Caroline

Caroline was once young, too.

She knows Abigail finds it hard to believe – all that remains of her younger, wilder days is her green hair – but Caroline still remembers. She remembers the parties she attended, where she'd arrive with one partner and leave with another, the parties where she'd casually dabbled in recreational smoking, and that party, where she'd met Abigail's father.

Not Pierre. She'd met him in the library, while she was checking out mystery novels, and he was checking out books on capitalism. It was a rather dull first meeting, something that would become a pattern for the rest of their marriage.

Her party days are what led her to make the rule that Abigail hates – no sleepovers with boys, unless Caroline's there to supervise.

Abigail's told her time and time again that there's nothing more than friendship between her, Sebastian, and Sam, but Caroline's not so sure. The boys don't seem particularly interested in any of the other single girls in town, and Abigail hasn't expressed any interest in any other boys, either. It's crossed her mind more than once that Abigail might have thoughts about fooling around with Sam and Sebastian – possibly at the same time.

Caroline's had threesomes before; she knows the appeal.

Their sleepovers are, for the most part, fairly uneventful. They order takeout from the Saloon, and hole up in Abby's room for the rest of the night, playing video games, or with that damned spirit board that Abigail refuses to get rid of. They roll their eyes whenever Caroline pokes her head in the room to check in on them, and she knows there's jokes made at her expense once she leaves.

Caroline knocks on Abigail's bedroom door, for one last check-in with her and the boys before she heads off to bed.

" What , Mom?" Abigail calls back.

Caroline enters the room. "There's no need for that tone, Abby – I just came in to see if you needed anything else before bed…" she glances over at Sam and Sebastian, who seem to only have one pillow between the two of them, "boys, I could grab you an extra pillow if you want?"

"We're fine, thanks," Sebastian answers.

"Alright then," she says. It's a little odd that they're sharing a pillow - as well as the sleeping bags - but she doesn't particularly care where they sleep, as long as they're not in Abby's bed. "Goodnight." She gives them all a warm, but stern look as she moves to close the door. "No funny business, Abby."

"Yoba, Mom, how many times do I have to tell you? We're not going to have a threesome!"

This time, as she settles back into bed, she wonders why she never considered that Sam and Sebastian might actually be interested in each other, rather than her daughter.

Caroline doesn't ask Jodi and Robin outright; as much as she wants to know if Sam and Sebastian are more than friends, she doesn't want to out the boys entirely. She tries to bring it up casually, instead, hoping that one of the other moms might know more than she does.

"Have you ever noticed how close Sam and Sebastian are?" she asks, as she pours herself a cup of coffee. Jodi and Robin are gathered around her kitchen table, for their post-workout brunch, the way they do every week. "Almost… romantically close, in a way."

Jodi frowns, stabbing at a piece of pancake with her fork. "Why would you say that?"

Caroline shrugs. "They're very affectionate for two boys, you know?"

"Sam's not gay," Jodi says, firmly, "if that's what you're implying."

"I wasn't trying to imply anything," Caroline replies, backtracking quickly. "It was just a thought."

"Is it the jeans?" Jodi asks, continuing to press the issue, instead of changing the subject like Caroline hoped. "I know, he wears very tight jeans, and Yoba, he spends at least an hour every morning on his hair… but that doesn't mean he's gay."

Robin's frowning now, too, and as much as Caroline doesn't want to, she thinks she should bring up the incident that sparked the idea, before her friends think she's basing this assumption off stereotype alone. "It's just… they were sharing a sleeping bag at Abby's sleepover," she says.

Robin raises an eyebrow. "A single sleeping bag? How'd they manage to cram themselves into that?"

"No, I think they zipped theirs together," Caroline replies.

Jodi sighs. "They call it a mega-bag. It was cute when they were eleven… but now?" She frowns as she pours another dollop of syrup on to her plate. "To be honest, I thought they were all a bit old to be having a sleepover."

"It's nice that they're all so close still," Robin comments. "I worry about Sebby getting lonely. He's always locked away in his room… I'm glad Sam gets him out of the house so often."

