search within (searchwithin) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-09-05 12:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | #november 2017, brianna, brianna x ophelia, ophelia |
Who: Brianna and Ophelia
When: Mid-Morning, Sunday, November 12
Where: Home
Status: Complete
It had been a long week or so where things felt a bit uncertain and up in the air. Brianna was attempting to make sense of it all, to get used to this new feeling swirling around inside of her and how it changed the dynamics of her family, and her marriage. She was doing the best she could with what she had been handed and Brianna had already decided to reach out to her mother, despite James’s protests. She simply couldn’t give her husband full control over the entire situation. This affected her, and her family and it was possible her mother had answers that James couldn’t give her. It would likely create some more tension between the two of them, but Brianna had never been a passive partner, so James would just have to learn to deal with it.
After a shower that morning, Brianna got dressed and headed downstairs to brew and pour herself some coffee. The rain seemed to have finally stopped, but it was still a bit too chilly to sit out on the deck. Instead she sat down at the kitchen table near the large windows overlooking the backyard, sipping her coffee as she watched quite a few leaves drifting down from the trees onto the deck and grass. She wasn’t entirely sure where the rest of her family was at the moment, but right then, she didn’t really care. Surely it wasn’t too much to ask that she have ten minutes of peace and quiet.
Ophelia had been stalling on having A Talk with her mother. She knew she couldn’t keep her dating Greg a secret from her parents for too long -- she wanted to be open about it, for one. For two, sneaking around was such a stressful pain in the ass. She honestly had no idea how Sebastian was juggling it all. And in light of recent family events ... secrets probably weren’t the best thing to be keeping, if the cost of revealing them wasn’t going to be too high. And Phee had to think that this would seem like small potatoes compared to what her brother had done. Maybe now as the perfect time. So Phee had resolved to talk to her mother that day. At some point.
She woke up and slipped into a fluffy, cozy robe before padding downstairs for something for breakfast. Just juice, probably, as her stomach wasn’t keen on much food first thing in the morning. Phee shuffled into the kitchen and spotted Brianna at the kitchen table. A little jolt of nerves ran through her, waking her up more than coffee probably would. The rest of the house was quiet, the malefolk were either still sleeping or gone or just holed up in their respective caves ... Phee was silent as she poured herself some cranberry juice and snagged a banana out of the fruit bowl. She hesitated for a second, then went to sit down across the table from her mother, pulling the newspaper in closer to pretend to browse through it while she tried to decide if this was The Time or not.
Brianna had looked up when Phee entered the kitchen, but she said nothing, her gaze ticking back down to the paper as her daughter opened the refrigerator. Brianna had expected her to just disappear again, so she was mildly surprised when Phee sat down at the table with her. Sipping some more of her coffee, Brianna studied Phee for a moment. She didn't buy that Phee was actually interested in today's headline, so Brianna had to assume her daughter wanted something. It was like when Sebastian pretended to want to help her with dinner the other night, when really he had just wanted to try and wiggle his way out of being grounded. He had bolted as soon as the conversation took a turn he hadn't liked, and Brianna was far too tired with things to deal with a similar situation this morning.
So she set her coffee mug back down on the table and went back to the paper, her gaze skimming the article about the various flooding in town. If Phee had something to say, she would say it. If not, Brianna figured she would get bored enough with the silence to retreat back to her room.
There was something expectant about all the silence, and Phee wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. Maybe Brianna was waiting for a second shoe to drop again with one of her children. Maybe she just wanted to enjoy her coffee with no interruption and was trying to silently tell Phee that. Her nerves fluttered again, and Phee considered just wandering off once more. She and her mother hadn’t been really close for a long time, not talk-about-boys close. But then Phee had never had a boy to talk about, really. Ugh, this was already painful. After she’d drank down some of her juice and nibbled about a third of the banana, Phee glanced up and cleared her throat softly. “Um ... do you have a minute? To talk about something?” she asked. It was probably a stupid question with the two of them just sitting there looking at the paper, but it was probably safer than just launching into what she wanted to say.
There it was. Brianna looked up from the paper to study Phee's face before she set the paper down beside her coffee. Her daughter didn't generally want to talk, at least not unless absolutely necessary. But teenagers were like that. Mysterious and withdrawn from their parents, convinced they knew everything they needed to know and parents simply existed to ruin the party. Brianna didn't generally worry about Phee though. It seemed like more often than not Phee preferred to read in her room than do whatever it was Sebastian got up to lately. Like donating his blood to a pair of witches for who knows what. Brianna wrapped one hand around her coffee mug, keeping her tone even as she replied. "If it's about magic, I would prefer you talk to your father about it. He would be able to tell you more than I would."
