Dinner that night was well worth the wait. Even Nicole enjoyed it, even though she didn't particularly care for spinach. Amy was proud of the food she had cooked, and of course was pleased with the praise she received. The dinner table was a bit awkward though, and Amy couldn't figure out why. Nicole knew but she didn't dare tell Amy why, it was of course because of what Juliana had asked Nicole earlier. And as much as Nicole wished what her mother said was true it wasn't, Nicole was nothing more than a kissing buddy for Amy. She could only hope it would progress past that at some point. With Amy's new realization of love for Nicole she felt awkward. Here these nice people had taken her in and given her a safe place to stay where she could pursue her creative passions, and the only thing she could think of was loving their daughter. Their sweet caring overly compassionate daughter.
As Amy chewed her food and simultaneously received the compliments for her cooking she couldn't focus on the diverse flavoring of the pasta and the filling. All she could focus on was Nicole, sitting across from her, she was picking at the food but eating it. Amy's goal with the food was to make the spinach tolerable for Nicole, who had hated it since she had known Amy. It seemed like a partial success, but the way Nicole was picking at her food made Any more nervous. It seemed like something was also clouding NIcole's focus and distracting her from the food. Juliana could feel the tension rising between the two and in an attempt to dissipate it she spoke to the two.
"Amy, Nicole, I'm going over to Christina's plant nursery tomorrow to get some more plants. Hopefully this time less killable ones too." She eyed Chris who had previously promised to take care of their old, now dead, plants. "I'll need you guys to help me carry the plants and get them set up here, do you mind doing that for me?"
"Of course not Mrs.Santos, I'd love to help tomorrow. About what time tomorrow just so I make sure to start preparing dinner a bit early." Amy had also taken over a lot of the cooking, she still split the days with Juliana and Chris but she liked cooking so she had more days than the other two.
"Around the middle of the afternoon, I set up the visit with Christina. You can prepare the meal a bit early, right?"
"Yes, it's a crockpot dinner that's kind of the point." Amy smiled and looked back towards Nicole. "I'll need a bit of help in the kitchen so I'm going to let you try, emphasis on the try part, to help." Nicole's mouth scrunched up as Amy made that emphasis.
"I'll help, don't worry, and I'll try not to get in your way." She said the last part sarcastically, a bit bitter about Amy's need to emphasize that Nicole wouldn't necessarily be useful.
"Aw, don't be bitter Nicky, you know what I meant. You'll be useful in your own way, even if that is just talking to me while I do the cooking." Nicole blushed and tucked her head down so no one could see. Juliana rolled her eyes at the obviousness that Nicole was displaying, Chris had probably also caught on by this point. Sure enough when Juliana looked to him across the table and saw him mouth to her something along the lines of; 'is it just me or does it seem like they're dating?'. Juliana nodded but revealed nothing other than that.
"Alright, let's clear the dishes, Chris come one." Nicole was still excluded from having to do the dishes since she did occasionally pitch in on Amy's days. They were left at the table while Chris and Juliana talked in the kitchen.
"Are they dating?" Chris whispered to Juliana as she handed him plates to put in the dishwasher.
"Nicole claims they're not, but I'm not so sure. It doesn't bother you, does it?"
"No of course not, wait the fact that they're both girls or the fact that it's happening while they're living together. Cause only one of those bothers me."
"Yeah, the fact that they're living together would make it a bit difficult, maybe not for Nicole, but for Amy. She seems to want to keep it a secret, which means you can't go snooping around to find out. I wouldn't want to scare her away from the house." Chris nodded as he continued putting dishes on the rack. "I wouldn't want her to feel like she had to go home, especially if her home doesn't feel like home. She seems well adjusted here, not different, just more stable. And I think if she thought we had even the smallest problem with it she'd leave right away."
"I kind of thought so too, she seems a bit...delicate right now. Which is understandable from what I saw after the day they picked her stuff up. The household was not a great place for her. I'm glad we can be here for her, and I don't think it's bad, it'll just make their relationship different and possibly more complicated." He sighed after closing the dishwasher door. "I mean who wants to live with someone they just started dating." Juliana scoffed.
"You moved in with me after two months, even though I had a kid and we had just barely met. And you can't pretend it was for financial reasons anymore either, I know you come from money." She leaned over and pinched his face. "But I supposed I can't blame you, I was the ideal housemate." She left the kitchen, Chris in toe and went straight to their bedroom, brushing past the girls; who were still awkwardly sitting at the table in silence. "Go to your room you guys, and stop sulking." Juliana patted Nicole's head which was still faced down, likely still out of embarrassment.
The four each separated into pairs of two and went to their respective rooms, all of them locking the door's behind them.