"They were close alright." Caroline can't help but let a tiny smile slip. "They were snuggled up right against each other… it was kind of sweet."

"I don't know why they insist on sharing beds, they're definitely too old to be doing that," Jodi says with a huff. "Sam fell out of bed the other morning after they both tried to fit on one twin-sized mattress, it was ridiculous. We have a perfectly good pull-out couch in the living room!"

Robin laughs. "Sounds like he needs a bigger bed." She takes a sip of her coffee. "You know I'm always happy to do some free carpentry work for you, Jodi – you and the boys are practically family."

"Robin, please, no business talk at brunch. You know the rules." Caroline teases.

"Sam's bed is just fine," Jodi assures Robin, but then she sighs again. "Vince is probably going to need a new bed soon, though. He's just growing so fast! Thank Yoba I saved all of Sam's old clothes."

"They're all growing too fast," Robin agrees. "I can't believe Sebby's going to be twenty-three tomorrow!"

Jodi looks relieved at the change of subject. "Oh, that's right! Does he have anything special planned?"

"I think he's driving out to Zuzu with Sam," Robin replies. "He hasn't said much about it; I'm not sure."

Jodi's frown quickly returns. "Abigail's not coming with them?"

"Definitely not," Caroline says, "she's grounded after that snowman stunt." Turning to Robin, she asks, "Are they taking his motorcycle? Or are they borrowing Lewis' truck?"

"They're probably taking his bike – don't worry, Jodi, I'll make sure they wear helmets."

Jodi, despite Robin's assurance, continues to look worried. "What are they going to do in the city?"

"Sebby didn't say," Robin replies. "Dinner, maybe? They'll probably go out for sushi."

Caroline thinks back to the bits and pieces of conversation she'd overheard at dinner that night. "They mentioned something about piercings the other night… honestly, I'm a little relieved that Abby won't going with them, if that's what they're doing. Yoba knows what she'd try to get done… I've already let her pierce her ears."

Jodi purses her lips. "Sam better not be getting any. Earrings on a boy… I'm sorry, Robin, but they just look wrong, don't they?"

"I'm not a huge fan of Sebby's piercings," Robin agrees, "but I don't really mind earrings; could be worse." She takes a sip of her coffee, and then smiles. "One time, Demetrius asked him to take all his piercings out before dinner… he came to the table wearing safety pins in all the holes instead."

Caroline stifles a laugh, while Jodi looks horrified.

"I think Sam's just tagging along for food," Robin suggests. "I doubt he's getting any piercings done."

"He does wear necklaces, sometimes," Jodi says, toying with her own necklace. "The sign of Yoba I gave him, sometimes Kent's old dog tags. I could see him wanting to get his ears pierced… especially if Sebastian's there to egg him on."

Caroline thinks that Sam and Sebastian are equally good at encouraging mischief, but unlike Jodi, she has the sense not to verbalize that thought.

Robin sighs. "Sebby's not a bad kid, he's just… misunderstood." She hesitates, and then adds, "They're both adults. Even if we don't agree with their choices, we shouldn't stop them from expressing themselves, you know?"

"Look on the bright side; at least he hasn't come home with dyed hair yet," Caroline says, hoping to lighten the mood a little. "I'm always a little nervous whenever Abby decides to have a hair dying party… I thought Sebastian was going to punch something when she 'accidentally' dyed his hair pink."

"Can you imagine Sam with pink hair?" Robin laughs.

Jodi laughs too, though it's a little uneasy sounding. Quickly, she launches into the story about how she'd been concerned about the unusual, orange-y colour of Vincent's head when he was born, only to be told by doctors that it was, in fact, his hair. It's a story they've all heard before, but Caroline jumps on the opportunity to move on from the subject of Sam, and Sebastian, and their sexualities.

Abigail

Abigail swears as her cart misses the jump, and drops off the television screen. She sets her controller down, taking a moment to stretch before she restarts the game.

There's a knock on her bedroom door before she can reach for her controller again. Abigail runs through her mental list of chores, trying to figure out if there's something she forgot to do before holing away in her bedroom.

