Clarice (Rissy to her best friend and roommate Nelly) has her life all planned out: she’ll finish university, intern at a big bank, find a husband, and then “retire” to write obscure books that no one would ever want to read. She doesn’t think that’s too much to ask for, very flexible about everything else.

However, that future she dreams of gets turned upside down on the night of her twenty-first birthday (early September).

Against Nelly’s advice, Clarice takes up an offer from the quarterback of their college football team to go to a nightclub. Nelly drives her there anyway, waiting in the car while Clarice meets up with him and goes in. However, he leaves when she turns down his further advances. Since she’s already there, she has a few drinks and makes her way to the dancefloor.

Although a bit awkward at first, she gets the hang of it soon enough and, eventually, finds someone she likes dancing with. To her, the stranger is some kind of emo / goth / punk guy: fairly slender, dark black hair that’s short but a little grown out, dressed in tight black jeans and a black shirt; she can’t make out much of their face (bad lighting and her drinks are catching up with her), but there’s at least some eyeliner going on.

Well, she gets carried away with the dancing, both of them getting handsy, ending with a kiss. Not quite wanting it to end there, she asks, “Is there maybe room for me in your bed tonight?”

And the person chuckles, handing her something like a business card. “Text me when you’re sober.”

Clarice is disappointed, but takes it in stride and settles for another kiss for now.

A text then finally puts an end to things, Nelly checking if Clarice is okay, which Clarice takes as her cue to leave. And so Nelly is treated to Clarice gushing over her encounter with the stranger for the entire ride back to the dorms. While Nelly questions how this person fits into Clarice’s life plan, Clarice replies that, “It’s not like I’m going to fall in love and marry him.”

When morning comes, she’s giddy despite the minor hangover (she mumbles a thanks to Nelly for making her drink a big glass of water before going to bed) and, after a quick stop in the bathroom, she digs through her purse for the “business” card.

Only, once she finds it, it’s like someone dumped a bucket of cold water over her. Nelly was watching on with amusement, but the sudden change in Clarice’s mood worries her, so she asks what’s wrong.

Clarice simply shows Nelly the card; Nelly takes a couple of seconds to spot the “problem”, at which point she bursts into laughter. “Felicity’s a bit of a strange name for a guy,” she says, not at all helping Clarice’s mood. Once Nelly calms down, she carries on. “So what’s the problem?”

It takes Clarice a moment to find the right words. “It’s like, that’s the kind of guy I like, but not the kind of woman I like.”

Nelly rolls her eyes. “Seriously? Come on.”

Clarice scowls at her before sinking back into a depressed expression with a long sigh. “I guess… I can give her a chance,” Clarice mumbles, then speaks almost angrily as she says, “‘Felicity’ really doesn’t suit her.”

Nelly laughs at that, but says no more on it.

Despite Clarice’s initial shock, she quickly warms up to Felicity as they arrange a date over text (Nelly treated to giggles and smiles as Clarice stares at her phone). It turns out Felicity attends the same university, so they plan to meet up at the campus coffee shop this afternoon (not that far away, Clarice having slept through most of the morning).

After a quick lunch and a brief fashion show, Nelly recommends Clarice simply wears jeans and a pale blue shirt (“It’s just a coffee date, y’know?”). Clarice ignores her and goes for a pretty outfit: pink skirt, white blouse, cardigan, strappy sandals. Nelly warns her that summer has already ended, especially so far north, but her warnings are waved off. (“We’ll be inside anyway.”)

However, Clarice regrets her choice of outfit as soon as she leaves the dorms, but is too prideful to even go back for a coat. Walking as fast as she can, she crosses the campus to the coffee shop. She was going to order a coffee to warm herself up, but a fairly familiar Felicity catches her attention—and Felicity notices her too, striding over.

Before Clarice can even greet her, Felicity has taken off her leather jacket, carefully draping it over Clarice’s shoulders. And Clarice freezes up, so off-balance from the kind gesture. The gentle tone Felicity then uses to ask if she’s cold and how Felicity orders her a hot chocolate (pausing to ask her if she likes hot chocolates; she nods) only makes Clarice’s feelings more complicated.

They sit down with their drinks and Felicity gets to work breaking the ice, introducing herself. Most people call her Flick (Clarice thinks that suits her a lot more than Felicity) and she says she’s majoring in fashion. That surprises Clarice and she can’t hide it, Flick saying, “Surprised?” Clarice shakes her head, but Flick just chuckles and admits she was lying: she’s actually majoring in architecture with a minor in photography—the “business” card advertising her photography services.

From there, they chat a bit about university life, eventually touching on dating and relationships. Flick takes that topic right into a, “Are you interested in me?”

It’s sudden, but Clarice thinks it over for a second before nodding. “Are you?”

Flick breaks into a small smirk, and she nods. “Yeah, I am.”

After an awkward moment of avoiding each other’s gaze, their eyes meet and they laugh; both of them slowly reach over until their hands meet, giving a small squeeze. Flick then picks up the topic from before and brings it to sexuality and their sexual identities; Flick prefers the term dyke, while Clarice hesitantly admits she’s bi, relieved that that isn’t an issue to Flick.

From there, they touch on some of the issues they’ve had dating—notably, Flick has had problems with certain expectations because of her more butch appearance—and Clarice finishes by telling Flick what she told Nelly: she isn’t looking for a serious, long-term relationship. Flick jokes a bit, but agrees that they’ll see where it goes.

–

Cut to three months later. It’s early on a Friday morning in early December, Clarice and Flick lying naked in bed together, snuggled up. The room is tidy but for their clothes strewn across the floor, On the desk is: a laptop, printed photographs of Clarice posing in lingerie, an issue of the college newspaper, as well as wrapping paper and a book titled “The Adventures of Princesses Mary and Ann”.

Their peaceful slumber is disturbed by Clarice’s phone going off—the first time gets them stirring, but Clarice only sits up to find it after the second message comes in. While Clarice fiddles with her phone, Flick trails kisses up her back, coming all the way to her neck, at which point Clarice reaches up to push her away. “It’s my mom,” she mumbles.

“Checking if we’ve left yet?” Flick asks, resting her head against the back of Clarice’s shoulder.

Clarice takes a while to respond, her face showing complicated expressions. Her brother’s partner is coming for the early Christmas celebration her family is having, so her mother has asked if Flick wants to stay too (it’s a long drive for Flick just to pick up Clarice again a couple of days later). Clarice has an awkward back and forth with Flick over this where she eventually confesses that her parents assumed Flick was male and (since it’s not a serious relationship) she never corrected them, not to mention she hasn’t come out as bi to them.

Rather than annoyed or offended, Flick is just greatly amused by all this, laughing as she hugs Clarice. Flick ultimately says it’s up to Clarice to decide what’s best for her since it’s her family they’re talking about.

As a joke, Clarice asks Flick to pretend to be her boyfriend for the weekend, only for Flick to agree before she can say she was joking. Clarice double-checks if Flick is serious, and Flick says she is—but she also thinks there’s no way it’ll work and is agreeing mostly because she thinks it’ll be hilarious (and a little because she wants to meet Clarice’s family and spend more time with her).

Clarice struggles to come to a decision, but eventually decides to go ahead with it.

Cue a car trip montage as they travel through a couple of states to get to Clarice’s home, making it there just as the sun’s setting (which happens to be just in time for dinner, regardless of what time the sun actually sets and what time dinner is usually eaten).

Clarice has Flick stop the car around the corner. Flick is dressed in a more city outfit than her usual clothes: blue jeans, buttoned shirt with long sleeves (the cuffs rolled halfway up her forearms. Clarice fiddles with Flick’s hair and puts on some makeup that’s supposed to look like five o’clock shadow. For good measure, she gives Flick a kiss too and thanks her for doing this. In reply, Flick gives her a kiss and repeats that she thinks this is going to be a hilarious mess. The two share a chuckle / giggle, then Flick starts the car again, pulling up into the driveway, lit by the blinking Christmas decorations covering the front yard and house.

When they get out, Flick looks at the house and lets out a low whistle. Clarice asks if something’s wrong, and Flick asks if her family’s rich, Clarice asks why, Flick says the house is huge. Clarice doesn’t understand—all the small family houses in these parts are three storeys tall (with a loft conversion on top), four bedrooms and two guest rooms, multiple bathrooms, basement, and a back garden that’s just about big enough for a full-sized football pitch. Flick doesn’t say anything more about it.

