The Splendore Lounge

Relinquishing her old room to be reassigned seemed like the obvious choice, especially since she could get some of her money back and it wasn't like she could afford to turn that down. Still, though, Rosalie was conflicted about signing the form. Even when things had been good, her relationship with Greg had always been a bit toxic, and things certainly weren't good now. She was still half-convinced Greg was going to change his mind about wanting to be involved, so giving up her alternative accommodations seemed risky. She set the form down for now, glancing over at Luca, who'd fallen asleep next to her on the couch. He hadn't really mastered the art of rolling over, so he was pretty safe where he was, but she was still too worried to just walk away, and had no interest in waking him up, which meant waiting out his nap.

There was a dog-eared novel on the table which she picked up to pass the time, only a little uncomfortable that it wasn't hers. Well, it wasn't like she had just stumbled across Greg's partner's mistress's erotica or something. That guilt grew exponentially, though, about fifteen minutes later, when she felt someone else's presence in the doorway.

"Oh! Hey," she greeted Cassidy awkwardly, putting the book down quickly. "Sorry. I was just... it's a good book?" she offered with a weak shrug, frowning and glancing down to make sure Luca was still asleep before continuing. "I'll try to stay out of your way and everything, though. I know this must kind of suck for you."

Cassidy felt somewhat creepy when she realized that she had been standing in the same spot for way too long without having said anything, but she had noticed the baby sleeping on the couch and hadn't wanted to accidentally wake him since he looked so peaceful. "Sorry. I swear I wasn't being some weirdo just now," she laughed softly as Rosalie noticed and greeted her. "I think you would be super annoyed with me if I had woken him up though," she said, glancing towards Luca as she approached the couch. She could only imagine that Rosalie relished in those sporadic moments where she had time to herself now that she was a mother.

"Oh, don't worry about it," she shrugged as Rosalie seemed to apologize for reading the book she had left in here. "I have more books in my room if you want to borrow any," she added. Usually she ended up reading when Noah was busy with work or whatever, so she had definitely packed more than was probably necessary for one person.

"Actually, is it super lame for me to say that having another female to talk to might be nice?" she responded to Rosalie's comment that this whole situation must suck for her. She frowned slightly, realizing that this kind of sounded like she was some sort of prisoner here or something. "I mean, at least someone who I don't have to lie to about certain aspects of my life?" she shrugged. "I can't really talk to any of my friends back home about any of this."

Rosalie shrugged as Cassidy assured her she wasn't some weirdo, not having thought it in the first place. "Don't worry about it. Although.... you're an avid reader, apparently. Isn't that what the weirdos always do in fiction? Assure people they aren't weird?" She grinned, rubbing Luca's belly before gesturing for Cassidy to sit down on her other side. "He's not really that easy to wake up yet. He's still kind of in his own world. Unless he's hungry or needs a change, he's basically in a sleep so deep it might as well be a trance, most of the time."

Her smile widened as Cassidy offered to let her borrow more books, nodding slightly. "I used to bring a lot myself, but now that's room in luggage that could go to Luca's stuff, you know?" She shrugged. "I brought my Kindle, but didn't think to bring its charger, and that will be dead way before the end of the trip. Thank you."

Raising her brows as Cassidy asked if it was lame she was happy to have another female to talk to, Rosalie couldn't help but laugh. "You mean spending ninety percent of your time with two men who are much better with technology than human interaction doesn't always lead to scintillating conversations?" she joked. "No, I get it. I had to tell my mother about Greg, obviously, and horrified doesn't even begin to cover her reaction. Otherwise, it's... pretty isolating."

"You're right about that," Cassidy feigned a frown as Rosalie pointed out that weird people always claimed they weren't weird just as she had just done. She sat down on the couch, listening as Rosalie explained how Luca usually slept most of the time and how it was pretty difficult to wake him. "I've never really been around any babies who were this young before," she commented. "One of my friends is currently pregnant, but beside that, I guess that I'm pretty clueless about babies." Children were definitely something she wanted in the future, but she couldn't exactly admit that she had much experience with them. She figured that there were a lot of people who just learned on the job, so to say, and maybe she would be one of those people. Besides, being around her brother had proven to her that she was a capable enough caregiver. She could figure out how to change diapers and whatever she needed to learn to apply those skills to a child.

