Road Trip- A Catradora Story

Chapter 3

Catra woke up in a cold sweat. She'd had the nightmare again. The one where Adora left her to die in that stupid orphanage. It was one of the many reasons she was so hard to forgive.

"Are you okay?" Adora was staring down at her with that cute, confused expression on her face. One of the many reasons she wanted to forgive her.

"I'm fine. Now can you give me some space?" Catra wasn't exactly in the mood for conversation, especially at 8:00 in the damn morning.

Adora rolled her eyes. "Touchy. I just wanted to know if something was wrong..." Catra could hardly bear to look at Adora with that pouty expression on her face with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Sorry. I'm just really...Irritable in the morning. Especially this early." Adora was confused on how Catra thought that 8:00 was considered "early," mainly because on weekdays, she got up around 6:30.

"I just... had a nightmare. It happens." 

Adora could tell that Catra didn't want to be bothered, so she just turned away and started cleaning up the trash left in her car.

"Well, um, do you wanna go to Ihop?" Adora suggested.

Catra perked up. "Do you even have to ask?"

Soon after, The two girls were driving in Salenias, on of the hotter, more populated places in Etheria, with sugar-sand beaches, and the smell of ocean lingering in the air.

And Catra hated it.

She had always hated the water, especially the ocean. Even showers were hardly tolerable. She had been scarred, due to one of the extremely rare times that Weaver took them on any sort of activity, or, "Field trip" as she called it, and some of the older kids thought it would be funny to throw Catra in the water, knowing that she couldn't swim.

Adora was always there to save her, even when she was crying and choking on seawater. 

"Are you okay? I know you're not a big fan of the water..." 

She actually remembers... Yeah... but it's no big deal. Now where's the Ihop?"

Although Adora was worried, for she remembered that beach incident very vividly, she just pointed in the direction of the restaurant. 

"Wow, this is even better then I remembered." Catra said, stabbing blueberry filled pancakes with her fork and shoveling them into her mouth.

"I know, right!" Adora gathered some double chocolate pancakes with her fork and dipped them in syrup. "The last time I came here was with Bow and Glimmer..." Adora's voice trailed off as she looked down at the table. "Never mind."

For some reason, that made Catra sad, that Adora felt like she couldn't talk about her friends  without her getting angry or rolling her eyes at the mention of them.

So she mustered up the courage and said, "what was that? When was the last time you came here?" 

Catra couldn't help but feel proud of herself for doing that. Weaver would say, "that was just being a decent person, and that she should know to say nice things, but not to be disappointed if no one said those things back to you." But conversations were always something Catra struggled with... not that Weaver ever cared.

But Adora did. She beamed at Catra, which made her light up inside, for some strange, unknown reason.

"Well, me, Bow, and Glimmer all came here to celebrate my birthday, when I first turned 21. It was fun, honestly. But the Ihop over by our old neighborhood got torn down, and I just kinda stopped going to any of the other Ihops near by."

Catra listened to Adora's story. And although she wanted to tell her that she could always stop by the Ihop near her house, she was no where near ready to say something like that.

"Well, sorry for your loss." Catra snickered, and Adora started laughing, not caring if they attracted some attention of nearby tables. 

After they finished eating, Adora said they should check into the nearby motel for the rest of the day. 

"Before we check in, I'd like to head down to the beach." Adora rubbed her arm, something she did when she got nervous. "But of course, you don't have to come. You're welcome to do anything else."

Although Catra was somewhat glad that Adora was looking out for her, she didn't like the idea of her going by herself.

"I'm coming with you." Catra announced, and Adora looked at her with confusion."I thought you hated the water." Catra rolled her eyes. There is more to do at the beach then just swim, Adora. I'm not scared of looking at water."

Adora shrugged, though Catra was sure she saw a gleam in those blue eyes. "Suit yourself."

 As they were walking to the beach, Catra couldn't help but think of how nice it actually looked. She didn't exactly get a chance to experience the beauty of it the last time she went to the beach all those years ago. Catra didn't have a lot of money. She couldn't exactly afford the same lavish vacations Adora could. 

Another thing Catra noticed was how happy Adora seemed. The last time she'd seen her, which was a that random party, she seemed stressed, nervous, anxious...and unhappy. Not that she was paying any attention...But now, she seemed so alive, with light and joy in her eyes. Was it possible...that Catra did this to her?

She blushed slightly and kept walking.

"Well, here we are!" The water glittered with every passing wave, and sent a gentle breeze towards them. Catra shivered.

"Hey, it's okay. If you don't feel comfortable, we can leave, alright?" Adora's presence was so comforting. Catra managed a weak smile and nodded. "We don't have to leave just yet. I know you really wanted to come here."Adora smiled and wrapped an arm around Catra's shoulders. 

They settled down and instead of running off toward the water, Adora stayed at Catra's side. Her just being there next to her made her feel better.

But Catra wasn't exactly ready to try to figure out what that meant just yet. Instead, she decided on just focusing on the warm sand and Adora's lavender scent. And she started slowly dozing off...

Hey guys! I finally fixed my dang schedule. Stuff will be getting back to normal now, with my normal upload schedule. Spring break just kind of screwed with everything and I wasn't able to post as much, (Which an understatement) I hope you're enjoying my story so far! Love you!

Votes and comments are appreciated!