Fing Perfect - S01 E29

Story 5 months ago

Fing Perfect - S01 E29

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 29

Grace's father must've meant business, because the very next day he pulled the honor student out of school to take out a protection order. Cal was extremely relieved – the situation could finally start to be worked out now. Although Will had laid low for several weeks, the danger he posed still loomed, and all of this had been going on for too long.

Still, Cal didn't exactly know very much about restraining orders – would it be enough to deter the stalker from doing anything rash? Would they be able to get the order approved in the first place? Cal wasn't sure, and the ambiguity made her stomach turn.

It was made worse by the fact that Cal probably wouldn't be seeing Grace outside of school much. If anything, Cal wanted to stay with her more to make sure she was safe. But she couldn't do anything about dealings dealt within Grace's family.

--

The school day was rather boring and Cal was in a sour mood from the notion of being unable to see Grace at all that day. Maybe even the day after as well. She tried her best to just focus on her classes – something she hadn't been doing as much as she probably should – but her mind would always drift away to thoughts of her girlfriend.

Girlfriend.

The word summoned a swarm of butterflies in Cal's stomach. It was still a title so new that it seemed very strange, especially when attributing it to Grace. To think that they were like cat and dog only a few months ago, bickering over things that seems so trivial now.

Thoughts of what being a girlfriend entailed seeped into Cal's brain before she could stop them. They'd already done several things that more-than-friends did – hold hands, kiss, go on a date (technically)...so what was left was –

Jesus, Cal, you just started dating! Cal scolded herself, blushing as she sat in the middle of her math class, now paying zero attention to the lesson. Strings of thoughts and images kept popping into the blonde's head, pulling her further and further away from the real world.

She wondered if Grace ever had thoughts like these. Would the honor student even be capable of...? There was already the issue of Grace's sexuality, and then not to mention the other girl's inherent prudeness. Would things be able to progress naturally on their own? Would Cal have the confidence to bring them up if they didn't?

No, no, she was getting way too ahead of herself. It'd hardly been a week since they confessed their feelings and only a day since they made the relationship official. Plus, there were far more important things going on right now. Cal felt ashamed – she should be spending her energy on supporting her new girlfriend instead of having lewd thoughts about her.

"How about you, Cal?"

Cal jumped a little when Mrs. Burns called her name, yanking her back into the present. The older woman had a scowl on her face and was pointing to a complicated equation on the board.

"Uh...sorry, I wasn't listening," Cal admitted. The scrawl on the board looked like ancient hieroglyphics to Cal – entirely unanswerable.

Mrs. Burns shot her a disapproving look before moving on to another student for the answer.

I need to get my shit together, Cal thought.

--

On top of not getting to see Grace all day, Cal's mood was decreased even further when she read a text from her mom during English class:

Samantha will be joining us for dinner tonight, so be on time.

Great. Now she not only had to sit down and eat with her mother during dinner, but she'd also have to do it with her older sister as well. Cal wanted nothing more than to make herself ghost that evening – hang out with a friend, wander around town, or, hell, even go to her dad's house. But she knew that'd be asking for hell to rain down on her in the form of her mother's wrath.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Cal didn't dislike her sister as much as she disliked her mother, but she was still a close second. Where Cal was probably more like her father, Samantha took after their mom – stuck up, prude, overly serious, workaholic... All throughout their childhood, Samantha had done everything to make their mother proud. She was a well-behaved honor student, high school valedictorian, only hung out with good influences, never did anything against the rules or, you know, fun.

After graduating, Samantha even went to law school to become an attorney – just like their mother. Since their mom already had a child who was everything she wanted, Cal always fell to the wayside. She was quickly labeled a disappointment and relatively ignored.

Sure, Cal's mom would get on her ass if she did anything that wasn't up to her standards. But there didn't seem to be any special expectations put in place for her. In a way, Cal was grateful she was in this position – all of the pressure had been put on Samantha growing up.

Still, it was hard for Cal to feel sorry for her older sibling. Samantha had never tried to act like much of a sister to her – she just looked down on Cal for not being as good as her. Whenever Cal had an issue, like getting heartbroken at her last school, Samantha was nowhere to be found.

Recalling all of this made it difficult for Cal to drag herself downstairs when her mother yelled that Samantha had arrived. Ugh...this dinner's going to suck, she thought.

However, before she could suffer any of her mother's tongue-lashings, she trotted down the stairs to see Samantha hanging her coat in the little closet next to the front door. Their mother was already talking the older child's ears off, so Cal took in the scene.

