Chapter Text
Misty, of course, still has that job.
The other woman is ecstatic to hear that Cordelia’s finally leaving her job, more than happy to take her on at the flower shop. She beams the entire time she ushers Cordelia inside and starts a kettle of water, and the sight of it has warmth flipping through Cordelia’s chest and cartwheeling down into her stomach.
(A reminder of something she’s trying to forget, but when Misty smiles, she smiles back.)
She has her explain everything, from the conversation she had with Vivien over the weekend to what her boss said to her. Misty wants to know everything, and by the end of the story, she looks about ready to burst into laughter, even if she’s doing a fairly good job of keeping it in.
“Wait, so you walked in there to quit, and instead, you got fired?” She recaps. Cordelia blinks, sputtering for half a second before managing to regain her grip.
“Well, it’s a little more complicated than that,” she protests. “She didn’t actually fire me, she just pushed me very hard into resigning.”
“And threatened to fire you if you didn’t agree,” Misty pointed out. “Delia, I think you got fired.”
“I did not!” Cordelia laughs, and Misty grins as she pours water into their mugs, sliding the other blonde’s back over to her.
“Maybe not technically, but I think it still counts.”
“Not if I was already going in there to quit!”
“If you were already quitting, why were you so miffed about her insisting you do it?”
Cordelia opens her mouth to respond, but after a moment, she shuts it again to consider her words. Misty waits with one eyebrow arched, a teasing smile on her face, and if she’s honest, that isn’t really helping Cordelia keep her train of thought on track either.
“I’m still waiting.”
“Well, it’s one thing to tell someone you don’t want them,” Cordelia explains. “It’s another thing to be told you aren’t wanted.”
Misty nods, a serious expression on her face, but it quickly grows back into a grin, as if she can’t help it. “Are you saying that you’re mad your job broke up with you first?”
Cordelia’s jaw drops open, and Misty snorts a little, as if she can’t help it. Granted, it is kind of funny, but she can’t help but feel almost embarrassed, cheeks turning the slightest shade of pink.
“Your job said ‘it’s not you, it’s me,’ and broke up with you,” Misty jokes, and Cordelia drops her face forward into her hands.
“My job broke up with me,” she mutters.
“Your job broke up with you,” Misty repeats.
Cordelia groans, and at the sound of it, Misty laughs again. “Hey, it ain’t so bad,” she says, nudging the other woman with her elbow. “At least now you get to come work for me.”
“I guess that’s a plus.”
“You guess?”
When Cordelia peeks up through her fingers, Misty is looking at her with an indignant expression, although there’s a hint of mirth that tugs at the edge of her lips, telling the other woman she isn’t upset. With a snort, Cordelia lifts her head.
“Well, it isn’t a bad deal…”
(Misty grins.)
-
The Saturday after Cordelia quits her job, she throws Zoe’s birthday party.
Well, it’s not really a party, but it is a celebration. As was requested, Cordelia invites Kyle and Misty to come bowling with them, and the two of them are more than happy to come, despite Misty telling Cordelia a few days earlier that she’s only gone a handful of times, and she isn’t sure if Kyle ever has at all. Still, it’s Zoe’s birthday, so they’re all for doing whatever she decides to do, including a sleepover that night.
Considering that they’re all going to the same place, they all ride together, packing into Cordelia’s Toyota and setting off for the bowling alley. Misty rides shotgun and, feeling generous, Cordelia allows her control of the bluetooth connection in her car that plays the music. Of course, this means that they end up listening to Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac the whole way there, but it’s not bad. It’s actually rather nice, because not only does Misty know all the words, but so do the kids, having heard all of the songs several times before, and the sound of all their voices filling the empty space in her car makes Cordelia’s chest feel warm.
(Maybe part of that also has something to do with the way she feels when she looks over and sees Misty singing along, her window rolled down and the wind ruffling her hair, but she isn’t exactly keen on admitting that.)
The bowling alley is already expecting them when they get there, due to the fact that Cordelia’s already made a reservation, and it’s a simple process of walking up to the front desk and being given a lane. Misty tries to help pay, more than once, but Cordelia brushes her off each time, insisting that she’s covering Misty and Kyle to thank them for coming.
