Vol. 7, Chapter XVIII — Time Flies

It felt a bit strange, but the day, March twelfth finally arrived. Officially, I’m an adult now. The one adult in my relationship, in my friend group, and one of three in class. I was all that but felt no different than before. I guess I can now do more stuff, but all that came to mind wasn’t particularly appealing to me.

And despite the day being a big one, I decided that we wouldn’t be making a big deal out of it, just the family and my friends at home and nothing else. It wasn’t just because tomorrow we had classes, I also preferred to keep things cosier.

Had it been as I thought it would when I lived with Mum, this would have been a grand event like it had been with Sophie, so I think that also helped me decide to keep things small.

I wonder what Mum would tell me if she could now?

I shook my head to remove those thoughts from my mind as I wasn’t in the mood to wonder about those hypotheticals, especially when there were others popping to mind.

“Hey, Stephen, do you think I could manage to drive a car?” I asked while the family and friends all gathered in my living room.

He chewed on his slice of cake as he looked me up and down for a second.

“I think the car might have to be modified,” he told me. “An adjustable steering wheel, a fully adjustable seat, maybe even pedal extensions, but it’s doable.”

I looked up and behind me since I was sat on my special seat, Violet looking at me in turn.

“Looks like you’ll be the designated driver and I the navigator,” I tell her with a grin. “Either that, or we have two cars because it’d be a pain in the neck having to adjust everything every time one of us needs to take the car after being done using or needing it.”

Violet stared at me as she thought it over, agreeing at the end to be the designated driver since it was the more economical and practical solution. And Violet being Violet, she continued the logic. Depending on where we end up living while I study in university, I might need some sort of transportation as the alternative is me walking, or us getting a cheap car and her commuting me every day, or at least on those where the weather wasn’t good. She then fed me the last bit of her slice of cake, which I gladly chomped on, telling me that we’ll cross that bridge once we actually get there.

While I chewed, I looked around the living room. Our Dads sat together, Sis and Claire being with them, me and my friends sat close by. Everyone was happy and having fun which is a lot more than I’d ever had expected from my life three years ago.

…Now I do feel different…

The sad, scared, less mature me from when I was fifteen compared to the happy, confident, less immature me from the present, I mean. All thanks to the people around me, the girl cradling me from behind in particular, very, very much so. Looks-wise, we were virtually the same girl, but on the inside the change has been deep.

“Pfft, fufu!” she laughed as she gave me a little squeeze once I started nuzzling her jaw. “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

“Just really happy to be alive right now,” I giggle back at her.

Mathew talked next, saying that next time we have a meet-up, I should go out and get us a few beers or ciders. Mathy jumped right in, saying that I’d have to show ID and even then, they wouldn’t sell to me, believing it is fake. I laughed in agreement and then Violet pointed out that the ID also says that I’m married, so that would further lead into them believing I was trying to trick them.

“You buy them then!” Mathew told her. “Your birthday is next.”

“I’m not getting us alcohol,” Violet dryly said.

“Hmm? What was that?” Sophie asked, her ears having picked up our conversation.

We told her we were just messing around and she dropped the subject, but not without giving us a suspicious look.

“Babe? Do we have a ‘no alcohol’ policy in our home?” I asked Violet, quietly, since I wanted this to be serious for a second.

“Not really?” she hummed. “I never saw much interest in it. I did try a sip of beer once or twice when Dad offered and did enjoy it well enough, but I’ve spent all my life without it, so I see no point in start drinking just because the ID says I’m an adult.”

“Hmm… Always the pragmatic,” I told her as I fluffed myself against her. “Well… thinking about it, I’m kinda the same. Now that I can, I completely lost interest.”

She teased me by poking my cheek and saying that it was just me being naughty about it before, but now that it’s allowed, I don’t care about it anymore.

“Mathy?” Claire called out, holding her phone. “It’s getting late and Mum just arrived, so we should be going.”

“Oh, she has?” Mathilda answered back. “Didn’t we ask her to text us before she left home?”

“You know how Mum is,” Claire chirped as she straightened her top after getting up and extending a hand to her sister. “She probably didn’t want us to cut our time short and just stand outside waiting for her.”

Listening to them talking, I was under the impression that Mathilda was now also referring to Claire’s Mum as her own too. That was mostly from how Claire was talking though, as Mathilda, as far as I had noticed, never referred to Aurora as anything other than by name or as her family title to Claire. The rest of the gang got up since they were getting a ride from Claire’s Mum and bid us a good night and wished me a happy birthday one more time before leaving.

“I should probably go too” Papa Stan said as he pushed himself up from the couch. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the office, William.”

