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Day Six Hundred and Seventy-Eight
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Hailey could see the lights along the highway moving continuously across her arms as she drove back to the city. The roads were mostly empty. Hailey kept shifting her eyes to the passenger seat, where her girlfriend was still tight-lipped. Her arms were crossed too, always a terrible indicator.
'Do you want some pie?'
Tread softly...
Hailey thought to herself.
'I'm good, sweetie.'
'I'm having some.'
With her rear-view mirror full of Carolyn's shoulder, Hailey held her tongue as she watched her grab a large slice of pumpkin pie and get back to her seat, taking a large bite.
'Guess we will never know if your folks would have liked that...' Hailey put in.
'It's a shame too, what a wasted opportunity for them to choke on it.'
'My only concern is that stealing back the dessert we had brought makes me feel like I'm living in a Seinfeld episode. And I really don't want to be in a Seinfeld episode...'
'I don't know what happens on a Seinfeld episode.' Carolyn barely got out, her mouth full of too many chunks of pie.
'Nothing happens on Seinfeld, that's the point of Seinfeld.'
'You're not making any sense.'
'Sure.' Hailey simply said, feeling their conversation closing the circle.
'You baked real good, by the way. I'm taking another one.' Her girlfriend told her, doing the same action as before and grabbing two pieces this time.
'Is one of those for me?'
'I guess it could be.'
Hailey took a deep sigh as soundlessly as she could manage. The noise of Carolyn chewing was the only sound in the car for the following five miles.
'We are not going back there.' Her passenger said, as if they had exchanged words that related to the sentence just spoken.
'Carolyn.' Hailey called out, waiting until her girlfriend stopped watching the road and looked at her. 'Call your dad.'
'Shut up.'
'I'm serious.'
'I know you're serious, why do you think I told you to shut up?'
'Call your dad.' Hailey insisted.
'Why do you always say that right after we're with my parents?' Carolyn raised her voice almost instantly. 'Don't you hate how he is with you as much as I do?!'
'I tell you that because your dad thinks I'm corrupting his perfect daughter and stealing her away from the correct life path, so by getting you to call him he is reassured that you're still speaking with him.'
'Why do you care about him?'
'Because you love your dad.'
'And...?'
'And I love you.' Hailey turned her attention to her for just a second, noticing her scrunched up face, plain to see even with the lack of lighting. 'And I know this right here,' She pointed at her. 'is not good for you.'
A couple more seconds of only road noise.
'He thinks you're just a phase I'm going through.' Carolyn told her.
Hailey knew. She said nothing.
'You can tell by the condescending way he threw that at your face during what was supposed to be a pleasant dinner.'
'Hmm-hmm.' Hailey nodded.
'Do you know how nice your parents were to me?' Carolyn continued, her anger building again. 'They've given us knitted sweaters for our anniversary and put a picture of us with them on the Christmas postcard they sent out! Is it too much to ask that my dad display at least five percent of that?'
'My mom thought I would end up unattached until I was an old lady, so she's taking what she can get...'
'You're not funny.'
'I beg to fucking differ. Also, call your dad.'
'Fine!'
With barely concealed fury, Carolyn took hold of her bag and yanked out her phone. Hailey could hear the dial sound, before the click of a call being accepted.
'Yeah, it's me.' Her girlfriend greeted without preamble. 'Put mom on speaker.' She paused. 'Both of you there? Good.' She put the phone's mic right next to her mouth. 'You are never talking to Hailey like that again!'
Hailey grimaced.
'Be nicer than that...' She whispered, getting a "shush" hand motion from Carolyn, who was putting her phone back into a normal position on her face.
'I never introduced you to boyfriends or girlfriends before, why else would I have brought Hailey God-knows-how-many times?' Another pause. 'It's none of your business if I had girlfriends before her!' Silence. 'I cannot emphasize any more to the both of you how much you need to get used to her if you don't want to see me less and less...'
'Maybe don't serve up those kinds of threats-'
'Forcing me to choose?!' Carolyn thundered. 'This woman just spent the last several minutes annoying me into calling you! It was not my choice to have this conversation just now! But it will be my choice to end it!' She practically threw the phone at the floor of the car. 'Stop here.' She commanded.
Without a word, Hailey pulled into the exit they were approaching that led to a service station. Ignoring the fuel pumps, she headed towards the parking lot which looked calm and secluded. The car was barely stopped when her girlfriend opened the door and jumped out.
When the door light went off, Hailey saw her own reflection on the passenger side window. She looked tired. Her blonde hair was caught in a decently aligned ponytail. But her blue eyes were not exactly sparkling with joy. As much as she put on an excitable persona for Carolyn when her girlfriend was upset, it tired her to constantly put up with the paternal disappointment from the other woman's family.
Calmly, she opened her door and went into the night. It was nice outside. There was a little highway noise from behind, but the late Spring temperature was lovely. Hailey strode to where her girlfriend had sat down, on the wooden fencing overlooking the valley below them. Not that there was much to look at other than the occasional farmer's light.
'I'm sorry.' Carolyn said, sensing her approach. She had no tears. She almost never did, which Hailey liked.
'For walking out? The night's nice.'
'No, for you having to deal with my folks' shit.'
'You're worth it.' Hailey sat next to her. She saw her grin at her in response. She loved watching the dimples she formed when she did that.
'I never thought you'd be the type of girl to whisper sweet nothings in my ear, you know?'
'And I never thought I would get to see you taking off a stripper's panties with your teeth, yet here we are.'
Hailey loved seeing the look Carolyn was just giving her. They way her lover's dark-skinned complexion seemed to glow differently in the moonlight. How sharp those big brown eyes regarded her. How those lips were begging to be kissed. She focussed herself.
'I did tell you it was not going to be easy when we started dating, remember?' Hailey added.