The Unicorn's Forest

"Wait, how would her girlfriend know about magic?" Beth asked, wondering if Charlie was being honest with her.

"That's a kinda a funny story," Charlie replied, sounding like she was forcing herself to be cheerful. "You see, my cousin's girlfriend was a junior counselor at Heathcliff's camp as well."

"Ah," Beth said. It would explain a few things as well as what Beth was getting the feeling was coming. That at least her cousin's girlfriend wanted to meet them or maybe even Petals.

"Anyway, they both want to meet Petals and I told them that I first have to get permission from the rest of you before we could ask Petals," Charlie continued.

"Hold on," Beth said. "We didn't ask Petals before we let Stacie meet her."

"I'll explain that later, okay?" Charlie said, sounding like she was still being careful with her words. Which made Beth wonder if there might be or is someone who could overhear her at the moment.

"Alright, but in that case should we meet earlier than we planned?" Beth asked. "I mean, I might be able to get to your place before noon, but with some of the chores I have, that might be difficult."

"No, I think it should be fine at the time we agreed on. We didn't really have anything planned on discussing, right?" Charlie asked.

Beth shook her head. "Nah, we didn't. Though, is there anything else that we should know about them?" Beth asked.

"Um, actually there kinda is," Charlie suddenly sounded sheepish, making Beth grin, amused at the sudden change. "My cousin's girlfriend is actually someone who tried using magic on me during the camp."

"Wait, what?" Beth asked as she entered the kitchen.

"Yeah, the first time she tried, she was interrupted and couldn't do what she wanted, but after that, I didn't give her a second chance," Charlie said.

"You at least know her name, right?" Beth asked as she pulled a bowl out of the cupboard.

"Yeah, her name is Emily," Charlie replied.

"Okay, well, then at least we know that much. Although, do you think she's there because of Heathcliff trying something else?" Beth asked.

"If it is, it's a lot more elaborate than I'd have expected. I mean, how would he know that my cousin might be interested in someone like Emily. Not only that, but I had the impression that he didn't trust Emily as much as some of the other counselors," Charlie said.

"Okay, just making sure," Beth said as she got a packet of instant oatmeal out. This one said indicated it had apples and cinnamon in it.

"Well, I'll see you later," Charlie said.

"Yeah, see you then," Beth said and hung up, setting her phone down on the counter as she started getting her breakfast ready. Whatever was going to happen could wait until she had something to eat.

_

Charlie led Ruthie and Emily out to the bushes that bordered Tim's family's property a little after noon. Partly because she doubted her friends would arrive at noon, and didn't feel like waiting there longer with just her cousin and her cousin's girlfriend.

Although, one thing she hadn't expected to happen is as soon as they were inside the bushes and couldn't be seen, they pretty much started making out.

"Seriously?" Charlie asked, not sure whether they would be like this for a while and if it had been planned. Maybe it would be difference if her own girlfriend was there for her to make out with, but with them just there with just her, it just felt uncomfortable. Almost like she was intruding. Even if Ruthie's mother, Charlie's Aunt Rose, was rather homophobic towards them, they could at least extend a little more self-control than that.

Fortunately for her, Amelia and Hannah arrived maybe a couple minutes after she had. Which meant she had someone she could use to distract her from the make out session going on next to her. Although, naturally, Hannah and Amelia had to comment about it.

"Not what I'd expected to see when I got here," Hannah remarked.

"Yeah, I'd say get a room, but at least the bushes kind of make this a room outside," Amelia replied.

"My guess is they're making the most of what time they have outside of my aunt's vision," Charlie said.

"Why?" Amelia asked. "Does she not like your cousin's girlfriend?"

"Well, it's more that she seems to be rather homophobic when it comes to those two, but she didn't seem bothered when I mentioned that I had a girlfriend," Charlie replied. "I think it might be along the lines of 'okay for others but not my daughter' or something like that."

"Well, if they want to go at it, I'd say it should be fine, so long as they don't start to get hot and heavy while we're here," Hannah said.

"You're still having problems with your mom and older sister?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, they don't really understand why I feel I need space from them and why I'd rather live with Amelia than them right now," Hannah replied, sounding a little depressed.

"You never know what might happen in the future," Amelia offered. "Maybe they'll figure out what the problem is on their own."

"If they can't figure it out after I've spelled it out for them almost every time we speak lately, then I'm not sure they'll come up with it on their own," Hannah said.

"Maybe you just need to have a family therapist help with that," Beth said as she entered the bushes, with Tim and Wes following. "Sometimes that's what it takes when one side refuses to acknowledge what the problem is, even when it's pointed out to them."

"Where's Ralph?" Wes asked, looking around, then grinning as he saw Ruthie and Emily making out.

"How long will those two be at it?" Tim asked, looking like he was torn between pulling out his phone to record it and turning so he couldn't see them.

"Not sure where Ralph is," Charlie said. "Though he should be here eventually, I'm sure. And they'll be at it until they stop. Can't say how long it'll be for them to stop on their own, but we could always interrupt them if you want to get things started."

