(Untitled)

[goingtodorking]

Time and time again, Karen has one thing made clear to her: grown-ups are strange. Last night, they were all loud and noisy and drunk and then they started kissing each other and even Rollie kissed Karen on the forehead and what Karen thinks is that it doesn't really matter if you care if it's a New Year or an Old Year. It's going to happen

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[playingtheenemy]

Ainsley was feeling fairly chipper in the morning because she really wasn't consuming alcohol anymore. The only problem was that she had no hangover, but the boy was kicking hard as ever and demanding food. Or maybe she was just starved, but either way, food is going to have to happen. She'd be in the kitchen right then if she hadn't caught the flash of a familiar face ducking into a veritable fort.

Ainsley changed paths and slowly approached the sign, standing with her hands on her hips. "Karen? Is there a reason you're denning?"

[goingtodorking]

Denning is a good word, and Karen thinks about that for a moment while she wiggles entirely free of the den and then stands up, hands on her hips.

"Grown-ups are silly," she says. "And today I have to write my New Year's resolutions."

[playingtheenemy]

"I'm a grown-up, too," Ainsley pointed out considerately as she kneeled precariously beside the fort so that Karen would be taller than her. "And you can tell me your New Year's resolutions. I'd really like to hear them, actually!"

[goingtodorking]

"Yes," says Karen non-commitally, looking a little shifty for a moment. "And I can't tell you, Ainsley! I haven't written them yet."

[playingtheenemy]

Ainsley was definitely bordering on completely and utterly lost. "Karen, did something happen last night?" she wondered, gingerly sitting down on the ground, legs splayed out before her. She smoothed her hands over the denim of her jeans and peered into the fort. "Did a grown-up say something to you?"

[goingtodorking]

Karen loves Ainsley, she really does, but, sometimes, she's just silly. Karen fixes her with a very definite look and then cradles her face in both hands.

"Grown-ups are just silly sometimes, Ainsley," she says, as though imparting an important secret.

[playingtheenemy]

"Well, yes, they are," she agreed calmly with a nod of her head, peering into the little den of Karen fort and eyeing her curiously. "I hope I'm not silly, though. I mean, if I am, I at least want to remember what I was being silly for."

[goingtodorking]

Sometimes, Ainsley's silly and sometimes, she thinks about things way too much. Karen just frowns at her for a moment.

"You didn't do anything."

[playingtheenemy]

"So was it something that I didn't do, then?" Ainsley wondered curiously. Her hormones for the most part had remained balanced through the pregnancy, but there were some instances like this where she just honestly didn't know if it was all her fault or if she was just being paranoid.

[goingtodorking]

"It's not you, Ainsley," says Karen, looking a little exasperated. "Stop it."

[playingtheenemy]

"Well, you are sitting in a fort," Ainsley languidly pointed out, crossing her legs at the ankles as she reclined back on the weight of a palm. "Telling adults to go away. Me being an adult, I have to wonder how come I don't special fort privileges."

[goingtodorking]

Karen gives Ainsley a blank look and then turns abruptly and clambers back into her den.

She's not arguing about this anymore.

[playingtheenemy]

Ainsley pressed her lips together to try not to smile in bemusement. She schooled her face into impassive non-care and stood up slowly, brushing her hands over her chest. "Well," she drew out the word, "okay. I suppose I'll just make cookies all on my own without a taste-tester. You have fun in your den, sweetie."