So they get to the front door, Clarice having a last-minute meeting after pressing the doorbell, Flick nodding along with a serious expression. Just as Clarice finishes, the door swings open to reveal her parents and grandmother. She puts on a smile and awkwardly introduces Flick (her “boyfriend”) to them.

They’re all very sweet and welcoming: her mother, “Please call me Karen,” father, “Steve—like Captain America. You’ve seen those movies, right?” and grandmother, “Just call me Grandma—I forget what my name is these days.” Karen follows up with a, “She’s told us so much about you,” and Grandma chimes in with, “Didn’t mention you were such a stud.” Karen awkwardly laughs off Grandma’s comment and invites them inside.

As they’re coming in, Steve pulls Flick to the side (Clarice hovering nearby as Karen says to give them a minute). Steve then says, “I know I look like a nice guy, but that’s because my little princess is here. If you hurt her, she’s not going to be there to stop me, understand?”

Flick looks him up and down—glasses, thinning hair, beer belly, no hint of muscle—and holds back her smirk. “Yes, sir,” she says.

Steve gives her a last, hard look, and then bursts into a grin, giving her a heavy pat on the back. “I’ve always wanted to try that.” Turning around, he asks Karen, “How did I do, sweetie?”

Karen puts on a polite smile, definitely not at all condescending. “You did great, honeybuns.”

Clarice rolls her eyes.

Steve turns back to Flick and says, “Let me show you my gun collection,” as he starts walking to the basement door.

“D’you hunt?” Flick asks, following him.

“They’re nerf guns! He’s too scared to even touch the real thing! And what about our bags?” Clarice shouts after them, then shakes her head.

While Flick and Steve go into the basement, Karen says the bags can go up later and invites Clarice to the kitchen to help with dinner. Clarice agrees, but soon regrets it as Karen asks where she met Flick and similar questions, Clarice stumbling over her answers, repeatedly calling Flick “she” and correcting herself.

Clarice is soon saved by the family dog coming in from the garden: a Jack Russel Terrier, called Kennedy. While she fawns over him, Karen says he was probably flirting with the new dog next door. So Clarice asks him if he was seeing his girlfriend. Karen gives an awkward cough-laugh and then corrects her: the dog next is also male.

The room falls into an awkward silence until the sound of the basement door opening cuts through, along with Flick and Steve chatting. Clarice excuses herself, saying they (her and Flick) will go and put their bags up now.

So Clarice goes through and grabs Flick, leading her to the bags, making a comment how she hopes Steve behaved himself. Flick chuckles, says she’s impressed by his gun collection—Steve puffs up his chest, says he’s glad someone finally appreciates the beauty of the second amendment.

Clarice rolls her eyes as she grabs her suitcase, only for Flick to hold the handle too. “Let me carry them up,” she says.

Clarice looks unconvinced, her expression saying, “Really?”

Flick slips into a smirk. “Gotta make a good impression as your boyfriend, right?”

Clarice crumbles, reluctantly letting go, at which point Flick hoists the suitcase up with no sign of strain, holding it under her arm. Still feeling bad about it, Clarice hurriedly picks up Flick’s bag (a lighter gym / duffel bag). She then quickly starts walking before Flick can say anything, telling Flick to follow her. Flick chuckles as she starts following Clarice.

The two go upstairs and into one of the rooms there—the door has a fancy, self-made nameplate, complete with artistic handwriting and glitter and a not-so-subtle bisexual pride color scheme.

The bedroom itself is large with a full-on King-sized bed, study desk, and every other piece of bedroom furniture imaginable, while also having plenty of room to move around and a broad window with an idyllic view. Flick takes a look around and asks again if Clarice’s family is rich; Clarice again denies it while opening the door to a comically large walk-in closet that appears to be the size of a long hallway.

While Clarice changes into some fresh clothes, Flick opens her sports bag. Because of the sudden change of plans this morning, the bag’s a mess, crumpled clothes and a box of tampons showing, as well as (what looks like) a belt of some kind. Clarice asks Flick to get something from her suitcase, so Flick just takes out a can of deodorant and leaves her own bag not zipped up.

While Flick hands over the thing to Clarice, she asks about Clarice’s grandfather—if he has passed away. Clarice laughs and says that he hates Christmas, so they send him to a resort in Vegas for a month. Flick finds this more bizarre than funny, her expression showing that.

Cut to an indeterminate time later, Clarice is all dolled up in a pretty dress (something more on the cute side than sexy). Flick takes a moment to appreciate the outfit until Karen calls out that dinner’s ready. They leave the bedroom, making their way downstairs.

The dining room is, like every other room, large and quaintly decorated. There’s only the five of them too, so the table seems hugely spacious as they’re all crammed up at one end: Karen and Steve on one side, Clarice and Flick opposite, Grandma at the end of the table. Similarly, the quantity of food is over-the-top; when Clarice and Flick come in, Clarice looks at the food with surprise, then looks at Karen, to which Karen shyly shrugs and says, “You know how much young men eat.”

Flick laughs at that, but Clarice looks worried. Regardless, they join the others at the table. While everyone tries to fill Flick’s plate with comments like, “You have to try this,” Clarice tries to intervene, ultimately ending up with a plate that’s even more full than Flick’s. Karen makes a joke about “eating for two”, but Clarice quickly insists that that’s not possible, realizing a moment later that that would be suspicious, so awkwardly adds on that, “We’re very safe.”

Flick quickly follows up with, “We even wear shin guards,” which breaks up the atmosphere as everyone laughs. Once they all calm down and start eating, Clarice leans over and whispers a thank, to which Flick says, “Should I tell them about our safe word too?”

Caught entirely by surprise, Clarice chokes, prompting everyone to look at her. She waves them off, trying to gesture that she was okay, and then taking a big drink of water.

“Is that a red, then?” Flick whispers, really emphasizing “red”.

Clarice chokes again.

Once everything settles down, she elbows Flick and calls her a bitch under her breath. Flick takes it in stride, whispering, “Specifically, your bitch.” Clarice can’t help but laugh this time, prompting Karen to sigh and say to Steve, “Ah, young love.” Clarice back in embarrassed territory, she forbids Flick from any more flirting.

Before Flick can give a reply, there’s a series of thuds coming from another room. Everyone looks at each other (Steve seemingly counting everyone on his fingers) until Clarice says, “It’s probably just Kennedy.” A moment later, she’s proven right as he shuffles into the room, butt first. Clarice turns back to the table to say, “See?”

However, she’s met by a very strange expression on Karen’s and Steve’s face, and they awkwardly look away. Before she can ask why, Flick clears her throat and, when Clarice looks at her, she gestures back to the doorway behind them.

Clarice finally looks back at Kennedy, and her face falls right down as she sees what Kennedy brought downstairs: a strap-on from Flick’s bag. For an incredibly long second, she just stares, then jumps to her feet to take it away from Kennedy, hiding it behind her back as she faces everyone at the table again. Although trying to smile, it keeps morphing into an embarrassed wince, and she keeps going to speak only to change her mind at the last second.

Eventually, she gives a nervous laugh and then says, “This is… mine.”

There’s a long moment of silence, then Grandma says to Flick, “She takes after me.”

Flick loses it, laughing into her elbow as she turns to the side; the others are still silent, awkward expressions. After a few seconds, Clarice starts shuffling back as she says, “I’ll just… put this back.”

Without any remorse for leaving Flick there, she runs upstairs. Meanwhile, Flick goes back to eating, Grandma doing the same right after, and Karen and Steve do the same after giving Flick a last confused look.

(The dog is around in future scenes, but isn’t the focus of anything else that happens.)

When Clarice returns, she silently sits down… and is confronted by the mountain of food still to eat. She gives it a pained look before digging in. Time skips forward, everyone else finished eating except for Clarice; her plate has moved to between her and Flick, and Flick is helping her.

Somehow, they finish the last of it, Clarice practically heaving, cradling her bloated stomach. However, when Karen stands up to clear the table, Clarice forces herself up and offers to do it; Flick helps her without asking or saying, the two of them carrying needlessly tall stacks of plates through to the kitchen. There, Clarice starts running the taps to wash the plates, and Grandma comes through, telling Flick to, “Let this old lady get some work in while she still can.” Flick reluctantly gives in after Clarice gives her a look that says it’s fine.

Alone with Grandma, the two start washing up. After a couple of easy questions, Grandma says, “About Flick.”

“What about her—him?” Clarice says, again stumbling over the gender.