“Could you arrive fifteen minutes early tomorrow?” my Dad asked him as he too got up. “There’s a group project I’d like to check with you before the responsible team arrives.”

“Sure, mate, I’ll be there,” he told my Dad as he leaned down to kiss my hair and wish me a good night and a happy birthday. To Violet, he ruffled her hair, my wife huffing at him as she swatted his hand away while he laughed.

When it was my sister’s turn for him to say goodbye, Sophie told him she’d walk him to the door. There, without them knowing, I saw a very amusing interaction. Papa Stan telling her goodnight and turning to leave, stopping at the threshold and turning again, looking flustered but with a determined glint in his eye. He told sis something that got her to raise her shoulders and fidget a bit as she stared at her hands. They talked a bit more before sis nodded and Stan’s face got this cute little smile. He then shook her hand and left. Once sis turned, she too had a little smile, and her face was quite red. She noticed my stare then, but instead of shying away, she looked me straight in the eye and gave me a very smug grin before walking away towards her bedroom.

“Well, well, well,” I giggled as I crossed my arms when I stepped inside the kitchen and it was just the wifey and I. “Looks like your pep-talk with your Dad finally produced some results.”

“What do you mean?” Violet asked as she handed me a plate for me to dry.

“Looks like Papa Stan might have asked Sophie out on a date.”

“Huh!? For real?”

“Yup,” I giggled. “I’m being dead serious.”

“Hmm… good for her,” she said slowly as she handed me another plate. “No, good for them.”

I bumped my hip on hers as I said that Sophie might come asking for our opinion on what she’ll wear. My tone made Violet laugh and say that I sounded just as excited about it as Sophie likely is. I asked if I didn’t have reasons for that after seeing my sister develop a crush over someone, the crush turning into love, and finally getting a foot on the door properly while on the other hand, my second Papa was finally starting opening for love after so many years of sacrifice and feeling lonely. She smiled at me warmly before leaning down and kissing my forehead.

“Never change, Abby,” she spoke softly as she straightened up. “Never change.”

I laughed and we went quiet for a bit as we finished the dishes. Only then did I bump her hip again and asked if she was in the mood to do something technically illegal. She raised an eyebrow at me before asking what exactly I was scheming.

“Well, I’m an adult now,” I told her as I pointed a finger at my face before pointing it at her. “And you, my wifey, are still a minor and we still have a bit before we really need to go to bed since we have classes tomorrow.”

I let the silence hang between us to leave no margin of error as to what I was implying.

And in typical Violet fashion, she took the joke literally, crossing her arms and humming her thoughts as she spoke.

“I guess it is kinda illegal if we make love or even kiss… although, I’m sure the law has provisions for situations like this.” She then looked down at me and chuckled as she extended a hand for me to hold. I did that, lacing my fingers with hers and hugging her arm, asking if we could start with a special massage since I’m the birthday girl. She laughed quietly and told me she would regardless of it being my birthday or not so, if I wanted to do something special for the occasion, I’d have to be more inventive.

I thought about it for a while, all the way to us brushing our teeth side by side, and, after I spat out the toothpaste, I told her that I’d rather do our usual things instead.

“Really?” she asked with a raised eyebrow after she spat too. “Even though it’s your birthday?”

“Yeah. Now that I’m officially an adult, I think I’d rather do things how we’ll do most of the time in our future. There’s a beauty to it, isn’t there?”

“I guess,” she said, not fully understanding me. That was ok, I wasn’t understanding myself fully either. She then kept staring at me, lost in thought. “It’s strange, isn’t it? That you’ve already turned eighteen. Most of the time, it feels like we just started high school and I have to remind myself we are third years.”

“It really does, doesn’t it?” I chuckled as I laced my fingers with hers and guided us back to our bedroom. “And just you wait, we are going to bed tonight, and before any of us realises it, it’s your birthday too.”

“…Kinda scary how fast time goes by us,” she hummed as she gave my hand a little squeeze.

I nodded in agreement as I once again took stock of my eighteen years of living. The foggy memories of very early childhood, the painful ones after that all the way to more or less the end of my first high school year, this period of time feeling long and alien to me, and then, to these past few ones that went by in a blink. It felt like most of my life had been playing in slow motion and now sped up to double speed. It is now also a lot brighter and colourful than before. All thanks to her, my dear wife.

“I love you so much,” I told her as I hugged her while we were in the middle of stripping to go to bed. “I really, really love you to bits.”

“Pfft, fufu! I can see that,” she laughed back, returning my hug and giving me a squeeze. “You couldn’t even wait for us to be snuggling under the covers.”