“It’s not,” Phee assured her quickly, shaking her head. She really didn’t want to get into all that again, especially since Brianna seemed to want to avoid the topic too. She pushed the paper she’d been looking at away a bit with her fingertips, then tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. She was sixteen, and a mature sixteen, and both of her parents told her that they were proud and she was a good kid often enough for her to believe it, at least mostly. It was normal for sixteen year olds to have boyfriends, she told herself. And wouldn’t Brianna want her to be smart and safe about it? Of course. Right? “It’s about ... boys. A boy, really. I um ... I have a boyfriend now.”
For a second, Brianna appeared confused, because Phee and boys... or rather a boy... was not a subject she was used to, or would have expected. Phee had just never seemed interested in dating, and she had never come to Brianna to gush about anyone at school. It had been a little frustrating, because when Brianna had been sixteen, she had already had a small handful of boyfriends, though none of them serious, obviously. But she was also very aware of how different her social life had been, compared to her daughter's. Phee hadn't exactly walked in her mother's footsteps in terms of personality. Even so, the news that Phee had a boyfriend wasn't one that set off any red flags. In fact, after a moment, Brianna's lips curved into a soft smile. James wouldn't be pleased, but that was part of the appeal. "That's wonderful," Brianna said, slowly realizing that her teenage daughter had actually sought her out to tell her about her love life. She didn't want to pull an embarrassing mom trope by making it a big deal, content to just let Phee tell her about it. Him. "Who is it?"
It wasn’t so much that Phee hadn’t been interested in dating. She’d pined after a few heavy crushes during middle school and her first couple of years of high school. She just hadn’t felt like she could do anything about those crushes -- she hit puberty too early: she was too big, too awkward, too dorky for any of those boys, and none of the others seemed to want her either. After a lifetime of being fed the idea that guys liked big boobs, she’d gotten teased for hers since fifth grade and been baffled about it. Given that Brianna tended to encourage Phee to go on diets and exercise and all that, she’d clearly gotten the message that she was the Wrong kind of curvy. She hadn’t known how to talk about that with her perfect, slim, beautiful mother. But Greg didn’t care, Greg liked her curves, and now her mom was smiling at her in approval. Phee couldn’t help but grin a little bit, some color coming into her cheeks, which always happened when she even thought about him. She knew this could be a sticking point though, so she gave a little wince at Brianna as she answered, “Greg Wheeler?” Hopefully that wouldn’t be a big deal, so they could get to the more difficult part of all of this.
So unlikely was the pairing that for a split second Brianna's brows drew together in confusion as she wondered what the odds were in a town this small that there would be two Greg Wheeler's at Chamberlain High. But then it quickly occurred to her that Phee might have been talking about the only Greg Wheeler the McCarthy family knew of and her smile slipped a little as disbelief set in. "Greg Wheeler... wait... Sebastian's Greg Wheeler?" That couldn't possibly be right. Oh, Brianna liked Richard and Jessica just fine, and their older son Spence was a veteran, but Greg was...well, they had all known him since he was a kid and it simply didn't compute that the same boy was now dating her sixteen year old daughter. Brianna stared at Phee, waiting for the punchline so she could laugh in relief.
Phee did laugh a tiny bit, but it was more from nerves than amusement. Greg had been Sebastian’s pesky always-around best friend for ages, but she didn’t think he’d ever done anything to really offend her parents. Not that she could remember, anyway. But he’d grown up a lot and so had she, and even if it was a weird match, Phee was going to stand by him. That was the mini pep-talk she gave herself, anyway. “Do you know another one?” she asked with a little huff, lifting her juice to have another sip. Shit, that had probably come out more sassy than she’d meant it. “But ... yeah. That Greg Wheeler.” Her mother’s face was quickly draining away any hope that this would be an easy talk now, and Phee’s fingers fidgeted with the edge of the newspaper. “I know he’s like ... Greg, but ... I like him,” she added in a mumble.
