Hope doesn’t spend a lot of time in Kelley’s apartment. It makes a lot more sense for them to go to Hope’s apartment but today Kelley was apparently “absolutely exhausted” and refused to leave the comfort of her place and her PJs. So they decided to have a lazy day and were camped out it Kelley’s living room.
“Come on Hope it’s been a while,” Kelley whined and tug at Hope’s shirt. They were sitting in the couch, Kelley with her back against the armrest and her legs on top of Hope.
“No, I refuse to watch Pitch Perfect again.” Choosing a movie to watch was a lot harder than it should be but they had different taste and were both pretty stubborn.
“But I really like it.”
Hope was just about to respond when Kelley received a text message.
“Christen wants me to call her,” Kelley explained while she called her best friend. Hope was confused, wasn’t Christen on a date? But before she could say anything Kelley covered her mouth with her free hand. Hope, used to her girlfriend’s antics, stayed like that until Kelley mentioned them “being on their best behavior” and she had to tease her girlfriend about her lack of self-control.
“What happened?” Hope asked after Kelley hung up.
“Something went wrong at the date I guess, she didn’t say what,” Kelley said with a frown. Kelley might come across as a goof with no worries in the world but she’s one of the most loyal people Hope had ever met and right now she was probably very worried about her best friend.
“I thought that was supposed to be her ‘soulmate’” Hope said with finger quotes and everything to distract Kelley. She had been hearing a lot about how perfect for Christen this girl was supposed to be and Kelley had even compared herself to Cupid.
“She is! Don’t question my matchmaking skills!” Kelley yelled indignantly and shoved Hope when she laughed.
“Now that Christen is joining us for the movie Pitch Perfect is going to win the vote”
Hope groaned while Kelley gloats. “Don’t be so grumpy, let’s go make popcorn.”
They made the popcorn and went back to the couch. While they waited for Christen to come home they were scrolling through Kelley’s Facebook and Kelley shared stories about
Just then Christen arrived at the apartment and Hope noticed that for someone who left a date early she’s looking very happy.
Kelley started shooting questions immediately. “What happened with the cute barista? And why are smiling like that?”
“Well we were at Rover’s” Christen starts explaining.
“A great place for a first date” Kelley interrupts her and winks at Hope. Not only was Rover’s were they had their first unofficial date but also the place they had breakfast the morning after.
“And apparently Julie and her friends go there a lot. Everything was going great until two of her friends showed up, didn’t realize we were on a date and decided to sit with us since the place was full.”
“Why did you guys let them?” Kelley asked astonished.
“They caught us by surprise. I didn’t know what to say,” Christen defended herself. Hope could see that happening, knowing how shy the girl could be around strangers.
“Let her tell her story,” Hope intervened for the first time.
“Thank you. Anyways that’s pretty much when I called you to make an excuse to leave but as I was leaving Julie chased after me. She apologized and asked me for a second chance, she was really cute about it so I said yes.” Christen was beaming again by the time she was finished talking.
“Aww I’m glad things worked out at the end,” Kelley said.
“I know, me too. I’m going to put on some sweats” Christen was almost at her room when she turned around “what are we watching?”
“Pitch Perfect,” Kelley responded before Hope could say something else.
“Great,” Christen said and closed her door.
“I told you. Soulmates.” Kelley looked so happy and proud of herself that Hope just had to kiss her.
“Congratulations, you’re a great matchmaker,” Hope said sarcastically but she couldn’t hide the affection, the love, she feels for this amazing girl. She knows she’s in love but she hasn’t said those three little words yet. It's just a matter of time now.
Most people that work in Starbucks hate the morning rush but Julie doesn’t. She enjoys the adrenaline and if there are any rude customers she doesn’t have time to dwell on them.
After the morning rush her shift seemed to drag on by. It didn’t help that she knew she wasn’t going to see Christen that day. If before their second first date seeing Christen could make her day now, a week after, just thinking about the older girl made her smile.
Julie arrived at the restaurant five minutes before her reservation. She had never been so nervous about a first date but it felt like there was a lot at stake tonight, probably because she already liked Christen and she had also already ruined their first date. She tried to be mad at Moe and Kling but she knew it wasn’t their fault.
Tonight everything had to be perfect Julie kept thinking after she was showed to their table.
When she sees Christen she feels about a million butterflies on her stomach. Christen looked beautiful and that was the first thing Julie told her when she sits down.
