Cheering with a pact

The evening full of surprises continued until Giselle and Lia reached home to get welcomed by another unanticipated visitor.

"Jenna?" Giselle gazed.

"Jenna! Where?" Lia wailed.

Jenna answered the door to receive Giselle and Lia. The little girl, as soon as she heard the voice followed by seeing the familiar face, rejoiced in glee and ran towards the visitor in high spirits.

Jenna caught Lia with a big warm hug.

"Hi, Ms. Giselle! Hello, Lia," Giselle replied as she struggled under Lia's loving grip.

Soon, they cleared the foyer to arrive at the living room, where Lillian lay dormant on the couch, lifeless. She caught Giselle and Lia's return but was too occupied in her own distress. Giselle saw her in an unresponsive state and frowned as she witnessed her daughter whining to Jenna.

"I missed you," Lia cried in joy.

"Oh, did you?"

"You promised me that we would play together, right?" Lia complained while puckering.

"I did."

"I was telling Lillian to call you home!" Lia disclosed.

"Did you?" Jenna exclaimed.

"Yes."

Jenna then looked at Lillian, who finally sat up since Giselle came to give her company. Jenna's unwavering gaze wondered how come she never heard about the little girl's wish before. She didn't need to say it out loud, for Lillian could easily read her face. Moreover, Lillian knew she forgot to mention, and that's why she refused to compete in a confrontation battle.

"So, Giselle, why were you guys late?" Lillian ignored to look at her girlfriend finally.

Giselle remained quiet for a while before Lillian nudged her to speak out.

"We went to get ice cream," Giselle sighed to respond.

Lillian took the bait to move closer to Giselle and started talking to her voluntarily. Taking that as a sign of her refusing to heed a battle with her editor, Jenna let the two chitchat while she focused on comforting Lia and entertaining her. Both Lia and Jenna played together. Even though this has given Lillian the opportunity to escape, Jenna still kept her ears keen to listen.

"You went without me?" Lillian inquired after briefly hearing about Giselle's adventure with Lia's friends and their moms.

"What's the occasion?" she added, soon forgetting about Jenna and her potential skirmish.

"It's for the end of my suspension!" Lia bragged from nearby.

Like Jenna, the little girl's ears were also keen to eavesdrop. Seeing Jenna made the little girl happy and she quickly returned to normal after being consoled in Jenna's arms.

"It's not something you should brag about, Lia!" Jenna remarked as they stopped playing and moved to join Giselle and Lillian.

Giselle agreed with Jenna's word. However, Lia and Lillian already knew to exchange glances, silently esteeming Lia's feat at school.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to enjoy once in a while, right!" Lillian remarked.

"Yeah, like forgetting to inform that someone might wish to play with me!"

Jenna's revenge was petty, and both knew it since it only sounded like she wanted a good chance to return the favor. Someone like Lillian, who keeps pushing Jenna's buttons, was now left defenseless. Lillian swiftly stood up to grab Lia's hand and rushed to the kitchen while informing everyone that she would make a drink for all.

Startled, Lia didn't struggle but let alone grabbed the odds to make a request to Lillian.

"Can I get hot chocolate?" she appealed.

"Of course!" Lillian replied, and the two vanished, leaving Jenna and Giselle alone. Jenna signaled Giselle to expose what was going on. Giselle chuckled upon hearing their silly squabbles. By now, she got used to it. Frankly, it was hilarious for Giselle to see Lillian and Jenna bicker back and forth. Most of the time, their arguments would be for trivial things. Nonetheless, they are pretty amusing to witness as a spectator. Thus, Giselle never interrupted to stop them or take a side to support.

**

Lillian fixed tea for Giselle and made coffee for both Jenna and herself. Lia sat at the counter to watch Lillian make her the hot chocolate. The little girl signaled to Lillian to add more pieces of chocolate. Lillian peeked at Giselle to see if she was watching. She then went on to add a little more than required.

"So, how was school, Lia?" Lillian casually asked while she waited for all the beverages to get ready.

"Well, if you would have told me that you were going to get ice cream today with friends, I may have joined," she added while pouring the coffee into the mugs. Giselle's tea was ready as well.

"It was a last-minute plan, Lilly. Even I didn't know. You know Andy, right? She randomly started talking about celebrating my suspension, about you and mom, and then-"

"And then?"

The hot chocolate was ready as well. Lia watched as Lillian poured the fudgy liquid into a cup.

"Can I have marshmallows on top?" Lia paused to request again.

Lillian groaned to inform her that they shouldn't go beyond to provoke Giselle any further. Adding more chocolate chips was enough for an adventure already. Lia scowled, but Lillian asked her to continue where she left the story hanging. It became part of their evening routine where Lillian enjoyed talking to Lia about her school every day. And that played a huge role in Lia to get comfortable with Lillian as well.

"Andy randomly starts talking about us? And then?" Lillian repeated to get a paper towel to wipe off the spilled cocoa.

"Hmm… What else, we were talking about how you and mom would get-"

Lia's words got cut off as Giselle appeared out of nowhere to cover her mouth. She shut the little girl from speaking any further.

Lia looked up to find her mother's face heated. Giselle alerted her daughter to stop talking. Seeing how the voice ceased all of a sudden, Lillian returned to the counter to find Giselle tightly covering Lia's mouth, both holding strange countenances.

Lillian was surprised to witness Lia getting bolted by her mother.