No, Greg had never done anything offensive or horrible and it wasn't that Brianna disliked Greg. He was just Greg. Amusing at times, and loyal to Sebastian. But also... not at all good enough for her daughter. Maybe it was because Brianna had watched the kid grow up alongside her son, and it was hard to separate that boy from the boy Phee was now apparently dating. Brianna barely gave any acknowledgment to the question but for a quirk of her brow, because her mind was working over what this meant and... oh boy, James probably wouldn't like this one bit. His darling baby girl and Greg Wheeler. "When did this happen?" Brianna asked, not wanting to completely lose her shit and push Ophelia away. That wouldn't be proper parenting at all, and James was the one who usually fucked things up by losing his temper. Brianna was determined to maintain a semblance of calm so she could figure out exactly what this meant. "Does Sebastian know?"
Brianna wasn’t smiling with approval anymore, and it made Phee want to squirm. She was determined not to, though. If she was going to get anywhere, she had to go about this like a mature person. She sat up a bit straighter without thinking about it and pulled her fidgety hand into her lap to stop it. “I dunno ... a couple of weeks ago?” she said, giving a little shrug like it was no big deal and she didn’t know exactly how many hours it had been since they’d first kissed. “We started really talking at the uh, the Halloween party, and it’s just ... gone from there.” They’d done much more than talk at Victoria’s party, but her mom didn’t need to know that. “But yes, Sebastian knows. He’s cool with it.” Phee was pretty sure he was still cool with it, anyway. It wasn’t like all three of them had really hung out together yet, so maybe it would turn weird, but she liked to think it wouldn’t.
A couple of weeks. Brianna's first thought was that Greg was using her, because that's what teenage boys did. That's what men did. She suddenly wanted to drag Phee to her room and lock her in forever because sooner or later her daughter would have to experience exactly what men did to women on a daily basis, and there was the intense need to protect her from it. But Brianna also realized how ridiculous that really was, and it was just a knee jerk reaction to Phee dating one of 'those boys'. Because Greg Wheeler was good looking and popular, like Sebastian, and she doubted he had any trouble getting laid if that was all he wanted. And he had never come across to Brianna as the kind of guy to fuck with a girl like Phee for shits and giggles. Lifting her coffee cup again, Brianna took a sip to give herself time to think about her reaction to all of this. She wasn't pleased, because Greg was not overly impressive to her, but... it could be worse. Still, there was a strange aversion to it, probably because Brianna had watched Greg grow up. Brianna licked her lower lip and set the cup down, still clinging to it with both hands. "Is he treating you well? He's not pressuring you into anything, is he? Boys that look like Greg... they can be persuasive when they want to be."
All of the quiet in between measured responses were killing her as she watched her mother’s gears turn. The hot-headed part of her wanted to overreact, to demand what was wrong with Greg, to defend him against opinions her mother might not even hold. He wasn’t actually stupid, he just sounded that way sometimes, he was really nice and sweet natured and he wasn’t a bully or anything, everybody in school liked him, he had a lot of friends that crossed cliques, all of those good things that she’d listed off ten thousand times in her head. But Phee knew that would just look crazy, so she made herself wait until her mom spoke again. Then she emphatically shook her head. “No, no, nothing like that,” she said firmly. “He’s not pressuring me at all. He’s been super sweet to me and like ... respectful and all that. We like each other.” Phee felt a little uncomfortable saying that again, like it was something Brianna wouldn’t believe without a lot of convincing.
Brianna breathed in and exhaled slowly as she turned her gaze from Phee to look out the windows. It was such a dreary morning. There was so much uncertainty at the moment, so much Brianna was concerned about. Did she really wanted Phee's love life to be one of those things? Greg was like family, which might have been why Brianna was feeling so unsure about it, and she knew if he treated Phee poorly, or broke her heart, that he would feel the full extent of her rage. And probably Sebastian's. Phee might be a bit of a wallflower, but she was not stupid. Her eyes ticked back to her daughter and her lips twitched into a small smile again. "I know I'm not making this a comfortable conversation," Brianna said. "It's just a bit strange for me. I've known Greg since before he hit puberty. He feels like extended family, in a way. I don't want you to get hurt. And I'm not saying Greg will hurt you," she added quickly, in case Phee took offense, "I just don't want any boy to hurt you. But if you like him, and he likes you... then I want you to be happy, Phee." She had no idea how James would take the news, but Brianna decided not to worry about that part yet.