Grandma puts on an almost intense expression, apparently thinking hard. “Is he… DTF? No, FTM.”

Clarice almost drops the plate she’s holding, eyes wide and mouth like a goldfish’s as she doesn’t know what to say. “Sorry, what are you asking?” she awkwardly says.

Grandma lets out a big sigh. “Trans, dear. Is he trans? It’s just, these old eyes didn’t see any jingle bells or a candy cane.”

Clarice awkwardly laughs, dragging it out as she desperately thinks over what she can possibly say to that. She eventually decides on simply chastising Grandma for looking at Flick’s crotch (in a less direct manner).

“I just worry you’re not being satisfied, that’s all. If you’re going to marry someone, start a family, and slowly come to resent them, then at least the angry sex should be good,” Grandma replies.

Clarice can only bow her head and mutter, “I’m… being satisfied.”

“That’s all good, then,” Grandma says.

Cut to the lounge a couple of minutes later, Clarice comes through with Grandma, the others sitting around and talking. Karen says they were just talking about Flick’s courses at university and that it sounds interesting and they’d like to see some of Flick’s photography. Clarice, knowing what kind of photos Flick likes taking, forces a smile and tries to move the topic to architecture.

Rather than that, Karen asks Flick how they met. Of course, Flick honestly says at a nightclub—Clarice had earlier told Karen at the library. Clarice immediately turns to Flick with a look of, “Don’t say another word,” before turning back to her parents and letting out an awkward laugh. “I saw her—I mean him, I saw him at the library and we, um, then I bumped into him when Nelly dragged me to a nightclub. For my birthday. She said it would be a waste not to, so we had one drink and drove home. I mean, I had a drink—she obviously didn’t since she was driving. And we bumped into him there.”

There’s a long pause after she finishes before Flick clears her throat and then says, “A very romantic meeting.” That breaks the tension, everyone letting out a laugh; relieved, Clarice reaches over to hold Flick’s hand, giving it a squeeze.

Cut to some time later, TV on in the background, Steve lets out a yawn and Karen comments on the time. Grandma excuses herself first, citing her age, and Steve says we (him and Karen) should be on their way too. Once those three leave the room, Clarice lets out a sigh, deflating against Flick. Flick wraps an arm around her, other hand coming over to stroke the top of her head.

“Tired?” Flick asks.

“Like a bicycle.”

Flick laughs and leans over, leaving a light kiss on Clarice’s head. In an unspoken agreement, they stand up and head to Clarice’s bedroom. She goes ahead to the bed, crashing onto it, and then turns her head to warn Flick that her father installed all the locks in the house and they’re upside down. Flick doesn’t understand at first, so Clarice clarifies that, rather than the expected clockwise-to-lock, it’s anti-clockwise. Flick still doesn’t entirely get it, so she fiddles with the door for a moment, quickly understanding.

“That’s really weird,” she says.

Clarice laughs and says, “Yup,” adding on that you get used to it eventually.

Once Flick makes sure the door is actually locked, she comes over and sits down next to Clarice (sitting down heavily enough to lightly trampoline Clarice). She then resumes petting duties, stroking Clarice’s head.

After a bit of that, Clarice rolls over and pulls Flick down on top of her (at a bit of an angle, not flush on top). They then start a whispered conversation.

Clarice starts by apologizing for Steve, saying she hopes he wasn’t too much. Flick says she didn’t mind, but Clarice doubles down, mentioning that Flick’s like the son he never had. After a brief pause, a confused Flick says, “Don’t you have an older brother?”

Clarice’s face scrunches up. “I mean, my dad wanted the movie son—playing catch in the garden and little league and fiddling with car engines. But Richard grew up on games consoles and the PC.”

Flick thinks for a moment and then asks about Clarice’s sister’s husband (the brother-in-law). Clarice makes another complicated expression. Not sure what to say, she just says that it was a bit of a rushed wedding (Flick chuckles) and that BIL isn’t really what Steve is looking for.

Flick finishes that conversation with a, “But I am?”

Clarice giggles, but confirms that, “You saw, right? My dad would be very happy with you as his son-in-law.”

While those words fade into silence, Flick checks with Clarice if they really are going to continue pretending she’s a guy. Clarice squeezes her tightly and mutters, “It’s just easier for everyone this way.”

Flick shows a somber expression, but says nothing, squeezing Clarice back.

Fade to black and cut to the morning. Breakfast is just finishing up, Karen taking the plates through while Steve sits there with a newspaper and Grandma is knitting a scarf (not very well, more of a bird’s nest). The doorbell rings and so Clarice stands up, saying she’ll get it, and Flick tags along. On the way, Clarice says it should be her brother, Richard.

True enough, when she opens the door, Richard is there with his partner. Only, it’s a man. Clarice is surprised and Richard picks up on it, asking if something is wrong. Clarice laughs to cover her awkwardness and then quietly asks if the man is his boyfriend. Richard sort of clicks his tongue and gives her a what-are-you-talking-about look. Covering her tracks, Clarice says, “I mean, obviously I knew you were gay all along, I just didn’t know you’d come out to mom and dad.”

Richard laughs and says, “They’re the ones who introduced us,” before learning in and whispering, “Same with my last boyfriend.”

Clarice offers a weak smile and transitions into greeting Richard’s boyfriend, Peter. Peter is a well-groomed, normal-looking guy that could be found in any office place. Clarice then introduces her “boyfriend”, Flick. Richard gives Flick a good look. “He’s cute,” Richard says, then says to Flick, “If things don’t work out with her, I know a few guys who’d be interested.”

Flick chuckles and thanks him, but declines and says, “I’m not interested in guys.”

“Lucky you—I wouldn’t be if I had the choice,” Richard says, sparing Peter an unimpressed look.

Peter gives Richard a flirty slap on the waist with the back of his hand in a “stop it, you’re terrible” gesture; he says to Richard, “Really?”

They all have a short laugh over that, then Steve calls through, asking what’s taking so long. So they all file in and greet Karen, Steve, and Grandma. Karen and Steve ask after Peter’s parents, while Grandma asks Richard a vaguely inappropriate question (along the lines of the “Are you satisfied?” she asked Clarice), which Richard answers without hesitation. Clarice and Flick are left out for a bit, but Richard soon brings Peter over, eager to get to know the “guy who finally nailed down my sister” (with a noticeable emphasis on nailed).

Somewhat offended, somewhat embarrassed, Clarice asks what exactly he means by that. Richard laughs it off and says it’s just that she’s never brought a boy home before. Clarice responds by saying that it’s not like Flick’s the first person she’s dated, just that she’s been more focused on studying than getting in a serious relationship.

Richard takes that comment straight to Flick. “Hear that? She likes you more than her GPA.” Although Clarice isn’t impressed by this interpretation of what she said, Flick breaks into laughter, taking it as the highest compliment.

Despite Richard’s joking, the conversation goes in the direction he initially said as he asks Flick questions. “What’s Flick short for?” “Felix,” Clarice hastily says. When it comes to Flick’s courses, Richard and Peter both show interest in photography, commenting that a few of their friends are photographers—Richard adding that some are professionals, and the others get paid more; Peter laughs at the joke, Flick and Clarice offering a polite chuckle.

Flick mentions she has her laptop with her, so Richard and Peter encourage her to show them some of her work. Clarice is reluctant, but understands that two gay men should see Flick’s photos as purely artistic. So, when Flick looks at her with a “Can I?” expression, she nods.

While Flick goes upstairs, Richard takes the conversation to a more personal level. “You’re happy with him?” “He treats you well?” Clarice is suitably bashful in her affirmations, very much appearing the maiden-in-love, and Richard smiles, congratulating her. After she thanks him, he sneaks in a last curveball: “So, do you think he’s the one?”

With perfect timing, Flick comes back before Clarice can answer, but she’s suitably thrown by the question and in a bit of a daze as Flick puts her laptop on the coffee table and opens it up. This quickly brings Clarice back as she’s mortified by what’s on the screen, her eyes opening wide and the color draining from her face. Meanwhile, Flick’s not showing any expression, and Richard and Peter are nodding as they look, pensive.

Clarice recovers after a second and reaches over, closing the laptop. There’s a slight, awkward pause, and then she says, “That, uh, was Flick’s sister! Twin… sister….”

Richard turns to Peter. “It was a good composition, wasn’t it?” “I loved the lighting—it almost looked like a heat map of the male gaze.” “Ah! That’s exactly it, isn’t it? This is like… the reduction of the female form, a criticism of the straight-male dominated society.” “Yes! Such a beautiful figure, yet it is shrouded in darkness as all men see are the tits and ass.”

