Jade carefully reached for the remote, very aware of Randi who had fallen asleep and drifted to resting her head on her shoulder. It was almost funny that mere days ago she would have killed to be in this very position. Now it didn't feel quite the same as she had pictured it. Part of that may have been due to the memories of this very scenario happening many times in the past. Randi apparently wasn't great at staying up through movies. Probably because she tended to get up very early, and...
She forced herself to abandon that train of thought. There was no way of knowing what would happen if she dove headfirst into the memories that had been implanted by Ms. Holloway, but it was better to ere on the side of caution. With the remote in hand, she pressed the stop button, terminating the credit sequence. The dim light of the TV was all that was left now. She could still just barely see Randi, sleeping on her shoulder. The same light allowed her to make out Delia, who had curled up at the other end of the large couch and fallen asleep as well.
She carefully extricated herself, allowing her memories of this situation to help her move Randi without waking her, and went to retrieve the DVD from the player. It had been a surprise that they had chosen some romantic comedy that she hadn't remembered having in the house as Jay. Randi's defense had been that she hadn't had the mental capacity for sci-fi or fantasy, and she didn't have any action movies. Delia simply hadn't cared that much, and was happy to be watching anything with her friends.
What had surprised her more was how she had actually enjoyed the movie. It hadn't had anything that she looked for in movies as Jay. As Jade, though, she could apparently put aside a compelling plot and intense visuals for... whatever the cheesy romance movie brought to the table. She opted not to dwell on it too much, and just relish in the distraction.
As Jade put the DVD back, she heard the front door open. She twisted around and saw her parents walk in. They scanned the room and then both settled their eyes on her.
"Another impromptu sleepover?" her father asked. She could hear the weariness in his voice.
"I'm not sure..." she said. "I was gonna try to wake them up, see if they wanted to head home, but it's late and-"
"It's fine," her mother said, cutting her off. "We have brunch with some important investors in the morning. We'll try to be quiet when we get up, so we don't disturb them."
Jade nodded, and her parents made their way to their bedroom. She stared after them, her eyes narrowed. Brunch with... anyone was new, but she could recall now that her parents had to make their social calls. Apparently her 'friendship' with Sarah had given them a boost at work, and they now had to face clients and investors more often.
She turned her attention back to the two sleeping girls. She knew Randi's mother would worry if she didn't turn up, but this had happened before in this new reality. Pulling out her phone, she fired off a text to Mrs. Goodman. Another text was sent to Mrs. Lettman, just as a courtesy. Delia's mom wasn't as much of a worrier.
That done, she went and retrieved some extra pillows and blankets and carefully arranged Randi and Delia, positioning them so that they wouldn't wake up with neck pain, then headed to her room. She got ready for bed quickly, then climbed in and quickly fell asleep.
