silly red sheet, part 3

September 2083 - Aurora Miguel and Adrian Jackson are 51. (Beau and Tyler Jackson and Evie Bachman are 20, Summer Phoenix is 19.)

* soundtrack: "Superman," by Five for Fighting. *

There have been plenty of girls in and out of this house, and in any family, it's an easy enough mistake to make, the question of what to call your boyfriend's mother?

She prefers Aurora, for the record, as Summer always called her. Or even "mom," as April has boldly called her for the past seven years, is just fine. But anything else gets tricky, as Evie quickly discovers.

"Thanks for having me over for dinner, Mrs. Jackson," Evie says.

It's certainly not the first time she's been mistaken for the actual wife of her longtime live-in lover. But tonight, maybe the word hits Aurora harder than it should.

"Oh, no, it's just Ms. Miguel," Aurora says. "And you can thank Adrian for dinner, he does all the cooking around here."

"Oh," Evie says, shrinking back behind her place setting and digging her head into her pork chops. Beau sits beside her, wide-eyed and cringing at his obvious failure to share even the most basic family details with his longtime girlfriend. She and Beau have been dating on and off for most of the past five years, and likewise, his parents know almost nothing about her either.

They manage to finish the rest of their meal with little more conflict, except the lingering tension at the table which kills any hope of dinnertime conversation.

Later, she and Adrian go out to sit in the hot tub, to let Beau take care of putting dinner away. She doesn't mean to be cold, as she sits stiff and stares off into the night. She's just thinking. Ms. Miguel - what does that even mean to her anymore? Maybe there was too much angst in her voice when she said it, because she knows Adrian noticed her tone. They all did. All these years she was proud to make that difference, but tonight she isn't so sure anymore.

"You don't like that girl," he says.

"No, she's fine," Aurora says. "That's not it."

"I like his other girlfriend too, that cute little blonde one."

"You would," she says, splashing him and laughing. "You dirty old man."

He is getting older, with the back aches, with the grey in his hair. He suspected it, when she told him she didn't want to see other people anymore, but he never would have assumed. It felt flattering. She's a beautiful woman, and not just in his eyes, but anyone's. And here she's chosen him, and only him, this dirty old man, for all this time. When she had permission to indulge, and she hadn't in almost the whole time they've been a family.

He slides over to her side of the tub, still able to move with charm in the water, even despite his aching back. She didn't mean to change everything when she told him she wasn't planning on seeing other people anymore. But once it was said, it couldn't be taken back. "So you really don't want to anymore?"

"I don't need to," she says.

"Eh, you know I'm too old to get around like that anymore too," he says. "And you know, it's not fun if I'm the only one doing it." She only smiles at him as he goes on. "And I don't really need to anymore either."

Inside, Beau is finally getting around to clearing off the remains of the dinner table. All night, Evie sat with her back to the wall, and now that they've finally gotten up, she's able to see the pictures hung in the dining room.

"You went to prom with April."

"Um, yeah," he says.

"I didn't know," she says.

"Of course you did," he says. "You were there."

"I mean, I know you went together, but I didn't realize you dated her."

"So what, you went with that big-nosed blond-haired dude. Did you ever get with that loser?"

"No, I didn't," she says. "Maybe I should have."

"What the hell is that about?" he shouts. "I was just kidding."

"You slept with her," she says. "Didn't you?"

"April? I never did while we were together."

It's not a lie. But she can see that it's something of a mistruth. He never cheated on Evie, but he also never told her how involved he and April were, for a time. In all the spaces before Evie and after her, there is April, and the aftermath of their whole twisted non-relationship.

"But before," Evie says. "Of course she was your first. It makes so much sense now. You're just too close, it just doesn't work. And then the apartment?"

"We invited you to move in," he says.

"With her? Live with you, and with her, like a happy little family or something? Beau, don't you realize that you're in love with her?"

"I am not in love with her, she's my best friend. Of course I care about her. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, whatever it is, or isn't," she says. "It's too much for me. I liked you a lot, Beau. But this-" She moves her hand from his chest to hers in the space between them. "It's just not working. It keeps not working. I don't think we should try anymore."

"Wait," he says.

He reaches out to her, just short of her, waiting for her to complete the circuit. "We can try differently this time," he says.

She doesn't move. The radio is screeching some commercial for used cars in the background and her eyes are glassy like this actually pains her. She shakes her head. "No, please don't do that, please just let this go."

His arms fall to his side.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he says. "Best goddamn day of my life."

She tilts her head to the side, considering him with pity. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime," she says.

Then she goes.

***

At the International Lunar Base, Tyler has been trying to reach someone for days, when it's only days he has left before he ships out. She keeps a busy schedule, it seems, or at least they've been missing each other, between her classes and his training.

"It's so good to hear from you," Summer says, sighing into the phone. "I didn't think you were going to call."

"Why wouldn't I call?"

"Or I didn't think you'd be able to," she says.

"I made time," he says. "I'm skipping my free hour of darts in the common room, but this is worth it."

She giggles on her end of the phone. In his mind, he can see her smile perfectly. "I hope you're being careful," he says.

"Me?"

"Sure," he says. "There are some rotten guys in college."

"I'm fine," she says.

"God, you're in college now," he says. "There was so much I wanted to show you."

"Like the pub?" she says, laughing.

"Yeah," he says. "And there's this spot behind the study abroad offices where you can sneak back into the forest and make out."

"You can show me when you get back," she says.

"I never even got to ask you what you're majoring in," he says.

"I don't know," she says. "I don't even know where to start!"

"I know. Who knows, right? I had no clue."

"I miss you," she says.

"I miss you too, he says. "I just wanted to talk to you, before I head out. To say goodbye, and you know, I love you."

"I love you too," she says.

*******

(footnotes: part 1 // part 2 // that prom // the vacation weekend // dude, help?)

notes: ah-ha! The culmination of a three-part story that took me a whole month to write! Or well, it was everything else, I suppose, that took up my time and made this story take a whole month to write, lol!

So Aurora did roll that marriage want again, and this time I locked it. I don't know how soon Adrian will get with the program, but they're clearly in no hurry ;)

And Evie... she said pretty much all she has to say. I feel her wanting to date other people. Beau is the only guy she's ever been with, and it's just too much work with not enough reward. (Evie is pleasure/family, by the way.) She was very fond of him though.