Phee had known him before he hit puberty too, so she was quite aware of how weird it might seem. She could definitely remember young Greg, lanky hyperactive Greg who had helped Sebastian ambush her with water balloons and had this mad cackle that used to dig annoyance right into her spine. That had all been before his voice had changed. Maybe all that childhood animosity had some weird effect on her current attraction ... but she could see how it was probably even more weird from her mom’s perspective, watching them all grow up. So Phee could have some sympathy there. She smiled faintly back, since she knew this was just the first, easier piece of this uncomfortable conversation. At least Brianna wasn’t arguing yet, just getting used to the idea. “Thanks,” she murmured, a flush coming back into her cheeks. “So far I’m like, really happy about it.” Phee smiled a bit more naturally, kind of wishing he was there now to hold her hand through this. “Which, uh ... leads me to my next question ... can you make me a doctor appointment? To talk about, um ... birth control.” Her heart thudding wildly now, Phee gripped her pj pants under the table and braced herself.
This time her surprise was unable to be controlled. Brianna wasn't an idiot. She knew teenagers had sex. She had found condoms under Sebastian's bed and had assumed he had been sexually active for a couple of years now. But she had just been told Phee had a boyfriend, and that was still sinking in. So the birth control aspect was a bit harder to digest. "But... you said it's only been a couple of weeks," Brianna pointed out. "Phee... please tell me you're taking this slow. It's never a good idea to jump into bed with someone you've only been dating a short time." She wasn't saying no to the birth control, but god, she did not want to encourage her daughter to give her virginity to some boy she hadn't even been with a month. Brianna paused, her lips pursing for a brief moment before she added, "I made your father wait four months." A lie, but she felt like it was justified.
At least she didn’t start yelling immediately or something, it could’ve been worse, right? Phee knew she was dumping a lot on her mom at once, and it probably looked like all of this was happening really fast. She couldn’t know that Phee had been crushing and daydreaming and pining after Greg for months and months, almost a year. “Wow Mom, TMI,” she said first, wrinkling her nose a bit. She could talk about sex, but she so didn’t want any details about her parents having sex, gross. “But I am taking it slow, I’m not saying I’m gonna jump right into it as soon as I like, take the first pill or whatever. It takes a while to start working anyway, right? And Hannah Welch says it’s made her periods a lot better, and you know how mine are really heavy? So it’s for like, other benefits too. And when I am ready, I wanna be like ... ready, you know? You want me to be safe, right?” She shrugged again and dropped her eyes to the newspaper, one hand sneaking back up to make tiny tears in the edges. “If it’s Greg or ... somebody else.” It wouldn’t be though, because nobody else would want her that way, and if-slash-when Greg left, she would die a lonely old virgin with ten cats if she didn’t take the plunge while she could. That was how it felt, anyway.
Brianna rolled her eyes slightly at Phee's aversion to hearing about she and James. Maybe her daughter wasn't as 'mature' as she liked to pretend. "I only told you how long he had to wait. I didn't come anywhere close to TMI," she said, nudging Phee lightly under the table with her foot. Then she sighed and tapped her manicured nail against her coffee mug. "Look, I understand the benefits of being on birth control. I know teenagers are going to have sex, regardless of what their parents want. And I'm not saying no. But you have to promise me that you'll take your time and wait until the time is right, okay?" As much as Phee didn't want to think about James and Brianna having sex, Brianna really wasn't on board with knowing that her daughter would most likely lose her virginity to Greg Wheeler.
Phee did not expect to be winning so easily. She looked up at her mom’s face with some cautious optimism. Brianna didn’t seem hysterical or even upset, and she’d said she wasn’t saying no. That was almost a yes! “I promise,” she said, trying not to sound too eager about it, but she couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll be careful and I’ll think about it a lot before it happens and stuff, I just ... I don’t wanna have to worry when the time comes. So ... thanks for ... thinking about it?” She squinted one eye and looked a little questioning. Brianna hadn’t explicitly said yes, after all, Phee supposed her mom would get back to her with an answer. “And can we like, keep it between us?” she added in a lower voice. “The birth control part, at least. I don’t want Daddy to freak out or anything.”
If Brianna knew Phee wouldn't be having sex if she said no to the birth control, she would have absolutely said no. Despite when Brianna lost her virginity, she still felt that Phee was too young. But she knew that it wouldn't matter if Brianna forbade her daughter from having sex with her boyfriend. It would happen if they wanted it to happen and the very last thing Brianna wanted was for Phee to get pregnant at her age. Brianna had no desire at all to become a grandmother right now. Or in the foreseeable future. "Even with birth control, he needs to still use a condom," Brianna told her firmly. "Every time." Maybe she could get Dr. Francis to show Ophelia pictures of what STDs looked like. Just to drive home how important it was to be protected in every sense of the word. "I won't tell your father. If he finds out, we'll just tell him it's to regulate your cycle. I'm...not sure how he'll take the fact that you're dating Greg Wheeler, but... he'll just have to deal with it, I suppose."
