Chapter 21: Monday Night, 9:02PM

Alaina stood on the front stoop of her house, holding her bag in one hand and her keys in the other. She heard Will’s car slowly driving away behind her and licked her lips, finding a tiny bit of blueberry flavor remaining from their lengthy parting kiss. She steeled herself.

Laura’s probably been talking to Mom a lot while I was gone. I hope she didn’t tell her how much I hated her. Ugh, I feel so bad ... She made it sound like that hurt a lot.

She pulled the storm door open, readying her keys. Think happy thoughts. Happy thoughts only. Let’s see ... Will fucked an elephant in his dreams last week. She snorted. How is an elephant hot? Definitely not what I expected him to be dreaming about, that’s for sure. I figured it’d be all orgies. With humans, not elephants.

The front door opened on its own, revealing Laura standing in the well-lit atrium. The blonde girl’s face was once again back to its normal state, her green eyes no longer reddened, her hair looking freshly-brushed. She smiled shyly down at Alaina. “Welcome back, Alaina. I ... felt you at the door, so I—Oopsies, sorry, I didn’t mean to block you.” She pulled the door open wider and moved out of the way.

That’s nice of her. “Hi, Laura,” Alaina said. She stepped inside, continuing to think about purple elephants and underwater golf courses as she smiled back. “Thanks for getting the door. I’m glad you decided to stay.” She set her bag down then took her boots off, setting them next to Laura’s big suitcase.

The taller girl met her with a soft, gentle hug when she stood up again. “Thanks, Alaina,” Laura whispered, leaning down to place their heads closer together. “Thank you so much. I can’t thank you enough. I don’t have ... All I can do is say thanks. So thank you. I’ll never forget this.”

Alaina hugged her back fiercely, pressing her head into the other girl’s sweatshirt. Her reply caught in her throat. “I’m glad,” was all she managed to get out.

The hug continued for another minute, but Alaina pulled back eventually. She rubbed at her eyes briefly. “I need to change out of this,” she said, gesturing to her dress.

Laura’s eyes moved up and down, taking in the apparel. “That looks very elegant on you.” She smiled brightly, and Alaina felt the need to avert her eyes from the intensity of it.

“Thanks,” the younger girl said, blinking. Her smile is dangerous. She picked up her boots and started for the stairs.

“Um, if it won’t be weird,” Laura called, causing her to turn her head back on the first step, “would you mind if I came up to talk while you change?”

While I change? Like, she wants to watch me change? Alaina’s face screwed up in confusion.

“I meant that like I’d be standing outside—not watching—and we could talk through the doorway!” Laura said, blushing prettily. “Not like...” She tilted her head downward and covered her face with her hands.

Alaina smiled again. “I get it. Come on up.” She turned back around and took another step. “I assume you remember which room is mine.”

“Oh no,” Laura said softly, sounding completely humiliated. “I can’t believe I did that!”

The younger girl turned back, and spotted Laura pressing her lips together, her face scarlet. “I was just teasing, Laura.” She hesitated for a moment, her own face going slightly pink. “I, um ... I was pretty mad at the time, but you give really good hugs. Even in your sleep.” She fled towards her room while recalling how she’d awoken from a dream of pure bliss wrapped in the blonde girl’s arms, her face held against a different and very comfortable pillow. Even that hug just now felt really good...

Alaina set her bag on top of her dresser and dropped her boots into their spot inside the closet, then stood in place, working at the ties on her dress. I’m really glad Laura’s still here. I was a little worried she might have run away or something while I was gone.

“How, um...” Laura’s voice filtered in from the hallway, growing closer. “How was dinner?”

The redhead’s hands came to a stop. Does she know I was just out with Will? Is that—

“Your mom told me you were out with Will. Meeting his parents,” Laura said in a barely audible voice. “Don’t worry, I’m not ... I’m okay with it. Really, I am.”

Is she just saying that? Alaina pulled her dress over her head while she thought.

“I know it probably doesn’t make sense to you,” the other girl continued hurriedly after a moment. “I ... I just really want him to be happy. And after what you did for me ... You’re a good person, Alaina,” Laura finished. She was silent for a moment. “That sounded stupid, didn’t it? I mean, not the part about you being—”

“I get it, Laura,” Alaina said. She put on the bra and blouse she’d been wearing earlier. The girl who recently had half her face ripped off pulled her favorite hoodie on after eyeing it warily for a moment, then adjusted the band of her sweat pants where it was flipped. “Dinner was ... Well, it was. Will doesn’t get along with his parents, and it was kind of tense.”

“Tense how? Did they not like you or something?” said Laura, sounding worried. “I don’t know his parents, but if you want someone to talk to about it, I can at least be there for you and listen.”

Alaina paused, scrunchie in mouth, her hair gathered in her hands. That’s ... amazingly nice of her considering what she went through this afternoon. She slotted the ponytail through its scrunchie holster and adjusted it to hang more comfortably. I guess I really didn’t know her even a tiny bit. “Thanks, Laura. I think it went okay, though. Did you eat dinner while I was gone? I can—”

“I cooked!” Laura gleefully interjected. “I, um ... Your mom let me make omelets for us! I wish I’d had some bacon or sausage for them—not that I was unhappy with how they came out or anything, though!”

Alaina found herself smiling widely as she imagined the blonde girl happily cooking away at the stove with a pair of omelets sizzling in a frying pan. Wait, why is she... She blinked, then stared at herself uncertainly in the mirror. We don’t even own any aprons.

“Your mom really liked hers,” Laura continued. “I could feel how much she liked it!”

That’s not okay. Alaina frowned at herself.

“And then she taught me how to play gin rummy!” Laura said, her voice radiating happiness. “I didn’t win, but it was still fun.”

