Yours Truly

Chapter 17

Okay. Calm down. Deep breaths. It is a little bit too early to be thinking about this right now.

Carina notices Lily just barely trembling in her sleep and goosebumps rise on her arms. Frowning, Carina grabs an extra blanket near her feet and gently lays it on top of Lily. She giggles to herself when she sees her drooling a bit from the corner of her mouth, but that's okay because it's Lily and she loves everything about her.

Carina ever so lightly kisses her cheek and rubs her thumb across her eyebrow soothingly. They're easily one of Lily's most distinguishable features. Along with her eyes. And her widow's peak. And her husky voice. And her ass.

Oh my god. She is so lucky to have her.

It's crazy to think that not even a few months ago, they had no idea who each other were. Sure, Carina has noticed Lily many times at school because how could you not? She's a walking angel in disguise. But it wasn't like Lily ever noticed her. Carina wouldn't say that she's like some nerd or loser because those few people who did give her the light of day were always nice and friendly to her. It's just she never put herself out there to really make lasting friends. She only ever really had Amanda, but she was okay with that because they have been friends for so long and she knew that she wasn't going anywhere. Besides, you meet a lot of temporary people during high school so she thought what's the point?

But Lily has helped her realize it's okay to take chances and go after what she wants because what she wanted was Lily herself. If Carina still had that mindset of "everyone always leaves," she never would have had the pure blessing of falling in love with Lily and having Lily fall in love with her. None of the passionate kisses exchanged between them would have happened and last night never would have happened either if she never took that risk. She allowed herself to fall for Lily, even with a guarded heart, and it was the best thing she's ever done.

And throughout the course of their friendship and eventual relationship, Lily has helped Carina creep on out of her shell a bit. She's not just the quiet, cute girl in class anymore. She has more confidence in herself because Lily never fails to make her feel so loved and so beautiful all the time. Carina's getting better at looking people in the eyes while she speaks to them and she's getting better with holding her head and shoulders up high when she walks around the hallways at school and in public. That's the important thing about relationships. It's not the physical aspect of it, but it's more so bringing out the best in each other.

Lily stirs a bit in her sleep and Carina freezes her hand in hopes of not waking her up. She had a tiring day yesterday and she needed all the rest she could get. She put so much effort into doing all of this for Carina and she did it by herself too. What a romantic little sap. And to think that Carina ever found her incredibly intimidating.

Carina gently moves her hand down on the nap of Lily's neck and uses her thumb to caress her skin. She can feel the thin baby hairs present. She smiles as her mind goes back to one of their many late-night phone calls when Lily was talking to her about wanting a dragonfly tattoo right at this exact spot where Carina is touching in dedication to her grandma that passed away a few years ago. Her name was Grace.

Lily's green eyes sluggishly flutter open, her eyebrows knitted in response to the bright light hitting her sensitive eyes. Carina giggles softly. Lily always looks so confused and dazed as soon as she wakes up. Her squinted eyes look around and her bedhead is absolutely atrocious.

Carina couldn't love it or her more.

"What year is it?" Lily's low and sultry sleeping voice asks.

"3000," Carina laughs, ruffling her already messy hair.

"Not much has changed but they lived underwater," Lily groggily chimes in with a lazy and happy smile on her face. As long as she still knows song references. That's all that matters.