"T-thanks, Halle," Jess didn't turn to face her parent, preoccupied as she was with focusing on everything but the prior events.
"I got a bit carried away," Kyodai admitted breathlessly. This wasn't the first time she had been caught by a partner's parent or sibling, as such she managed to regain her composure far more quickly than her girlfriend. Though it was the first time a threesome hadn't been proposed, she thought with a grin. Halle waved and left. Her voice drifted through the doorway as she relayed what she had seen to Selina.
"Hey, Jess?" Kyodai smoothed out her shirt and checked herself to make sure she was presentable.
"Y-yeah?"
"What... um, what were you going to say? Before we got interrupted," Kyodai felt a smile tease her lips as Jess turned bright red. It almost looked like steam could rise from her ears at any moment.
"I-I-I-I r-r-really don't know," Jess hung her head down to let her hair fall in a concealing curtain. She didn't want to think about where that might've gone if Halle hadn't walked in.
"It's okay," Kyodai laughed, "I'll visit after school, okay?"
"Sure," Jess smiled. Her eyes went wide as Kyo leaned in to place a peck on her cheek.
"Then you can model some clothes for me," Kyodai teased. Jess fell silent, but nodded all the same. The two moved to stand in the door. The bus was only a minute or so away, "Bye," Kyodai pulled her girlfriend in for a hug, which Jess returned without hesitation.
"Bye," Jess almost whispered. Saying the word seemed heavy to her, like it was attached to an anvil. Jess watched Kyo walk to the bus stop with a weight on her heart. Her fingers strayed to her lips, where she could still faintly taste the princess's lipstick, and smiled softly to herself. Jess shut the door and fell back against it; she didn't trust her legs to hold her.
"When's the wedding?" Halle apparated from thin air, her lips tilted in a teasing smirk.
"Really, Halle?" Jess groaned, walked into the living room and sat with a huff on the couch, "You're like a big sister more than a parent."
"Don't remind me," Halle joined her daughter, "Your mum used to say that all the time when we were dating." Jess raised a single eyebrow and glanced at her sire. She bit her lip, before turning to face her.
"What did you two do?" Jess asked in a sudden rush of breath.
"About what?"
"When you... y'know? First fell for each other?" Jess lowered her head as her cheeks burned. She never asked about her parents' love life, before or after she was born, but she had no idea how to do this. Even Kyo seemed at a loss sometimes.
Halle's gaze fell and lingered on a framed photo sat atop a bookshelf in the corner. It was taken on the first night the two had spent together, when they had confirmed their feelings for one another. Halle could still remember how it had felt that night, in that old bed of hers. The springs would jab at her and it didn't smell romantic in the slightest, yet Selina somehow made it the most wonderful place on earth in that one night. Even when Halle's mum had walked in failed to ruin it or when she took the picture.
"We didn't really know when it happened. Maybe it was our first kiss? Or hugged? Or spent the night together? I guess it'd be the last one that made it, well, real."
"That's it? No, like, sparks in your eyes?"
Halle chuckled, "No, Jess. Love is the greatest assassin; it sneaks up on you and you never know until it's too late."
"Hmm," Jess murmured, "But did you ever get embarrassed? In public?"
"At first," Halle admitted with a soft blush, "We just couldn't get our hands off each other, though."
"Halle," Selina stepped in and shot her wife a sly smile as she sat down, "Jess, if your love is real, then fuck what other people think is the moral here." Both Jess and Halle reared back at the cuss word. Selina looked between them with an oblivious expression, "What?"
"Nothing, Mum," Jess smiled, "Thanks."
Two short hours later and Jess regretted ever saying the word. Selina had been eager to get to the mall and so left a single hour after Kyo had departed, with a reluctant Jess in tow. Despite the short time they had spent there, Jess was considering her options of escape. Feign an injury, pretend she was being abducted, act insane to get kicked out? All viable, but none of them good enough to get past her mother.
"Hmm, this one looks nice. We'll add that to the pile," Selina could have fit into a Disney musical number, as she pranced about the clothes store, various articles in hand and lips spread in a jovial smile. All that was missing were a group of adorable animals to help.
Jess in the meantime, acted the part of a human coatrack with the dozen or so items her mother had picked out already. Another shirt was added, followed by jeans and a skirt.
"Mum, this is more than enough," Jess whined. Her mother simply waved a hand at her.
"No, no. I'm not taking any chances. I know you. There's maybe four things there that'll you even think about keeping," Selina said wryly.
Jess looked around. Clothes greeted her as far as the eye could see, racks and racks of them. Even the exit was lost to the ocean of fabrics. The store was mercifully void of customers that day, leaving Jess alone to suffer in her mother's antics. Only one other person was present, and that was the cashier, whom looked ready to doze off at a moment's notice.
"Alright, you go try those on. I'll keep looking around," Selina ushered Jess towards the changing room. The teen gratefully retired from her parent's constant bombardment.
