Steph's Holliday Break

Dirty Little Secrets

Candace heard the sound of the front door being opened. 

"Stephanie, is that you?" She called out. 

"Hi mom. Yeah. I'm back." She replied. "I brought you some food." 

"Oh you didn't have to." Candace said as she stepped out from her study.

"Did you eat lunch yet?" Steph said when she noticed the kitchen looked the same as when she left it. 

"No. It's been back to back calls and meetings." 

"Well, I have a panini from Gianni's." Steph said holding up a brown paper bag. 

"You really didn't have to." The mother said half smiling.

"It's turkey, avocado, and sprouts... and butternut squash soup." 

"Well when you put it that way..." Candace said taking the bag from her daughter's hand. Candace opened the bag and took a deep whiff of it's contents. Gianni's was far from traditional as an Italian restaurant, but she loved their health-centric new age spin on everything. 

"What'd you eat?" She asked her daughter. 

"I had their super food salad." 

"Oooh, so healthy now." Candace was impressed.

"And fries." Steph added 

"Oh." She said feigning disappointment. "Well, you get half points for trying!" 

"I'll take it." She said giving her mom a side hug. "Anyways, sorry mom, but I'm late for a call with Victoria." 

"Okay sweetie. Tell her I say hi!" She said waving. 

"Will do mom." Steph said scurrying up the stairs. 

Steph rushed into her room and closed the door. She immediately discarded her socks and bra for comfort. She jumped into her bed in her leggings and hoodie and pulled out her laptop to call Victoria for a video call. Victoria picked up after the second or third ring. 

"Hey!" Stephanie greeted her roommate. "I'm so sorry about last night."

"Don't sweat it." Victoria replied. "It went really well... for the most part." 

"Aww I'm so glad! Fill me in!"

"Okay so I saw her pacing outside my house through my window for a while before she rang the doorbell..."

Victoria went into detail about how the meeting progressed. They had their conversation outside in her backyard to avoid the prying ears of her mother and risk having their conversation interrupted by her wrath. From being resentful to pitying the old nemesis who was bawling on her couch. Then from pity to anger and rage when she recalled the years of bullying and emotional torture she suffered from the betrayal. She was proud when she told Stephanie about how much able to unload at this point. Victoria was worried that she would either feel forced to accept the apology, or end the night feeling like there was no progress or amends. 

But much to the delight of everyone on this call, Victoria was able to maintain a balance of compassion and fairness in her emotional conversation. 

"So where are you guys at now?" Stephanie asked.

"I wouldn't say we're quite friends... but I don't hate her anymore... I think... Not sure if I've forgiven her yet... I'm kinda still processing." 

"That sounds like a good place to be at... so what was the 'for the most part about'?"

Victoria blushed at the question. "So..." She covered her mouth with her hand while looking off to the side. 

"Let's just say. Emotions weren't the only things unloaded. In that conversation." Victoria quickly said before breaking into a fit of awkward giggling.