Alaina couldn’t help smiling again at that. “Mom’s pretty good at cards.”

“I think I almost could beat her if we played a few more times,” Laura said. “I was just catching up on stuff from last week when you got back.”

Alaina sorted out the items in her bag before she stowed it into her closet, keeping her phone in the pocket of her hoodie. She put on her glasses and wandered out of her room, nearly tripping over her guest when she rounded the corner of her doorway.

“Oopsies, sorry,” said Laura, scrambling to stand up from her position just outside the door, seated on the ground with her knees against her chest, hands under her knees.

“It’s okay,” Alaina said absently. “Actually, I should catch up on a couple things from school myself.”

“Oh, cool,” the older girl said, following behind. “Um, I was just at the kitchen table with your mom if you want to join? Not that you need an invitation or anything since it’s your house—”

Alaina turned on her when she got to the bottom of the stairs. “Laura,” she said gently, meeting the other girl’s worried eyes, “it’s okay. You don’t have to be so nervous. I’m not going to change my mind or anything.”

Laura hesitated for a moment before speaking. “But you know what I might do,” she said quietly, looking at the floor. “It could happen at any second. You’re really okay with me staying over again tonight?”

Alaina took a step towards her new friend and gave her a hug, causing her to stiffen. “I’ll still be your friend even if you have an awful Quirk that makes you sad, or afraid, or happy when you shouldn’t be.” You’re not alone anymore.

After a long moment, she felt the taller girl’s long arms reach out and return the embrace. Alaina nestled into Laura’s sweatshirt-covered bosom. “I know you’re still scared,” she said. “I know you think I’ll give up on you.” She pulled back and stared up into a pair of confused green eyes. “But you should know something about me.” She grinned. “I never give up once I’ve set my mind on something.”

Laura’s lips trembled for a moment, then she pulled the younger girl into another stress-relieving hug. “I believe you,” she whispered.

Alaina backed out after a couple minutes. “Come on,” she said, beckoning as she walked slowly towards the kitchen.

Mom was sitting at the kitchen table in her usual seat, facing the doorway as she thumbed through a large hardcover book with only a few pages left. Two stacks of books lay on the table slightly to the side of her. “Hi, sweetie,” she said, not looking up. “How’d it go?”

“The food was really good,” Alaina said in response. She walked around the table to the book-less side next to her mom. “It was what I thought eating at a Michelin three star restaurant would be like.”

Mom reached the last page in her current book, On Quirks And The Mind, and snapped it shut. She set it on top of the taller stack before turning in time to receive and return a hug from her daughter. “Maybe we should try going to one sometime if you liked it that much.” She squeezed a little longer than her daughter, holding her in place an extra moment. “It might give you ideas for new things to cook.”

Alaina leaned back and adjusted her slightly-mussed ponytail with a frown. “I don’t know, aren’t they pretty expensive?”

Laura, now seated at the table across from Mom, picked up her graphing calculator and set the point of her pencil against her notebook.

Mom gave her daughter a nonplussed look. “So?”

“What do you mean so?” Alaina said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Aren’t you the one who’s always telling me how I should be more frugal with my allowance?”

Mom rolled her eyes. “That’s because you have an allowance. I don’t. I could eat at a restaurant like that three times a day every day if I wanted to.”

“Alright, then let’s go to one,” Alaina challenged.

“Sounds good. Pick one out and we’ll go.”

Alaina eyed her mom suspiciously. “Just like that?”

“I get final say. If I don’t like the menu, I’ll veto.”

“And you don’t care about how much it costs?” This doesn’t sound like Mom at all.

“Lainy,” Mom said, giving her a Mom look of tolerance, “I’m fortunate enough to make a very reasonable amount of money doing what I do. If we go out to a nice restaurant once in a while, it’s not going to break the bank.”

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Alaina declared.

“As long as you don’t stop making dinner for your poor old mom once you get spoiled by all that haute cuisine. Oh!” Mom said, looking over at their guest. “Did Laura tell you about her little cooking adventures?”

Laura looked up, shrinking down into her seat a little and shaking her head slightly. “It wasn’t anything impressive like an adventure, I just made some omelets. And we had cupcakes for dessert.”

Alaina glanced over towards the sink and stove. I hope I don’t have a lot of dishes to...

The sink was empty, the stove was cleared, and the countertops all seemed to have a faint sparkle. Even the pots that had been left out the previous night were nowhere to be seen.

“I, um, cleaned all the counters when I was done,” Laura said. “I was really happy that I got to cook again, so I went a little overboard cleaning up afterwards.”

“That’s really nice of you, Laura,” Alaina said, turning to smile at the older girl.

Laura smiled back, seeming a little embarrassed.

“She wanted to do the floor next,” Mom confided in her daughter using a stage whisper. “I told her to take a break and have some fun for a little while.”

The older girl blushed lightly and turned her head down to her homework once more. She swept a strand of hair out of her eyes as her brow creased.

That settles it. “Um ... Mom, can I talk to you for a minute in the other room?” Alaina asked quietly.

Laura’s pencil froze midway through writing, then resumed its previous course, albeit at a slower rate.

Mom raised an eyebrow, but rose from her seat and followed as Alaina led the way through the dining room and over to the couch in the sitting room.

“What’s going on, Lainy?” Mom asked quietly as she took a seat next to her daughter, her brow furrowing. “Did something happen at dinner?”

“No, um ... Maybe? But that’s not as important right now,” Alaina said in a quiet voice. How do I even ask her for something like this? She fidgeted. “Mom, you know I don’t really ask you for stuff very often, right? Like, big things.”

Her mom looked at her skeptically. “You mean like a car?”

“That was like, two years ago!” Alaina whined.