"Yeah, whatever you want to borrow... go ahead," she responded, thinking that if Rosalie had less room to pack things for herself that there was a chance that she needed other stuff. "Although I don't think we wear the same size clothes," she added with a frown, realizing just how short Rosalie was in comparison to her. Well, she also had plenty of jewelry, but she wasn't so sure just how happy Noah would be if she let this almost complete stranger wear any of it, considering he had given her about 95% of it.

She nodded with a small laugh upon hearing Rosalie's comment about men who had more knowledge of technology than social interaction. "Oh gosh, and you haven't even really been around Noah. I swear that I don't understand half of the stuff he tries to explain to me." Sometimes she didn't know how or why their relationship worked, but it just did.

She frowned at the thought of having to tell any of this situation to her own parents, knowing that that day would most likely come sooner or later. Even if Noah divorced Jenny and she could finally introduce him to them, she would still have to probably end up explaining why it seemed like their relationship had progressed so quickly. "Yeah, exactly," she nodded as Rosalie referred to it as isolating. "I don't think that Noah even realizes what it's like for me sometimes."

Rosalie shrugged as Cassidy told her she'd never been around babies that were so young. "Apparently, except for not getting much sleep myself, this is the easy part. All he really does right now is eat, sleep, and poop, and it's pretty easy to figure out when he needs his diaper changed."

She was quiet for a minute, considering Cassidy's tone when she'd said she was pretty clueless about babies. It wasn't really any of her business, and she felt a little awkward asking, but Rosalie had always been a little too curious for her own good. "Do you want kids?" she asked as she looked up at Cassidy, noting what had sounded like a hint of regret in her voice. "I wasn't really sure I did until I was already pregnant with Luca. Then it was just... real, I guess." The situation hadn't been ideal, which was why she was kind of curious about Cassidy's answer. Her pregnancy had certainly been a mistake, and it wasn't exactly something she could even imagine having wanted before it happened, given her relationship with Greg. Even though she knew Cassidy and Noah weren't the same people as her and Greg, she couldn't help but draw some parallels there.

"Thanks," she told Cassidy with a laugh as the other woman offered to let her borrow what she needed, even though they couldn't really share clothes. She couldn't really imagine just randomly borrowing anything beyond the occasional book, but she was surprised by how accommodating Cassidy was. She really doubted she'd be the same, if the situation were reversed.

Biting back a smile as Cassidy acknowledged she rarely understood what Noah tried to explain to her, she admitted, "Greg and I didn't really talk about his work. He didn't even tell me what he did for a really long time, like it wasn't super obvious he was successful from the way he dressed and like, the billion phone calls a day he had to take. I'm a kindergarten teacher, so it's really a totally different world, what they do. I'm using crayons at work, and they're, like, writing genius computer languages or something. I don't even really know what they do, honestly, other than it's really high tech and involves a lot of math and science."

Frowning as Cassidy pointed out she didn't think Noah even knew what it was like for her most of the time, Rosalie wasn't even sure how to respond. "Do you think he even tries, though?" she asked after a moment, not wanting to seem too critical and piss the girl off. "I mean, whenever I've brought up how, like, incompatible my life is with Greg's? He just dismisses it like it's some minor inconvenience or obstacle to solve. I don't think he's ever actually tried to put himself in my shoes or anything."

"Yeah, I guess that isn't so bad," Cassidy thought out loud as Rosalie explained that besides the lack of sleep, this stage of parenting wasn't very difficult. She was well aware of all the sacrifices her own parents had had to make as her brother had gotten older, so she could only hope for Rosalie's sake that Luca didn't grow up having any special needs. Of course, with Greg as a father, it wasn't as if she'd be unable to provide him with whatever care he needed.

She nodded a bit as Rosalie questioned whether she ever wanted kids, thinking about how she had never really talked to anyone about this before. Well, besides in some abstract way where the person she was speaking to assumed she wasn't even in a longterm relationship. "Someday, yes. Definitely," she answered. Ideally, those hypothetical children would be with Noah, but that was an idea she couldn't get her hopes up about. Even after his whole talk the other night about finally ending things with Jenny, she still couldn't be a hundred percent certain that he was going to be the person she spent the rest of her life with. "The whole idea of kids used to seem so far into the future. Now though, I can see having a baby in a couple of years or so."

