Two months later
Emma walked into the Juicenet Café holding Rikki's hand. Her girlfriend's hand. This was such a surreal experience. She couldn't quite wrap her head around it.
Rikki reassuringly squeezed Emma's hand, as if she were saying We're in this together.
They sat down in their regular booth, opposite of Cleo and Louis.
"Hey lovebirds"-said Louis, just to wind up Rikki. They often bantered, almost like siblings.
"Right back at you"-countered Rikki, with a knowing glance at Cleo.
Both Louis and Cleo turned a little red at this comment. Emma was thankful that her girlfriend always knew how to shut Louis up.
"Have you ordered yet?"- Emma asked, to change the subject.
"No, we haven't. We were waiting for you guys."-said Cleo. She was always so considerate of others.
"Okay I'll go get us some juices then. On me, of course"-offered Emma.
Everyone placed their orders and Emma walked up to the counter.
"Hi, can I please have a ... Ash? Haven't seen you in a while."
"Hi Emma, what's up?"- said Ash with a bright smile.
"Oh, not much. I guess you heard..."-trailed off Emma.
"Yes. And I'd just like to say that I'm... uh... happy for you... And I'm sorry if I ever made you uncomfortable... I didn't know. Of course now I know and looking back, everything makes much more sense."
"Thanks. It means a lot. But of course it's not your fault. You couldn't have known."
"So, I'll get you your juices then. It's on the house."-said Ash. Maybe he was being so generous because he felt guilty about hitting on Emma a couple of months earlier. He's not that annoying after all. Who would have thought?
Emma walked back to their table with the four juices.
"Thanks Ems"- said Rikki and kissed Emma's cheek to show her gratitude.
"Your welcome Rikki baby"- at first Emma started saying this as a teasing nickname, to make fun of couples that called each other 'babe' or 'baby' but both of them had grown to like it.
Emma finally felt happy. Of course, it was difficult to accept herself. Sometimes she still struggled with the idea of loving a girl. But she knew there was a support system right behind her. People that always had her back.
And Rikki. Rikki Chadwick, her girlfriend.
Author's note:
Thank you so much for joining me! I hope you enjoyed reading this fic as much as I loved writing it!
Have a wonderful day,
Ems <33