An Unlikely Match (Catradora AU)

Chapter 10

Adora awoke to a loud buzzing coming from her phone. She grabbed it and missed the first time, groggy from lack of sleep. She grumbled and tried again, this time succeeding. She answered her phone to a man letting her know he had just dropped off 10 large packages in front of The Heart. Adora practically jumped out of bed.

"My easels! Sorry, thank you very much," Adora squealed and heard the guy say something about shrieking in his ear but then she hung up, too excited to stay in bed any longer. She peeked at the clock that read 7am and decided that she was apparently going into work early today.

Adora biked to work, feeling the nip in the air on her cheeks. She noticed some very large clouds rolling in and was thankful for her large cozy waterproof jacket for keeping her warm in November weather. She did not thank the clouds when it started to downpour on her as she pulled up to the store. The packages were thankfully under the awning but Adora's mouth still hung open at the look of them. They were massive and each weighed what felt like 50 pounds. Adora groaned as she started to pull a package inside and realized she'd have to get each of them all the way to the back, up the stairs, and into the art room before even setting them up. She huffed and rolled up her sleeves, hoping to ignite her inner warrior woman as she got to work.

She pulled and tugged and finally managed to get most of them inside when her phone pinged. Catra had sent her a text. It was a photo of her in bed looking exhausted with her hair everywhere. The timestamp read 7:40am. The text below it read "Can't sleep. Hair too big. I assume you are awake."

Adora responded with a photo of her in front of all of her packages, lugging them into the store. Catra responded "You're a crazy person." Followed by "Need some help?"

By the time Catra arrived, Adora had managed to pull all of the packages to the back, and Catra made a comment about waiting for the muscle to arrive to do the hard part. Adora would have swatted her but her arms were too tired.

"You're soaked," Adora commented. Catra laughed. She had pulled her hair back into a ponytail to avoid the major frizz but with the torrential downpour outside, there was only so much that could be done. She combed her nails through it, taming it down. Adora tried to tame her own hair as well, realizing she probably didn't look too attractive right now. She was in her work uniform of black tight pants and a white tee with a flannel on top. Catra didn't seem to notice. She, per usual, looked amazing in tight ripped red pants and a black v neck. Adora tried not to stare at her as Catra rolled up her sleeves. Catra noticed her looking and gave her a side eye. Adora shook her head at her.

"Alright. Let's do this," Catra rubbed her palms together, smirking at Adora and grabbing one side. Adora followed suit and grabbed the other. The pair lugged the package up the stairs and then dragged it into the art room. Adora turned the lights on and gasped. It had been months since she had come up here and she had forgotten how many art pieces had been shoved away into this room. There were sculptures, ceramics, and paintings of all sizes along the walls. An old art desk was shoved into the corner and was covered with notepads, journals, pencils, etc. The place looked like a disaster.

"Oh wow," Catra noted, stepping into the room behind Adora. Adora tried to push her back out but Catra swatted her away like a fly. "Oh WOW." Catra wandered deeper into the room and gazed at a sculpture made completely out of New York City trash. It was an abstract person, ungendered, with a plastic bag around their throat. It looked like they were reaching for it, trying to pull it away from their neck, but couldn't remove it. They're ribs were displayed through tinfoil and plastic containers and the mouth hung open in a gasp. Catra studied it, her mouth sightly open in awe. Adora stressed in the corner but allowed her friend time to look around. After all, no one saw this stuff anymore and she wasn't ashamed of her end work.