Chances

Chapter 50

"It's so fucking cold," Lily mutters under her breath, teeth chattering slightly as she and Carina get their suitcases out from the back of the trunk. She can see her breath with every trembling exhale she releases as she walks up to the front door of their home with one of her hands dragging the suitcase behind her. She clicks the 'lock' button on her keys, causing the car to beep twice in confirmation. "Tell me why we decided to continue living here?"

Carina chuckles and slides an arm around Lily's shoulders, pulling her close against her side. "If I remember correctly, which I do, I asked if you wanted to stay here in Pennsylvania and you said yes after you graciously agreed to marry me two years ago."

"And now I find myself wondering why I said yes to both of those choices," Lily quips, her voice lined with a playful giggle.

Carina gasps loudly as she gently whacks Lily on the arm. She didn't feel a damn thing, however, because of her four layers of coats, sweaters, and long-sleeved shirts. It's freezing tonight.

"Now you got me wondering why I even asked you to marry me in the first place," Carina pouts, crossing her arms. Her lips are slightly chapped due to the frigid wind and temperature, especially at this time of night. They just arrived back home from spending Christmas and New Years with Lily's family, who live a few hours away.

It was nothing shy of a perfect trip. Lily was surrounded by her favorite people in the entire world, and just seeing how much Carina loves her family and seeing how much her family loves Carina makes her heart swell with joy. They met Carina for the first time during their freshman year of college when Lily took her back home with her for Christmas break as well. After Carina's catastrophic breaking of ties between her and her own family, Lily refused to let her stay on campus by herself.

Carina was nervous as hell on the car ride all those years ago. She was bouncing her knee and nibbling on her lip, and it only got worse the closer they got to their destination. She was practically a shaking mess when they made it to the driveway.

"Babe," Lily said with a small laugh, "calm down. What are you so scared about? They're only my family."

"And that's exactly why I'm about to piss my pants," Carina remarked bluntly, not making a move to get out of the car. "What if they hate me? What if they don't think that I'm good enough for you because, let's face it, you are the best person I've ever known and you're so pure and elegant and kind in every way and you're fucking beautiful and-"

Lily brought her hands up and placed her palms flat on Carina's cheeks, pinching them together to get her to stop talking. "Carina, shut up," Lily laughed, mostly because she looks like a cute little fish with the way her lips are. "You ramble a lot when you're nervous, but you shouldn't be nervous at all. I don't bring just anyone to meet my parents, you know. Now say it with me: Lily's parents will love me."

"'Woah-wen's pair-wents will wove we'," Carina tried to repeat, but it was pretty hard to with Lily still smushing her cheeks together. That causes both of the girls to break out in laughter, inevitably letting some nerves roll off of the younger girl.

Lily then placed a hand on her knee and leaned in to kiss her lips sweetly. "You'll be fine. If you were able to do everything you did these last few months at school with standing up to your parents, coming out, and learning to accept yourself, then you can meet my family easily. I'm proud of you, you dork. And like always, I'll be right there to hold your hand the entire time."

Carina smiled at her softly and nodded. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she sucks in a deep breath and gets out of the car with Lily following suit. Then they met up halfway in front of the car in front of Lily's adorable little family home, slipping their hands into one another's grasp, and made their way to the front door.