The Way It Is [#OpenNovellaContest2019]

• Chapter Thirteen •

"Could you pass me the flour please, Faith?"

Skyla and Faith were baking cookies at Skyla and Anna's house, while Anna had gone to the gym with Robert. The two teenage girls had decided that they wanted to know each other's parents better, and this was how they did it. Skyla and Faith both enjoyed baking, and Robert had been talking about going to the gym now that he was "cult free", so Anna decided to join him since she went to the gym once and a while.

It was a little easier for Skyla and Faith, since they had known each other for years. Anna and Robert were a bit awkward at first, but it gradually became easier for them to have a conversation.

And this is how Skyla and Faith ended up in a very messy kitchen, and Anna and Robert ended up in a sweaty gym lifting weights and trying to hold their conversation about their most embarrassing moments.

"So Faith, if I may ask", Skyla spoke. "How long have you liked my daughter?"

Faith blushed. "About three years", she answered while beating eggs into a bowl.

"Wow", Skyla said. "Why didn't you ever make a move, then?"

"Well, I was still trying to figure out my feelings, and I was scared of my dad's reaction", Faith explained. "And Anna's too, of course."

Skyla nodded, and the two continued to bake in comfortable silence, enjoying the music playlist that was playing off of Skyla's phone.

Meanwhile, Anna and Robert were having fun.

"Come on, put some muscle into it! Don't give up, think of the reward!"

Anna was cheering on Robert as he sat on some sort of work out bench, pulling down on a bar connected a bunch of small weights. Sweat was dripping down his forehead as he continued to pull down on the bar, but Anna was holding a bag of gummy bears, and if he lasted thirty more seconds, he got to have them.

"Must... think... of the gummy... bears..." Robert huffed in between pulls.

"That's right", Anna smiled mischievously. "These gummy bears. And I might just eat them if you don't hurry!"

Robert gritted his teeth, trying not to laugh and continuing to pull the weights.

Anna checked the timer. "Five... four... three... two... one... okay you're done!"

Robert let go of the bar, making sure not to let the weights slam, and then promptly proceeded to slide off the bench and into the padded floor.

"I think I'll just stay here for a bit", he said, sprawled out on the ground.

Anna judges him with her foot lightly. "C'mon, partner. We're a workout team, and you signed up for this. Now you can have your gummy bears and cheer me on!"

Robert sat up at the mention of gummy bears, and happily sat on the floor munching them as Anna went to sit on the bench.

Forty five minutes later, Robert had to leave, so Anna popped in her ear buds and went to run on the treadmill. Turning on Do Not Disturb, she went on to run in peaceful silence.

Bad decision.

~ • ~ • ~

Faith pulled the cookies out of the oven, and the smell of chocolate washed over her.

"Oh, they look delicious!" Skyla said. Then she got a sad smile on her face. "Matthew, Anna's father, and I used to make these cookies all the time."

Faith smiled sadly as well. "He was fun. I remember one time, he had this big long mop and he let me and Anna stand on it and then he pushed us around."

Looking out the window, Skyla sighed. "He was the light of my life. Similar to how you describe you're feelings towards Anna."

Faith grinned. "She's a special one."

"And so was he."

After a few minutes of eating cookies in silence, Skyla stood up from the table.

"I think... I'm going to be a moment."

"Is everything alright?" Faith asked.

"Yes, I just... need some time."

Then she left.

Faith sat at the table, wondering what that was all about. But she let Skyla be.

Taking a cookie, she sat down on the couch and started playing Geometry Dash on her phone. It was an old game, but it was good.

Then she heard crying.

Standing up slowly, Faith walked down the hallway and quietly knocked on Skyla's door.

"Skyla..? Are you alright?"

No reply. Just more sobbing.

Faith hesitated, debating whether she should stay out or go in.

She decided to go in.

As she opened the door, the sobbing got louder. Skyla was sitting on her bed, her knees up against her chest, rocking back and forth. Her breathing was rapid, and it looked like she was trying to curl up into a ball.

Faith stood in the doorway, shocked. She was pretty sure Skyla was having a panic attack, but she wasn't exactly sure how to deal with them. Anna had had some in the past, so she used the information she learned back then.

Faith walked slowly over to the bed, making sure to give Skyla her space. She began to talk quietly and soothingly.

"Just keep breathing."

"It'll be alright."

"Stretch, it'll help."

After about five minutes of talking, Skyla began to calm down a bit. Her breathing became more even, and her eyes became fluttery.

Suddenly, she leaned backwards and laid down on the bed, passed out.

After frantically checking for breathing, Faith was pretty sure she just fell asleep, so she just left her and went to call Anna.

No one picked up.

"Frick", Faith said out loud. She knew Anna probably had Do Not Disturb on while she was working out.

She called four more times, but with no luck.

Faith sighed, grabbed another cookie, and sat back down on the couch.

"I guess I just have to wait it out and hope nothing happens."

~ • ~ • ~

Two hours later, Anna came home to find Faith passed out on her couch, and her mother fast asleep on top of her sheets on her bed.

Anna smiled, tucked in her mother, and went back to the living room. She laid down on the other couch across from Faith and closed her eyes, eventually drifting off to sleep as well.