“You don’t have to thank us for coming, though, you know,” Misty points out, as they’ve gotten their shoes and are following Kyle and Zoe over to their lane. “Kyle loves spending time with Zoe, and you ain’t half bad company yourself.”
“Oh, I’m not half bad, am I?” She repeats, but the smile that curls her lips seeps into her voice, and Misty grins, bumping their shoulders together.
“Well, I sure hope I like you at least a little,” Misty teases. “After all, I see you several times a week at this point, be pretty awkward if we didn’t get along.”
“Maybe you’re just using me for my ‘fancy tea collection’, as you’ve called it.”
As they approach their lanes, where Zoe and Kyle are already peeling off their sneakers, Misty laughs. “Your teas are nice, Delia,” she concedes. “But I like you on your own plenty.”
Butterflies swell in her stomach, but Cordelia pushes them back down. As they approach the kids, Kyle swings his head up, and opens his mouth, saving Cordelia from having to stammer for a response.
“I’ve never bowled before,” he says, glancing back and forth between Zoe, Cordelia, and Misty, looking almost nervous.
“Never?” Zoe repeats, and he shakes his head as he finishes fastening the velcro of the bowling shoes on his feet.
“I did it once when I was really little, but I don’t remember how anymore,” he explains.
“It’s not hard,” she assures him. “You have to get a ball first.”
He eyes the nearest group of bowling balls, an assortment of different colors and weights. “How do I know which one I need?”
“You have to figure it out,” Zoe says, and she stands, offering Kyle her hand. “Here, I’ll show you.”
He blinks before taking her hand, and she leads him off to help him figure out which one to use. Misty watches them go, and when Cordelia turns to look at her, the other woman is smiling. Noticing Cordelia’s stare, however, a slight flush of pink covers her cheeks.
“It’s just… he looks so happy when he’s with Zoe,” she explains. “He was such a happy kid, I just missed it. It’s nice to see him again.”
“He’s been getting better, hasn’t he?”
Misty nods. “Seems so,” she says. “He’s been a lot more… upbeat lately, you know? I meant it, when I said Zoe’s good for Kyle. I mean, I know Kyle loves me, and we’re close, but havin’ someone his own age around, someone who understands him, at least a little… he’s doing better.”
Cordelia grins. “I’m glad.”
“Me too,” Misty agrees. “It’s like he’s a normal kid his age now.”
“Zoe, too,” the other blonde seconds, and the kids chose that moment to reappear, both carrying matching green balls with the number six printed on the side. It puts an end to that conversation, considering it’s kind of rude to talk about them when they’re right there.
“You guys got everything?” Misty asks, and Kyle nods. Zoe props the ball she’s carrying up onto her hip with one hand so she can use the other one to offer them a thumbs up, and Misty returns the gesture.
The two of them break to go get their own balls, and when they meet back at the lane, Zoe and Kyle are staring at the screen in front of the ball return and trying to figure out how to get their names in there. Just before Cordelia can step in, however, Zoe seems to get a handle on it, and when she types her name in, a Z appears on the monitor over the alley lanes.
“Got it?” Cordelia checks in anyway, and Zoe nods with a smile.
“Got it,” she repeats, going on to add Kyle’s name to the roster, followed by Cordelia and Misty.
Once Misty gets back with her own ball, Cordelia gives her sister the go ahead to start the game and take her turn. As the kids begin to get into it, Zoe taking her go and then helping coach Kyle through his, Misty and Cordelia quickly end up falling into conversation in between their own turns.
Halfway through the second game, Cordelia gives the kids a ten dollar bill, and they run off to order fries with the money, leaving the two women to fall deeper into their own discussion. It starts with them discussing some of the girls that work at the flower shop, but they quickly get off topic talking about Misty’s younger sister, which somehow gets them all the way back to a discussion about how they spent their own years in high school.
“I wasn’t exactly the most popular back in high school,” Misty explains. “You know, dressed different than everyone else, acted different than everyone else, listened to different music. Most of ‘em thought I was real weird.”
