Work Text:
“Kristy.”
“Still here.”
“…Okay. Are you going to open the door?”
“Nope.”
“You’ve been in there for ten minutes.”
“Really? Like, ten exactly or ten approximately?”
“Kristy, come on. Are you going to tell me why you ran off?”
“Lemme check. Huh. Interesting. No.”
“Kristy, this is childish.”
“Oh, so you think I don’t know I’m being childish? Piss off, Dawn.”
“Fine. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Toodles.”
•
When Dawn returns to the kitchen, Claudia’s still there working her way through the same bowl of oatmeal she was eating ten minutes ago when Dawn chased after Kristy up to the guest bathroom. Claudia’s tablet—with the unfinished portrait of Kristy considering a box of oatmeal in her hand—sits ignored by her elbow.
“This is such a weird food,” Claudia says. She draws a line through the oats and watches as the substance slowly folds in together again. “I swear. It’s, like, doubled in size since I started eating. Is there a phobia of oatmeal? There’s gotta be. I think I have it.” She licks her spoon clean and makes a more complicated sketch in the oatmeal. It, too, is swallowed up.
Under normal circumstances, Dawn might have something to say in response, but she just spent all her energy trying to talk Kristy down from whatever made her so upset, so instead she drops down onto a stool and sulks about her failure. By nature, Dawn isn’t a sulker, but the sheer turbulence of dealing with Kristy Thomas in a funk can wear away at a person until their most unexpected and least flattering sides show through.
Claudia smiles across the island counter with sympathy. “She’s still upset, huh?” she says.
Dawn answers by burying her face in her folded arms and groaning.
“We all warned you not to date,” Claudia cheerfully reminds her.
Dawn sighs. “I know.” She rolls her head to the side and rests her cheek on her forearm. She’s very aware all of a sudden that she’s wearing Kristy’s college sweatshirt. The college Kristy hasn’t even started attending yet, but is already upstairs freaking out about. “I couldn’t help it. She’s courageous. And unique. And really cute.”
Claudia turns her tablet on the counter and nods at the angles of Kristy’s cheekbones and the shading on her neck. “She doesn’t stay still for portraits, though,” she says.
“Big character flaw,” Dawn agrees.
•
When Claudia goes home twenty minutes later, Dawn stands at the foot of the stairs and peers up at the closed bathroom door.
“Kristy?”
“Yo!”
Dawn doesn’t bother stifling her grin. Kristy’s in a bizarre mood, but it’s pretty endearing.
“Do you want to make dinner with me?”
“Nope! Good in here! Thanks, though!”
From the distracted tone of her voice, Kristy has her phone on her, so she’s probably going to be able to entertain herself until her hunger surpasses her stubbornness.
Probably sometime in their thirties.
If anyone could find a way to survive in a locked room for twenty years on willpower alone, it’s the girl Dawn loves.
So, not so hungry herself either, Dawn sprawls on the sofa and thinks really hard about doing her homework.
Mary Anne’s text arrives within minutes.
[Has she come out yet?]
[You know what I mean]
[Claudia told me]
Dawn smiles and writes back, [yep she’s still in there. thinking about calling a locksmith just for the reaction.]
The beauty of it is that it’d be a double-layered joke, since Kristy has had to do the same on three separate baby-sitting occasions.
Mary Anne writes back, [omg please do it AND take video] along with a row of laughing emoji.
Then, Stacey’s name appears on the screen, and Dawn’s smile widens as she swipes the answer bubble. “Hey.”
“Mary Anne’s here,” Stacey says. “We’re at my house.”
Distantly, Mary Anne calls, “Hi, Dawn!”
Dawn says, “Hey, guys,” and waves with just her fingertips even though neither of them can see her. “Any ideas?”
“Well,” Stacey says, “I don’t think this is something any of us can help her with.”
Mary Anne says, “I mean,” in a hushed voice like she’s concerned Kristy will overhear. “I…guess long distance relationships are really hard. She’s probably really scared about, y’know, sustainability.”
Dawn says, “I know. We talked about that. I thought we’d cleared everything up.”
The long, long silence on the other end of the call would imply that Stacey and Mary Anne are having a nonverbal meeting. Dawn waits.