Clarice can’t decide between wishing the ground would open up and swallow her… or them, while Flick just nods along and lets them come to their own conclusion. Only when they finish talking it out and address her does she say, “It’s a Christmas present.”

Richard elbows Peter and whispers, “I told you.” Peter rubs where he was elbowed, playing it off as something more painful than it was.

And Clarice tries to sink even deeper into the couch.

She’s then “saved” by Karen asking for her help in the kitchen. Although reluctant to leave Flick, Flick mouths, “I’ll be fine,” so Clarice goes ahead.

Cut to an hour or so later, Clarice comes back to the lounge to see that Steve has joined the other three, watching a talk show about soccer. She sits next to Flick, who whispers to her that it’s the MLS Cup final tonight. Clarice responds that Steve nor Richard have ever watched soccer before.

That gets a chuckle out of Flick, the two mentioned look away, Peter needling Richard. Clarice then asks why they’re even watching this; Steve mumbles that Flick mentioned she played soccer at high school. Flick confirms that.

Only, Richard adds that Steve asked Flick if she watched any sports, and she said women’s soccer. Clarice winces. Before she can say anything, though, the doorbell rings. She jumps to her feet, dragging Flick with her to the hallway. Ignoring what just happened, she says to Flick that this should be her sister, brother-in-law, and nieces.

Sure enough, when they open the door, the family of four is standing there: Louise, Nathaniel, Anne-Marie (8 years old), Marianne (6 years old).

Clarice warmly greets Louise and the girls, a more cordial but still polite greeting for Nathaniel, and she then introduces her “boyfriend” to them. Louise and Nathaniel are polite, while Anne-Marie squints at Flick, Marianne seeing that and then copying her sister. Louise gives a brief, awkward laugh and encourages the girls to greet Flick, which they do, albeit while still looking at her with suspicion.

Eager to move things on, Clarice leads them through to the lounge. Once everyone has greeted everyone (notably, the girls greet Peter without the same suspicion), Louise notices the soccer and the television and (like Clarice did) questions why it’s on when Steve and Richard never watched it before.

So the topic comes back to Flick having played it in high school. Now, this sets Anne-Marie off, and she rushes over to Flick to ask if that’s true. Flick answers yes, Anne-Marie practically squealing. Louise offers a little apology and asks Anne-Marie to calm down, then adds that Anne-Marie became a bit of a fan when the women’s team did well at the world cup.

This transitions into Anne-Marie begging Flick to play soccer, somehow roping most of the gathered family into it as well. So they all go outside, get out a soccer ball and two goals (five-a-side / children’s sized). While Steve tries to arrange teams (and finding every adult moderately unwilling), Flick shows off a bit for Anne-Marie, keepie-uppies and balancing and (at Anne-Marie’s insistence) she kicks a penalty, slamming it into the back of the (unguarded) net.

Any chance Steve has for getting a game going evaporates at that, every adult except Clarice and Louise turning around and walking back into the house (“I’m not standing in the way of that.”) Meanwhile, Anne-Marie has been going crazy, gushing with praise for Flick and already begging her to do another penalty kick. Flick’s a bit unused to the praise, but can’t refuse the enthusiastic requests coming from Anne-Marie (often parroted by Marianne).

Cue a montage as Flick goes through some training exercises, poor Steve put in goal as she shows him up with a supercut of goals (shooting from a distance, headers, fancy footwork that gets around him), and a bit of mentoring as she teaches Anne-Marie some things.

That montage is interspersed with “sexy” shots of Flick working up a sweat, wearing a tank top that shows off her muscled arms, shots of her running a hand through her a-bit-long-on-the-top hair—and Clarice is loving it, biting her lip, looking away all embarrassed when Flick winks at her.

The soccer is interrupted by Karen announcing lunch will be soon. Flick mentions she should freshen up, Louise having to intercede when Anne-Marie starts whining. And Clarice only has eyes for Flick, and Flick knows it, pausing on the way for a short kiss that drags a long sigh out of Clarice when they separate. That distracts Anne-Marie, disgusted by the PDA and telling them to get a room. Clarice giggles, then walks into the house, followed by Louise and the girls.

Steve is left in the garden, lying on the ground by the goal, wheezing.

While Clarice stays in the kitchen to help (where the back door leads to), Louise and the girls go through to the lounge, Marianne saying she needs the toilet. Clarice thinks nothing of it, even as she hears a pair of light footsteps going upstairs.

However, there’s soon a child’s shout, followed by running down the stairs. Attracted by the noise, everyone (except Steve and Flick) goes to the various doorways in time to hear Anne-Marie (standing with Marianne) announce that Flick was wearing a bra.

Clarice instantly understands what happened and desperately tries to come up with something. She’s given a moment to think as Louise tries to shush Anne-Marie, saying A-M shouldn’t talk about things like that in public; Anne-Marie counters by saying that, “You said I had to tell you right away if I saw daddy wearing your bra again.”

This leads to a very heavy silence, despite the expressions varying between mild shock and the flat expressions of someone trying not to smirk (Richard and Peter, Grandma a bit amused herself).

Louise awkwardly laughs it off and steers the girls out of the room, whispering that they’ll talk about this later. On the way out of the room, Flick comes down the stairs and joins them—wearing fresh clothes, her face clean, hair a bit damp—and Louise apologizes to Flick; Flick just waves it off, saying it’s her fault for not locking the door properly.

This brings everyone’s attention to Flick and Clarice feels like it’s a very judgmental attention, sure that, any moment, someone will ask about it. Under that pressure, she speaks up, only to stutter as now she’s the focus, before carrying on. “Uh, it’s… for chafing,” she says. “Since Flick likes to run. She—he was telling me this morning that… he wanted to go for a run before lunch, but I guess he worked up a sweat anyway.” She trails off with a forced laugh, looking away.

A silence follows, but is soon broken by Karen saying that everyone should sit down for lunch; Clarice pulls Flick through to help bring out the food.

With all the extra guests, the table is more reasonably sized this time, pretty much full without being too crowded. And with less focus on Flick’s plate, she and Clarice have more reasonable portions this time. That goes for the conversation too, most of the questions going to Peter as well as the girls, leaving Flick free to constantly flirt with Clarice—small touches and whispered comments; while no one comments on their flirting, everyone sees them doing it at some point or another.

After helping to clear up lunch, Clarice excuses herself and Flick to go study. Richard makes a joke about what exactly they’ll be studying, but Clarice just rolls her eyes and leads Flick upstairs.

Safely in Clarice’s room, she falls onto her bed, muttering about being exhausted. Flick chuckles and sits down next to her, rubbing her back. When it seems like Clarice isn’t going to say anything else, Flick asks if she wants to come clean with her family (“Should we just tell them about me?”) Clarice scrunches up her face, but mumbles back a no. “No one suspects anything, so it’s easier like this.”

Flick keeps it to herself that she thinks there’s probably a lot of suspicion going on.

Although Flick gets a bit handsy, kissing Clarice’s nape, Clarice insists on actually studying. Flick takes it in stride, stopping her advances and helping Clarice to her feet. While Clarice takes her laptop and notepads out of her suitcase, she asks if Flick really did play soccer in high school. Flick says she did. After a second, Clarice softly says she didn’t know. Flick says she tries not to talk about herself since Clarice is gonna break up with her at the end of the year. “Make it a bit easier on both of us,” she says, her tone making it sound like a joke, but it’s a joke neither of them laugh at.

Clarice feels like she’s made things awkward between them, but she can’t think of what to say to smooth things over, hiding behind her laptop. After a bit, Flick gets her laptop out too; when she opens it, Clarice sneaks a glance—and what she sees makes it hard to focus. (For clarity, it was a nude shot of Flick earlier, and Flick hasn’t done anything else with it since.) Clarice blushes, tries to focus on her work, but often sneaks more glances at Flick’s laptop.

They’re eventually called down for dinner (at dusk). Flick closes her laptop and looks over, a worried expression coming to her when she sees Clarice. “Are you alright?” she asks.

Clarice, who could be found in the dictionary under “hot and bothered”, shakes her head. “I’m fine.”

Flick doesn’t laugh off the reply, coming over to feel Clarice’s forehead. Clarice lets her, but looks away as soon as Flick takes back her hand. “No fever—d’you need some water?” Flick tugs at the collar of her own shirt. “It is a bit hot in here….”