Cordelia hums, but before she can say anything, Misty continues. “They’re the weird ones, though,” she adds. “Can you imagine not liking Stevie Nicks?”
Her lips curl up at the corners, and Cordelia lets out a surprised laugh. At the sound, Misty’s smile seems to stretch even wider, and she reaches out to bump the tip of her foot into Cordelia’s ankle.
“What about you?” Misty asks. “Didn’t you go to that school with the fancy art program and all?”
Cordelia nods. “It didn’t, but I wasn’t in any of the classes,” she tells her.. Remembering her conversation with Vivien, however, she laughs a little. “Although for a while, I did pretend to be interested in the theatre program.”
“You pretended to be?”
“Mhmm,” Cordelia replies. “My best friend, Vivien, used to tease me about how I dragged her to every school play in junior year. I think I made her see, like, three or four shows? I told her I was interested in theatre, but eventually she found out it was only because I had a crush on someone in the program.”
Misty laughs. “Was he cute, at least?”
“Um, she was,” Cordelia replies, coughing to dislodge to lump in her throat. Still grinning, Misty nods, almost distracted, but the smile slips a little when she seems to process what was said.
“Oh.”
Silence falls between them, and Cordelia feels something like anxiety, self-consciousness tugging at her chest. Misty seems to grow quiet, glancing off into the distance before looking over at the other blonde, but when her eyes meet Cordelia’s, there’s something almost loaded in her gaze.
“You, uh- never said you liked girls,” Misty says, but her voice is quiet, a few flickers above whisper. There’s a sudden tension starting to form between them, a lump forming in Cordelia’s throat that she can’t swallow.
“I didn’t think it mattered,” she returns, and her heart thumps. Why does it matter, why does it matter, whydoesitmatter?
“It doesn't,” Misty is quick to reply. “Not- not like that, it’s just…”
She trails off, and Cordelia can’t help but think back to maybe two months ago or so, Misty leaning against her kitchen counter after scaring Hank off, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips.
(“Men ain’t really my thing.”)
There’s just- something about the way Misty is looking at her right now; it resonates in Cordelia’s chest, and not for the first time, she considers leaning across the space between them and pressing her mouth against Misty’s, even if she might regret it after.
The sound of bowling pins crashing behind her catches her attention, and she snaps out of whatever sort of trance she’s started to fall into, cheeks flushing when she realizes she’s been staring at Misty’s lips. The other blonde’s eyes catch hers, wide and blue, and Cordelia feels her heart pick up in her chest, thumping against her ribcage like a jackhammer.
Apparently, the kids have decided that, upon coming back with their fries, they were ready to start playing again, Kyle taking his turn before either woman had even noticed he and Zoe returned. When Cordelia ;ooks over her shoulder, trying to ignore the way she can still feel Misty’s stare against the back of her neck, Zoe is clapping for the spare Kyle’s gotten. There’s a sheepish look on his face, but he’s smiling wide enough that she can see his teeth peek through, dimples wrinkling his cheeks. Until now, Cordelia hadn’t even realized he had dimples.
Behind her, Misty clears her throat, and Cordelia can almost feel the sound of it against her skin. “Nice job, Kyle,” Misty praises, but it sounds just a little preoccupied.
(God, is Misty as affected as she is?
What does that mean?)
Kyle doesn't seem to notice anything amiss with Misty, instead making his way back to the chairs that surround the bowling console. “It’s your turn, Cordelia,” he points out, glancing up at monitor above it that displays their scores, a flashing arrow pointing to the C initialing her name.
She blinks once, before climbing to her feet. “Thanks, Kyle,” she replies, and for good measure, tacks on a ‘good job’ for the spare he got. His smile reappears, but she barely even registers it, her brain still all but fogged over from the moment she just shared with Misty.
She’s so off her game still that the first ball she completely gutters the first ball she throws on her turn, and with the second, she manages to knock down a whopping three pins. When she turns back around, Misty is talking to Kyle, but when she glances up and they make eye contact, there’s still something there.
