to the moon & to saturn | cate blanchett

chapter 27

As the night progressed (and the initial shock of Taylor's presence wore off) Elle came back to her normal self.

Smoke filled the air, pouring out of the waffle iron as she waited for her second waffle to cook through. Cate's angelic laughter rang out across the yard, earning Elle's attention. She tore her eyes from the cooking process to admire Cate's glorious smile as she tossed her head back to laugh at something Sarah was saying.

When Sarah decided to pause her one woman comedy act to attend to the animal once again attached to her leg, Elle's heart jumped as Cate's crystal eyes pierced into hers. It should be illegal for one person to have this strong of an effect on another. One stare from Cate had the power to increase her heart rate exponentially and activate her sweat glands, even though they had shared many stares over the time of their relationship.

The sides of Cate's eyes crinkled in the purest sense of joy and Elle stopped blinking to take in every aspect of her girlfriend's beauty. Neither woman was willing to break their stare.

Even as Cate excused herself from the table and walked over to Elle, the stare was not broken. Elle did blink, however, since she couldn't humanly keep her eyes open for that long.

"Hi," said Cate sweetly as she reached over Elle, effectively pressing herself against the girl to grab a cookie from the silver platter.

Heat flared in Elle's chest from Cate's contact and the heat remained when Cate pulled back.

"Hi," responded Elle casually as she flipped the waffle from the iron onto her plate.

She topped the waffle with syrup and chocolate chips that were in the shape of little stars.

"Are you having fun?" Cate asked. She pressed her slightly parted lips to Elle's head.

"Absolutely not," came Elle's reply on their way back to the table.

The moment Elle sat down in the seat across from Dylan, Cate's hand found its way to her knee. Electricity flowed through Elle's veins as Cate's hand moved upwards, thumb grazing her inner thigh.

To distract herself from the wetness pooling between her legs, she mustered up enough attentiveness to redirect her focus to the other people at the table.

Dylan and Holland were deep in a private conversation about classic literature, one Elle didn't feel inclined (or frankly, smart enough) to join. Instead, she forced herself into Taylor and Sarah's conversation, where Sarah was pitching a song idea to the award winning artist.

"I'm in a birdcage," sang Sarah, beaming with pride.

Taylor glanced hesitantly at Cate, trying to gauge an appropriate reaction. She was obviously trying hard to not appear rude, but signs of an oncoming burst of laughter played across her face.

"Let it happen," advised Cate with a dismissive wave. 

"Those are some original lyrics that I've been workshopping," said Sarah, oblivious to Taylor's attempts to contain her laughter.

"It's a good start," said Taylor plainly.

Elle caught onto Taylor's simple intent to appease, but Sarah did not.

Proudly, Sarah nudged Cate. "Catherine, did you hear that?!"

"I sure did," said Cate, concealing her face behind her second can of sparkling water. "You're well on your way to song of the year, Paulson."

"Rihanna didn't seem to think so," muttered Sarah bitterly.

A loud yap from beneath Dylan's chair interrupted Sarah's disgruntled mumbles.