Samantha was definitely the pretty one – that's what Cal always thought. And she thought it again as she looked at her sister's curled blonde hair and spotless makeup. She had always looked like a model, especially since she was only about an inch shorter than Cal. Still, she had a serious case of RBF, so the law student wasn't the most approachable person.

"Hello, Cal," she greeted in her usual emotionless tone once their eyes happened to meet.

"Hey, Sam," Cal returned, her tone just about as unenthusiastic.

"Would it have killed you to dress up a little, Cal?" their mother grumbled, eyeing her younger daughter critically.

Cal was just wearing a large gray hoodie and some black leggings that she changed into when she got home from school.

"What?" Cal asked, annoyed. "Are we not just eating at home?"

"No, didn't I tell you? We're going to that seafood restaurant on Main Street."

Nope...you really didn't say anything like that at all.

"Well...do you want me to get changed?" Cal asked, biting back a heavy barrage of sass.

"Yes, but we have reservations at 6:30, so hurry up!"

Cal exchanged a look with Samantha that didn't really mean anything before groaning and running up the stairs. She didn't personally care about how she looked at a restaurant with her family, but her mother was all for appearances, and if she didn't change clothes then she wouldn't hear the end of it.

As she was rummaging through her closet, looking for something that was decent and actually clean, she heard a light knock on her door. She knew exactly who it was – her mother only knew how to shout through a door or barge through it.

"Come in," she called out.

Samantha stepped through the door and closed it behind her. Cal didn't bother to look away from her searching.

"Mom told me to come help you since, according to her, you don't have a clue when it comes to fashion," Samantha explained.

"Right...well I think I'll be okay." Was there ever a time her mother didn't have something to criticize?

Samantha leaned against the wall for a little bit, and Cal could feel her eyes on her back as she tried and failed to find anything that would suit her mother's tastes. The restaurant they were going to was on a bit of the fancier scale, and Cal didn't have much in the way of fancy.

"I can let you borrow something of mine."

Cal paused, a bit taken aback by Samantha's offer. Even growing up, Cal hardly ever received hand-me-downs from her elder sister. The two always had different tastes in fashion, Cal going through phases while Samantha stayed the same, so they didn't exchange clothes very often.

Still, Cal knew she wasn't going to find anything in her closet, especially not right before laundry day.

"I guess that would be cool..." Cal said, scratching her cheek. She felt odd relying on her sister like this – even talking to her alone was awkward enough.

"Come on," Samantha said, gesturing out the door.

They walked into her old room which was now basically a guest room, devoid of individuality. Surprisingly, when Samantha opened up her closet, there were some clothes still hanging in there.

"This is kind of my back-up storage for things I couldn't throw away," Samantha said.

She said that, but Cal never saw her coming by to pick any of this stuff up.

--

"There, now you look ready to go out," Samantha said, looking Cal over.

"Doesn't this look super weird on me?" Cal replied, blushing.

Samantha had dressed her up in a satin halter top with tight, black, high-waisted pants. It was very outside of Cal's usual fashion, though she'd managed to refuse wearing a dress or skirt in spite of Samantha's pushiness. Samantha put her hair up for her since "they didn't have time to curl it", but putting her hair up was the norm for Cal anyway.

The look was very...Samantha, and that made Cal uncomfortable.

"No, you look great," Samantha said, and the compliment was a bit surprising to Cal. "Anyway, it'll do for dinner, so let's get going."

Still a bit uncomfortable, she followed Samantha downstairs, ready to get this night over with. Their mother was finishing up a phone call in the kitchen, and when she hung up she looked over at Cal.

"Now that's much better," she said. "You could stand to be a bit more feminine like your sister."

Cal rolled her eyes when the old hag turned away to grab her purse. She could feel Samantha's eyes on her, but she didn't look back.

They piled into their mother's car and headed over to the restaurant which was already rather full for a weeknight. Even with a reservation, they were told there would be a wait. So the three settled in the crowded lobby near the bar area. Cal and Samantha awkwardly stood against the wall, trying their best not to take up too much space, while their mother sat in one of the only waiting chairs.

Cal still felt a bit uncomfortable in her attire, especially with so many people around. She wasn't usually the type to feel self-conscious, but living in a smaller town meant the chances of seeing someone she knew was uncomfortably high. She imagined Kenzie seeing her in this get-up – oh, the girl would never let her live it down. She'd try to make her dress up like this every time they went out.

"Cal?"

The familiar voice startled Cal out of her thoughts, and her worst nightmare came true. Staring at her after having just walked through the front door was probably the last person she wanted to see her like this with her family:

"Grace?"