At the very real base of it, Ivy knew she was being a coward - but she did not want to think about it too much. Thinking about it too much got her both unreasonably angry and somewhat depressingly sad all at once and she believed she was not made to experience such complex emotions simultaneously. It was not a baby girl way of living. So she chose the third option, running away.

While Mama Boi had been happy (in her way) to host her the first three days, she knew the motherly woman was done with her nonsense by the fourth. This, she reckoned, had something to do with her saying, "Grow a pair and go back to you damn house."

It had been a lovely suggestion but it was not the answer she sought. By the sixth day, having made acquaintance with nearly every visitor's teacup in Mama Boi's house, she sat right across from her and said, "I think the snakes have been removed by now. I'll go check." She nodded in agreement with herself because she made such good conclusions.

Mama Boi always looked frail in Ivy's eyes. She supposed this was simply the way of older people and so she never truly expected any sort of force from her that was no more than a tongue-lashing. She had been positively startled when she'd heard a rapt and sharp slap on the wooden table and in the house only populated with a frail older woman and herself, it was not an expected occurrence. Following the sound, her eyes landed on Mama Boi's right hand which rested on the wooden coffee table. 

"Mama Boi!" She screeched, getting to her feet, eyes moving here and there as she raced for her lesbian mentor. She was so sprightly! Surely, she thought speedily, she was not yet close to knocking on death's door. "You can't leave me!"

The slapping sound moved from the table and settled on Ivy's arm, earning a loud yelp in return. "Are you trying to kill me?" Mama Boi asked sharply. "What is all this hubbub, eh? Have you never seen anyone slap a table?" Her eyes were narrowed and Ivy wondered if she had aged her entirely by too much. 

"Well," she said as she tried to right herself, rubbing at her arm in the process, "well, I just - it was loud and I was scared, okay? I've been annoying you so much, I know, but I can't help it. I thought you were going to die because of me and I just didn't know what to do."

"What the hell are you talking about? I still have what? Thirty years to go?"

Ivy appraised her. She really should know what age Mama Boi was not only for the hospital records but also for the sensible sake of decorum. Her mentor knew almost everything about her and she seemed to know only the surface-level stuff and even then, it was the surface of the surface-level stuff. She was ashamed of herself. "I know," she finally said, "paranoid, I guess."

"Go, sit."

She needn't be told twice. She sat right where she was, too still for a person who was known to fidget at all times. They were buried in silence, Mama Boi sipping at her tea, Ivy stewing in embarrassment, the birds outside, chirping as though the world had not stopped for a minute. 

After an eternity, Ivy broke the silence, "I suppose that was a terrible idea on my part."

"You suppose?"

She looked up. Mama Boi's eyes were completely impassive. "More than suppose I guess. I have been treating her rather badly. I get it now. But, it's like I cannot help it. She has turned my whole life upside down and I don't know what to do about it. I think I much prefer how it was when I was pinning after her. It was so easy to imagine her but not touching. Did it kill me to see her with other people? Yes, but I got used to it. It is what friends do. Friends don't cross lines like that and now that I have, I am treating her no better than a one-night stand would me."

Her mentor cleared her throat. "Now that you know this, get out and go solve it. I don't think I have it in me to get in the middle of a lover's squabble."

"We are not lovers," Ivy defended.

"Then stop bitching like you are one. Take these cups to the kitchen before you leave."

A3 was only fourteen stair steps and three full steps away from B3. This meant that it took exactly less than a minute (had she decided to sprint) to get there. Yet, she lazied about getting there. It was a new feeling, avoiding Chastity. She had never done it before - she had never had a serious need to do it, even when she was going on dates and asked her to help her get ready for them. In her world, just being near Chastity was enough. But then she'd gone and been a hypocrite about it. The moment she had gotten the closest to her, she had escaped and was still in the middle of escaping. 

The thing though was that it was not all her fault. When she thought about it, it was equally Chastity's fault. She was always floating around, looking beautiful as first light. Singing in that angelic voice of hers when she did small things like making scrambled eggs, which she was amazing at and washing the dishes, which she never failed to do. She also had the whole apartment smell like herself and much like her plants, Ivy seemed to be flourishing in the scent and that was a big problem. She couldn't go on like that. She couldn't go on getting funny things like hope and all that followed right after. 

"But what if..." she said as she reached the door to B3. What if, she thought, she could get selfish about it? It's not a bad thing. Maybe Chastity would want something like that and she just hadn't allowed her to think about it. 

Taking in a deep breath, plastering on a smile and suddenly having a surge of hope, she opened her door and called for Chastity.