CHAPTER THREE:
so close yet so far away.

Father Time was a funny little fuck. He probably sat on a big ass chair looking high and mighty, laughing about all the misfortunes he brought people. Those were the thoughts running through Nala's mind as she ran through the aisles of Ralphs looking for her fiancé and best friend. The brunette had just spotted Aster's ex with, who she was assuming was a co-worker considering they were both in uniform, and she needed to make sure that the blonde and red-head stayed far away from each other. Prefferably on opposite sides of the grocery store.

Nala spots her fiance walking out of an aisle, she immediately grabs the end of the cart to stop Emily in her tracks. "We have problem!" She whispers urgently.

Emily gives her a look as if she's insane, a look Nala is very familiar with. "Don't look at me like that!" She says, looking behind Emily to make sure Aster's still distracted. "You won't believe who I just saw," Nala says, noting Emily's eyes widen.

"Oh I think I might believe it," Emily responds looking behind Nala and seeing the infamous blonde that Aster was once head over heels for. He's walking alongside a woman both on their way towards the balloon and floral area.

"Okay!" Aster says, putting in a carton of chicken broth. "I think that's the last of everything, except for the balloon arrangement," the red-head says checking over her list to make sure she has everything.

Aster looks up at her friends who are smiling awkwardly at her. She notices Nala's empty hands and the lack of Martinelli's in the shopping cart. "Where's the sparkling cider?"

Nala's eyes widen. She was so distracted by seeing Evan that she completely forgot to get what Aster sent her too. "Oh... I uh couldn't find it," Nala says looking towards Emily.

Aster deflates. "You couldn't find it? It's right in the soda aisle," she says in exasperation. Sometimes being around Nala was like being around a petulant child.

"Oh, well if you know where it is than you can go find it," Nala says nonchalantly.

Aster rolls her eyes. "I sent you to go find it," she deadpans.

"But I didnt," Nala tells her. "So maybe you should go find it. You know if you want things done properly, you should do them yourself."

"Remind me again, why I'm friends with you?" Aster glares playfully at her.

"Because I'm amazing," Nala tells her simply.

Aster rolls her eyes and then shakes her head, looking at her list another time to make sure she didn't forget anything. She really needs her Grandma's party to go well, both for her grandma and for herself. She didn't know when her Grandma's time with them would end but she had a feeling it would be soon so she wants this party to be a good memory for them all to have. She also wants to stick it to her dad and show him that she's fine without him and that her Grandma was safe in hers and Abby's care (with the help of Carla of course).

"Okay, so lets go get the ballons."

"No!" Nala and Emily yell in unison, making Aster look at them suspiciously.

"Uh, what is going on? Am I miss somthing here?" Aster asks in confusion, not understanding why her two friends are acting weird all of the sudden.

"It's nothing," Emily quickly assures her. "Nothing at all, look, you go get the cider and we'll get the balloons. That way it cuts the time in half and we can get out of here faster."

Nala nods in agreement. "Yeah, I mean, we still gotta get the house set up and cook and everything so we don't really have time to waste."

"Uh-huh," Aster says putting her tongue against her cheek. She crosses her arm and narrows her eyes at the two. "What is up? What are you guys hiding?"

"Hiding? We're not hid-"

"Just go get the cider will you. I'm tired of being here," Nala says sassily adding on an eye roll.

Aster continues to look at her two friends, trying to find anything suspicious. She narrows her dark eyes onto Emily, if anyone were to break it would be her. Emily shifts uncomfortably, Nala noticing it and hitting her on her arm.

After a view minutes of relentless glaring, Aster sighs. "Okay, I'll go get the sparkling cider," she gives, the other two girls letting out a sigh in relief.

"Oh!" Aster says rurning back around making Emily and Nala tense up again. "The balloons are under Clark," she says with a smirk.

The Clark family plus Nala and Emily all sit around the table surrounding Patricia as she opens her birthday gifts. The older Clark was currently opening a gift given to her by her son. "Isn't that pretty paper, mom?"Abby asks as Patricia's dainty hands attempt to pull off the wrapping paper.

"It's on too tight," Patricia says bluntly while pulling out a box of perfume. "What the hell is this?" She asks flipping the tiny box around, a confused look upon her aging face.

Nala and Aster make eye contact both of them snickering at Patricia's comment. Emily, the ever so polite one, nudges her best friend and fiancé. She adds on a 'knock it off' look for good measure.