"They thought of getting you- ice cream, but it would have melted by the time we reach home, right? And you won't like it, so," Giselle answered for Lia.

Giselle only responded to Lillian, but she made sure Lia heard it clear. Slowly, she released her hand and let go of her daughter. Lia grabbed her cup of hot cocoa and ran away to join Jenna.

Lillian tried to call Lia, but then she took off so fast that Lillian had no chance to stop her. Jenna saw the little girl rushing towards her and grew slightly suspicious.

***

Giselle delivered coffee to Jenna while Lillian carried both coffee and tea to the couch. Lia settled in front of the television. The atmosphere became quiet for some time as they all sipped their drinks without sparing words until Giselle asked the reason for Jenna's visit.

Lillian had forgotten about the distress, so when she heard Giselle mention it, the dreadful feelings returned.

"Hear me out, Giselle!" Lillian cried.

"They want me to judge a writing competition!" she announced.

"Wow! That's great."

"Yeah, Ms. Grey was asked a few times before, but she refused them all."

"What made her do this now?" Giselle asked.

"Mr. Ricardo!" Jenna replied.

"Shane?"

"Hmm... Ah…" Jenna hauled to look at Lillian, signaling if she had shared the incident with Giselle. Lillian gave her the clearance to speak.

"So, you know how Mr. Ricardo got a personal interview for Ms. Grey, right?"

"Yeah."

"Since Ms. Grey said that she would have to skip it for now and promised to do it in the future, Mr. Ricardo got angry, and he fixed her with this judging gig."

Jenna

"Oh- I didn't know," Giselle replied, looking at Lillian.

"Don't worry. I owe him big time, so it's okay."

Although Lillian admitted that she was willing to do this for Shane's sake, it did sound like she was having a hard time going along with this arrangement.

"But judging sounds good too," Giselle said to comfort Lillian, but she still looked beaten.

"Exactly! That's what I keep telling her! It's a well-known writing competition, so Ms. Grey would be the one to read and score all the stories."

Disregarding Lillian's grim face, Giselle still looked proud of her girlfriend.

"Why aren't you happy?" she asked.

"Thousands of scripts, Giselle!"

"Thousands of stories! Jenna just told me that I have to read all these- stories to judge and make a final decision. I mean- I don't know if I can do it in-"

"Hmm... Two weeks," Jenna filled in to notify.

"What, two weeks?"

"Two weeks to judge every short story sent to this competition, Giselle!" Lillian groaned in despair again.

"Don't worry, Ms. Grey. I will be bringing all the documents to you, or I can email you. Anything works fine for me."

"Email me?"

Jenna badly hesitated.

"Nah- I shall visit you to give company. I'm unable to trust you with the way you are reacting!"

Jenna's blunt remark hurt Lillian. Even so, she accepted it to add a request.

"Then, you are going to help me, judge."

"Ms. Grey! I'm not Gill! Besides, technically, I wasn't invited to judge, but you," Jenna reasoned.

"Then help me out!"

"Nope. Mr. Ricardo told me that if I got involved in this, I would get punished with tons of work as well. So, you're all alone in this. Please, don't screw this up, Ms. Grey!"

"What? Shane won't do anything to you-"

"No, Ms. Grey. I will not help you out."

"I think you will be fine," Giselle finally spoke to reassure Lillian.

Seeing how these two wonderful editors believed in her, Lillian thought she should show some enthusiasm. She looked at Giselle and asked if she would really be alright. Giselle proudly bobbed her head to give some boost.

Jenna joined to extend her approval, following which Lia's voice reached for Lillian as well, which finally influenced the author.

Jenna took everyone's blessings to ask Lillian to get ready for the next two weeks. She then informed everyone to leave at once. Lia left her TV to send off Jenna along with her mother. Meanwhile, Lillian remained on the couch, returning to her edgy state. Just thinking about the next two weeks made her feel tense.

***

After sending off Jenna, Giselle returned to join Lillian. She had always had this in her mind but never asked openly. Giselle inquired about the reason behind choosing such a pen name.

"Are you dumb? Giselle, G. Lillian, -ill. Gill! It's very obvious if you ask me," Lillian casually replied as she still lay on the couch.

Giselle sneered at calling her dumb but noticed how silly Lillian thought of while choosing her pen name. It made her smile in delight.

While Giselle clarified her long-time doubt, Lia had already gone upstairs. Now, this gave a moment for Giselle to cheer the sad facade. She leaned down to sweetly kiss the frown away from Lillian's face.

"Did that cheer you up?" Giselle softly asked.

"Hmm..."

Giselle believed she took away the frown, but she didn't imagine catching it onto her. Even when she thought her kiss could cheer up Lillian's distress, the woman just reacted as if it did nothing. Lillian saw how Giselle's gaze dropped to her weak response and caught the sulking face to return the favor.

"Can you promise to kiss me for every story I read and score?" Lillian asked.

The way Lillian put her proposal, at first, intimidated Giselle, but considering how it was just a kiss, she assumed she would be okay with doing a small favor if it would help her girlfriend. So, Giselle agreed to the pact. Lillian finally showed some light in her countenance.

"I saw that!" Lia's voice once again interrupted the two.

Lillian looked over to find the little girl staring down from the hallway.

"Well, you're going to see that a lot, kid!" she remarked loudly, making Giselle blush and bringing laughter to the small audience.