“Sweetie,” Stacey says, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re dating Kristy. Kristy Thomas.”
Mary Anne helpfully interjects, “What she means is that you know sometimes Kristy says she’s fine but isn’t and then blows up later.”
“Not as much anymore,” Dawn says.
“But not never,” Stacey says.
Dawn tips her head back on the sofa cushion and sighs. “I mean, true, emotional maturity doesn’t follow a linear path, but I really thought we’d made a breakthrough the other day. I told her we’d have all this technology at our disposal to keep in touch, and neither of us is going to the West Coast or anything. It’s not like I’m going to California. I’ll be in New York and she’ll be in Vermont. We’ll be right next to each other. If there’s more to it than what we discussed, she’s going to have to tell me on her own. I can’t force her to carry her share in this relationship, and I shouldn’t have to.”
This time, the silence is longer.
“Okay,” Mary Anne says, and then, at a hushed mile a minute, “I promised I wouldn’t say anything, but I don’t want her to do something she’ll regret or die of starvation on our bathroom floor, so I’m just gonna tell you: Kristy’s thinking of breaking up with you before you move to New York because she thinks she loves you more than you love her. I told her she’s wrong, but she doesn’t believe me and you know what she’s like about abandonment stuff, and—”
“I think she’s got it, Mary Anne,” Stacey interjects.
Dawn rubs her forehead. “Kristy, Kristy, Kristy.”
“Okay, so…please don’t tell her I told you?” Mary Anne tries.
“Boat’s sailed, sweetie,” Stacey says. “You’re on the ‘beg for forgiveness’ square now.”
“Yeah, I figured,” Mary Anne sighed. “It was for a good cause though. I really love you two as a couple, y’know? You balance each other out.”
Dawn kindles the warmth from that sentiment as she climbs the stairs. Soon, the rest of her family will be home, and the atmosphere will be all wrong for the conversation that needs to be had. This fragile quiet should be used to their advantage before it’s too late.
Dawn knocks twice and says, “Mary Anne told me.”
As expected, after a calculated pause, Kristy unlocks the door.
•
Mary Anne: Do you think she’s going to murder me?
Claudia: nahhh, dawn’ll talk her down to scowling
Stacey: what set her off anyway?
Claudia: we were talking about college, and dawn was like “I’m glad I’ll be in nyc cos it’ll make traveling to see you all so much easier” and kristy was like “do you HAVE to go to nyc right away? like you’re not going to college or anything. you could come to vermont with me for my first semester” and dawn was really confused why she’d do that. so kristy got suuuuuper embarrassed and ran upstairs.
Mary Anne: Oh, Kristy. :(
Stacey: she’ll be okay <3 she has dawn
Mary Anne: I want a Dawn. :(((
Stacey: we all do
Claudia: boy dawn
Stacey: idk boys are starting to wear on me, i’d be okay with girl dawn at this point
Mary Anne: You guys know Dawn’s included in this chat, right?
Stacey: ……OH MY GOOOOOOD I THOUGHT THIS WAS OUR SINGLES CHAT
Claudia: screenshotted for my new collage, thx stace
•
Kristy has stationed herself in the clawfoot bathtub, white curtain drawn, her silhouette suggesting that she’s hugging her knees to her chest. Dawn closes the door and sits with her back to it.
“Kristy,” she says. “You know that’s not how love works, right?”
“Please tell me you’re not doing this,” Kristy says.
Dawn says, “I am,” and continues, “because communication is at the foundation and core of all strong and profound relationships. Romantic and otherwise.”
“How can something be the foundation and the core—”
“It just can.”
“That doesn’t make any architectural sense.”
Dawn smiles. “Then it’s a good thing I’m foregoing architecture as a career for the dismantlement of the world order, huh?”
Kristy makes a low sound similar to a laugh.
Dawn accepts it for what it is.
“Kristy, I know you want some kind of proof that I love you as much as you love me, but I don’t think that’s a healthy way to think of our relationship now or especially moving forward. If you’re always looking to quantify what I feel, you’re going to miss out on the real signs that things are going well.”
Dawn can sense Kristy roll her eyes. “Like what?”