"That's the perfume you like mom," Aster's dad, Matt, reminds her. Aster chuckling at the clear discomfort and awkwardness on his face.

"Well, I don't wear perfume," Patricia says firmly while shaking her head.

"Oh, sure you do Pat," Aster's stepmother speaks up as an attempt to keep the peace. "You always smell wonderful."

"Look Mom," Abby mumbles while taking the bottle of perfume out of the box. "See? Its your favorite one," she says before spraying some on her wrist and letting Patricia smell it.

Everyone seated at the table watches as Patricia's eyes close and her face relaxes. Aster's blue eyes light up as she watches a small smile slip onto her grandma's face.

"Is... someone having a birthday?" Patricia asks and just like that the light in Aster's eyes diminishes.

Emily who notices Aster's change in demeanor suddenly stands up. "Uh, I'll start taking plates. Aster, do you want to help?"

Aster looks at her friend, a smile graces her face once again, and nods. She jumps up from her seat and takes a few plates from the table.

"We'll help as well," Matt says taking his and his wife's plates. He follows the two girls into the kitchen but turns back around. "Abby?" he says giving her a knowing look.

Abby recognizes it and stands up to follow after him, leaving Nala to hang out with Patricia.

"How about we try on your new massage slippers?" Is the last thing Abby hears before following her brother into the kitchen and giving him her full attention.

"She seems a little cantankerous today," Matt says handing the plates he's holding to his daughter who's rinsing them off to put into the dishwasher.

Aster rolles her eyes as Abby agrees with her father. Emily stands by silently observing her while taking the rinsed off plates and aligning them in the dishwasher.

"She's not always like this," Abby defends. "I just think a big event like this it can overwhelming, you know?"

"Yeah, not just her huh?" Matt says suggestively.

"What are you trying to say here dad?" Aster asks huffily. "Just it instead of beating around the bush."

"She's only gonna get worse," Matt says firmly. "It's progressive."

"Yes, dad, we're both familiar with Alzheimers. After all, we have been the ones taking care of her," she tells him with a pointed look.

"We've done the reading," Abby agrees, backing up her niece.

"Yeah well, read this," Matt says pulling a pamphlet out of his back pocket.

"What is that?" Abby asks as she leans against a counter.

"Its a brochure for a memory care facility. I put moms name on a list and a room has opened up."

Aster's head whips towards her father, a cold glare in her eyes. "You did what?" She all but growls making Emily's eyes widen. The butch brunette shifts awkwardly on her feet as she realizes she's stuck surrounded in a conversation that she definitely shouldn't be apart of.

"You put her on a list for a memory care facility?" Abby asks in exasperation, exhaustion filling her voice as she realizes she will have to fight with her brother on this topic yet again. "Without asking me?" She adds on.

"Because I knew what you would say," Matt shrugs not thinking it was that big of a deal.

"That's not your call to make," Aster shouts. "Aunt Abby is doing everything she can for grandma! Have at least a little respect for her."

Matt looks towards his daughter before making eye contact with his sister again. "I can handle this, Matt', right? that's exactly what you would say isn't it?" He says a little too smugly for Aster's liking.

"Well I can handle it," Abby defends.

"And she has been," Aster adds on.

"And I know that," Matt says giving Aster a warning look to butt out. "I don't tell you enough but you are a saint for doing it," he says.

Aster rolls her eyes.

"I'm not a saint," Abby shakes her head. "I'm a daughter."

Matt sighs. "A saintly daughter."

Aster's eyes slightly sting as she rolls her eyes again. Her dad has always been the type to see people do the bare minimum and praise people for it. He would see others do things that is just natural human decency and think it was godly. Probably because he's not the type of person to do things out of the kindness of his heart.

"You got the short end of the stick, Abby, because you're not married and you don't have any kids. It's not fair to you."

'"Stop it, no, its because I made a choice and I want to take care of my mother, okay?" Abby says frustratedly. "And i've never complained about it, not once."

"Saints dont complain," Matt says his arms crossed. "They suffer."

Aster rolls her eyes and groans. "Oh my god Dad! Just lay off! She said this was all her choice and she said she's not interested in dumping grandma off at a facility. That's it. End of story."

Abby gives her niece a smile in thanks. "We're doing this. We're fine."

