Normality

It has been a month since the charity event that spawned their original meeting. For Mallory life was just different. The interactions with Stella were just more natural from waking every morning to a knock on the door to the pair returning to the drive from the academy to her apartment after classes.

School life was calmly awkward as Mallory felt as though a spotlight was forcefully focused on her daily routine. Despite the glance and stares, luckily nothing more serious had arisen from the situation.

A morning of classes into early afternoon classes were rather common for the pair leading to the lunch in between being shared. These little lunches varied from quick fast food runs to a light lunch at a cafe. However the one that Stella enjoyed the most was when Valerie decided to surprise the pair with homemade lunches.

However one Friday night Mallory returned home in a huff. With a slammed door and a small jump onto her bed she crumpled into her comfy lair as she just stared at her phone. Despite the growing ease of the pair Mallory still tried to keep the relationship within the guidelines for Honeyed Hearts.

When Valerie returned home she found her sister curled up in a ball stuffing her face full of ice cream as she watched a very generic television drama about two girls' high school life. With a smile Valerie dropped her stuff off on the dining table and jumped onto the sofa next to her sister.

"Ice creams and cutie drama and you didn't invite me? I feel hurt by my dear sister Lory."

Mallory just handed over the bow of ice cream to Valerie as she kept her focused on the screen in front of her.

"So Lory, what's wrong?"

"I had an argument with Stella."

"About?"

"Well she was being all pushy and I just wasn't in the mood."

"Ah I see. So something was the matter before that incident and now you are trying to put it on her?"

"I would never. I just got a bit out of it today and she just kept poking me."

"So Lory, was there anything wrong before that?"

"Umm ... No~"

"Did you know lying to your little sister is punishable by intense tickling."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"So you are lying!"

"No I am not!"

"You just admitted it before though."

"I did no such thing whatsoever!"

"Lory~"

"I just have been feeling kinda weird since morning. Okay!"

"What's wrong? Are you sick? It is not that time of the month I thinks~"

"Nothing like that! I am fines~" Mallory said as her cheeks filled with a reddish hue.

Valerie gently nudged Mallory so she would shift her gaze back onto her. With a smile she wrapped around Mallory's shoulder pulling her in for a deep hug as she whispered, "So you had a Lewd dream about Stella?"

Mallory jumped out of her seat like a startled animal. The words that she stumbled through sounded like nothing more than gibberish.

"Wait, were you actually having lewd thoughts about Stella?"

"Our relationship is professional and nothing more!"

"Yeah right. Profession my fat ass! Lory you opened up about dad and even carried her out to uncle's shop."

"Umm ... It was part of the job!"

"Bullshit you literally never did that to any of your past clients. Not to mention you normally never come home and detail me stories about your clients but recently all you have had on your mind is Stella! Waking up Mallory you like her!"

"It is different okay!"

"Is it really Mallory?"

"Alright may be I do like her but I set the lines of our employment and breaking that would be a breach of trust. Let alone the money she gave me I would feel bad about taking it."

"Okay give me a moment." said Valerie with a raised finger.

After a moment she took out her phone and clicked something before raising it to her ear.

"Hai hi Stella. Mallory said she likes you and would like the dissolution of your contract so that your relationship could flourish like normal people."

"Valerie!" screamed Mallory as she tried to grab the phone out of Valerie's hands.

"Stella you got this handled? Nice, that sounds amazing!"

With a sigh Valerie passed over the phone to Mallory. As she fumbled through the phone Mallory realized the call had ended and had actually occurred.

"What have you done Valerie!"

"Well now you have to confront your feelings rather than tiptoeing around things. As for the money it will be handled. All you need to do is have a civil conversation like adults with Stella."

Mallory bonked Valerie on the face with a throw pillow from the sofa before rushing off to her room. Mallory was unbelievably angry with Valerie to the point she hid in her room all weekend to purposefully give her sister the silent treatment.

As Mallory dwelled in her den over that weekend she took the time to maul over everything revolving around Stella to this today. For some reason despite feeling angry with Valerie she couldn't help but know that her words were true.

Something about Stella from her smile to her laugh just made Mallory feel warm and fuzzy inside. Part of her wanted to push it deep down into an abyss and forget about it while another wanted to embrace it. At the very least it would be worth exploring a bit more and it was her duty after all to figure stuff out as the big sister!

With a gentle knock on the door Mallory entered Valerie's room with a head hung low. Valerie was clearly asleep but Mallory just kept poking her in the cheek until she began to stir awake.

"Finally ready to talk to me again?"

"I am sorry but next time let me do it on my terms."

"That's fair."

"Thanks sis."

"Anytime Lory! So what's the plan."

"That's what I need help with. How do you ask someone out?"

Valerie couldn't stop her giggles as she pulled Mallory in for a hug.