The next evening was thankfully Friday, so at least they had two days of not dealing with school on top of everything else. Though there was another looming issue to have to try to cope with. And they were reminded of that as they were just finishing dinner that night. Brie went to answer the knock at the door and returned to the dining room and her family clearing the table, with Crista smiling nervously behind her.
“You’ve got company” Brie stated with a wary smile as she moved to help Connor load the dishwasher.
Star and Sky tried to hide their tension behind a smile as they greeted Crista with a nod and cast a wary glance at their nearby parents. “You guys don’t have to look so terrified” Crista teased, “I actually have good news.”
All four of the family members looked up at that, “you mean that sort of thing actually exists in our lives?” Sky attempted to hide behind humor as Crista’s eyes moved over him with a bit of that hunger he had seen in her just two nights earlier as he was about to make love to her.
Crista just allowed a small laugh before continuing, “yes, today Cassie ‘recanted,’ I guess is what they said. She told the cops that she really doesn’t know how she fell. You guys don’t have to run away or anything after all” she teased, her eyes still moving over Sky, her breath short.
Seeing the obvious way Crista was looking at Sky, Brie added to the conversation, “so she really is fully recovered?”
“Well, she hasn’t moved in three years, so she’s still gonna need lots of physical therapy to get her strength back and everything; but yeah, for the most part, she’s all better... just like that” Crista answered, giving the older teens a knowing look as she bit away some of the pink glitter lipstick she wore that night.
“Well, then that really is good news” Brie smiled.
“However, the miracle daughter is taking up almost all their time these days, so my parents don’t really have time for the problem child’s problems; like having no food in the house for the last two days” she added wryly.
Brie allowed a small laugh, “feel free to help yourself to what’s left of dinner” she offered before she and Connor moved to head toward the door to the living room.
Crista then interrupted, “and since I doubt they’ll be doing a lotta shopping this weekend either, can I mooch off of you guys for the rest of the weekend too?” she smiled sweetly.
Still a little worried by this girl’s blatant interest in Sky, the two reminded themselves that he seemed to pretty much only have eyes for Star for the most part, these days; so they warily agreed to the idea before both headed off to the living room, leaving the three teens alone there in the dining room.
In the living room the two looked at each other with more wariness. Connor then finally spoke, “so now we’ve got two teenage girls in the house who will be mentally undressing our son all weekend?”
“Well, it seems like ever since we told them they could actually be together; Sky’s seemed pretty single minded about where his interests lie. Hopefully that’ll keep things at least somewhat... calm” she decided on.
“Calm?” Connor repeated thoughtfully, “calm, as she spends the weekend in the bedroom with our also apparently bisexual daughter?” he asked pointedly.
Brie just sighed, “we must have really done something in a previous life to get so lucky with this whole smorgasbord of parental nightmares all wrapped up in two handy fishnet and eyeliner covered packages” she scoffed.
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Sky pretty much confined himself to his bedroom for most of the evening, not sure what else he should even try to do about the way she was looking at him earlier. Of course, she had always looked at him with desire, so maybe it was his own paranoia making it into something more. Or at least that’s what he tried to tell himself as he attempted to busy himself at his computer while Star played hostess across the hall in her own room.
It was nearly three when Star and Crista decided to make some attempt at sleep before morning. Star smiled at her a little awkwardly before offering her a spot under the cover with her, and rolling to her side to turn out the bedside lamp and try to force sleep.
It was barely fifteen minutes later, as they lay back to back in the dark bedroom, when Star heard Crista sniffling slightly. Star swallowed a bit, but did not turn to face the younger girl just yet. “Allergies?” she offered.
Crista just sniffled again, “sorry” she whispered back, tears obvious in her voice.
Star sighed as she turned onto her back and looked over at where Crista remained on her side facing away from her. “What happened to good news Crista? What’s wrong?” she made herself ask.
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Crista sniffled again, forcing back more tears, “you two really are my only friends” she whispered.
“And that makes you cry?” Star offered, clearly more used to being the one who needed comforting than the one trying to provide it; well at least provide it to anyone other than Sky.
Crista took a brave breath, “I don’t wanna lose you guys” she sniffled again.
“We goin somewhere?” Star asked in a teasing manner, though that was mainly to hide her own fears that the upcoming trial would result in that becoming a real possibility after all.
“I don’t want to be that girl. That silly little naive virgin that you guys said I’d become...” another sniffle.
“Well, you’re not a virgin anymore. So no worries about that then, right?” Star told her, though her own tension was obvious then.
“You know what I mean” Crista mumbled against the pillow.
Star sighed heavily, “lemme guess, feelings for Sky?” she asked though kept her voice gentle.
