Tiffany and Audrey were lazing about in Tiffany’s apartment. They were cuddled up, looking through social media together.
“Hey! Look! It’s Nik!”
Tiffany stopped at an artist’s page.
“Bluebirds64…whoa!”
Tiffany was surprised. It looks like Nikki’s job change had turned out well, extremely well in fact. The page had amassed several million followers. The page had an array of artworks, as well as some pictures of Nikki and her girlfriend.
“Huh. Same girl. Lucky.”
“Look, Tiff. There’s a link to her YouTube. I wanna see what kinda content she makes.”
Tiffany goes to her YouTube channel where she found some animations with surprisingly good quality considering Nikki had been animating it by herself.
“This looks like studio level animation! She really grew up to be something special, huh?”
“…and I was the one telling her to “go exist or something”…”
“Really bit your words there, didn’t you?”
“Yeah…I wonder if she still remembers us?”
“Audrey, she’s the one who brought you to the rehab center. I don’t think she would’ve even noticed if you were just some stranger to her. She recognized me when she brought you into my office too.”
“Yeah, but…she’s famous now or something. Surely she’s got new friends, right? Surely she’s made more memories with them than memories she had with us…”
“Come on, let’s put a little bit of trust in her, alright?”
“What do you mean?”
Tiffany navigates back to Nikki’s art collection page and decides to message her.
- Hey! Don’t know if you still remember us, but it’s Tiffany and Audrey! Was hoping we could maybe meet up and catch up together?
“Tiff, there’s no way she’s gonna see that, let alone respond.”
“We’ll see.”
A notification sound is heard.
- I still remember, don’t worry. That sounds good, you alright with 12 PM Nutmeg Café tomorrow?
“Told you. She’s still a night owl.”
“Well, that’s nice to know.”
- My girlfriend wants to come. That okay?
- That’ll be great! More the merrier.
“Ready to meet her?”
“Absolutely not. Why is she blue?”
“Cosplay.”
“Ohhh…wait how do you know?”
“We met more than a decade ago.”
“Really?! Why didn’t she introduce me?”
“Audrey, you were kind of a dick to her back then.”
“Oh…right.”
“Well, now’s your chance to show her you’ve changed.”
Tiffany turns the phone off, and they cuddle to sleep.
—————
Nikki arrives at the Cafe a few minutes early. There’s a new menu item Celeste had wanted to try, but it always ran out after the lunch rush.
“How’s the peach cobbler?”
“I have had better.”
She’s gonna take that as “overrated”.
She looks out at the entrance, and spots a blonde and a redhead.
“Oh. They’re here.”
They approach Nikki’s table.
“Hey Nik!”
“Tiff! Great to see you!”
“I’m glad you could make time for us.”
“Well, my job is to draw on a tablet at home, so my schedule isn’t really packed.”
They sit down.
Audrey is a bit embarrassed after remembering how she used to treat Nikki, but she decides to take this chance to try making amends.
“Hey, Nik…”
“Audrey…you look…different.”
Her hair isn’t the same bright red, it’s more of a faded, calming crimson. Her choice of clothing wasn’t as flashy as before, being much more casual. Nikki thought it made her look more mature.
“I know…really fell from grace, didn’t I?”
“No, you look more mature. I like it.”
“Thanks…you look really good yourself.”
Nikki had grown her hair out, and started dressing in nicer looking clothes after she started making more money and could afford higher-end clothes that looked good, but were still comfortable.
“Yeah…things get a lot better when you start making more money. Oh, yeah! This is my girlfriend, Celeste.”
“Yeah! You’re real lucky, Nik. Over 10 years and still going, huh?”
“Greetings. I believe we have met once, Miss Tiffany?”
“Oh! You still remember me! I’m flattered. This is Audrey. Come on, introduce yourself.”
“Hi…”
“Yeah…she’s that other friend I used to mention.”
“You used to speak of her in a negative light.”
“Okay….Celeste, you weren’t supposed to say that.”
“Nah, it’s fine. I…was a jerk to you back then. I’m…really sorry about that, I hope you can forgive me, and we can start from square one maybe.”
“Yeah, I forgive you. Somehow, I think you’ve changed.”
“She has, don’t worry.”
Tiffany grabs Audrey’s hand to reassure her.
“Anyhow, it’s nice to meet you, Miss Celeste.”
“The pleasure is mine. We can drop the formalities, just Celeste will suffice.”
“Alright then, Celeste.”
“I already ordered for you guys. Just got the stuff you used to get every time you came here. Hope your tastes haven’t changed.”
“Aww! You still remembered such a small detail!”
“Yeah. I didn’t…and still don’t really have many friends.”
“So…why’d you pick this place? You used to work here, right? Don’t you get bad memories or something?”
“I don’t really care about the past, and Celeste likes the pastries here.”
“They’re quite delicious when you buy them right after they are baked.”