"Might as well get started," Beth remarked. "He can put in his opinion when he gets here on what Charlie has to ask us."

Everyone, except the two making out, turned to look at Charlie. Briefly Charlie had in mind what her reaction would have been almost nine months previously. Which was that she would have found it difficult having her friend's attention on her and would have sought the earliest opportunity to leave. Now, it just felt fine and she had no trouble being the center of their focus.

"Apparently Emily has let Ruthie, my cousin, know about magic and they both would like to meet Petals," Charlie said simply.

"How did Emily learn about magic?" Ralph asked as he entered the bushes. The expression on his face made Charlie believe that he was waiting outside the bushes, even though he knew they were waiting on him.

"She learned about it before I met her, which was at the camp I went to this last summer as a junior counselor," Charlie replied.

"Uh, Charlie?" Tim said. "We all know you were a counselor at the camp, so why reiterate it. Especially since you weren't at any other camp like that this summer."

"Let her say it how she wants to," Hannah protested.

"But we already know which camp she was talking about," Tim complained.

"As least she could just say 'camp' and not that she was a counselor at it," Ralph chimed in.

"Is this a productive topic?" Wes asked. " I mean, I don't see anything to gain by stressing about saying it one or the other."

Charlie merely let them talk and sat back, letting her friends discuss how she phrased which camp she was at that summer.

"Of course there's something to gain by discussing this," Tim said. "We can save time in the future by not having her elaborate unnecessarily on things that we all already know about."

"You mean like that one time?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah, like that time," Tim said offhandedly.

"I didn't realize that ice cream had anything to do with this," Hannah remarked with a smirk.

"What are you talking about?" Tim asked.

"The time I always refer to when I don't give any specifics," Amelia answered sweetly. "When we had ice cream on the hot summer day, right before we had to go back to school."

Tim thought for a minute, then realization dawned on him. "Oh, yeah, I remember that. That was a little over a year ago," Tim said, then added a moment later. "What does that have to do with Charlie talking about her camp?"

"Exactly," Amelia crowed. "I didn't give any specifics and you got the wrong idea."

Tim shook his head. "I still don't see how Charlie adding more detail than she needed applies to this," Tim insisted.

"How about this," Beth chimed in. "When Charlie said camp, did she mean the summer camp, her camping trip with her family, the camping trip we had on Arachii's world, or the camping and hiking trip we had with Shirley and some of her friends?"

Tim stared at Beth in surprise.

"It's obviously the one on the left," Ralph said.

Charlie couldn't help but roll her eyes at Ralph's comment.

"Hey, I heard that Charlie," Ralph said accusatorily.

"What?" Charlie wasn't sure what he was meaning.

"I heard you roll your eyes," Ralph said.

Charlie sighed, trying to suppress a giggle she could feel welling up inside her. Though, looking at the others around her, some of them were already either giggling or chuckling.

"Anyway," Charlie said, hoping to get back on topic. "They wanted to meet Petals and I told them that I'd first need to ask you guys before asking Petals."

–Why did you say that you needed Petals' permission?– Beth asked Charlie with her magic.

–Because I wanted to make it seem like we weren't the only ones who had to be asked.– Charlie replied with her magic, glancing over at the couple who were still making out, unsure how engrossed they really were in making out.

–So, it was to add some smoke and mirrors?– Amelia asked.

–Yeah, something like that.– Charlie said. –I mean, I have no idea how far knowledge of Petals has gone, in regards to Heathcliff's people, so it's possible that we might get asked this again by others in the future.–

–Okay, I can understand that.– Wes said. –But at the same time, why say that Petals needed to agree first? You didn't really answer that.–

–Well, if we have to ask Petals, then there might be a reason why we have to ask Petals, even though we're 'Friends of a Unicorn' rather than just regular people.– Charlie said.

–Okay, I've heard enough.– Beth said.

–Me too.– Amelia and Hannah said together, making both giggle when they realized what they'd just done.

"Okay, so I guess no one has any objections?" Charlie asked out loud.

"Looks that way," Beth said.

They waited in silence for a minute, waiting. Charlie wasn't sure what to do next, only that Ruthie and Emily didn't show any signs of stopping their make out session, although to be fair, it had hardly been about five minutes since they started, so she wasn't that surprised with them, especially with how her aunt was about them.

"Um, what now?" Hannah asked, looking rather uncomfortable.

An idea suddenly popped in Charlie's mind. "How about you go ask Petals if she's available," Charlie suggested to Hannah. Then, added another item with her magic. –You don't have to ask her if she'd like to meet them, just if she's busy.–

Hannah smiled as she stood up. "Sounds good," she said aloud. Then replied with her own magic to Charlie's extra sentence. –I'll let her know we have a couple people that we've vetted for her to meet. Though, should I let her know what their relationship to you is? –

"Doesn't matter what you tell her about them," Charlie replied out loud, not caring if it gave away them talking with their magic. "Add whatever you want when you ask."

Hannah nodded and then went to the entrance and entered Petals' forest. Which left everyone else waiting, with the two making out still.