MINE, caitlin clark

xix. birthday meetings

( November 25th, 2022. )
( Leah's POV )

    For as long as I could remember, I had always spent my birthdays with my family. It could be hard to schedule at times, but nothing beat the feeling of having my dads arms wrapped around me, or the smell of Blake's cookies.

Something this year was different though, because I was bringing someone for them to meet. For the nineteen years I've been alive, nobody ever came home with me. It felt too intimate. Of course, Freya and Florence came with me at times, but my family never met a romantic partner of mine.

Maybe it was because I felt like it wasn't worth wasting my family's time with meeting a temporary relationship. Caitlin was different though, she understood me in ways that I never knew someone could. For all of my faults, she met them with a soft smile and said, "I don't care about that, you're still Leah".

It made me feel warm and tingly, but I couldn't help worrying about her meeting them.

"Freya, I seriously don't know if this is a good idea," I groan into my palms, sitting on my bed with piles of clothes surrounding me. I had dumped it to organize it again out of stress, Caitlin and I's hotel room in Portland had quickly become the perfect replica of a post disaster home. Caitlin went to a pregame practice not that long ago, but I have no doubt that if she saw the state of our room, she would lose it. My girlfriend is undoubtedly a neat freak and constantly needs everything to be clean.

"Why? It's not like you can keep her from meeting them forever," she reasons, tilting her head at me through her camera, our FaceTime call being broadcasted from my laptop. "Besides, it's not like she's going to your house and seeing all of your deepest darkest secrets. It's just a dinner."

I nod, twisting my mouth to the side and sighing. "I guess you're right, I just dont want them to not like her, then I'd have to break up with her, and I really don't want to do that!"

Freya chuckles at my rambling, "Chill, Lee. I doubt that they won't like her. Nobody is breaking up with anybody."

I throw my head back, somehow groaning and whining at the same time. "Do you think I'm being dramatic?"

She hesitates, pursing her lips with a squint. "...Yes? Leah, everyone likes Caitlin. Seriously. She's infuriatingly impossible to hate."

"Right, right. I know that, it's just," I pause, looking up at the ceiling as I contemplate my next words. "This is the first time I'm bringing someone home, someone that I really, really, like. I just don't want to mess it up somehow."

She smiles empathetically through the camera, "Aw, Lee. I wish I could be there. You know I would if I could be. I'd give you the biggest hug ever."

I finally smile, "I can feel the warmth of your hugs through the screen, don't worry."

"Really, happy birthday again! I can't wait to give you your gift once you're back. I think you'll like it," she responds, a mischievous smirk gradually growing on her face.

"Oh God, I don't like that smirk."

My dad and Blake had arrived to Portland just in time for the game against Oregon State to end. They both wanted to watch Caitlin play, but they couldn't make it due to flight delays.