Futures Part Six

fiction
Futures Part Five

The not a shower just a party with gifts went well Emily thought. She was sitting with Olivia watching out the sliding glass doors as Jayde and Jacob set up an outdoor playset that someone thoughtfully bought for Sophia so all of the gifts weren't for the new baby.

"Do you ever fight?"

"What?"

"Do you and Jacob ever fight?"

"You've seen us fight. You've fought with us."

"No, I don't mean before, I mean now."

"I guess it depends on what you mean by fight. Do we still disagree on things? Or do we still get mad and say awful things sometimes? The answer is yes. Though fewer and fewer of the second as time passes. We've learned the fine art of walking away for a bit. Figuratively, and sometimes literally."

"Jayde and I have never had a fight. Not ever."

"Wow. That's amazing. And thanks for getting me to admit that Jacob and I still do fight before telling me how perfect your relationship is."

Olivia laughed a little, "No, it wasn't that, it was just...that's not normal right?"

"No relationship is normal. There is never another relationship that is exactly like the one you are in because none of them are between you and your current partner. You can't even judge what is normal from your past relationships because those were between you and someone different. And you're someone different now too."

"That's deep."

"Oh stop it! It's true. My relationship with Jacob is totally different than the one I had with Kyle. Aside from Jacob actually being a really good man and Kyle being, well, Kyle. I'm also different. I grew up a lot from when I started dating Kyle to now. The me that I was when Kyle and I started dating would have driven Jacob crazy as a partner. As it was it drove him a little crazy as a friend. And Jacob would have bored me to tears as a boyfriend back then, but as a friend it was fine. We give our friends a lot more grace than we do our romantic partners."

"Are you saying you give me more grace to be awful than you do Jacob?"

"Oh hell no. You get zero slack. You're the sister I never had so you get nothing!"

Olivia laughed because it wasn't true at all. She knew that Emily always gave her the benefit of the doubt and all of the understanding in the world. Even now that she was more involved in her career and her relationship with Jayde than she was with being a good friend to Emily and godmother to Sophia, Emily would never say so. She needed to work on that.

"Okay, so now that we've established that you and Jayde are completely matched, how is everything else going?"

"Frustrating. I'm trying to help Senator James get her bill passed and we are getting blocked by that woman."

Emily knew who 'that woman' was. The rockstar turned Senator that Olivia felt was in it for the glory and not to actually help her constituents.

"Maybe she'll change her mind? Have you thought about offering her co-sponsor on the bill so her name will get mentioned? She loves that, right?"

"I thought of that but Senator James is not hearing it at all. She wants it to be her baby. I swear the power struggles are just stupid."

"See? You get enough fighting at work. Be grateful for a quiet love life."

"You're right. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Who are you calling a gift horse?" Jacob came in to the living room with Jayde.

"You think you're a gift?" Olivia asked.

"Don't say it!" Emily warned.

"Fine. I'm going to go wash my hands. Can I get anyone anything to drink on my way back?"

Emily looked at Olivia, "The art of the walk away." And they both laughed much to the confusion of their partners.