Cupcakes

“Eh? What the heck is this?”

Nicole couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on her face when she stepped out of her car, that familiar voice reaching her ears.

“Something wrong?” The woman chimed as she moved towards the back of the car, opening up the boot to grab the picnic basket she had prepared earlier.

“Uh, yeah!” The girl who had been sitting on the run down looking wooden gate was suddenly by her side, circling her like a curious dog. “You said this was a casual thing!”

“It is.” Nicole replied, trying not to laugh at the look of offence on her girlfriends face.

“Casual. Casual? You call THAT casual?” Rosie fired back, motioning to the other woman’s outfit. “You look drop dead gorgeous but-“ she paused, motioning to her own sweatpants. “I look like I’m ready for bed!”

“This is my casual.” Nicole said with a grin, handing the picnic basket off to her girlfriend before she brushed a few wrinkles out of her dress. She did find it rather amusing how differently they were dressed, but it did not matter. They were going to have lunch on top of a very empty hillside. No one would be there to judge.

“You do look very nice, though.” Rosie reiterated as she started to lead the way towards the trail behind the old wooden gate.

“Dressed up just for you.” Nicole chimed happily, weaving her way through the overgrown path.

“Now I feel bad!” Rosie groaned, turning to face her girlfriend. “I should have dressed up too.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Nicole chuckled, stopping in front of the other woman. “You look beautiful no matter what. And I think I may be a little overdressed for a picnic on a hill.” She said happily, rocking onto her tip-toes so she could kiss her forehead.

Rosie let out another groan, but decided it was best to leave the issue considering she couldn’t change now. She was ages away from her hotel room. Not like she brought anything nice anyway: she usually just borrowed nice clothes from Valeria when she needed it.

The early morning summer sun beat down on them as they started the climb to the top of the hill. Thankfully there was a larger tree at the top that offered them some kind of shelter, but by the time they reached the shade of the tree they were both already dying.

“God I hate summer.” Rosie huffed as she plopped herself down into the plush grass, wrangling with her hoodie. Nicole could only laugh as she watched her girlfriend struggle, reaching over to help her pull the piece of clothing off.

“You’re definitely not dressed for this kind of weather.” She mused, moving to pull the old blanket she had brought with her out of the basket.

“Well, everyone told me it was cold over here.” Rosie informed her, rolling across the grass so she could peer into the basket. She gasped at the sight of its contents, earning a rather fond chuckle from her girlfriend. “Did you make all of this?” Rosie queried, starting to pull each delicious treat one by one and setting them on the blanket.

“Would you believe me if I said yes?” Nicole asked her, raising her brows at the other woman.

“Of course I would!” Rosie declared, grinning at her girlfriend. Nicole just rolled her eyes at her, reaching over to fix the strap of Rosie’s shirt.

“We need to eat.” Nicole informed her as they both settled down. “I don’t know how long this food will last in this heat.”

“Oh trust me, I’m eating every thing.” Rosie giggled as she lay back on the blanket, her hair billowing out around her. She fumbled around for a moment before she managed to grab one of the cupcakes Nicole had brought, eagerly digging in to it.

“You like?” Nicole asked, watching her rather intently.

“Mhm.” The other girl nodded. “So good, tell your grandmother she’s a great cook.”

“Hey! How do you know I didn’t bake them, huh?” Nicole asked, leaning over the other girl with a look of fake offence plastered on her face.

“I just have a feeling.” Rosie said with a grin, taking another bite of the cupcake. “That you might have burnt the kitchen down if you tried.”

“You’re so mean.” Nicole replied with a roll of her eyes, but despite her outward annoyance, her eyes were full of fondness as she looked down at her girlfriend.

Rosie was too busy enjoying her cupcake to notice the other woman staring, until she finished and looked up to catch her eye.

“Whatcha looking at?” She asked, screwing her face up.

“You’ve got icing on your face.” Nicole said softly, reaching across to wipe the icing off of her nose. “You eat like a toddler.”

“I do not!” Rosie replied, moving so she was lying a bit more comfortably. “I was just starving.”

“They not feeding you at your hotel?” Nicole asked, leaning in a little closer to her.

“I refuse to eat their food.” Rosie declared, grinning at the other woman. “It might be poisoned!”

“No one is trying to kill you here, I promise.” Nicole reassured her, trying not to laugh. “But that just means you get to eat more of my food.”

“Thank god, your food is great.” Rosie grinned, a hand reaching up to play with the hem of the woman’s dress. “Is that all, though?”

“What-“ Nicole started to say before she realised exactly what the woman was doing, rolling her eyes in response. “What did I just say? The food will not last in this heat.” But despite her rather annoyed tone, she twined their fingers together

“I will also not last in this heat.” Rosie sighed, shaking her head with a fake sadness. “What’s worse, my love? Loosing the food or me?”

Nicole rolled her eyes at her again before she leant down and placed a slow kiss against her girlfriends lips, smiling at the familiar feeling. It had been so long since they had been together, alone, like this.

Rosie smiled too, reaching up to cradle the other woman’s face.

“You’re so beautiful.” She muttered into the kiss, her stomach churning as she felt Nicole’s hand grip hers even tighter.

They rarely got to spend much alone time together and when they did, they rarely got more than five minutes. So they were savouring every moment of this, hanging off of every word and every touch as if their lives depended on it.

“The food, Rosie.” Nicole spoke, her voice breathless as she finally managed to pull away from the kiss, but no further than a few inches. She didn’t want to put any more distance between them than she had to, she needed Rosie’s touch more than she needed air.

Rosie sighed, falling back against the blanket.

“What if we just eat like, really, really fast?” She asked, raising a questioning brow at her girlfriend.

“And then what? We’d get the stitch.” Nicole said with an amused giggle.

“There is no solution here!” Rosie huffed, shutting her eyes in defeat. Nicole watched her for a moment, a fond smile on her face before she leant forward to give her another quick peck.

“We can get more food later.”