Cate's Neighbor

Curiosity

CW: mention of scars and disordered eating (slight)

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Catalina's pov

I wake up a bit confused when I feel warmth next to me and a weight on my stomach. I look down to see an arm across my torso and I follow it to its owner. Cate lays there peacefully with her lips curled into a small smile. I wonder what she dreams about... wait... how did I get here? I try hard to remember and then it hits me, she brought me here last night. I carefully try to remove her arm but instead she tightened her grip on me. I don't want to wake her so I wait until her grip loosens again to slide out. I softly close her door and head to my own room. 

I close my door and sit on the bed just staring at the wall. She saw my scars. Fuck she saw them. I just hope she doesn't try to talk about because I am so not in the mood, if I ever will be. I take a shower to clear my head a bit so I don't overthink about everything. Once I come out I slip into some comfy clothes and check the time. It's 6 am so I just settle on making breakfast to keep myself busy. I go downstairs and start preparing everything I'll need. I'm about halfway finished when I hear footsteps coming towards me. "Good morning" Cate says, her accent more prominent than usual, voice raspy from just waking up. 

I fix her a cup of tea since I had the kettle on previously and she takes it nodding graciously. I finish breakfast and place everything on the table for us and we both sit. "Thank you" she says, "for what?" I ask confused since this is technically my job. "Making breakfast, you don't have to do this when the kids aren't here. You don't even have to do it when the kids ARE here. I usually get up and do it" she says putting food on her plate. "Sorry for making you tired then" I say picking up a little food as well. "Don't be sorry, if you're the cause I don't mind" she says in a tone that's almost seductive. I think that's just how she talks though. 

Cate's pov
She blushes a bit and starts eating and I notice she hasn't put much on her plate. I don't point it out since I know it would make her uncomfortable I just take note of it. She finishes rather quickly and gets up to wash her dish and literally disappears. I finish as quickly as I can without choking and wash my dish packing the food away. I go to look for her and see her room door is closed. I knock and wait for a response but don't get one. So I open the door just praying she hasn't done something bad. I open it and she's not in there which leaves me even more confused. 

I start to just make my way to my room when I hear something. "Shit" I hear her whisper and I chuckle before making my way towards where I heard it. I see her crouched down in my office picking up some papers that she dropped. I wonder why she's in here, I just watch her for a moment as she gather them all up. She places them on my desk neatly not even really looking at them. I'd think she'd be snooping to look for a script but she literally didn't even glance at them. My curiosity peaks and I lean against the doorframe to see what she's going to do next. I see her look up at my favorite painting and just stare at it. 

I can see her side profile and she's biting her lip almost as if she's in thought. It's really cute and I smile to myself, my lips making a little sound as they part. Her head snaps in my direction and I know she can't see me from the crack in the doorway. She stares for a moment unknowingly looking right into my eyes. Her head slowly turns back to the painting and then she walks over to my bookshelf. Her fingers travel along the spines of each book carefully as if waiting for a sign. Finally she pulls out a book and I can't really see what it is from here but it apparently sparked her interest. 

She looks at it for a moment flipping the pages and smelling it. Then she places it back gently and starts to walk towards the door. Before she does I realize I have to do something so she doesn't know I was just standing here watching her. I can't run, she'll hear me so I push open the door with a sigh as if I have work to do. Damn being an actor surely had its perks, I slowly bring my head up to look at her. She looks like a deer caught in headlights and it takes everything for me not to laugh. "Hi..." I say as if I didn't know she was in here, "h-hey, sorry... I promise I wasn't snooping I just came to look at the painting" she says pointing to it. 

"Feel free to look anywhere you like, I'm not mad" I say and she sighs in relief. I walk closer to her and she starts to back up until she hits the bookshelf. She realizes she has nowhere to go and she looks down at the floor. "Do I make you nervous sweetheart?" I ask softly and she makes no attempts at answering me. I lift her chin with my fingers so she looks into my eyes. I lick my lips, I'm so close I could kiss her, so I do. She doesn't move for a moment from the shock I assume. My hands run up the sides of her arms until I'm gently caressing her neck...