You, Me, and the Kid: A Stefanielle Story

Part 8

When the two women finally gathered for lunch it was tremendously awkward between the two. Danielle had this smug look on her face the whole time and Stefania couldn't even look her in the eyes without tearing up. They both sat there for about 12 minutes before Dani broke the silence.

"So why did you want to meet for lunch?" She said with a slight attitude towards her. Stefania sighed and finally looked up from the little table that was separating the two.

"I want to talk about what happened." She whispered enough so that she could've hear her. Danielle rolled her eyes and sat there waiting for Stefania to answer.

"Look Danielle I know your mad-"before she could finish the sentence she was cut off. "I'm more then just mad Stefania! I was and still am scared, and ...and nervous. I thought that we were going somewhere. That...That eventually we would start dating, and then move in with each other, and then eventually get married. I've been hurt enough times to know-" she stopped.

The sobs were stuck in the back of her throat begging to be let out. Her big ocean blue eyes were as watery as the ocean. Her cheeks were bright red, a bright stinging red from the tears that poured from her eyes. Stefania was looking right at her in her eyes, trying not to break contact. Her checks were red as was but not as red as the beautiful blonde sitting right in front of her. She never knew what impact this would have had on Dani. She almost didn't realize it. That no relationship just effects one person and that sometimes it was as challenging to both people, especially coming from backgrounds like theirs.

Yea, Danielle was the one who played people here and there but if you total up the times she's been hurt it was double the amount than from her hurting other people. As the two sat there looking into each other's eyes, the big baby blues looking into the honey brown eyes. And the honey brown eyes looking into the ocean eyes, it was a quiet gap between the two. Dani knew that if she continued to talk then she would breakdown in a matter of microseconds.

"I've been hurt enough times to know that people like you stand out in a crowd. That your different than the rest. That you love and...and support people differently than those who stand in the crowd blending in with the others. I thought we were going somewhere. Those things I mentioned earlier, the dating, the moving in, the getting married, I meant those. I've never told anyone that before so this should mean something to you. I told myself and my friends that you were different but I guess I was wrong." She finished.

Stefania was speechless at what Danielle said. No one has ever told her those things before, not even her own daughter, not the parts about getting married but the parts of saying how much she loved and supported other people. They both sat there some more, Danielle still had tears dripping down her face and Stefania trying her best to come up with an even response.

"Dani I'm sorry. When I saw you texted me that question I...I just froze." Stefania commented.
"It was just a question Stefania!" Danielle said holding back as many tears and sobs as she can. "If you didn't want to answer it then you could have said so instead you didn't text back for almost a week. I waited for some type of text back. Days and Days of staring at my phone thinking to my self 'What if I drove her away?' Or 'what if I went to far?' but still no response so I just gave up. Added another mark to my total of time I've been hurt."

Stefania sighed, this time Danielle was the one who had a little tears flow down her checks and Stefania was full on sobbing. They both still sitting there. The both still quiet. The both still hurt.

"It's not the fact that I didn't want to answer the question, it's the fact that when I answer it your gonna make assumptions about it and then eventually lead us to talk as much. And then I would have lost another part of me. I love you Danielle I really do. Meeting you at the mall that day, I knew we were gonna be friends and possibly more than just that. If I hurt you I truly apologize and I'm willing to give this another chance if you let it." She spoke.

Inside the blonde women's mind she knew she wanted to give this another shot. She knew that eventually one day she would ask her to be her girlfriend. It was now just a choice of 'do I except the apology or do it just say forget it'? What do I do? she thought. She's never been in this type of situation where someone was gonna fight for her. Where someone never fought this hard for something that concerns her. She looked up the table after about a minute of thinking.

"I want to try again I really do. Not from the very beginning but I would like to try again."Stefania's face lit up after hearing her say those words. She smiled, and with her smile being so contagious it made Danielle put on a slight smile.

"Danielle would you like to go on a date with me?" Stefania remarked. Danielle took some more time to think about it, but eventually she said yes. They decided to wrap up this lunch, considering it was almost time to pick Andi up from school. They both said their good byes and went their separate ways.

When Danielle finally made it home the first thing she did was storm up to her room. Slammed and locked the door. And fell onto her bed. She cried with her head buried deep inside her pillow. It wasn't the fact that she was upset and felt like she needed to cry, but it was all those sobs that we're stuck that need to come out.

She cried for so long that in the end, she had rushed to the bathroom and let go of her lunch from making herself that sick. She sat there on the side of the toilet still crying. D didn't realize that she had been crying now for about an hour until Jaina and Barrett both knocked on her door.

"What if she's sleep?" Jaina asked.
"We don't know that."
"I mean she could be. You heard the way she slammed her door."
"Yes that wasn't a normal Danielle slam. That was 'I'm going for round 2 slam"
"I agree. Well what are you waiting for...knock!"
"Why can't you knock? Your standing in front of the door."
"Because I don't want to knock. Now take your fist and knock!"
"I'm not knocking your knocking! Now take your first and tap on the door three times like a normal person!"
"Barrett!"
"Jaina!"

Danielle listened from her bathroom as the two best friends argued with each other. It brought some type of light into her and made her tears go away and smile again. She got up from the floor and went over to the door to unlock and open it.

"I'm not sleep guys." She said with a slight smile.
Jaina jumped from the fact that Danielle was standing there because she didn't hear her open the door. "Are you ok? You've been crying for 59 minutes and 45 seconds now sooo...."
"Yes Jai I'm fine." She chuckled.
"So what happened with you and Stefania?"
"I'm not going into detail but we spoke and then she asked me to go on a date with her this Friday."
The two best friends stared at her confused. Trying to piece together the puzzle.
"So you came home crying from the lunch and now your going on a date with her Friday night? Make it make sense." Barrett questioned. Danielle laughed and shut the door in their face and went back to laying on her bed.

"Wait Dani! You have to make it make sense!" Barrett screamed through the door.
"Yea please? We'll order take out! Our treat!" Jaina said following behind her.  Danielle didn't respond to them but put a pillow over her head and decided to take a nap. Quickly she fell asleep.

"Dani?" The best friend knocked.  "Dani please?" 
"See this is your fought!"
"How is it my fought?"
And the two of them continued to argue standing outside her doorway.

D.Savre: Can y'all go downstairs and argue? People are trying to sleep!

"Damn! Ok then!" They said at the same time while looking at the text message on Jaina's phone.