i love you

first date

The next morning felt unbelievably surreal for Mia and she couldn't help but wonder if Emily had felt the same. Mia woke up a bit before Emily but when she did she realized that at some point in the night they had shifted and Mia was still holding Emily, however, laying beside each other, much closer and much, much warmer. Mia tried to think of nothing but the way it made her skin tingle to feel Emily so close and smiled into her back. She begged for this moment to last forever and part of her believed that it might. After some time, she fell back asleep, holding Emily as closely and tightly as she could without disturbing her. It was a Saturday and they had nothing to do, nowhere to be but where they were in that moment.

The next time she awoke, Emily blinked her eyes open just moments later, turning to look at Mia. Mia paused, nervous she might pull away, realizing just how close they had gotten last night. To her satisfaction, Emily grinned widely, closing her eyes for another moment to lightly stretch in Mia's arms.

"Good morning," Emily whispered, her voice just as sweet and crisp as Mia had remembered.

"Hey," Mia smiled back. Though the feeling of wanting to kiss her had not passed from the night before, she reveled in the moment that was waking up next to her to exchange good mornings in each other's arms and wondered if she would ever get to have that again. She hoped so. Really bad.

After awhile of laying there together, eyes resting, enjoying each others company, they decided it would be smart to go grab some lunch as they had completely slept through breakfast together. The day carried on as it normally would between the two, never running out of things to say and laughing at things that would seem dumb or, quite honestly, annoying to other people.

When Mia returned to her dormitory that night, she knew she couldn't wait much longer. Maybe she couldn't kiss her just yet, but she certainly must be allowed to ask her on a proper date. Though she did wonder to herself if Emily would see it as such or simply take it as a joke, she figured the gesture in itself would be enough to get her by for now. She sat up eagerly and grabbed more parchment from her bedside drawer. And before she knew it, Emily had said yes and their date was nearing the corner.

***

Mia had thought long and hard all week about just what would be special enough for this girl, what would maybe prove to her that this was more than some silly indication that she was enjoying her company, her friendship. She remembered the way they had been looking into each others eyes just a few days ago, eyes glancing down to stare at lips and quickly darting back up to avoid an awkward exchange. She wondered if she would ever have the courage to show her just exactly what she wanted to do.

It wasn't that she didn't want to. Quite honestly, she wasn't even completely scared to kiss her to begin with. How could she be, it's not as if she hadn't done it before. But something about this, about their connection, it felt so different to Mia. So raw, so pure. It needed to be protected, preserved. She needed Emily to know that she wasn't another name to check off her list. She needed her to know that Mia felt as though she was falling in love already...which scared her...a lot. Scared her for more reasons than one, in fact. Mia had never been quick to love. She might have shared quite a few kisses in her life, even dabbled in a handful more relationships, but each time she had never reached love (not to mention like in some cases) and when she did, well...it was a long time coming. And had never really come naturally either. She had always felt somewhat manipulated to feel the feelings she felt. And this was the first time she could say to herself that no one was coercing her into feeling this. It was just there, and felt as though it had been there all her life.

***

Finally the time came and it was time to take her out and hopefully make her a feel an ounce of the way she really deserved to feel. Mia was over the moon.