blouse.
Sugar stared at Kitty. Her eyes looking like they were going to bulge out of her skull. Her mouth agape, "You-You..." She waved her hands around, "...Fuck my secret. You had a sex dream about Richie!? You? Richie!?"
"Well, it wasn't like a full sex dream," Kitty defended.
But Sugar's lips stayed agape nevertheless. Staring at Kitty like a deer in headlights, "I don't-I-I don't understa-What?"
Kitty sighed, she kept her voice as quiet as she could, just in case if anyone was to walk past the office without them hearing, "Like, it wasn't sex. Just..." She shrugged, looking down at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world in that moment, "...Making out...In my kitchen."
"Holy shit, Kitty!"
"Shh!" Kitty shushed her, her eyes wide with panic, "I don't need the whole world knowing!"
Sugar just stared at her. Trying to process the secret she just spilled. Sure, she had noticed that Kitty and Richie seemed to be on more civil grounds since Mikey's death, but she assumed that was simply a phase. A phase in which they were too grief-stricken to have petty arguments with each other.
"So, you're pregnant," Kitty pointed out, smiling softly at Sugar, "How far along?"
"Erm, no, you can't drop that bomb and think we're gonna talk about me," Sugar chuckled, shaking her head, "But a few months. Now, back to you and Richie. So, what...you're, like, in love with him?"
Kitty's eyes widened. She leaned back in her chair, shaking her head, "Woah, I never said anything about love."
"Are you though...?"
Kitty opened her mouth but nothing came out. She simply opened and closed it like a fish. Watching as a smirk began to grown on Sugar's lips, contrasting with the surprised look in her eyes, "No!" She quickly answered. Her voice sightly higher than normal, "No, of course not. I mea, we pretty much hated each other not that long ago. It can't be love."
"Well..." Sugar smirked, "...You know what they say..."
"Oh, god."
"...There's a thin line between--"
"Love and hate," Kitty cut her off, nodding, "Yeah, yeah. I've heard that cliche," She said, running her hand through her dark locks as she got lost in her own mind. Her thoughts spiralling as she tried to make sense of what her feelings even were towards Richie.
If you had told Kitty ten years ago that one day she would sit in the office of The Beef alongside Sugar, talking to her about a intimate dream she had about Richie fucking Jerimovich, contemplating whether she had romantic feelings towards the man, she would have doubled over with laughter and called you crazy. The one and only dream she ever had about Richie before was him annoying her to the point where she decked him square in the jaw, waking up feeling her anger for the man satisfied. And now this? Waking up feeling hot and confused. Then not being able to look at him properly without the image of him standing between her legs. His hands gripping her thighs.
She gulped.
"For what it's worth..." Sugar's voice snapped her back into reality and she shifted nervously, "...You look happy," Sugar told her. A soft smile appearing on her lips as she reached out to place her hand on Kitty's knee, squeezing it, "You've got that spark in your eyes back. I haven't seen that since before you left for New York..."
Although Sugar didn't know exactly what had happened between Kitty and Ben in New York City. She could see how much it affected the woman. After she had come back to Chicago she was a shell of herself for a very, very long time. Barely sleeping. Barely eating. Consuming herself with work at all times to not think about how quickly and violently her life had fallen apart.
Kitty looked at Sugar, trying to decipher whether she was just teasing her. But she looked genuine. Her words sounded genuine.
And in a way, Kitty knew it was true. She had noticed a slight shift in herself lately. Feeling like the brick that had been tied around her chest, dragging her down had loosened. But she chalked that up to the process of grief. That maybe her mind was trying to come to terms with Mikey's death. And even if it was that, Richie had been there the every step of the way without both of them even realising it. He had helped her bring a smile back to her face. As she did so to him.
"...And Richie..." Sugar continued, "...He's still an annoying shit, but certainly less so, especially when you're around."
"I don't even know what all of this means anymore," Kitty confessed. Her voice small. She looked at Sugar with such desperation in her eyes. Desperate to just figure it all out. To stop being so consumed with these confusing thoughts.
She wanted nothing more than to run away from her feelings. Too scared to look into them. Too scared of what they meant. She had been burnt before, badly, and there was no guarantee that she wouldn't get burnt again. It broke her the first time and she wasn't sure if she would be strong enough if it were to happen again, especially without her best friend by her side. She knew if she kept to herself. Alone. Then no one could burn her.
Yet, there was another part of her. The part that did want to explore this. To get closer. To actually understand what the fuck was going on in her heart and mind. The part that was sick and tires of being alone.
Sugar leaned forward, pulling Kitty into a much needed hug, "It means, you're finally opening your heart again. And I know that can be scary, Kitty, but it can also be the best thing in the world."