"I think Noah and I have been together long enough that practically every aspect of our lives has been shared with one another," she thought out loud as Rosalie commented that Greg never really discussed work with her. "I definitely didn't know who he was or what he did when I first met him though," she added, feeling like she needed to announce that, like Rosalie would judge her or assume she had only gone after him in the first place because of who he was.

She paused in thought at Rosalie's question about whether or not Noah even tried to understand what things were like for her, not really sure if she knew the answer to that. Maybe she had a point though. "I don't know. Both of them have a lot more to lose though, you know?" she shrugged.

Rosalie wasn't exactly surprised to hear Cassidy say she wanted kids, but she was a little thrown off by the time frame. She was pretty sure they were around the same age - which led to some pretty disconcerting thoughts about Greg and Noah, truthfully, but that wasn't the point - and she really couldn't have imagined wanting kids within a couple years, not before Luca. And definitely not in her present situation. "With Noah?" she questioned, because even though the answer seemed obvious, it was still a little hard to believe. Surely Cassidy couldn't be naive enough to think the way to finally pry the guy away from his wife was to get knocked up. She'd long ago reached the conclusion herself that guys like Noah and Greg were definitely the type who wanted to have their cake and eat it, too.

She bit her lip as Cassidy announced she'd been with Noah long enough that they'd shared pretty much everything, highly doubting that but not wanting to offend Cassidy. She seemed like a sweet girl, just... really naive. Rosalie could accept that Noah wasn't as much of a player as Greg, but that didn't really change the fact that he was clearly using this girl's feelings for him to string her along for years. Maybe that was worse, really, than what Greg did to her. At least there weren't any empty promises between them. She shook her head, attempting to refocus on the topic at hand, and offered, "I think Greg wanted to seem like a regular guy, you know? Only he was wearing clothes it would take me like, three months' salary to even afford, and he took me back to his fancy suite, and it's like... I don't know? He really doesn't get how huge the gap is between him and normal people, because he thought I wouldn't notice or be impressed or whatever?"

She shook her head. "He didn't bother to tell me he was married, either. And not just at first. I really don't think he ever would've, if it had been left up to him. But then she called, and well... I pretended to be the cleaning lady who'd knocked over the phone. Awkward." Of course, it was only half the story, but she was pretty sure telling Cassidy the whole truth would totally scandalize the girl. And probably get her kicked out of her new room.

Falling silent as Cassidy pointed out Noah and Greg had a lot more to lose, Rosalie realized it was basically an argument she'd made to Greg, when he got all impulsive and started thinking crazy thoughts. But hearing it parroted back by this poor girl, who seemed to actually accept the excuse at face value... "More to lose than who?" she asked after a long pause. "I mean, Greg's... not the monogamous type. I don't even really want him to leave his wife or anything - at least not for me. That would just have failure written all over it. But it's different with you and Noah, right? Why is his money or his career more important than everything in your life?"

Cassidy nodded slightly as Rosalie questioned if she wanted her future children to be with Noah. "I mean, definitely not in our current situation. If things work out in the future though, then yes," she answered, trying not to think about how much she was being judged right now. She would judge herself if she was Rosalie, so it wasn't like she could get offended. Her entire relationship with Noah was less than ideal, and maybe it was extremely foolish for her to even believe that she had some sort of future with him that didn't involve having to sneak around. "Honestly, I have no idea what I would do if I was ever in your situation though," she added. Ideally, children would not come until Noah was no longer with Jenny, but Cassidy also realized that sometimes these things couldn't exactly be planned according to the timeframe in which you wanted them to happen.

She laughed softly at the idea of Greg attempting to act like some regular guy. "Yeah, it's crazy to me," she agreed, thinking about how Noah would buy her presents that cost more than she made in an entire year and wouldn't realize why it was such a big deal to her.

"Wow, awkward," she frowned at Rosalie's story about how she had learned that Greg was married. "Noah told me after we had first slept together, and I guess it was just kinda whatever to me at the time. Just some random vacation fling, and then we'd never see each other again. It wasn't supposed to... progress this far." Sometimes she wondered what her life would be like if they hadn't ran into each other again. She would probably have a normal boyfriend right now and be living the exact kind of life that she desperately wanted to have with Noah. There was no doubt that things would be a lot less complicated.

She frowned as Rosalie seemed to point out that Noah's career or money shouldn't be more important than her. "Yeah, I guess you have a point," she replied simply, pretty sure that she couldn't argue against that. The problem was trying to convince Noah, not herself, of all that though.