Phee knew the safeest thing was condoms too, but she was pretty sure Greg didn’t have anything, and once she was covered on the baby front ... but she nodded agreeably anyway. Moms had to say that. And maybe she could talk him into getting STD tested and all. Her shoulders sagged with relief when Brianna said she wouldn’t tell James, and she smiled at her mother again. They’d never really had a ‘don’t tell dad’ sort of closeness before, and she admittedly kind of hoped this might help that a little. It was firmly in the realm of Girl Stuff, and that was almost all they had in common, as far as Phee could tell. “Thanks Mom,” she said, and it was sincere. She had worried that this would turn into a fight, and she was so glad it hadn’t. As for her father ... well, he would deal with it, because dating Greg made Phee happy, and that was just that, in her mind. “And just so you know, this was all my idea, not his. He was like, totally nervous about me telling you we’re even dating,” she added with a little laugh. “He knows you guys are protective.”
In Brianna's mind, she was imagining Phee's birth control failing and horrible things happening from there. But chastity belts were probably frowned upon this day and age so she had to just trust that her daughter would be smart about this. This might have been something Brianna talked to James about, because as parents they should be on equal footing when it came to the lives of their children, but this was sensitive and frankly, she wasn't sure James would really understand. Or maybe he would. Sometimes he still managed to surprise her. But Phee asked for discretion, so Brianna would keep quiet for now. She eyed Phee and smirked softly before lifting her coffee again. "I wouldn't have been upset if this was his idea, Phee. At least then he would show he wants to make sure you two are being safe. That's the important thing."
Hell, for all Phee knew, Greg might insist on condoms every time too. She kind of doubted it, because wasn’t it supposed to feel way better without? But she would find out, she guessed. If he’d never had sex without one, she kind of wanted to give that to him, since he was giving her so many awesome new experiences. But that would be pretty impossible to explain to her mother, so she wasn’t going to try. That was theirs. “Oh he does,” she said. “He just didn’t want it to look like, too fast or anything. But he’s going at my pace, I promise, and I’m not rushing it.” Brianna would probably disagree, but she wasn’t in Phee’s head or body, so ... it wasn’t up to her. Phee could be just as stubborn as her brother. This was what she wanted to do, and the only other person’s opinion that really mattered to her was Greg’s.
It was fast, if you asked Brianna. But teenagers tended to think a month long relationship somehow equating to forever. "I get it," Brianna said. "You're being more responsible than most girls your age, so..." How could she be upset about that? No, she didn't really want her sixteen year old daughter sexually active, but... it was out of her hands but for this part. And honestly, Brianna was happy enough that Ophelia actually came to her for this, rather than trying to get birth control elsewhere. Knowing what her daughter was doing help Brianna feel like maybe she wasn't completely failing at this parenting thing after all. "We'll make an appointment for this week, after school."
That was a yes, and Phee beamed at her mother. She probably shouldn’t be so psyched about having to go talk to a doctor about getting no-baby pills, but she was. It was like a step forward somehow, a growing up thing. She got up and circled around the table to wrap her arms around Brianna’s shoulders. “Thank you,” she murmured again, and kissed her cheek. Now, as long as her father was chill about her dating Greg, everything would end up okay. Phee knew she should probably be the one to tell him, she just had to find a good opportunity. For now though, she probably ought to get out while the getting was good, so she gave Brianna a squeeze and let go, then moved to grab her juice and banana. “I’m gonna go shower,” she said with a little smile. And text Greg, of course.
It had been a long time since she had a decent conversation with her kids, but even longer since one of them voluntarily showed her affection. Brianna knew it was because she had relented by giving Phee something she wanted, but it was still nice, especially after Sebastian's dramatics lately. Smiling faintly, Brianna patted Phee's arm until her daughter pulled away. With a small nod, Brianna picked up the newspaper with one hand again, ready to get back to enjoying her morning coffee. Or at least enjoying it as much as she could, knowing her youngest child was about to go on contraceptives. James would find out eventually, but Brianna couldn't help but hope they had some time before that conversation had to take place.