“Let’s not keep everyone waiting,” Clarice says, hurrying to her feet. Flick, still worried, holds Clarice’s hand, walks closely to her the whole way down the stairs, only then letting go.

Like with lunch, there’s not much attention on Flick (and Clarice) except for another comment from Richard, asking how their studying went. Flick laughs it off, says Clarice is working herself too hard as always. Clarice can only duck her head, embarrassed because she’d barely studied, but it looks (to everyone else) like an admission that something else went on. Before Richard can say anything else on that, Peter elbows him and distracts him with the food.

After dinner, Clarice helps Grandma wash up again. While Grandma talks about the girls at first, she eventually asks if Flick will be coming back over the winter break. Clarice mumbles about having not talked with Flick about it, but Grandma interrupts to say that she’s confident Flick would come if Clarice asked, so she (Grandma) just wants to know what to cook for Flick when she does visit.

Clarice stumbles over her answer, but makes up that Flick loves macaroni and cheese—who doesn’t? While Grandma mutters about her “special recipe” and wondering if she has enough “oregano”, Clarice is brought once again to the question of what exactly Flick means to her, her expression complicated.

When they’re halfway through, Nathaniel comes through with a bit of a smile. Seeing Clarice, he says that she should go through and he’ll take over. Clarice tries to decline, but he insists (“Louise’s orders.”) and so she leaves. As she does, she hears Grandma reminding Nathaniel of the importance of locking doors when you have children.

Once Clarice gets to the lounge, she understands why she was sent through: Anne-Marie has established her position on Flick’s one side, Marianne on the other, the girls snuggled up to Flick as she talks them through the soccer match on the TV. Everyone else in the room can’t help but glance over with little smiles and barely contained laughter, but Clarice just feels her heart melt, such a precious sight.

Louise subtly comes over to join Clarice by the doorway. Whispering, she says, “That could be him and your girls in a few years.”

Clarice shakes her head. “I don’t want kids.”

Louise softly laughs, smiling. “What about Flick? I know I shouldn’t tell you to compromise on something like this, but if he does want children, well, there’s worse mistakes to make.”

“That’s easy for you to say because everything worked out,” Clarice says bluntly.

Louise doesn’t have a reply to that, but she’s more depressed than upset by what Clarice said. After a stretch of silence, she says she meant it as, sometimes, life changes you and you end up wanting something different to what you thought. Clarice doesn’t say anything to that, so Louise adds, “I have my life to live, and you have yours, but I’ll always be there for you if you need me—that’s what big sisters are for.”

Clarice breaks into a small smile. “Except on PTA nights.”

Louise breaks into a broad smile. “Last time I missed one, they tried to remove the eighth grade sex ed classes. When I think about those poor boys and girls going into puberty without a clue, it breaks my heart.”

“Yeah,” Clarice says, her gaze drifting back over to Flick.

As involved as Flick and the girls are in the match, Flick seems to feel Clarice’s gaze and looks over, smiling when their eyes meet. Clarice gives a little wave as a hello, and Flick pats her lap. Clarice shakes her head, but Flick just pats her lap even more. Clarice bites her lip; the look Flick is giving her is too hard to resist, so she quickly walks over. She tries to sit next to Anne-Marie, but Flick grabs her as she walks in front and pulls her onto her lap.

Hardly a subtle maneuver, Richard whistles at them (until Peter elbows him), and Karen and Steve look over with a smile the seems to say, “Ah, young love,” while Anne-Marie scowls at Clarice, Marianne (not seeing her sister’s reaction) happy that Clarice has joined them.

And Clarice is ready to die. However, she knows that, if she did, Flick would catch her soul and stuff it back into her body, so she tries to focus on the soccer match instead.

Having been a late-evening kick-off, Marianne is nodding off by half-time, and Anne-Marie is looking out of it too. Louise herds them off to bed; they’re too tired to even argue back properly. As they go, Flick promises to watch the rest of it with them tomorrow, which settles them.

In the silence that follows, Richard lets out a yawn. Peter says that they got up early, to which Richard blames him for forgetting about the timezone change (“We were only supposed to get here for lunch.”) Peter laughs it off, and Richard leans over to give him a brief kiss, quietly apologizing for being grumpy.

Clarice glances at the others—Karen, Steve, Nathaniel, Grandma—after the kiss, but none of them look at all perturbed by it.

Peter then says they should retire for the night, so they go up as well. Steve offers to make some coffee, but Clarice is emotionally drained and Flick is still a bit worried from before dinner, so they come to an unspoken agreement on it. Clarice adds that the girls will probably be waking them up at the crack of dawn anyway, getting a small laugh out of the others.

Thus Clarice and Flick return to her room, Clarice locking the door behind them and checking it is locked. She has so much to think about that she wants to pretend to do work, knowing that Flick will distract her otherwise. However, that doesn’t stop Flick from being distracting as she strips down to her underwear (boxers and a sports bra) and does some stretches, push-ups, and sit-ups.

Rendered entirely unable to even pretend to work by the end, Clarice goes over to hug Flick from behind. Flick comments that she’s all sweaty, but Clarice says it reminds of her when they have sex, punctuating the statement with a kiss on the side of Flick’s neck. Flick chuckles and asks if they’re really going to have sex with all her family in the house, which finally douses Clarice’s mood.

Still, Clarice doesn’t let go for a long moment, embracing Flick with as much of her body as she can. When she finally lets go, Flick turns around and Clarice is frustrated to see that Flick doesn’t look at all horny—even after she was so affectionate.

Not exactly lashing out, but not exactly meaning it as a compliment, she asks Flick how she’s always so calm in a bit of a snarky voice. Flick laughs it off, which makes Clarice double down. “No, really—were you just born cool, calm, and collected?”

Flick shakes her head. “I wasn’t always like this,” she says.

And Clarice is hooked, losing all traces of her negative mood as her natural curiosity overwhelms her. “Really? What happened?” she eagerly asks, holding Flick’s hands as if begging.

Flick gives her a lopsided smile like a smirk. “You sure you want to hear it?” she asks.

Clarice nods vigorously.

Rather than laugh or smile, Flick holds on to her smirk as her eyes grow dull. She pulls away from Clarice to go sit on the bed, Clarice joining her there a step behind. Although Clarice tries to hold her hand, she moves her hand out the way, bringing her hands together on her lap and sort of nervously fidgets, but in subtle movements. Clarice reads these actions, her expression growing worried, but she doesn’t say or do anything, giving Flick space.

After a deep breath, Flick begins her monologue.

“I guess it starts… back in elementary school. I was a proper tomboy, played sports and stuff with the boys at school—even went over to their houses to play video games. I didn’t really fit in with the girls, but they didn’t bully me or anything.”

She pauses there, her face flitting between complicated expressions for a second.

“Then middle school started. All of a sudden, everyone hated me.” She pushes out a chuckle and says with a smile, “It’s actually pretty funny. For the first month, the boys would call me a dyke but were too scared to hit a girl, so I’d just kick them as they tried to run away.”

Clarice doesn’t find that funny, and Flick doesn’t really either, her smile quickly fading.

“I’d always had a temper, and I couldn’t stop myself from fighting. If the bullying wasn’t that obvious, I probably would’ve been expelled—at least a couple of parents threatened to go to the police. Probably wasn’t far from juvie either. I got really lucky.”

With a silence stretching out, Clarice moves her hand over to Flick’s thigh, giving it a small pat. “What happened next?” she softly asks.

“My poor parents had to try and find a high school that would take me. We went to so many, spoke to the principals, and they’d always say something like, ‘She needs somewhere equipped to deal with her specific needs.’ It was… humiliating, but I was used to being humiliated.”

After a beat, she says, “I’d given up.”

Her mouth quivers as she tries to keep a neutral expression. She takes another deep breath, then continues.

“We visited another high school, and… the principal wanted me to complete a therapy course before enrolling. I know now that was actually a really reasonable thing to ask, that it would’ve even been good for me, but, back then, I just heard that as another person telling me I had special needs, that I was… broken.

“So I blew up at my parents for agreeing to it, stormed off. I just had to run into a boy from my middle school, and he just had to joke about not enrolling if they let dykes like me in.”

Flick stops there. Clarice waits patiently for a moment, then leans forwards to look at Flick, surprised to see tears in her eyes. But, seeing Flick like that is enough to make her tear up too. Flick then turns a bit, their gazes meeting, and, seeing Clarice like that, Flick puts on a small smile and brings up her hand to wipe away Clarice’s tears. Looking into Clarice’s eyes, Flick continues her story.