Crista sniffled again as she also rolled onto her back to stare desperately up at the dark ceiling though teary eyes, “all I’ve thought about since Wednesday was how it felt to have him inside me” she admitted with another sniffle, “and how good he said I felt inside too” she added, which did cause Star to swallow a slight lump in her throat. “But I tried to tell myself that that was just a physical reaction to how really, really good it did feel” she swallowed again, afraid to even look at Star then, though Star was thankful for that.
Star tried to find any words she could then, “well, maybe it was just the after effect of your first time. Maybe it was just the physical reaction to it.”
“But when I got here tonight and he could barely even look at me...” Crista sniffled again, “it just hurt a lot more than it should have” she admitted.
Star tried again, “Crista, you’ve gotta understand; I don’t think Sky knows how to act right now either.”
Crista scoffed, “please, he’s a few zillion miles from being a virgin.”
Star let out a nervous laugh, “what I mean is that you’re the first person he’s had sex with who wasn’t the one person he’s totally in love with; and also wasn’t just some random pretty face who he’d probably never see again. You’re a shade of gray he hasn’t ever had to deal with before” she told her with a soft smile as she reached up to push away a streak of eyeliner from Crista’s cheek.
“Or he just really can’t stand to be anywhere near me anymore” Crista sniffled again.
“Come on Cris, you did just save our asses, and he knows that. Like I said, he just is afraid of hurting you by not knowing what the right way to act is now. And it looks like he has” she said sadly as she pushed a long blue lock from Crista’s face.
Crista tried to compose herself before speaking again, “I’m not trying to come between you guys at all. I never would. Honestly, I can’t imagine not having you both around. You’re like two parts of the same person” she smiled, “and I know that just having one of you as a friend, would be like not even having a whole person. I get that about you two” she stated with an attempt at a smile back over at Star’s face, which was only inches from hers now.
Star was quiet a long moment, thinking on Crista’s words, and wondering if maybe this girl just had discovered the problem. She and Sky were two parts of the same person, and right now, the scales were completely unbalanced by what Sky had to do to save her sister. And therein could very well lie the problem.
“I think we figured out the problem after all, Crista” Star smiled over at her again.
“We did?” Crista looked more than confused by that, “I think I missed it.”
Star smiled again, “you just said it: Having one of us as a friend would be like not even having a whole person. It would be like something was always missing. So that’s probably also true about just having one of us as a lover too” she whispered, as Crista’s breath caught. Star then smiled as she moved closer, “you both feel like you’ve done something wrong because it was just you and Sky. And like you said, he and I are a package deal aren’t we? Maybe we just need to put the package back together. Re-balance the scales” she added in a hoarse whisper.
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Not able to get much sleep of his own the previous night, for various reasons, Sky awoke at just past nine that Saturday morning. He stared up at the ceiling for several long moments before finally pushing himself up from the bed to go and get he and Star’s clothes from the basement laundry room.
Upon returning upstairs, he took pause as Star and Crista had emerged from Star’s bedroom, both wearing oddly satisfied smiles and looking at each other with more than a bit of mutual admiration.
“Morning, Sky” Crista grinned widely over at him, though did allow her eyes to travel appreciatively over him once more.
“Morning, Crista” he managed, though still couldn’t help looking questioningly between she and Star both.
“You guys mind if I hit the shower first?” she asked them as she took a moment to cast the same sort of glance over Star, where she still stood leaning on her bedroom doorway with a smile.
“Knock yourself out” Sky agreed warily as he looked back at Star once more as Crista bounced off toward the bathroom. Once Crista was safely behind the closed bathroom door, he looked back at where Star was still wearing that slightly guilty smile. “so, did I flip some switch inside her from virgin to...” he just shook his head, not able to even think of an accurate word then.
“What ever do you mean?” Star asked with another slight giggle.
“My room’s right across the hall. I thought I heard some sort of activity going on in there last night. But after our poolside discussions, I wasn’t sure exactly which activity that was. Though I had it narrowed down to a couple good guesses, at least.”
Star smiled again as she took a step across the hall, taking the laundry basket from his arms and setting it aside to move in and give him a playful kiss. “What can I say? You and I are a package deal after all” and with that she gave him another kiss and headed downstairs in search of breakfast, having worked up more than a bit of appetite over the last few hours.
Sky just shook his head after Star, as she also appeared to have a slight bounce in her step that morning as well. He then retrieved the laundry basket once more and couldn’t help glancing over at the closed bathroom door. Shaking his head with a bit of disbelief, he still couldn’t help allowing a small smile. He then found himself wondering if maybe, just maybe that girl he loved so much had found a solution to yet one more of their problems after all.