Both Sides | ✓

New Perspectives- Finale

Olivia & Cleo.

There had been a thud from the front door as Olivia looked up from her laptop. Cleo dropped bags of groceries with a groan, leaving the food to spill out as she fell beside Olivia on the couch.

"The stupid elevator is broken again," she mumbled into her girlfriends shoulder. Olivia chuckled and ruffled Cleo's hair. "I had to walk 5 flights of stairs with the world's worst grocery bags." She pointed towards the door where the bags laid, ripped and crumpled up around vegetables and fruit.

"You've had quite the journey, haven't you?" Olivia smiled and moved her laptop to the coffee table, leaving Cleo to occupy the space in her lap with her head.

"Why did you insist on living on the 5th floor? It's hell."

"Five is a safe number," Olivia responded simply.

"I know," Cleo groaned. "But, living on the first floor would be so much easier."

"Sure, if you want to be murdered."

Cleo tapped Olivia's nose with a grin. "You and your superstitions."

"Oh, whatever," Olivia replied, her eyes moving back to the grocery bags. "Are you planning on letting our food rot on the floor?"

Cleo faked a yawn and closed her eyes. "I'm too tired from the stairs to do anything." Olivia rolled her eyes and began standing up to tend to the groceries before Cleo looped a strong arm around her waist. "You're staying right here."

"Cleo! I can't let it just sit there."

"And I can't rest without a pillow."

Olivia took a breath before kissing the top of her girlfriend's head. "I'll only be a minute." Olivia escaped to the front door where she picked up both bags and unloaded them in the kitchen. Cleo laid, sprawled against the couch as she watched her girlfriend simply move about their home. Her hair was tied up the way it alway was when she was working, her hands carried lettuce and carrots and apples to the fridge. And Cleo smiled, thinking about how she had never looked so beautiful.

But, Cleo thought that everyday. It didn't matter where they were, what they were doing. Olivia seemed to grow more and more beautiful by the minute. She could be leaned over a microscope in the dining room or fast asleep in the bedroom or reading, cross-legged on the kitchen counter. It didn't matter. Olivia was indisputably beautiful, and it took effort for Cleo not to say so every second. Today, however, she felt like reminding her, so she left the couch and met her in the kitchen.

"Oh, now you can get up?" Olivia said as she put away the last of the groceries. Cleo smiled and extended her hand, pulling Olivia in and kissing her.

"You're beautiful," she said as their lips separated, and Olivia smiled stupidly.

"You're an idiot," she replied.

"Oh, I know," Cleo said as she cupped her girlfriend's face and kissed her again. And she felt completely content, possibly for the first time in her life. She was madly, irresponsibly in love, her home was warm and inviting, her job was secure and enjoyable. Life had never felt so easy.

Olivia pulled away from Cleo with a smile. "Why're you being especially sweet right now?"

"Dunno," Cleo replied. "I just love you."

"I love you too."

Cleo wrapped her arms around Olivia's stomach as she made herself a mug of tea and Cleo a beer, which she always insisted be poured into a mug.

"We have to match!" Cleo would say.

"Then, just drink tea."

"I hate tea."