Sugar // Marliza

18

- Maria -

I was on my phone when I heard some rustling coming in to the apartment. Eliza walked in with a big smile and a big bag, sling over her shoulder. She walked up to me and planted a gentle kiss on my lips, which I gratefully accepted.

"What's the bag for?" I asked. She smiled again and threw it onto the bed, opening it up.

She tossed a flowy red dress to me and pulled out a cute little blue one, holding it against her chest.

"So... I had this idea. For a little date for us, just to try to cheer you up a little bit. We're gonna go to dinner and then my dorm and we can hang out and watch a movie or something, and you can meet Angie," she said excitedly. It was hard not to match her excitement. I felt myself beginning to smile.

"Oh, and these dresses! I got these today for us to wear. So you don't even have to worry about picking out an outfit." She said.

"Thank you, love. I can't wait to go out with you." I said, standing up so I could hug her and hold her in my arms for a moment.

"Okay! Our reservations are soon, we need to get ready!" She said, kissing my forehead before pulling away.

She went into the other room to change and start getting ready, and I did the same in the bathroom. The dress fit me perfectly, and was so comfortable. I'm guessing she picked something nice and comfy on purpose. I'd have to thank her again for that.

In the mirror, I began to put on makeup for the first time in a while. Mascara, a little bit of eyeliner, and of course, my signature red lipstick. I took my hair out of the bun I had thrown it into earlier and played with it until it sat the way I wanted it to.

After a little while, I was finally satisfied with how I looked and left the bathroom, turning the light off and shutting the door to see Eliza, ready to go and sitting on the edge of the couch. She looked stunning, as always, but something about her tonight just looked especially great.

"You look amazing." I told her, reaching for her hand. She smiled back at me and I felt those same butterflies I felt when we first met.

"So do you. Are you ready?" She asked, standing up and slinging her purse across her shoulder. I nodded as I put on a pair of sandals, knowing it was pretty warm out today and they'd look nice with the dress.

We walked hand in hand through the streets until we reached the restaurant. There was no point in taking the subway when it was so close, and it was nice enough for a walk today. When we got there, we were seated immediately and brought some champagne. We looked at each other and laughed a little bit once the waiter left. He hadn't asked if we were 21, and we were both just shy of it by a couple of months.

"I mean... we shouldn't let it go to waste, right?" Eliza asked with a bright, mischievous look in her eyes. I laughed and nodded, pouring the bubbly into two champagne flutes. I handed one to her and she began to toast.

"To us, and being able to get through everything the past few weeks have held." She said.

"To us!" I answered, clinking my glass against hers before we both took a sip. We giggled a little bit and Eliza took another tiny sip before telling me,

"You know, I've never actually had anything to drink before, this is my first ever drink." She said.

"Wait, you're almost a junior in college and you've never even tried anything before?" I asked, thinking back to my 17 and 18 year old self drinking slightly warm beer at high school parties and doing shots after graduation.

"No, I just was never interested in it before. But I'd say this is a pretty good way to have my first drink." She smiled. I had to agree with that.

"This is way above any other times that I've had anything else. I'm with you, which makes it so much better. But also?" I began to laugh, "this champagne is about ten times better than the best drink I've ever had before now. So there's that, too." I finished.

We spent dinner laughing and drinking more champagne, filling up on some of the best Italian food I've ever had. By the time we were done, we were both possibly a little bit tipsy, but both on top of the world.

We took the subway back to her dorm, and she told me that she was going to introduce me to Angelica tonight. I was honestly nervous, but a little excited to meet her and have our relationship become a bit more known.

We finally arrived at her dorm and stumbled inside, giggling a little at something one of us had said. There was a bouquet of flowers and some chocolates sitting on the table by the TV. She walked over to them and handed them to me.

"For you, m'lady." She said, a tipsy smile crossing her face. I accepted them gratefully and kissed her.

"Thank you very much, m'lady." I said.

"Liza, is someone else here?" I heard someone call from the other room. That must be Angelica herself. Eliza glanced over to me for a moment before calling back.

"Yeah, Angie. Come here for a second, please." She answered. I set the flowers back down and gave her hand a little squeeze to reassure her. We sat on the couch, waiting for Angelica to come in. At last, she finally did and gave Eliza a slightly confused look.

"Hi, I'm Angelica, I'm Eliza's sister. I don't think we've met before?" She said to me. I nodded and Eliza took over for me.

"Angie, this is Maria, my... girlfriend." She told her.

"Oh! Okay. Well, it's nice to meet you. Eliza, we can talk later?" Angelica said, a smile filling her face. Eliza nodded, looking a little bit more relieved.

"Okay. I'll leave you two alone now!" She laughed, walking back in the direction where she came from.

I looked over at Eliza once Angelica had left.

"Well that seemed like it went pretty well." I said softly, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I think it did. I feel like she probably already knew... she didn't seem super shocked." Eliza giggled. I laughed and leaned my head against her shoulder as she queued up a movie for us to watch.

Throughout the movie, we continued to shift closer and closer to each other, until she was wrapped up in my arms, close against me. I felt myself drifting off peacefully, and based on her slowed breathing, I could tell that she was falling asleep too.

I woke up the next morning a bit dazed and confused, not registering that I had passed out in Eliza's dorm last night. There she was, still in my arms and sleeping peacefully.

I settled my head back against the pillow behind me and let my eyes fall shut again. There's no rush to get up when this angel is in my arms.

a/n: some lil fluff for you guys this lovely friday afternoon