Dawn hoped she’d ask. She stands up, pushes the curtain aside, and peers down at her girlfriend with soft edges. “Can I join you in there?” she asks.
Kristy, bold and fierce and forceful except when she’s not, doesn’t meet Dawn’s eyes. She keeps her chin on her knees, tucked into herself, and gives a tiny little nod.
It’s a generous tub, and Kristy’s in a more pliable mood than she’s trying to project, so it only takes Dawn a few gentle nudges to tug Kristy into her arms. Then she leans back on the slope and drops a kiss on the middle part of Kristy’s hair. The ginger smell of her conditioner makes Dawn smile. Spicy to the last, her girl.
“I’m going to New York to find a job,” Dawn says.
“We already talked about this,” Kristy says. Even though she’s allowed the cuddling, her arms are still folded over her stomach.
She’s wearing Dawn’s lavender tunic.
“I’m reiterating,” Dawn says. “Richard says going over what you’ve already discussed can allow your partner the opportunity to bring up things they might’ve been holding back the first time.”
Kristy’s nose pinches. “We’re taking relationship advice from Mary Anne’s dad?”
“And mine,” Dawn says. Stepdad, sure, but. Semantics.
Kristy exhales and wriggles up until her head can lie more securely on Dawn’s shoulder. “Okay, fine,” she says. “I don’t want to break up with you. I wasn’t going to, anyway. I just said that to Mary Anne when I was frustrated, okay?”
Dawn doesn’t have an answer ready for that. She realizes now, suddenly, that she hasn’t been sure, deep down, if Kristy does want to continue this beyond high school. They’ve been together for fourteen months, which is a long time, but…Stacey and her boyfriend dated for two years and still ended things when they’re both going to New York universities.
Kristy taps the backs of Dawn’s hands where they’re clasped over Kristy’s stomach. “Gimme one of those,” she says.
Smiling, Dawn releases one hand and holds it up for Kristy to take. Their fingers interlock, squeeze once, then rest on the well-worn hemp fabric of Dawn’s shirt covering Kristy’s stomach.
“Dawn, listen. You’re a really…stabilizing presence for me,” Kristy says. “Going to a totally new state by myself is terrifying. So…I don’t want to go without you.”
Dawn rubs her thumb over the back of Kristy’s hand. “Tell you what,” she says. “I’ll go with you to Vermont.”
Kristy turns so fast her hair whips Dawn’s cheek. “Really? It was that easy?!”
Dawn makes a show of fishing hair out of her mouth that isn’t there. “What do you mean, ‘it was that easy’? I’ll go with you and stay for your first semester. I can look for jobs in New York just as easily from Vermont as I am from Stoneybrook. I’ll just…postpone my plans for a bit.“
Kristy’s frown grows steadily more complex and disbelieving.
Dawn tips her head to one side. “What?” More like, what now?
Kristy visibly struggles to swallow, her eyes gleaming. “Just like that?” she asks. ”What’s the catch?”
Dawn says, “There’s no catch. This means a lot to you. I can find something part-time in Vermont while you’re studying. Or, y’know, get some freelance work online doing something. There’s all kinds of options, Kristy.” She reaches up and pulls Kristy down for a kiss, unsurprised when Kristy barely reacts to it. “My life plans include you. I wouldn’t promise you something like that unless I meant it, you know that.”
Inside Kristy, there’s a child waiting for a reunion and an apology that she may never get.
Dawn wants more than anything to protect that child.
After another rough swallow, Kristy says, “Thank you,” with all the dignity she can muster before she dissolves into tears.
Dawn scoops her close and says, “First rule in our new place: if either of us uses the bathroom to hide out from our feelings, we have to clean up while we’re in there. Deal?”
Kristy gives a crackling laugh against Dawn’s wet shoulder. “Deal.”
•
An hour later, Richard opens the door to the guest bathroom and confirms that Dawn and Kristy are both in the house. They’re wedged close in the bathtub, napping together with one of the ribboned towels under Dawn’s neck as a pillow and Kristy’s face hidden against Dawn’s throat.
Without so much as a second look, Richard closes the door and texts Elizabeth to let her know that their daughters are still unorthodox but very much alive.