Tiffany decides to congratulate Nikki on her success.
“So…Nik, you’re famous now. Congratulations!”
“Not THAT famous…only like 2 million followers. There’s people with like 20 mil, even 50 mil.”
“2 million is still a lot of people.”
“I guess so. Yeah. I AM pretty famous.”
“How’d you do it?”
“I just decided to post some artwork one day. People liked it. Went full time after growing a following.”
Audrey grew curious.
“Didn’t you hate attention back then?”
“Oh. Wrong kind of attention. You see, Audrey, the attention you wanted me to experience was people wanting me. The attention I have now is people appreciating me and what I do.”
“Oh…”
Tiffany tries to take the focus away from Audrey. Talking about her past could be a cause of stress that she wanted to eliminate.
“How about Celeste? What does she do?”
“I hunt down criminals and deviants.”
“So you’re a police officer?”
No, not really. She’s more of an assassin. Celeste tries to correct Tiffany.
“N-“
Nikki nudges Celeste with her elbow and flashes an OK hand sign at her, which she taught Celeste to mean “Just say yes”.
“Yes. You are correct.”
Yeah, killing people is not a very popular activity around here. Even criminals have the right to a fair trial on Earth. Celeste does not agree with Earth’s justice system, seeing as how many innocents are jailed, and how many of the guilty are acquitted, but it is not her business, so she will not intervene.
Audrey is impressed by the fact that Nikki had somehow scored a police officer lady when they were still in college, judging by what Tiffany had told her.
“Your girlfriend is a badass!”
“How about you, Miss Tiffany?”
“I treat people with mental diseases.”
“You mean…insane people?”
“No, more like…”I wanna kill myself” people.”
“I see… it is much harder to treat a wound of the heart than a wound of the flesh. You have my praise.”
“Thank you, Celeste.”
With all the talk about professions, Nikki wonders what Audrey had been up to.
“You know…I’m kinda curious. Audrey, what’s your job?”
Nikki just thought about what she asked.
‘Wait a minute…I found her passed out on the ground on drugs a few months ago…does she even have a job?’
“I’m a…house…wife.”
“Your lying.”
“I’m…not.”
“So…you’re married?”
“Not yet. Just dating.”
“Dating who?”
“Dating me.”
Nikki takes a few seconds to process.
‘Tiffany and Audrey…Tiffany…and Audrey…what.’
“You and Audrey are dating?!”
“Yeah.”
“Huh. Did not expect that. No offense, Tiffany was focused on school, and you were always out partying instead of doing your homework. Just seems a bit odd.”
“She’s changed since you brought her to the rehab center.”
“Yeah. Promise, I’m not like before anymore. No more parties.”
“You must be real good at your job then, huh Tiff.”
“Yeah…she is, isn’t she?”
Nikki found that line suspicious.
‘That is not an Audrey line. Or like, would not have been an Audrey line. Guess she really did change. Cannot believe the transformation. Tiffany is a goddamn miracle worker.’
“Well…I’m happy for you two. Congratulations. Since when?”
“Few months ago. A while after you brought her to me.”
“I see.”
Nikki deciding to haul Audrey to rehab turned out pretty well, it seems.
“So…how’s the couple life going for you guys?”
“Well, in the morning we spend some time together, eating breakfast, and then I go to work. I get home at 7 and then we spend the rest of the night together until 11. On weekdays, we go on a date.”
“Audrey stays in your house all day?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought you liked going out and having fun?”
“Just like you, wrong kind of staying in place. I thought staying in place was boring and just doing some mindless thing like playing games all day.”
“Hey!”
“But…waiting for someone to return to you is a completely different thing.”
“Yeah…I can relate to that. Celeste is out of country for a few days per week.”
“I thought she was just a police officer?”
“…international police.”
“Ohhh…”
Tiffany gets curious about Nikki and Celeste’s home life.
“So how about you and Celeste?”
“When I return from my ventures, I return to a shining sapphire, and the warmest home. Every moment from then on is spent in her pleasant company.”
“What do you guys do together?”
“I watch her make artworks, we play her video games, we cuddle, we kiss, we make lo-“
Nikki covers Celeste’s mouth with her hand. Nikki is very much blushing.
“Too much, Celeste. Too much.”
Audrey’s old mischievous side resurfaces.
“I bet she doms you.”
Nikki’s face grows even more red.
“Yeah? Well I bet Tiffany doms you!”
Audrey becomes flustered at the retaliation. Tiffany gets embarrassed as collateral damage.
“Alright, you two, let’s stop talking about our sex lives…”
They talk more, and catch up on all the events that had transpired during their time separated. Nikki had noticed that Audrey had a softer tone of voice, and was less harsh with her words. She had definitely matured, and she liked the change. She figured that Tiffany had played a huge part in changing Audrey for the better. Audrey had noticed that Nikki was more expressive, didn’t hide from conversations, and seemingly got out of her shell. She was glad Nikki had grown up from the shut-in she once was, and she thinks that Celeste definitely had a part in it.