Cordelia spends the entire rest of the game distracted, to the point that she ends up getting beaten by both Zoe and Misty, despite starting out with the strongest lead.
They all laugh at her for the rest of the night, Kyle included, although his teasing is more sparse than the other’s. Misty takes particular delight in it, but Cordelia can’t even try to be petulant when the other woman is giggling and leaning into her side.
(They all make jokes about it the entire drive home, voices carrying over the sound of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie singing in the background, and even if it’s at her own expense, Cordelia grins the whole way home.)
-
(“Good birthday?” Cordelia asks her sister, later that night when she’s tucking her into bed.
There’s a lot that could have been wrong with today, a part of the blonde can’t help but think. Zoe could say, it’s my first birthday without Mommy. Zoe could say, I wish I had more friends to come. Zoe could say, I wish it was more.
Instead, the girl smiles. “Great birthday,” she whispers, sliding down beneath the covers. “Best birthday.”)
-
She doesn't expect to see Misty again so soon, but when somebody knocks on her door that night only minutes after Zoe’s gone to bed, she finds Misty standing on the other side. The blonde fidgets with her hands, ringed fingers pulling at each other, and she almost seems to startle when she looks up and sees Cordelia.
The shorter of the two blinks, brows furrowing together at the sight of the nerves that are splashed out across Misty’s face.
“Misty?” Cordelia asks. “Is something wrong?”
Something in her body surges forward, insisting that she has to be touching Misty, has to be offering comfort right now, so she reaches out and places a hand on Misty’s forearm. The other woman glances down at the contact, stiffening under the touch for a second before relaxing.
Misty shakes her head, “Nothing’s wrong, it’s just- it’s not just me, right?”
“Huh?”
“Today, at the bowling alley,” she continues. “There’s something here, I- you feel it, too- right?”
It almost sucks the air out of the space between them, because for a moment, Cordelia can’t think. Her brain skips and stutters and restarts itself with the realization that Misty is standing on her doorstep and confessing to having feelings for her, at least to some extent. Part of her expects to pinch herself and snap back to reality, but when she curls her free hand into a fist and lets her fingernails dig into her palm, she doesn't wake up, doesn't snap out of the moment.
She doesn't even realize she’s gone silent for a moment, but Misty is still looking at her with those big, blue eyes, as if she’s pleading with her to say something.
“Are you… are you saying that you feel something for me?” Cordelia asks, because the idea of admitting she has feelings for Misty only to be turned away in this moment makes her stomach churn.
Instead of denying it, though, Misty nods, small and fast, her blonde curls bouncing, and it hits Cordelia right in the chest. “Do you?”
Cordelia almost forgets how to speak for a second, but then she’s nodding. “Yes,” she answers, and it comes out breathless.
At some point, Misty has shifted, and the hand that was laying on the woman’s arm is now resting in her palm. At Cordelia’s admission, she squeezes it.
“You’re… you’re not playin’ with me, right?” Misty asks. “This ain’t some joke to you, this is real?”
“It’s real,” Cordelia assures, and because she can’t help it, she adds: “ God, it’s real.”
Misty seems to fumble for an answer for a second, before her lips pull up into a grin. “Good,” she says, voice only a few notes louder than a whisper. The tension from the bowling alley has returned full force, and Cordelia is more than aware of the way that Misty’s hand has slid up towards her elbow, long fingers wrapped around her forearm. The space between them has started to shrink, and they’re close enough they could be kissing in less than a second if they wanted, and with the way Misty’s looking at her, Cordelia thinks the other woman might try it.
(God, she wants her to.)
Misty doesn’t, instead taking a step back and putting space between them, hand falling back to her side. Her smile doesn’t falter, however, and if anything, it just grows.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Delia,” she says, still grinning, and leans over to press a kiss to her cheek. Before Cordelia can react, however, Misty pulls away and starts up the hallway to her own apartment, looking back at Cordelia as she goes.
They don’t break eye contact until Misty is stepping through her door, still beaming, and Cordelia feels it painted across her own face even after she’s gone.