Dinner was perfect Julie reminisced. She started out asking Christen the same questions she had that day at the diner and the girl humored her by answering all of them with a smile. She found out things about Christen she didn’t already know, like how much yoga helps her deal with her stress and anxiety. Julie showed her the numerous texts she received earlier that day from Morgan and Meghan promising to not crash their date.
“Thank you for agreeing to this,” Julie said. They were outside of the restaurant, once again talking next to Christen’s car.
“I’m glad I did. Dinner was great, we should do it again soon. It could be our first second date.” Julie laughed at Christen’s dorkiness but it gave her an idea so she looked at the time on her phone.
“How about right now? There’s a movie screening today at Lincoln Park. We could still make it,” Julie suggested with bright eyes. She wasn’t ready for their night to end; she didn’t want to wait a week to see Christen again.
It took a while for Christen to respond and Julie feared she was going to say no.
“Sure, why not?”
“Awesome!” Julie couldn’t contain her excitement.
“Do you know what movie they’re playing?”
“I have no idea.” Thankfully that didn’t make Christen change her mind.
The movie was Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Not that it mattered too much to Julie who spent more time looking at Christen than at the screen. Whenever something funny happened Christen would throw her back laughing and Julie found it endearing. The entire night was perfect and the peck on the lips Christen gave her when they were saying goodbye was an amazing way to end their date.
Julie was too busy thinking about how she was going to top that date to notice one of her coworkers was talking to her.
“JJ!”
“What?” Julie looks around disconcerted. Sofia was apparently the one that yelled her name
“You were completely spaced out. What were you thinking about?”
Julie was going to shrug the question off but she realized Sofia could help her with her current dilemma.
“Sofi do you think a picnic is too cheesy for a second date?”
Hope was working in her office in the bar when someone barged in without knocking. She didn’t need to look away from her computer to know who it was.
“Most people would knock you know”
“I’m not most people.” Hope rolled her eyes at the predictable answer but she still tilted her head to receive a kiss from her girlfriend.
“What if I had a girl back here?”
Kelley scoffs at the idea of Hope cheating. “You wouldn’t.” Hope smiled because yeah she wouldn’t.
“Can you come and hang out with us?”
“Sure, I can finish this tomorrow.” Luckily everyone showed up today to work so Hope didn’t have to tend the bar and she already had time to do some paperwork. Hope rolled her chair out to stand up but Kelley took that as an opportunity to sit on her lap.
“Hi,” Kelley said before kissing Hope.
“Hi, I thought you wanted us to hang out with your friends?
“Oh I do, I just wanted to kiss my girlfriend first. Also I’m planning on making fun of Chris and Julie for their PDA so we are going to have to be low key tonight.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Hope said in a tone that betrayed her affection.
Kelley dismissed her words with a wave. “It’s all in good fun and as Christen’s best friend I have the right to give Julie a hard time because this is the first time we are all together since they started dating.”
Hope rolled her eyes and tapped Kelley’s thighs. Kelley got up and they both made their way to the front of the bar. It’s just Julie and Christen tonight. True to her word almost immediately after they sit down Kelley says something to the other two that Hope can’t hear but it makes Christen blush. Julie just laughs and kisses Christen on the cheek.
“You know we went to see Hotel Transylvania 2 last night, it was really cute.” Hope smirked at Christen’s blatant attempt to distract Kelley
“Yeah? I want to watch it,” Kelley said excitedly and turned sideways to stare at Hope.
“We can go tomorrow,” Hope proposed. Kelley squeezed Hope’s hand and the whole “low key” thing is probably not going to last long.
“So Julie,” Kelley starts to say but then pauses like she doesn’t know what to say, “do you have any siblings?” That was Kelley’s question and Hope almost rolled her eyes because her girlfriend doesn’t know how to interrogate someone or be intimidating.
“Jules has an older sister. But they look so much alike they could pass for twins,” Christen answers casually while she checks her phone.
Julie looks a little shocked but already she’s grinning. Christen however doesn’t seem to realize what she’s done.
“Press I wasn’t aware you had changed your name to Jules,” Kelley barely manage to say before she burst out laughing. Hope can’t help but laugh too.
“So yeah I have an older sister,” Julie says chuckling because Christen finally realized that she answered for her and that they’re already “that couple”. It’s ridiculous how easy it is to see that Julie is absolutely smitten. Hope knows Kelley can see it too but if she still wants to spend the night teasing the couple she’s not going to stop her.
Sitting at her bar with the woman she’s in love with and her friends Hope can’t help but feel lucky. And also she’s glad that almost a year ago she decided to flirt back with the girl who wouldn’t stop talking about her tattoos and that she went out to Rover’s with her.