to the moon & to saturn | cate blanchett

chapter 9

Elle wiped her tears as Cate broke out of the hug.

"Cate, I'm so sorry," repeated Elle. "I - I messed everything up."

"Stop," said Cate gently, brushing Elle's hair out of her face. "Sweetheart, everything was messed up long before tonight. None of this is your fault."

"You should probably go," said Elle, sniffling. "I need to get back to work."

"I'm not leaving you like this," said Cate. "Is there an employee break room or backroom of sorts?"

Elle led Cate to the break room. Luckily, it was empty. The dinner rush wasn't exactly an ideal time to take a break. Carter saw Elle's tear stained face and motioned that he'd cover her tables.

"Sit down, honey," said Cate, pulling out a chair. Elle sat and Cate massaged her shoulders.

Her touch was electric.

Eventually, Cate sat down next to Elle, their knees touching. She caressed Elle's face with her hand.

"Talk to me," said Cate. But Elle couldn't focus on anything except Cate's lips. She leaned forward; she craved the taste of the older woman as if her survival depended on it.

Their lips collided in a desperate passion. Elle didn't think about where she was or anything else. All she knew at that moment was that Cate meant everything to her.

The door flew open, rudely interrupting their first real kiss.

"What the fuck is going on here?!"

Elle jumped out of her seat and spun around to see her manager standing in the doorway. Although, after a double take, she realized it wasn't her manager. It was her dad. He stumbled into the room with an empty beer bottle in hand.

"Elle!" he yelled, raising his bottle in the air. It accidentally hit the doorframe and shattered. A few shards of glass cut his hand, which started to bleed, but he didn't notice. He barreled into the room, reaching his arms out to his daughter. Elle easily dodged him.

"This is impossible," said Elle, pinching herself.

She turned to Cate for comfort, but the blonde woman had disappeared.

"Get out!" yelled Elle forcefully to her dad, pointing at the door. He didn't listen to her; she wasn't sure he even heard her to begin with, so she ran back out onto the restaurant floor.

Her heartbeat rose at an exponential rate as a panic attack set in. Frantically, she sprinted to Cate's booth, only to find it empty.

"Fuck!" she screamed, slamming her fist on the table.

When she turned around, she saw Cate and Andrew standing just a few feet away, as if they had apparated there.

"Help me!" cried Elle, reaching for the woman. But she paused when she saw Cate's hand. It was holding Andrew's.

Cate ignored Elle completely. Instead, she looked up at Andrew with adoration.

"I love you, baby," she said, scrunching her nose and giving him a butterfly kiss.

"I love you too," he responded, pulling her closer.

"No no no," murmured Elle.

This didn't make any sense. She just kissed Cate in the back room.

Cate doesn't love Andrew.

She can't.

"I kissed you," said Elle, unable to comprehend the scene in front of her.