“I was definitely a second away from juvie that time, maybe prison. I wouldn’t have stopped at one punch. But, I was lucky—there was a teacher there, and I was lucky that he was the teacher I needed to save me from myself.

“He walked between us and asked the boy if he was trying to hurt me. The boy couldn’t answer, frozen up since he realized he’d just called me a dyke in front of a teacher. Then the teacher turned to me, and I won’t forget what he said: ‘Are you going to let him hurt you?’

“And that… changed my life. It made me realize that, when I got angry, I was giving them power over me. Anyway, I somehow still got into that high school, and I joined the debate club since that teacher ran it. The girls’ soccer team wasn’t that competitive, so I got scouted for it. Slowly, I got myself under control, got my life back on track, and barely made it to college thanks to those extracurriculars.”

Flicks takes in a breath, looking away. “How was that? Did I make it easier for you to break up with me?” she says lightly.

However, Clarice hears how vulnerable Flick feels. Not wanting to push Flick (to say) any more, she jokingly says, “So, your secret is you don’t care about anyone else?”

But Flick turns back to her, a gentle expression on her face as she says, “I’d let you hurt me.”

Clarice doesn’t know how to react, but eventually takes it as a criticism, bowing her head, feeling chided. Flick mistakes it for shyness and leans down to kiss the top of her head. When Clarice doesn’t react, Flick moves a hand to Clarice’s waist; this time, Clarice avoids the touch, mumbles, “Not now.”

Flick is feeling lost, confused. She quietly asks Clarice if she said too much. As distracted as Clarice is with her own tumultuous emotions, she again picks up on Flick’s vulnerableness and so she thanks Flick for sharing something so personal, giving her a kiss and a hug. Flick melts into her touch and quietly asks if Clarice thinks less of her for her past, but Clarice says she’s so proud of Flick and thankful that they had this chance to meet. This settles Flick as she is comforted by Clarice’s embrace.

While they’re like that, Flick asks what Clarice was like in high school. Clarice softly laughs and says she was pretty much the same as she is now. “Too nerdy for the popular kids, too pretty for the nerds,” she jokes, but goes on to say she was just a quiet, bookish girl who had a few close friends and avoided every sport she could. (“I was good at swimming, though.”) Flick asks if she met Nelly in high school; Clarice says they met on an online book club and happened to end up at the same college. Flick asks if anything’s ever happened between them (Clarice and Nelly), and Clarice giggles, asking if she’s jealous. Flick doesn’t answer, but hugs her tighter. Smiling, Clarice says that Nelly is ace (“It was a LGBT book club.”) and she’s respected that, only ever seeing Nelly as a friend.

With that over, they calm down and eventually separate, except that their hands naturally join as they do. Holding hands like that, they stare into each other’s eyes for a long moment before coming in for a gentle kiss, fleeting, both of them then looking down so their foreheads are touching.

“We should get to bed,” Clarice mumbles.

“Yeah,” Flick mumbles back.

Cut to a few minutes later, they’re lying together in the bed, Flick the big spoon, snuggled right into Clarice’s neck. They’re not quite asleep, but Clarice yawns and closes her eyes. There’s a few seconds of silence… then a rhythmic creaking starts, coming from above them. Clarice’s eyes shoot open, but she doesn’t say anything.

However, the sound continues and, after another few seconds, Flick says, “Sounds like someone’s having a jolly night.”

Clarice reluctantly says her brother’s room is directly above.

The squeaking continues.

Clarice grows increasingly agitated—scrunching her eyes, covering her (upwards-facing) ear with a hand—until she gives up and turns over, facing Flick in the bed. Flick gives her a questioning look, and Clarice simply says, “Let’s have sex.”

Flick gives her an expression that’s both humor and confusion, and she questions if Clarice really wants to do it while listening to her brother. Clarice gives her a swat and clarifies that it’s because she doesn’t want to think about it. Flick understands and sits up to start stripping off her pajamas (a precaution taken while at Clarice’s home, usually sleeping in her underwear); Clarice starts late, so Flick goes to the door to “lock” it while Clarice finishes.

Both in the nude, Flick gets on top and starts with kissing, Clarice moaning (a bit put on to drown out the bed squeaks). After a long kiss, Flick starts trailing kisses down, pausing to say, “Let me distract you.”

Clarice doesn’t get to say anything before another moan slips out, and she covers her mouth, trying not to make too much noise. Flick finally reaches her destination and Clarice goes full “sex scene in a movie” mode, gripping the sheets and wrapping her legs around Flick and writhing, all while going between breathing heavily and gasping, keeping her moans to mewls.

However, it’s not to be as, after fifteen seconds or so, the bedroom door slowly opens with a squeak. Flick immediately stops, but can’t move away with Clarice’s legs around her, and Clarice is frozen in fright, staring at the door wide-eyed.

“Aunty Clarice, there’s funny sounds coming from upstairs—” Anne-Marie says as the door opens, only to stop as soon as she sees what’s going on. Her hand immediately shoots up to cover Marianne’s eyes before she can see anything, then closes her own eyes. “Sorry,” she hastily says and pulls the door shut.

Clarice and Flick are left frozen in place as the sound of quick, light footsteps trails down the hall. Then they hear Anne-Marie’s voice loudly (but muffled) say, “Mommy, daddy! Flick is giving Aunty Clarice special kisses!”

Clarice’s face that had been so thoroughly flushed mere moments ago now pales to a ghostly shade. Finally relaxing her legs, Flick can raise herself up enough to look at Clarice. “I’m never gonna get used to these locks,” Flick says.

That takes the edge off the situation for Clarice, weakly smiling.

Although Flick (thinks she) knows the answer, she asks Clarice if they should stop, only for Clarice to say that, since everyone’s gonna think they did it anyway, they might as well finish what they started—“After you lock the door properly.”

Cut to the next morning, Clarice is reluctant to get up, telling Flick she doesn’t want to face Louise. Flick says it’ll be easier before everyone else gets up. Clarice reluctantly gives in, Flick leading her out the room and downstairs.

Despite the previous night’s happenings, Anne-Marie and Marianne are happy to see Flick and (just about ignoring Clarice) drag her to the lounge to watch the rest of the soccer match (“We’ve been waiting for ages!”)

This leaves Clarice in the hall, torn between following the girls (and encountering Louise) or going to the kitchen (and help prepare breakfast), she chooses the latter.

However, it’s not her morning: Louise is there already, helping Karen, Grandma off to the side (knitting a knotty mess). The moment Clarice walks through the door, Louise looks over and gives her a look that confirms she knows exactly what the girls saw last night—a smile that’s trying not to be smug.

Clarice thinks about escaping, but Karen ropes her in to take over while she checks on Steve (“He pushed himself too hard yesterday.”) So Clarice ends up cooking right next to Louise, the two in a fragile silence.

Eventually, Clarice finds the courage to say, “About last night—”

But Louise cuts her off. “I’ve reminded the girls to always knock, so let’s leave it at that.” Clarice lets out a sigh of relief—too soon. Speaking quietly, Louise adds, “Though, I am glad he’s taking good care of you.”

Clarice winces.

Cut to breakfast, everyone’s at the table, most of the focus on Steve and making sure he’s okay, while Anne-Marie (now sitting on Flick’s other side rather than with Louise) pesters Flick to play soccer after breakfast. Despite Nathaniel telling Anne-Marie to leave Flick alone (“I’m sure he’ll play with you if he has time, but college students have a lot of work to do.”) Flick compromises on playing after lunch since it’ll be warmer then. This leaves Anne-Marie very pleased with herself—by extension, Marianne also happy.

Clarice chides Flick for being a pushover, tempered by her smile and soft tone. Flick chuckles.

After breakfast, Clarice and Flick help tidy up and wash. When they go through to the lounge, the girls and Richard are crowded around the TV, everyone else watching with varying interest from the couches and chairs. Clarice asks Nathaniel what’s going on, and he says that Richard found his old games console in his closet.

Right on cue, the black screen lights up to show a racing game. Talking to the girls, Richard says this is what he used to play when he was their age. Steve laments that he couldn’t get Richard interested in real cars; Richard retorts that he’d love to race a real car if he could use a controller and wouldn’t die when he slams into a barrier at a hundred miles an hour.

Clarice nudges Flick and asks if she ever played this game before. Richard somehow hears that and more generally asks if Flick is a gamer. Flick says she played a bit in elementary school, but not since then. Richard takes that as good enough and challenges her to beat his record.

