“You are so pretty, you know that?” Shelby brushes a thumb across Katherine’s cheek, earning her a warm laugh in return.
“You’ve told me that about five times already, silly,” Katherine giggles and leans into the touch. They’ve probably done this about a hundred times already, but every time is another rollercoaster of emotions to Shelby. Her heart leaps with joy.
Truthfully, she has no idea how she got here. It feels like she guessed every question on a test and still ended up with an A+. And now, somehow she gets to be sitting on the floor with the girl of her dreams at ungodly hours of the night, giggling over nothing and half delirious with sleepiness.
Piles of blankets surround them in a crude pillow fort. Maybe it was silly, but seeing Katherine’s face practically shining with joy when she first suggested the idea was worth the mess it brought.
It feels like a dream, and any moment now she’ll wake up. Candles light the room with its warm glow, rain patters softly outside, her room is warm and clean, Tortious is snoring quietly, content in his little corner, and she has no work. No potions, no curse breaking, nothing!
And best of all, she gets to share her perfect night with Katherine. Katherine, who she thought she’d never have a chance with. Katherine, who out of everyone she could have chosen, chose Shelby.
“Shelby?” Katherine’s voice brings her back to the present, and she realizes she’s been staring for too long. Katherine’s cheek is warm on her palm.
“Yeah?” she breathes.
“You’re pretty, too.”
It’s only three words, but it still makes butterflies erupt in her stomach. Katherine laughs as Shelby covers her face to hide the blush creeping up on her cheeks, but it isn’t the cold, demeaning laugh she’s heard from so many other people. It’s full and it’s warmth and so uniquely Katherine. When she looks back up, Katherine’s eyes sparkle with laughter and they’re so close Shelby can see the faintest scars on her chin and each freckle spread across her cheeks. Her smile is stunning under the warm glow of the candles.
“Can I kiss you?” Shelby hadn’t meant to say it, but before she knew it the words had fallen out of her mouth like an unraveling ball of string, wrapped neatly until the second it dropped, and suddenly the whole string is laid in front of them.
She didn’t think her face could get any redder, but she was proven wrong. Before she can take it back and wrap her string back up in its tightly held ball, Katherine already has her answer.
“Of course you can,” Shelby freezes, and her eyes dart up to Katherine’s for confirmation. She gives another one of those warm laughs and nods vigorously.
Wait. What is she supposed to do now? She didn’t think she would get this far.
“Really?” Is all she can manage to stutter. She internally curses herself for the humiliating reply.
“Yeah!” Gosh, Shelby could listen to that laugh all day.
Shelby leans in hesitantly, still gently cupping Katherine’s cheek in her hand. She stops just short of Katherine, waiting for her to close the gap. She’s half expecting Katherine to pull away, to decide that this isn’t really what she wants, that Shelby isn’t really what she wants. What she’s not expecting is for Katherine to eagerly close the gap between them, and their lips finally meet.
It isn’t like the movies, or really anything like Shelby was expecting. There’s no music, no burst of colors, no ground breaking realizations. It’s just… Katherine. And really, she wouldn’t have it any other way. She runs her hands through Katherine’s impossibly soft hair, breathing in the scent of her lavender shampoo. Calloused hands cradle her face, gently swiping a thumb across her cheek. A soft smile presses against her lips. All she can think about is how warm Katherine’s hands are on her face.
They pull apart all too soon. Katherine smiles widely, and Shelby can feel a similar wild grin on her face.
“That,” Katherine says breathlessly, “was.. nice.” ‘Nice’ doesn’t even begin to describe it, but it seems to be all Katherine can manage at the moment. Her face flushes a deep red.
“You’re blushing,” Shelby teases.
Katherine's face grows even redder. “No, you’re blushing!“ It’s probably true, too.
Shelby smirks and retaliates with another small kiss. Katherine giggles and leans forward, and Shelby plants another kiss on her cheek. And another one, and another one on her cheeks, her forehead, her nose, peppering every part of her face with little kisses until Katherine is doubled over with laughter. She places a final kiss at the top of her head with a smile.
Shelby waits until Katherine’s laughter dies down, though it takes a lot longer than it should. Katherine sits back up straight, running a hand through her hair to get it out of her face. Just like everything else she does, it makes Shelby’s heart soar as Katherine is focused on readjusting her bangs.
When she finally turns back to Shelby, her face is still beet red, and Shelby realizes why she took so long on her hair. She looks slightly disheveled with her messy hair and breathless giggles. Her lipstick is smudged at the sides, probably from their kiss. Her silly grin is infectious. Shelby can’t help but laugh, and Katherine’s cheeks only grow warmer.
“You’re still blushing!” Shelby says in a singsong voice.
Katherine tries to glare at her, only she can’t seem to get her own smile off of her face. “Oh, shut up!” Katherine nudges Shelby playfully.
Shelby stretches out onto the floor with a content sigh, closely followed by Katherine. She turns to her side, curling up next to Shelby and smiling at her with flushed cheeks and smudged lipstick. Shelby affectionately wraps an arm around her, and it’s almost unreal how natural, how inexplicably right the movement feels.
Katherine yawns sleepily beside her, and her eyes flutter closed with the ghost of a smile still playing on her lips. Nuzzling closer to Shelby, she mumbles a few words before drifting off to sleep.
“I love you.”
Shelby's heart catches in her throat with a sharp inhale. Did she really just hear that? She looks to Katherine for confirmation, but Katherine is already fast asleep, breathing slow, deep breaths. She looks so calm and content, so peaceful, with her long eyelashes and the smallest freckles on her nose.
After overcoming her initial shock, a grin spreads on Shelby’s face. Katherine loves her. Katherine loves her!
And sure, she’s heard it about a million times before. It’s not unlike Katherine to frequently let her friends know how she loves them, something Shelby has always admired in her. Even to Shelby, it gave her nothing more than a few butterflies, because she knew it was only platonic, though she’d had to remind herself of the fact often.
But it’s different now. Katherine loves her. Romantically! Katherine loves Shelby. The thought almost makes her laugh with giddiness, but she holds it back for fear of waking Katherine.
Instead, she affectionately brushes a few strands of hair from Katherine’s face and presses a kiss against her temple, taking a moment to revel in Katherine’s warm touch and the smell of lavender shampoo. She whispers a few words to Katherine before closing her eyes.
“I love you too.”