"What, mom?" Abigail yells when she hears her mom knock again. "I already did all my chores."

Her bedroom door opens, and to her surprise, it's Alex. He steps into the room tentatively, leaving the door open. "Um, hi," Alex says. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. "Is it alright if I come in? Your mom kind of glared at me when I asked if I could talk to you alone in your room…"

Abigail rolls her eyes. "Ugh, seriously? No, come in, it's cool." She pats the floor next to her. "You wanted to talk right? Let's discuss this over a game of Junimo Cart… and close the door; my mom loves to eavesdrop."

Alex shuts the door behind him, and then crosses the room to sit next to her. She hands him a controller, and he turns it over in his hands, studying it.

"You've played before, right?" Abigail asks, as she restarts the game.

"Not really," he admits. The match begins, and Alex frowns, mashing buttons on his controller at random.

"Yoba, you're worse than I am," Abigail says with a laugh. "Finally, someone I can beat; even Sam kicks my ass at this game!"

Alex crashes his cart, and groans. "Do I get another try?"

"Yeah," Abigail replies, nodding towards the top left corner of the screen. "You get three, see?" She smirks as she watches Alex out of the corner of her eye, his brow furrowed as he tries to work out the timing on the jumps.

They play in silence for a few minutes, and it's kind of nice, despite the fact that they're both terrible players. Abigail was planning on waiting until Alex got into the groove of the game before she starts springing questions on him, but he surprises her by breaking the silence first.

"I think I might be, um… a homo sa-pien?" He sounds the last word out carefully, and Abigail has to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

"I think you mean homosexual," she politely suggests, and Alex flushes bright red.

"Sorry," he mumbles, "I just wanted to use, you know… the most correct word? I didn't want to be rude." He misses his next jump, and sighs. "I suck."

"Hey, that'll come in handy the first time you get in bed with another guy." She winces as the words come out of her mouth - this is Alex she's talking to, not Sam or Sebastian. Dick jokes were not the way to go, not when the poor boy had been terrified of even saying the word 'gay' a week ago.

To her surprise, he laughs. "Wow. I, uh, wasn't expecting that when you offered to talk to me."

Abigail groans, setting her controller down. "That was a stupid joke, I'm sorry. I've been spending way too much time with Sam and Sebastian."

"It's okay," Alex assures her. "It's nice being able to laugh about this stuff."

She nods enthusiastically. "I know what you mean. It's like, you spend half your life being scared of anyone finding out who you are, and not even being able to admit it to yourself... and then you find friends you can joke about it with, and it just makes it so, so much easier to accept it."

"So you're gay, too?" Alex asks.

"Well, bisexual," Abigail corrects. "I like girls, but I also like guys, too."

Alex frowns at her. "Doesn't everybody like both? That's what being gay is, right? You like girls, but then you also like guys?"

"Okay wait, hang on… do you also like girls?"

"Yeah? But I like guys, so that means I'm gay. Doesn't it?" Alex gives her a hopeful look. "Or does that mean I'm not actually gay?"

"Alex, if you like guys and girls that means you're bisexual," Abigail explains, patiently, " and if you only like guys, that means you're homosexual." It's a little more complicated than that, but Abigail's not sure she wants to get into pansexuality, or different gender identities - Alex already looks confused enough.

"Huh," Alex says, "I never knew there was a word for people who like both."

Abigail gives him a sympathetic look. "Yeah, school's pretty fucking useless when it comes to teaching you stuff like this. Obviously it's far more important that we know that mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell."

Alex groans. "I don't even know what a mite-oh-con-dria is."

"Don't worry about it. The important thing is, now you know you're bi. Welcome to the club, dude." she grins at him. "It'll be nice having someone else to talk about cute guys and girls with." She's been getting pretty tired of just listening to Sam and Sebastian gush about one another.

He nods. "Haley talks about cute guys and girls sometimes, but I don't know if she's bi?" That's news to Abigail. "She's never said anything about it, though. Maybe I should ask her?"