Flick is a bit reluctant, but Anne-Marie tells her to, “Show him you’re better than him at everything,” and so Flick has to do as told. However, she brings Clarice with her, calling her a good luck charm. Clarice is amused by that and comes willingly, sitting next to Flick on the floor with Richard and the girls loosely around them.

It takes Flick a few minutes to get used to the controls… then she beats his record. While the girls and Clarice celebrate, Richard pouts and mutters about how he was only ten when he set that record—so Flick hands him the controller and smiles as she says, “Go on, then.”

Everyone laughs, especially Peter who comes over to antagonize him further with a, “Well? What’re you waiting for?”

Cue a montage of Flick and Richard having a race off, but it shortly turns into Anne-Marie and Marianne playing as Flick and Richard give advice (the actual helpfulness of this advice up for debate).

All too soon, it’s lunchtime. Anne-Marie hasn’t forgotten what Flick promised earlier, so, as soon as everyone finishes, she drags Flick outside by the hand; Richard jokes to Clarice about her man being stolen, much to his own and Peter’s amusement, Clarice giving more of a polite laugh.

Outside, rather than soccer, Flick pulls the girls into a mix of hide-and-seek and just chasing each other around, and she gets Clarice involved this time (while reluctant at first, Clarice has to give in when Anne-Marie and Marianne say, “You don’t want to play with us?” in seemingly well-practiced unison).

Cue a montage of them running around, having fun. While no other adults joins in, most of them watch, laughing along with what’s going on.

After an hour or so, everyone except Flick is utterly exhausted, and even Flick has a good sweat on. Louise takes the girls inside for a big drink of water, Clarice can’t even stand, wheezing. Flick jokingly says, “Didn’t you say you liked swimming?” Clarice replies, “Does… this… look… like… a… pool?”

Flick chuckles and, without much ado, squats down and picks Clarice up in a bridal carry. Clarice lets out a small scream of surprise, clutching Flick’s neck. Despite a not-so-polite request to, “Put me… down!” Flick declines to comply. Meanwhile, Richard wolf whistles at them, telling them to get a room.

Flick laughs it off; Clarice grows flustered, but she gives up on asking to be put down with a softly said, “Hurry up.” This time, Flick complies and takes her inside to the kitchen, lowering her onto a chair and then pouring her a glass of water. (Louise and the girls are already in the lounge, the sound of a children’s TV show leaking through.)

Once Clarice has had the chance to drink her water and settle down, Flick gently asks her if she’s okay. Clarice tries to say she is, but, with Flick giving her a look of not-believing, she says she maybe wants to have a lie down. Flick goes to pick her up again, but she pushes Flick away, saying she can stand just fine. Although again showing she thinks otherwise, Flick lets Clarice stand up and, when Clarice wobbles, she steps close to support her.

Clarice knows she can’t argue with that, so silently starts moving upstairs. It’s slow going, but they make it back to her room, Flick guiding her to the bed. After locking the door (and checking it’s actually locked), Flick comes over and tells her to strip. Clarice’s breath hitches, but she quickly recovers and says she’s too tired to do anything. Flick chuckles and clarifies she just wants to wipe off the sweat and give her a sports massage, worried she’ll be unable to walk all week otherwise.

Clarice is mildly embarrassed, submitting to Flick’s stripping without further complaint. Once in her underwear, Flick has her lie down while she goes to her sports bag, taking out a small towel and a massage oil. Only, when she does, a pile of small bits of paper (paper-clipped together) falls out that Flick puts back in.

Clarice notices that and, as Flick starts wiping her down, asks what they are. Flick says they’re short stories and poems from the college newspaper. Clarice’s eyes widen at that, surprise on her face, but Flick doesn’t see it, busy wiping Clarice.

Once Clarice recovers, she asks why Flick has them. Flick sort of puts off answering with a little hum, then says that Nelly gave them to her. Clarice asks why Nelly would do that. Flick says she told Nelly one day that she liked the stories, then Nelly gave her a whole pile of them the next day. Clarice is a bit annoyed, feeling like Flick is maybe being obtuse on purpose, what she really wants to know not being answered. Finally, she asks Flick why she likes them.

Flick is again slow to answer, Clarice almost asking the question again, but Flick does answer. “I don’t really know why, but, when I read them, I think of you,” she quietly says, a bit embarrassed to say that even though she doesn’t show it.

Clarice is stunned for a moment. She then nervously asks, “What if I told you Nelly wrote them?”

Flick shrugs. “I guess I’d tell her I like them again?”

“You wouldn’t… fall for her?” Clarice timidly asks.

Flick chuckles. “Did you listen to what I said? I like them ’cause I think of you when I read them.”

Clarice scrunches up her nose, trying to make sense of that and struggling a bit. After a couple of seconds, she asks, “Then, what if I said I wrote them?”

Flick takes a short pause before replying. “I’d tell you they’re great and I want to read more of your writing.”

Clarice giggles. “Favoritism, much?”

Flick gives Clarice’s waist a squeeze in lieu of a verbal reply, which makes Clarice giggle some more, trailing off into silence with a smile on her face. Flick then starts the massage portion of her treatment, leaving the towel over Clarice’s upper body and rubbing the massage oil into her legs. Clarice hisses, Flick apologizing, saying the cool sensation helps distract from muscle pain. She then smirks and asks if Clarice would like some “special kisses” to distract her instead. Clarice bursts into a giggle and affectionately calls Flick an idiot.

While Flick slowly and methodically massages Clarice’s leg muscles, Clarice winces and groans (Flick says she wonders what the others think they’re doing, Clarice covering her mouth to muffle the next gasp).

After a bit, it becomes less of a sports massage and more of a sensual massage, Flick caressing Clarice’s thighs and waist; when Clarice comments on that, Flick asks if she should stop; after a moment’s pause, Clarice says no. Flick adds in a kiss on Clarice’s abdomen for good measure.

However, Clarice soon becomes lost in thought. Flick, noticing that Clarice isn’t responding any more, wraps up the massage by wiping the oil off; after covering Clarice with a blanket, she strips out of her clothes, gives herself a quick wipe and a spray with deodorant, and then changes into fresh clothes.

With that done, she comes and sits on the floor next to the bed, making her head level with Clarice’s. “D’you want to have a nap until dinner?” she quietly asks. That pulls Clarice out of her thoughts, but Flick has to repeat the question. Clarice says no. Flick asks if she can get her anything, but Clarice again says no.

Before Flick can come up with another question, Clarice asks if Flick hates her for making her pretend to be her boyfriend. Flick gently smiles and says of course not, reminding Clarice that she agreed, adding on that she’s had a lot of fun this weekend. Clarice grumbles that it hasn’t been fun for her. Flick chuckles and says that she’s seen Clarice have a lot of fun too.

Clarice smiles, but it’s a halfhearted smile that quickly fades into a depressed look. Flick wants to ask more, but knows that Clarice likes to have her space, reluctantly leaves her after a brief kiss on the forehead. She then busies herself on her laptop, this time working on an architecture design.

And Clarice lies there, her focus drifting between her thoughts and the sight of Flick diligently working on something important, her expression somewhat vacant.

Eventually, there’s a call for dinner. Flick goes over, Clarice asleep and wrapped up in the blanket. A smile comes to Flick and she leans down, kissing Clarice on the temple (her head facing to the side), whispering, “I love you.” Clarice stirs at the words caressing her ear, Flick helping her wake up more with a light jostle and softly calling her name.

Once Clarice is lucid, Flick asks if she should bring dinner up for them. That fully wakes Clarice up and she insists on going downstairs. Flick still helps her to her feet and to get dressed, supporting her side as they shuffle out the room, Clarice mumbling complaints about her legs feeling stiff and asking what was even the point of the massage; she isn’t impressed when Flick says she just wanted an excuse to feel her up. However, Clarice breaks into a smile after a second, unable to pretend to not find that funny.

At the sight of Clarice hobbling in, Karen and Louise offer some concern, Richard joking that Flick needs to be more gentle—Peter elbows him for it, but he’s too pleased with himself to care—which prompts Anne-Marie to ask if Flick hurt Clarice, and Clarice clarifies that she just didn’t warm up properly when they played hide-and-seek earlier.

Over dinner, Clarice continues to be absent-minded, Flick trying not to show how concerned she is, being absent-minded herself (things falling off their forks, forgetting to eat / chew). After dinner, the girls want to show Flick how good they are at the racing game now, but Flick is too worried about Clarice to agree until Clarice puts on a smile and leads the way through.