"But are you living?" Matt still pushes.

Aster rolls her eyes and raises her hands in frustration. "Oh my god, you're incorrigible."

"Aster just stay out off this," Matt says calmly before patting her on her head.

Aster glares and storms out of the room completely forgetting that her friend was still standing in there.

Emily stands awkwardly, her fingers twiddling. She slowly debates on whether she should just keep standing there silently or walking out and possibly catching their attention. The latter eventually wins out and the brunette follows her red-headed best friend.

"Thanks for leaving me there," Emily tells Aster sarcastically as she walks up behind her. The red head is leaning against the bar surrounding the patio.

"Sorry," Aster says softly her eyebrows furrowed and blue eyes darkened.

"Ehh it's all good," Emily shrugs, taking a spot next to her friend. Letting silence blanket them.

The sliding window behind them opens catching Emily's attention. She looks over her shoulder, her eyes meeting her fiance's.

"Hey," Nala says softly her eyes shifting to the red-head before going back to Emily's.

Emily gives her a small shake of the head. Nala nods before taking place beside Aster, giving her a quick once over. She notices how Aster's biting her lip a sign that she's holding something in.

Nala takes in a deep breath, debating on whether she should say something or just let the silence fall over them. She shoots a questioning look towards her fiance, wondering if she has any input on what she should do. Emily catches her look and shakes her head rapidly, knowing how her fiance has little to no tact.

"I hate when you two do that," Aster speaks up, hints of anger still laced in her voice.

"Do what?" Nala and Emily ask at the same time.

Aster looks side to side at her two friends. "You two disgust me," she tells them, her nose scrunches in annoyance. She lets out a sigh, "Just say what you wanna say Nala."

Nala purses her lips. "Technically I don't have anything to say just something to ask."

Aster glares at her earning an eye roll from Nala.

"What's wrong?" Nala asks giving in

"Nothing, I'm fine," Aster answers stubbornly.

Nala groans frustration. Aster has always been stubborn with talking about her feelings, she would much rather lock them up in a box and pretend they don't exist. Luckily for the red-head though, Nala was stubborn.

"You're not fine, I know you're 'fine' face and its definitely not that," she tells her, earning a snort from Emily.

"If I say I'm fine then that means I'm fine."

Nala shares a look with Emily who raises her hands in surrender. Nala rolls her eyes, between her and her fiance she has always been the more confrontational one. She was always the one to push Aster to talk while Emily has always been the one to just keep her company, respecting her wishes to not do the whole feelings thing.

"Well I know you're not fine so why don't you just save us all the hassle and spit it out?" Nala snaps catching Emily's attention.

"Little harsh!" Emily mouths to Nala who just gives her a shrug. If tough love was the only way to get though to her than Aster was just going to have to deal with it because Nala wasn't going to let her best friend sit and suffer in silence.

Aster opens her mouth, her bottom lip wobbling, before she shuts it again. She takes a deep breath from her nose and bites her lips. Her blue eyes burning with unshed tears.

Nala notices her best friends struggle, her eyes softening. "Aster," she says softly attempting to push the dam that's so close to breaking.

"It's just all getting to me," Aster confesses her voice cracking. "She's dying, there's no denying it and that sucks. I'm," Aster sucks in a shaky breath. "I'm going to school to save people and I can't even save my own family."

"Aster," Emily says lightly. "You can't take that on. You can't put that on you, this isn't something you could have prevented."

"You're not a God, Aster," Nala adds. "You can help save people but at the end of the day if its there time to go, there's nothing you can do," she tells her honestly before quickly trying to fix it from sounding mean. "I know that may sound harsh but-"

"It's not," Aster cuts her off. "You're right. I just, I don't know. If i'm being honest I just don't know... how to feel, what to do. I just feel numb, blank."

"And thats okay," Emily assures her. "There's no right way to deal with things."

Aster sighs. "I just... feel overwhelmingly sad but I... I can't let myself cry. I don't know, I don't know what I'm even saying."

Nala smiles running her fingers through her best friend's hair. "You'll get through this Aster."

"Yeah," Emily says wrapping an arm around the red-head. "And we'll be here for you every step of the way."

NOTES.
hello it is i, long time no see. i really missed writing for this book. aster, nala and emily own my whole heart. also i cannot waaaaaait to start writing the next couple of chapters because you know whooooo pops up.