Abigail feels a weird twinge of jealousy at that. She brushes it off - Alex's been friends with Haley for years, and she already has Sam and Sebastian. So what if Alex wants to talk about this stuff with his other friend? That didn't mean he couldn't talk about it with her, too.

"So, is there anyone in town you have your eye on?" she asks. "Girl, guy… supernatural entity?"

Alex shakes his head, though there's a small smile tugging at the corner of his corner of his mouth. "Not really. There's just… I don't, there isn't really anyone that I can see myself being with, you know?" He frowns, toying with the buttons on his varsity jacket. "Like, more than just a hookup. Marriage, a family… I can't imagine anyone here wanting that with me."

"I always thought you and Haley had a thing," Abigail offers. "Before I thought you were gay, that is."

"We did, sort of? In high school. It didn't really work out... we don't exactly have a lot of common interests," Alex explains.

"But you guys are still friends?"

Alex nods. "Yeah, we're still good friends. It's just if I had a girlfriend… or, um, a boyfriend, I'd want someone who would want to go to gridball games and stuff like that, right? Haley's not into that kind of stuff." He hesitates, then gives Abigail a shy smile. "Sometimes, when I'm watching the game, I let her paint my toes."

She grins back at him. "That's adorable. Sebastian lets me paint his nails, but only if I use black." Sebastian probably wouldn't be too pleased if he found out she told Alex that, but Abigail figures she deserves to have a little fun, especially after taking the fall for their prank.

"So what about you?" Alex asks. "Do you like anyone in town?"

"The new farmer's kind of cute," she admits. "Don't you think?"

"Um, yeah," Alex agrees. "I haven't talked to her much, but she brings my grandparents homemade mayonnaise, sometimes."

Abigail's a little crestfallen to hear that she's not the only one the farmer's been bringing gifts to. "Oh, she brings me amethyst from the mines. I'm kind of jealous; I've always wanted to go down there myself."

"I bet she's got some nice muscle definition," Alex muses. "All that farm work, and mining on top of that?" He hesitates, then his eyes widen suddenly. "Sorry, I'm not trying to steal your girl or anything, I promise. I'm not interested in her like that."

"She's not my girl," Abigail assures him with a laugh. "Yet, anyways." She shifts in her spot, stretching out her legs. It's tiring enough, keeping Sam and Sebastian's secret, and she's not actually sure that she's ready to come out herself. Then, there was the matter of Shane…

"I think you should go for it."

"I don't even know if she likes girls, Alex." She twirls a strand of purple hair around her finger. "I think I saw her flirting with Shane at the Saloon last Friday."

"I can be your wingman," Alex offers. "You can help me figure out this bi stuff, and I'll help you with the farmer."

He looks so pleased with himself for coming up with this plan that Abigail can't help but give in. "Sounds good," she says with a smile. "You know you still gotta apologize to my friends though, right?"

Alex nods. "Maybe if you came with me, I could talk to them today?"

"I can't; I'm super fucking grounded," she groans. "I'm surprised my mom even let you in to visit me. And Sam and Sebastian drove out to the city today, anyways. I dunno when or if they'll be back tonight."

"Oh," he replies. "I didn't know they could drive."

"Yeah, Sebastian has a motorcycle."

Alex frowns as he considers this new information. "Huh. I never would've guessed. That's kinda cool."

"Well, you could tell him that when you apologize to him," Abigail suggests. She's not actually sure that Sebastian would be willing to accept an apology from Alex, but she thinks the look on Sebastian's face if Alex told him he thought he was cool would be pretty great.

"You said you guys meet up at the Saloon sometimes, right?" Alex asks.

"Right," she agrees, "so how about I bring you the next time we meet up, when I'm no longer grounded? You don't have to stick around the whole time, just long enough to apologize.

Alex looks a bit hesitant, but he nods. "That sounds good, I guess."

"Perfect." She leans forward, and picks up her controller again. "In the meantime… my mom hasn't come in to kick you out yet, so let's see how you do with Prairie King."