After an hour or so, Louise herds the girls up to bed, Anne-Marie making Flick promise to play with them in the morning before she goes, which Flick agrees to; Grandma goes up with them, talking about how she isn’t as young as she used to be.

Richard jokes with Peter about Flick becoming the favorite uncle so quickly, Peter laughing and Flick chuckling. Flick then says it’s just because she’s new (“They’ll be bored of me tomorrow.”) Richard goes on to say to Peter that, since they won’t have to get up to play with the girls, they can have a coffee; the two of them then argue on the way to the kitchen about having caffeine on weekends. Nathaniel says a coffee sounds good and follows after them.

Karen and Steve are left in the room with Clarice and Flick. There’s something of an awkward silence that Karen breaks to ask them when they’ll be leaving tomorrow. Clarice says they want to leave after breakfast since it gets dark so early up north.

After another brief silence, Karen says to Flick, “We might not get the chance to speak properly tomorrow, so let me just say it’s been a pleasure having you. None of us were sure what to think when Clarice said she would actually bring someone home, but we couldn’t be happier after seeing how happy she is with you.”

Flick doesn’t know what to say or do, growing bashful and looking to Clarice for help, only for Clarice to show the happy kind of smile Karen was just talking about. Turning back to Karen and Steve, Flick tries to brush it off with a sort of “Actually, I’m the lucky one,” switch-a-roo. However, Steve ignores it and finishes with a, “Thank you for taking good care of our daughter,” from him and Karen.

Flick is at a complete loss for the longest second, eventually just saying, “Thanks for having me.”

“Anytime,” Karen says, smiling.

Clarice takes a bit of pity on Flick and excuses them, saying a goodnight to the guys in the kitchen on their way to the stairs. Back up in her room, she locks the door and takes a good look at Flick, pleased by the residual blush.

“It seems everyone really likes you,” she says.

“Yeah,” Flick mumbles, looking away. “Shame I’ll be gone in a few months.”

Clarice’s smile melts away at that, bowing her head and hands coming together. When Flick looks over and sees that, her own face immediately drops and she reaches over, squeezing Clarice’s hand.

“Sorry, I don’t mean it like that,” she mumbles.

But Clarice shakes her head. “No, it’s… you don’t have to apologize for what I said.” Flick doesn’t look convinced, but she has no rebuttal. Wanting to cheer Clarice up, she steps in for a kiss, only to find that Clarice doesn’t seem to want to return it. Feeling a creeping dread, she cringes when Clarice says, “We need to talk.”

Flick reluctantly lets go of Clarice’s hand, and Clarice walks over to her bed, patting beside herself; Flick joins her there.

Clarice takes a moment to find the right words, staring sort of halfway between the door and her feet, not quite straight down nor straight ahead; Flick is just forcing herself not to nervously fidget, clenching her hands into fists only to relax and then her fingers start fidgeting, so she clenches her fists (a repeating process), and she doesn’t know where to look, glancing at Clarice, down at her hands, the other side of the room.

“The… reason I told you that is… after college, I want to go work in an office, find a husband with a good job, and become a housewife, spending my days writing. I don’t want anything fancy, just a quiet life where I can do the things I like, and I’ll clean and do laundry and properly learn to cook and everything, so… so I think I’m not being greedy.”

Not knowing what else she can say without repeating herself, Clarice leaves it there. She’s too afraid to look at Flick, so she lowers her head all the way, staring at her own lap.

Eventually, Flick quietly asks, “Does it have to be a husband?”

As far as responses go, Clarice finds that one more reassuring than not, a small smile coming to her. “Not really.”

In a soft voice, Flick says, “I can’t promise you that life, but I can promise to try. I don’t know if my past will come back to bite me. I don’t even know what job I can get with my degree. But, if it’s for you, I’ll try so much more than I ever could for myself. That’s… all I can promise.”

Clarice, her face thick with emotion, eyes glistening, rests her hand on Flick’s knee. “Flick,” she whispers.

Flick shakes her head. “Don’t give me an answer now. Just, if I really don’t have a chance, tell me when we get back to college.”

Clarice makes a complicated expression, but nods and says, “Okay.”

A weight comes off Flick’s shoulder at that, her upper body lolling forwards as she brings up her hands to cover her face. “Thanks.”

Cut to the morning. Clarice and Flick have a frostiness between them at the breakfast table that the other adults notice. However, Anne-Marie is filling every moment that she isn’t chewing with praise for Flick, telling everyone else that Flick could definitely make it on the soccer squad (Richard jokingly asks which soccer squad exactly, and Anne-Marie furiously thinks for a few seconds before saying the world cup squad, getting a small laugh from most of the adults).

After the meal, Clarice says she’s going to pack; Flick says she’ll go with, but Clarice says to play with Anne-Marie and Marianne some more, that she’ll pack both their things (“There isn’t much to do.”) Flick hesitates, but lets Anne-Marie drag her to the lounge in the end; Clarice goes upstairs.

A few minutes later, Clarice is back at the top of the stairs, struggling to drag her suitcase along and carry Flick’s sports bag on her shoulder. At the sound of the suitcase thumping down each step, Flick rushes through, coming up the stairs to help. Rather than say she can do it herself, Clarice thanks Flick and gives her her sports bag as she continues carefully dragging her suitcase down each step. Flick makes an almost sad expression at that, but complies.

Following Clarice’s lead, Flick leaves her sports bag by the front door. “We should say goodbye to everyone,” Clarice quietly says. Flick nods. “Yeah.”

Clarice quickly opens her suitcase to take something out from the top, then they go to the lounge doorway, everyone else inside there and now staring at them. Clarice smiles and takes the present out from behind her back, Anne-Marie and Marianne running over. Anne-Marie goes to take it, but then takes back her hands and politely asks, “Who is it for?”

“This is for you two to share,” Clarice says, smiling.

With that said, Anne-Marie actually takes it this time, frowning in thought as she looks it over. “Is it a book?”

Clarice giggles and reaches up to pat Anne-Marie’s head. “This is a special book I wrote for both of you,” she says, and she moves her hand down while bringing up the other one, pulling both girls into a hug. “If you get bored, maybe mommy will let you open it earlier.”

Clarice lets go of them and Anne-Marie and Marianne thank her profusely… then turn to Flick. Clarice giggles and, from her pocket, takes out something small, quickly slipping it into Flick’s hand. Flick looks back at her with a blank expression, but she just smiles and gestures to give it.

So Flick does, Marianne taking this one with a gleeful look, and the moment after they both say, “Thank you very much, Uncle Flick.”

And Flick is surprised, her eyes widening a bit but otherwise not showing anything; however, Clarice almost winces, a sudden pain showing on her face. Flick tells the girls that she hopes they like it (having no idea what it could even be). She then glances at Clarice and, seeing that hurt expression, quickly looks back and says they should be going.

Only, Clarice interrupts her by grabbing her hand and squeezing it tight. So Flick stops, turns to look at her, confused… and she is further confused when Clarice is smiling.

Meanwhile, Karen has walked up, saying she’ll see them out. However, she’s also stopped by a shake of the head from Clarice.

With most parties confused, Clarice turns to address the room and she tells them that she’s bisexual and that Flick is short for Felicity and Flick is actually her girlfriend, and she apologizes for lying to them, explaining that she just wanted to do what was easy and realizes now how wrong that was. There’s a moment of silence, then Marianne says, “That’s good, now we have two uncles and two aunties.”

Everyone bursts into laughter at that, Anne-Marie joining in despite not knowing why everyone else is laughing, and even Marianne joins in since Anne-Marie is laughing.

There’s then a round of re-introductions as everyone comes up to greet Flick again—as Clarice’s girlfriend this time. While they do, Karen pulls Clarice a little to the side and says, “Me and your father aren’t good with this sort of stuff, but you bring home whoever you want—just tell us what to call them and we’ll show them some good-old-fashioned southern hospitality.”

Clarice lets out a brief laugh at that and then says, “What southern hospitality? We’re in California.”

Meanwhile, Anne-Marie, who knows a lot about “this sort of stuff”, is asking Flick if she’s also bisexual, or lesbian. Flick responds by saying that there’s sometimes different words for the same thing and that she prefers dyke to lesbian.

This culminates in Marianne announcing that she wants to be a dyke when she grows up, prompting another round of laughter.

THE END