Time skip: Finals Week
Here they were. They fought the monster that was midterms, and now they were facing the beast of finals week.
"How do you measure a year in the life?" Pippa sang, quietly to herself as she flipped past another notecard.
Lin looked up from his textbook. "Tell me you're not signing that for your final. Please, Pip. It is horribly overdone."
"No, no." Pippa laughed. "It's just stuck in my head."
Lin snickered. "Good. What are you singing then?"
"'Laurie's Song' from Copland's The Tender Land, most likely." Pippa looked back down at her flashcards.
Lin's eyes lit up. "Really?!"
"Yeah?" Pippa asked, confused as Lin's sudden excitement.
"You'll be beautiful."
"Thanks, Lin." The two studied fairly late that night, and decided to call it quits around 7 p.m. to get some dinner. "Hey, Lin?" Pippa asked, turning the corner. "Why don't we go out tonight? Like to a restaurant."
"That sounds like a great idea. It'll be a good distraction."
"Yay. I can be ready in twenty minutes." Pippa cheered and ran off into their room to change.
"Okay." Lin chuckled.
~~~~~
"Ready, Pip?" Lin asked, knocking on the bathroom door.
"Yep." Pippa smiled and opened the door. She stood before Lin in a gorgeous red a-line dress, a pair of black heels, and her hair and makeup done to perfection. She had never worn this particular ensemble around Lin, mostly because it vaugely reminded her of the night this exact dress was wrongfully taken from her by the underage, vodka drenched fingertips of Matthew Verde. "Do I look alright?"
"Oh, my God, Pippa, you look...oh my goodness gracious." Lin was speechless.
"I'm hoping that's a good sign." Pippa asked with a laugh.
"It's...you look...wow. Just...wow." Lin shook his head gently.
Pippa laughed. "Thank you, Lin." Lin smiled as they chose to walk to a nearby Italian restaurant. Lin gently placed his hand on the small of Pippa's back, his fingers meticulously avoiding the exposed skin on her back because of the cut outs in the dress. Still to this day, he hated touching her skin without her giving him an 'okay'.
They sat down an ordered. Dinner was nice, and after a quick debacle over who was going to pay, Lin paid the full bill. "Well, you're looking too good to just go back home. Why don't we walk around for a bit?"
"Okay!" Pippa smiled. She took Lin's hand in her own as they started down the city streets. They found themselves talking about everything and nothing at all. "Well, my love for indie films really started in--" Pippa was in the middle of a pretty, picture perfect story about an amazing indie film, when they passed a group of three kids, probably two years younger than Lin and Pippa, walking by. They kid in the middle looked Pippa up and down once, before locking eyes with her. He looked over to his friend to his right before whistling and saying something about her looks. Pippa's hand tensed in Lin's, and to phase these kids, Lin leaned over and kissed Pippa's cheek. "I freaking love you." Pippa whispered.
"I love you too." Lin responded, just loudly enough.
~~~~~
Soon enough, the two were back to the dorm, changed and showered, going back to studying. Lin seemed to be staring at the same page for the past ten minutes.
"What's wrong?" Pippa asked, noticing that he hadn't moved. It seemed like he hadn't blinked or even taken a breath since they got home.
"Nothing. I'm just sick of it." He mumbled, turning his book page for once.
"Is this about the kids whistling on the street?" Pippa stuck her bookmark in her page and looked right up at Lin. Lin looked straight down. "Lin, tell me the truth." Pippa asked him, feeling like the traditional roles in their lives were reversed in this moment.
"Yes, yes it is, Pippa. Like, just because there is a pretty girl, doesn't mean you whistle at her. And I know for a fact that right when you first started dating, Matt would whistle at you. Even when he first started liking you, I know he'd whistle at you when you'd come into a room, well-dressed." Lin sighed, closing his book without marking his page. "And I just hate when people do that."
"Lin, it's fine. Really, they're just kids."
"And what if you were alone?" Lin asked. "We don't know their intentions."
Pippa half smiled. "I appreciate you looking out for me, Lin. Love, I really do, but it is really alright. I mean, I've been whistled at since I was fifteen years old, like it's just a thing that happens."
"I don't like that you think that's normal." Lin looked back down.
"Lin, remember how you were speechless earlier, when you saw my dress? Did you know that that is the dress I wore the night Matthew drunkenly took advantage of me? Did you know that I haven't worn those heels since the afterparty for the cast of our Freshman showcase all because Matt didn't like me in those heels? Did you know that I haven't worn my hair up in public because of the bruises on my shoulders?" Lin looked up at this. "Tonight, I wore that dress, I wore those heels, I wore my hair right on top of my head. And did you know that it was you taking me to dinner? Because you did take me to dinner, and because it was you, I didn't have a hazy flashback when I zipped that dress up. You made me feel safe, and loved, and beautiful. That's the new normal. So, yes, being whistled at is something normal for me, but so is feeling safe because of you."
~~~~~
A/N: Hope you loved this one!
Hey, quick game: Just for fun, comment your favorite line from this chapter!
Mine is probably "Lin gently placed his hand on the small of Pippa's back, his fingers meticulously avoiding the exposed skin on her back because of the cut outs in the dress."
Either way, I hope you all enjoyed!
Xx. ❤
-Katherine
