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Oceanne dug through their heart-shaped backpack, searching for their punch card. Her fingers brushed against her chapstick, then her punch card, then her keys, then-
“Wait…” They stopped. Repeating their touch-test of items in the bag, they finally pulled out this month's sign out punch card. The card was a bright seafoam green and had ’Oceanne Talley’ written in Monica’s handwriting across the top. Oceanne smiled at the words, and slipped the card into the puncher. The year was 2100, so the punchers looked very different. They were transparent and folded the punched paper back to create less waste. Plus, who doesn’t find the sound of the puncher to be satisfying?
They hop-skipped to the elevator and waited impatiently after pushing the button. In the meantime, she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her favorited contacts until reaching a number with two heart emojis and a flower emoji as its name.
Ring… Ring… Ring…
“Hello?”
Oceanne’s face lit up at the sound of her stepmother’s voice.
“Hi Mama! Is everything ready upstairs?”
“Yes. The pool is cleared out, the food is here, and the decorations are up. Only thing missing is the kids and your Mother.”
‘Jackpot’ Oceanne pumped a fist in a small victory. Just as she does, the elevator arrives and she steps on.
“Alright, I’m gonna go downstairs and pick Glenn up. Sonny and Hoku should be up in a minute.”
“Good. Then see you in a minute, hun.”
“Ok!”
The elevator opens once again, and they step out. They scan the lobby, still filled with people as usual. They step farther into the lobby until their eyes meet with ones identical to theirs.
“Hi Glenn! How are you!” They exclaim as they take their baby brother into their arms. Glenn smiles as he is picked up.
“He was excellent today, Mx. Talley! He played very nicely and tried speaking to someone new!” Glenn’s babysitter beams while she talks through lisp-causing braces, standing formally with her folded in front of her.
“Please, just call me Oceanne.”
“Ok! Sorry, Mx. Oceanne!”
They sigh as she talks. “Alright. Thank you. Ah, here’s your pay.” She digs through her purse and pulls out a few 20 dollar bills. She hands them over, then walks back to the elevator. Once boarded, they stoop down to let Glenn push the button for the top floor.
“Do you know what today is?” They sway back and forth, Glenn still in their arms. He shakes his head while looking at the elevator screen displaying its numbers.
“It’s mother’s day! So we’re gonna go party with mommy, ok?”
“Ok.” He nods, still watching the numbers. As he sees the elevator stop, he covers his ears on que.
“Ring. This is our stop.” Glenn says, mimicking words Oceanne hasn’t even said yet. She smiles as she steps off the elevator. Glenn keeps his ears covered as the two walk down the hallway filled with motion activated lights.
Oceanne turns a corner to a good sized linen closet of sorts. She picks up a pair of swimming trunks and a loose, long sleeved swim shirt.
“Do you want to put it on by yourself?” She asks, holding the outfit out to Glenn. He touches it for a second before nodding. He shoos Oceanne out the closet while rustling around in his shirt. Oceanne puts her hands up in submission and makes her way out with her own outfit. While her brother changes, she makes her way into a restroom next to the closet. They pick up their pace a bit as they hear a soft knock on their stall door. ‘Gosh, his detective skills are good.’ They think as they finish shuffling into their bathing suit. Once they’re out, they pick Glenn up once more, quietly congratulating him on his perfectly put on suit. Oceanne walks farther down the hall, which is almost completely dark. The only thing illuminating it was a blue light coming from the end. The two step into the light, and Glenn covers his ears in instinct.
“Woah. It looks great up here!” Oceanne marvels at the pool room. It’s decorated with led lights and heart shaped streamers. A big banner with ‘Happy Mother’s Day' written on it strings from each side of the entrance arc.
“I know, right! I was so surprised when I got up here!”
Oceanne turns to see her other step-mother. Sirius beams as she looks around as if she hasn’t seen the room yet.
“Everyones satisfied, except for Monica.” She points discreetly over her shoulder to Monica, who taps her foot impatiently next to the pool.
“I'm satisfied, Sirius. I'm just wondering where Lorene is. We all came back from the restaurant at the same time, so where is she?”
“Good question actually… I could call her now.” Oceanne grabs her phone out of her purse and scrolls through her contacts. As her thumb hovers over a contact named with five heart emojis, a low voice comes from the corridor.
“Please do not blow up my phone again.”
Everyone turns to see Lorene dressed a little too casually in a black halter top, shorts and slides. She looks around, marveling silently at the room.
“Lorene! What took you so long.” Monica walks over quickly and gives a kiss to her cheek.
“Sorry I had to choose an outfit, Monica Aurie Flowers.” Lorene sneers, picking Glenn up from his place by her leg. Monica sneers in return.
“Yes, and a stolen one at that. Loving my new bathing suit, are we Lorene Samara Talley?”
“Sirius Vega Evans thinks we should all relax and get in the pool.” They two turn to their partner before laughing. They walk arm in arm to the pool.
As they step in, Sirius shivers at the cool feeling.
“I d-don’t know how you guys function in this stuff!”
“You get used to it!” Oceanne calls from the middle of the pool. She floats at the top, flicking her tail in and out the water. Glenn sits on her belly and kicks his feet, tapping away at something on a tablet. Sirius’ kids, Sonny and Hoku, sit near the back of the pool, talking quietly and laughing every so often.
“Thanks, Moni. This is actually really nice.” Lorene says, breaking the silence in the ‘adult section.’
“Yeah! I love the ambience here! Reminds me of space.” Sirius adds, inching closer to Monica.
Monica gives a kiss to each of her partners’ cheeks.
“Thank you, my loves. It’s the least I could do as the only one here without children.” Monica chuckles.
“The least you could do in my eyes is get me food. So this is like, giga bonus points.” Lorene says, stretching an arm around Monica’s shoulder.
“Well, I’m glad. Happy Mother’s day, loves.”
“Happy Mother's day!” The kids exclaim, swimming towards their respective parents.
The family spent the rest of the day in the pool, chatting and adjusting to the cold. Monica's mind stayed fixed on her partners, admiring them in a way. Admiring how far they’ve come raising two kids each on their own before they met her. Admiring how now that they had each other, they still didn’t take it for granted.
“Happy Mother's day.” She whispers as the two talk.