Affection || Shaudrey

Seventy-One: Two Peas in a Pod

Trigger Warning: Mention of feeling worthless/imposter's syndrome.

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"Hey, girls," The man smiled.

"Hi," Shelby smiled softly. A small sneeze followed by a few coughs came soon after.

"Oh no... did you catch Audrey's cold?" Amélia asked.

"She did," Audrey nodded before sneezing.

Shelby nodded. "I kissed her." She mumbled shyly.

"That was expected." John laughed.

"Dad!" Audrey protested, a series of coughs coming right after.

Shelby chuckled softly as she looked down. She brought them over to the couch and sat down before a small cough came. "Sorry," she said as she covered her mouth.

"It's okay," Amélia chuckled.

Audrey blushed as she sat down with her lover, pulling her closer by the waist. "I mean... I couldn't keep myself too far away." She mumbled shyly.

"Me either," Shelby said. "I'm sure you guys know what we mean. You've been together for a long time." She said softly.

"We certainly do." John smiled, placing a kiss on his wife's cheek.

Shelby smiled at how sweet John and Amélia were to each other. She knew that she and Audrey would be like that at their age as well.

Audrey smiled brightly at her parents. She had always seen them as a role model to love.

"So, what happened yesterday with your sister?" Amélia asked softly.

Shelby bit her lip as she looked at Audrey. She wasn't even sure if they knew about Anne, and she didn't want to out Alice.

"Um..." Audrey bit her lip, staring down as she did so. "Do you guys know about Anne?"

"Your friend from college, of course! She went to the park with you guys." Amélia nodded.

Shelby looked to Amélia and John, and then back to Audrey. By what they said, they had no idea about Alice and Anne dating.

"Y-yeah, this one." Audrey nodded, softly squeezing Shelby's waist. "Well, we had a... um, a fight."

"A fight?" John asked with a brow raised. "What happened?"

Shelby thought for a moment, trying to think of the best way to put this without hinting that they dated. "There was a... a misunderstanding and I got upset. Anne and I fought, causing everyone to get upset. Audrey and I needed a break, but Morganne wanted more time with us so we stayed at a hotel last night. This morning we talked again, and it didn't end the way we thought it would." She said, hoping it sounded good and made sense.

"That was not like that..." Audrey said softly, wanting to defend her lover. "Shelby didn't get upset for nothing, and Anne was rude... it caused me and Shelby to feel very anxious."

"Oh, love... you could have come home," Amélia said softly.

Shelby bit her lip as she looked down. "I think we just wanted some time to cool down. We knew today we would have to speak with Anne and Alice again, and were... scared, no that's not the right word... anxious and nervous."

"Yes." Audrey nodded.

"That's weird, honey... did something else happen?" John asked with furrowed brows.

"Um... we... we found some t-things out... nothing important..." Audrey explained hesitantly.

Shelby lightly squeezed her lover's hand, trying to reassure her. "Just something that happened when they were in college... things that I thought were... excuse my French but fucked up." She explained. "But things have been sorted out, and it's better now."