london nights

2.3

after a couple of more minutes on the balcony, the two made their way back inside.

"look, my sister really wants to meet you and i've been trying to cover for you all night." lia says stopping caitlin by grabbing her arm.

"it's fine lia, you didn't have to cover for me. i was just a little nervous earlier."

"great, because she's right behind you." the swiss offers a tight-lipped smile.

caitlin turns to see a shorter girl with a similar smile to lia's. she was shy, much like lia, and offered the australian a wave.

"you must be the girl my sister has been on about for months. gute arbiet, schwester," meret eyes her up and down. 

"zurücktreten, sie gehört mir." lia says lightly, though her expression darkens.

"clearly, that is visible." meret smirks at lia's arm around caitlin's waist.

the australian assume's it's sibling rivalry as lia chuckles and meret along with her.

"you must be meret, it's a pleasure to meet you." caitlin sticks her hand out. meret takes it with an amusing glint in her eyes.

"sie ist auch förmlich!" the younger swiss looks towards lia who just rolls her eyes. "deine halskette, wo hast du sie her?" meret narrows her eyes at the piece of jewelery around lia's neck.

"i've always had it on, what are you saying sister?" lia subconsciously reaches up to her neck. meret only offers her a raised eyebrow.

"anyways, it was really a pleasure to meet you caitlin. don't hurt my sister!" she waves goodbye and out of sight before lia can call back.

"don't listen to her teasing, you could never hurt me." lia says softly.

"that didn't go too badly right?" caitlin asks smiling.

"i think you were still a bit shell-shocked. you said hi and then you stopped talking. it was cute." lia says clearly amused. caitlin presses her face into her hands, clearly embarrassed. "don't worry, it's been a long night. she won't hold it against you."

"speaking of a long night, there's a surprise for you at home that i have to make sure you don't see before me." caitlin says as lia pouts.

"leaving so soon?"

"you could come home with me as well," caitlin wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. lia's eyes visibly darken, and she takes a long moment to reconsider her choices.

"i- i have to say goodbye to everyone first. i'll be home as soon as i can." lia swallows thickly. caitlin hugs the girl goodbye, and says her goodbyes to her friends as well before heading home.

as soon as she could, which only ended up being around an hour and a half after caitlin arrived home, lia opened the door to caitlin's house.

caitlin looked up from the kitchen island with adoration as lia made her way over.

lia placed a chaste kiss on the australian's lips. "you should be asleep, it's late." she murmured.

"birthday's not over yet." caitlin motions to the small cake on the counter, lit up with an abundance of candles. the silence between the two stretched longer than caitlin had anticipated. "i know, it's not much. if i hadn't had a game today i would've baked it myself-"

"cait, it's perfect. today has been perfect." lia smiles, cutting into the cake. she takes a bite and closes her eyes in delight. it tasted amazing.

she opens them to see caitlin staring at her with a wide smile on her face. "it's missing something," lia frowns.