"So, you believe Clive is gay?" I asked Alder while rubbing barbecue sauce off my face. Alder gazed up from his phone.

"I'm not saying he's gay specifically, he could be bi, like you, or pan or whatever," he answered, taking a sip from his drink. "What I'm saying is that Clive quite clearly has a gay crush on Noel. Clive probably knows that I know, but didn't comment on it." He shrugged after this. I smiled to myself.

"So now we're gossiping about your former bullies, huh?" I asked, taking a sip from my tea that I had recently ordered. "Never thought we'd end up doing that."

"Yeah. They were terrible, but Clive's crush is kinda obvious," Alder said. "I wonder how long it's been going on." I smiled at Alder, taking his hand.

"Well, if it's anything like we were, probably a long time." I giggled slightly.

"But say it was in high school," Alder said. "That was seventeen to thirteen years ago. If it lasts that long, I don't think it counts as a 'crush' anymore. That's love."

"But we don't know if it was in high school, so we don't know." Alder nodded with agreement.

"Hey!" We turned and saw our daughter. Emmalyn was blushing slightly and I saw Timothy next to her. Alder narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Haruka and the rest of Emmalyn's friends  were not far behind. They waved in greeting. Emmalyn waved goodbye to her friends and then joined us at the burger place.

"What's up, Papillon?" Alder asked. Emmalyn turned to him.

"Nothing much," she answered, smiling. "Will we be going home?" She asked.

"We need to get the bill," I said. "Alder? You done?" He nodded. I signaled for a waitress. A red haired girl came to our table. "Can we get the bill?" The waitress nodded and waltzed off. "It's on its way," I said giving my daughter a noogie. Emmalyn giggled. Alder suddenly grimaced, and then audibly growled.

"Oh woah! I see he's rubbing off on you, Dumber!" It was my turn to growl. The man talking to us had ginger hair and green eyes. I recognized his snide laughing and evil grin.

"Rodney," I snarled. "You already know about us, you leech." Rodney dramatically threw his head back in shock.

"Leave us alone you b**ch," Alder swore, eyes lighting up. Rodney glanced between us.

"Aw c'mon guys! Can't we start over?" Alder and I shared a thought.

"No fricking/f**king thank you," we said in unison. Emmalyn was silent.

"Why would we want to be friends with you, Leech?" I growled. "You bullied Alder back when we were in high school. You called him a freak! You- you- f**king hit him! You f**king kicked him! You f**king HURT THE LOVE OF MY LIFE YOU F**KING F**K, YOU F**KING B**CH! YOU F**KING PRICK!" I grabbed Rodney by his shirt. Rodney, looked shocked and scared. Emmalyn and Alder looked surprised. "TELL ME WHY THE F**K WOULD WE BE FRIENDS WITH YOU, HUH?!" I was aware of the scene I was creating. I let Rodney go. His attitude before was gone, he was so surprised. I'm sure Rodney had experienced one of my outbursts before, but maybe because I had swore.

I only swore if I was enraged, and I was. Rodney could probably see it in my eyes. The bill came and the waitress quickly did an about turn. I put the cash in the bill and furiously gave it to the waitress.

It was when we got home that I finally calmed down. "Wow, I knew you were protective of me but wow," Alder said.

"Oh yeah," I said. "I guess the return of Hulk-Sullivan huh?" Alder blinked.

"So you're naming it now?" He asked, amused.

"Of course, I don't turn into a large green buff version of myself who wears purple shorts," I said. "I'm not buff, like, at all."

"You were never one for sports," Alder mused. I nodded in agreement. Emmalyn was watching something on the TV. "I think we classified as geeks or nerds."

"Well, back at school, it was just us in our group. We were like our own 'clique'. And we ended up falling for each other," I added.

"It took a while for the feelings to be returned but it was always us, I think it was always gonna be us two."

"Whether it was gonna platonic, or romantic," I said. "I feel like  we were meant to meet. Maybe if not at school, later on in life. I don't why I feel like that." Alder kissed my cheek and I turned to face my husband.

"Maybe it was destiny."