Rosalie wasn't really sure what to say to Cassidy when she admitted she wanted to have kids with Noah, just not under the current circumstances. She really didn't know enough about their relationship to know if that was practical or just a pipe dream. The whole thing seemed kind of crazy to her; although she'd really only stressed it to push Greg away at a time when she'd needed to keep him at a distance so he didn't find out about her pregnancy, it wasn't like she'd just been making up her concerns about getting involved with a married man. He'd already proven how seriously he took commitment and responsibility by cheating on his wife, so would she have chosen to get pregnant by him, or to enter into a more serious relationship? Even now, when she'd admitted she'd fallen in love with him, she couldn't imagine actually wanting a life with him; she hadn't lost all respect for herself, and it was even more important she set a good example about how women deserved to be treated, now that she had a son.

"I guess that's where we're different," she said after a long minute, as Cassidy tried to put herself in Rosalie's shoes. "I'm not... I mean, I don't hope for something more with Greg. I mean, I want him to be in Luca's life, if that's something he's capable of, but I don't really see a future for me and him, or even really want that." She hesitated, not sure how to explain it to Cassidy in a way she'd understand it. "Noah and Greg aren't the same person, so I'm not sure it's really even comparable? But like, I think we share the whole experience of being... caught off guard by falling for these guys, of not really meaning to get caught up in this life as their dirty little secrets. But that's kind of where the similarity stops. Because I think regardless of what I feel for Greg, and even what he feels for me? Even if things were like, legitimate, he'd still have his dirty little secrets. He'd get bored or bitter or just, you know, wake up and realize it's a Tuesday, and look elsewhere. Like I'm not the only one, whereas you are, so... I don't really have any reason to even think he'd want monogamy, if it just involved the right woman, you know?"

She knitted her eyebrows together as Cassidy explained Noah's marriage hadn't seemed like a huge deal at first because it was just supposed to be a vacation fling, wondering how the hell that had happened. "And the fling just... lasted years and years?" she surmised, having a hard time wrapping her brain around that. "And you're the only one, aside from his wife?" That was the way Greg had explained it, at least, along with a few comments about how Noah didn't have enough game to hook multiple women. He'd said it boastfully, like it was a difference to be proud of, but now Rosalie was wondering how big a role it actually did play in Noah and Cassidy's relationship. Like, was the only reason she was the only one because he was too dorky to split his attentions and pick up someone else, or was it because Cassidy was actually that special to him? It seemed like a kind of important distinction to make.

"They're only going to treat us as well as we demand to be treated," Rosalie said softly, breaking a silence that had persisted after Cassidy had acknowledged she was right about Noah's potential sacrifices not being more important than her life. She glanced over at her, offering her a small shrug. "I don't know you or him well enough to give you any advice, but I mean... is there any harm in just laying out your expectations? If that's enough to ruin things even now, I think I'd want to know before I wasted anymore time, I guess."

Cassidy nodded in agreement as Rosalie pointed out how they were different in regards to their somewhat similar situations, as she explained that while she wanted Greg to be there for Luca as a father, she couldn't see herself having any type of real, meaningful relationship with him. "Yeah, they're definitely two very different people," she commented about Greg and Noah. It was impossible for her to even imagine Noah trying to juggle another woman besides her, so that was something she didn't need to worry about. It was a wonder sometimes that he managed to make things work with her, especially since he wasn't the most expressive guy when it came to feelings and all.

"Yeah, I guess that's the best way to explain it," she answered with a shrug, as Rosalie questioned if it was just some fling that had really never ended. In a way, Cassidy supposed she was sort of stuck. Obviously things couldn't progress past where they currently were as long as Jenny was in the picture, but she had never actually been able to just end things once and for all. "And yeah, pretty sure there's no one else," she added, pausing as she thought about the slightest possibility of such a thing, despite her earlier thoughts. There had definitely been nights where Noah had randomly disappeared and claimed he had been caught up in work, and she had easily accepted those excuses. What if he and Greg were a lot more alike than she had assumed though? If he could cheat on Jenny, then he could just as easily do the same to her, right? No, these thoughts were ridiculous. This was Noah, she reminded herself.

She nodded as Rosalie suggested she just clearly lay out her terms to Noah before she ended up wasting even more time on something that had no future. While she had talked about it with him a little not too long ago, she had never really given him any sort of ultimatum or anything like that. Perhaps that was something she needed to do.