When Everything Changes

Chapter 2

Heyyyy, regardless of whether or nah you decide to read this chapter, you should totally check out the song in the window thing above this message ^^^ it's rad. Anyway, enjoy!

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When faint morning light shone through the curtains, I was still awake. Sighing, I get out of bed, knowing, despite how long I'd been laying there, I wasn't going to get any sleep. I grabbed my comforter and headed for the living room. Surely an early morning episode of Roseanne will cheer me up. The Conner family is full of laughs, which is exactly what I need right now. Turning the volume down to a low level, I wait for the rest of the house to liven up. Glancing at the clock, I see that that won't be for a while because it's only 6:30, and the earliest anyone wakes up in this house is 10.

I'm in the middle of the episode where Darlene first meets David when my stomach starts growling. I remember I didn't eat dinner last night, so I make my way into the kitchen to look for something to eat.

I open the cabinets, but they're basically empty. Opening the fridge, I see there's not much in there either. Sighing, I close the fridge and grab an old apple from the fruit basket on the kitchen table.

"Good morning, Alyce!"

Turning around, I see Emily, dressed in a blue button-up blouse tucked into floral crème-colored palazzo pants.

"Hey, Em! You look pretty." I tell her, and she does. Her dark brown hair is pulled into a loose braid, and despite the winter cold, she looks warm and glowing.

"Why, thank you! That's very sweet to say to an old woman." She tells me, smiling brightly.

"Please, 34 is not old! Plus, you go to bed at 2 am and sleep in until 11 most days. I don't know any 'elderly' people that do that regularly." I tell her. She laughs at that.

"Speaking of which," I continue, "I'm surprised you're up so early, it's only 9."

"Yeah, yeah, me too." She sighs. "I have to be at the restaurant in thirty minutes to meet with the district manager."

"Mhm, sounds important." I say.

"It must be if she's making me get up at this ungodly hour on a fucking Saturday." She mutters.

I laugh, "Em, has anyone ever told you, you have quite the potty mouth?"

Emily blushes. "Sorry, Alyce. I'm trying to stop for the kids. Sometimes I can't control myself, it just comes out. It didn't seem like such a problem before they learned how to parrot me." I laughed at that, remembering the time Avery heard her mom say 'ass.' She taught Axel and it took two weeks to get them to stop screaming it every time they went out.

Shaking my head, I tell her not to worry about it. "The twins are going to hear it everywhere else. Even from me."

Looking at me sternly, Emily says, "You'd better not. It took two weeks to get Axel to stop saying 'hell' after you let it slip the last time you were here with you par--" she stops herself, as she realizes who she's about to mention. "Oh, Alyce, I'm sorry."

Ignoring it, I simply wave her off and say, "C'mon, hell isn't a real curse word. It's so innocent!"

Chuckling nervously, Emily stares at me and says, "Yeah, well, don't make it a habit. I don't want my kids speaking like sailors, regardless of whether they're 'real curse words' or not."

"Noted." I tell her, laughing. "By the way, grocery shopping should definitely be on your to-do list."

Opening the cabinets and the fridge, she curses again. "Oh, right, I was supposed to go last night."