March 10th
The sunlight streamed into Nora's room, the sound of the TV playing a satire show that Connie couldn't watch at home due to "family matters," which were as restrictive as they were absurd.
Nora sat on a pillow on the floor, eyes fixed on the television. She wore her usual attire—a pink shirt with a yellow star in the center and light blue shorts. Meanwhile, Connie lay on Nora's bed, engrossed in a medical drama series that seemed like a parody of House MD. Her outfit was a beige one-piece dress with pale green details on the skirt.
I sat beside Nora, enjoying the mindless comedy that this world's television had to offer. I mostly shut off my brain regarding the program's nonsensical scenarios.
Not everything needed to make sense; sometimes, enjoying the peaceful moment was enough for me.
However, our brief silence amid the TV voices was interrupted by the vibration of one of our phones.
"Is that your phone?" Nora asked Connie, grabbing the remote to pause the show.
"It's probably Mom," Connie replied, reaching for her bag where her phone was located. "Yeah, it's her," she added with a hint of apathy in her voice as she adjusted to a different position and answered the call.
I glanced at Nora, and she returned the look, both of us silently questioning why Connie reacted that way to her mother's call.
"Uh-huh, Hi, Mom... hmm yes, Mom, I'm at Nora Universe's house... um yes, Mom, we're just hanging out... Um, Nora's parents? They're in another room." Nora and I fell silent as Connie spoke to her mother, but it seemed the topic was sensitive for Nora.
"Would you like to speak to Nora's mother?" Connie whispered almost imperceptibly into the phone, though to Nora and me, it might as well have been loud.
Connie paused briefly and spoke again, "Oh, okay, hold on a moment," she said, covering the phone so whoever was on the other end couldn't hear.
Connie quickly looked at Nora to speak, but Nora responded somewhat uncomfortably to the unspoken question.
"That's going to be quite difficult because Mom gave up her physical form for me to exist," she spoke in a somewhat hollow tone, rubbing her left arm.
"But we can't tell her that," Connie said directly to Nora but also giving her a look of bitter understanding.
The girls were starting to panic about this very quickly, so I decided to intervene with what I like to call logic and half-truths.
"Why don't we just tell her a simpler version she can handle?" I said aloud, catching Connie and Nora's attention.
"How about we say she 'passed away' during childbirth when Nora was born? And that her legal guardians are Nora's parents and her mother's sisters?" I mentioned 'passed away' in quotes because technically that happened, while the latter referred to the crystal gems, which was also technically true.
As the girls considered my words, feeling somewhat foolish for not thinking of that idea themselves at any point.
But I was starting to sweat like crazy because that wasn't the case because they had just seen small "threads" of what looked like "destiny" twist before breaking when my words were spoken and considered by the girls.
The girls looked at each other and Nora, who thought she'd be the one who would be most against this version, sighed and spoke uncomfortably, "That should work."
It was the only thing Nora said, While Connie was also quickly in agreement with the plan, she stopped covering the phone and began explaining the situation to her mother, which took no more than a few minutes in which Connie looked too tense to speak and Nora somewhat indifferent but visibly sad if you looked at the details.
I didn't have an uplifting speech for her, so I just put my hand on her shoulder indicating that I was there for her, she smiled briefly while she looked at Connie, who now seemed less tense.
"Well ... mm," Connie didn't know how to say the message her mother had given her but still continued "Mom wants to know if your dad and your aunts could meet for a family dinner outside of town," she said at the end as if that were a problem.
Nora simply nodded briefly at Connie's request from her mother.
"I'll have to talk to dad and the gems, but I don't think that will be a problem," she said, calmer now.
"When will the dinner be?" Nora asked Connie.
The conversation continued between them both to set up the dinner, I disconnected the talk until Connie mentioned me.
"...so will you go?" said Connie, and my mind didn't process what she said.
"Could you repeat that, please?"
"Mom said you're invited too, Adrian. I'm asking if you'll go?" Connie spoke while shaking her phone in my direction.
"WHAT" was the only thing I said