Audrey was very interested in Celeste’s life, as the things she was describing were completely out of the ordinary. Nikki was a bit worried that Celeste’s excessive sharing of her experiences would out the big secret that she was an alien. Tiffany was congratulating Nikki once more on her long lasting relationship, which was more than Tiffany could say she had in her college years.
“It’s been over 10 years! You guys must already be married, right?”
“Uhm…no…the world is not ready for…us.”
‘Celeste has no record on Earth. Public events like that are not a good idea.’
Tiffany had slowly grown suspicious over their conversation.
They finish catching up and leave the café. Audrey ask’s Celeste about her job, finding the prospect of flying around the globe to catch criminals a pretty exciting profession, not knowing that she wasn’t just flying around the globe, she was flying across the entire universe.
Tiffany and Nikki are ahead.
“So Nikki…”
“Yeah?”
“Celeste isn’t a police officer or anything is she?”
“O-of course she is, w-what makes you say that?”
“Nik, I have a PHD in psychology. Every single time you speak hesitantly when it comes to Celeste, I know your lying.”
“Tiff, come on…why would I lie?”
“Hmm…is it maybe because…she’s an alien?”
Nikki looks mortified.
“Ahahaha! Just kidding…Nikki?”
Nikki’s expression is damning.
“Nikki…your not being real right now, are you?”
Nikki’s face shies away.
“Oh my god. That’s…you know what, I understand. She probably isn’t ready to reveal the whole extra terrestrials stuff to people, maybe that’s why you didn’t want me to know. I won’t tell anyone, promise. How’d you two meet anyway?”
“I…kinda just stole some weird metal thing she dropped.”
“What.”
“Yeah…”
Tiffany giggles.
“So that’s why she speaks so weirdly…you conspiracy theorists…no wonder your first girlfriend was an alien.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I didn’t expect you and Audrey though. What happened?”
“Well, she wisened up after you dragged her to rehab. She needed someone to support her, and she was kinda cute, so I went out with her.”
“Cute?”
“Yeah. Not the cute your thinking of, the flashy, in your face kind of cute she used to be. The really adorable kind of cute, you know?”
“Understandable.”
“You changed your number yet? I wanna keep in touch. This was nice.”
“Yeah, it was. Especially now that Audrey is less…bitchy. Changed my number a long time ago. Here.”
Nikki and Tiffany exchange contact info.
“Audrey! Come on. Let’s go home.”
“Aww…I wanna hear more stories of Celeste kicking somebody’s ass!”
“I will tell you more the next time we meet, then. For now, I wish to spend time with my love.”
“I wanna spend more time with her too. See you guys.”
Nikki and Celeste head home.
“That went awfully well.”
“Hmm?”
“I expected her to still hate me.”
“Hey, you’re a different person now. She probably recognized that.”
“Yeah, but still…”
“Audrey, Nikki hated you because you were real pushy back then. Now, you’re different, you’re less…aggressively trying to make her socialize. She can see that the old Audrey is gone.”
“I guess…”
“Come on! Let’s go get ice cream!”
Tiffany drags Audrey to the nearest ice cream shop. One of the reasons Audrey loves Tiffany is because, somehow, she always knows the right things to do or say to cheer her up. Maybe it’s just Tiffany being Tiffany, or maybe it’s because she can read her mental state or something
Whatever it is, it’s convinced Audrey to calm down, at least for now.
—————
“Your friends were pleasant company.”
“Yeah. We go way back.”
“Tell me about your youth.”
“Well, honestly it wasn’t really that “friendly” between the three of us back then. I stayed in my room all day if I wasn’t at work. Tiffany had her head in the books all the time, and Audrey went out partying and getting high 24/7. Even tried dragging me along several times. It wasn’t as pleasant.”
“Then…how did your friendship survive until now?”
“Well, not really survive…more like rekindled. I dunno, they’ve changed. I changed too. I think…we grew up. Things can get pretty wild when you’ve just turned into an adult. Some go out and enjoy their youth, others keep away from the noise, and some would rather make sure their future is secure. We all live that life differently.”
“And now?”
“Now?…Well…now we’re done with it. With living the youthful life. We aren’t young anymore, that’s for sure. We’re more…rational. We think about stuff more carefully. We realize “Hey maybe doing too much drugs, or staring at a screen all day every day could be bad for us.” or maybe “You know, this whole studying 24/7 isn’t gonna turn out to be a happy life.” and so…we just understand each other. We understand that we all had different plans, and it all led here, and we’re looking at each other like “Hey, so that’s how your young life turned out.” and in the end, we’re content with how we ended up. That’s all that matters.”
“I love that deep, intelligent side of you.”
Nikki is flustered.
“Huh?”
Celeste pounces at her.