Leafy sat at her table wondering why her life was just a mess nowadays.
She still had no idea what to do about Grove and Firey and whether or not she should tell Firey the truth.
Work was piling up and she just felt like she was going to collapse all the time, even Grove was stressing her out more than usual.
She rested her head against the table, lightly banging her forehead against it.
Her phone buzzed, catching her attention. She reached out for it, checking the caller ID.
It was Pin.
"Hey Leafy, are you free?" Pin asked happily.
"Wow, I'm fine Pin, how are you?"
"Oh hush, just answer the question,"
"Yeah, I'm free I guess, why?"
"Wanna go out for drinks with me and GB?"
"What about Grove? I can't just leave him with Firey,"
"Just bring him over to my place, he and Coiny get along so well, it's no problem,"
"Hm, you know what? I think I will, maybe I need this,"
"Yes! That's the Leafy I know and love, I missed youuuuu !"
"Yeah, yeah. Anyways, I'll be there in an hour is that alright?"
"Yes, of course! Can't wait to see you, wear something nice!"
"Don't I always? Anyways, see you Pin,"
"Bye!"
Leafy hung up, smiling as she put her phone down, she got up to get ready.
"Firey, are you alright?" Leafy asked.
She didn't get a response, he was staring off into space, he did this a lot, especially recently.
"Firey? Firey, is everything okay?" she waved her hand in front of his face and he blinked a few times before returning to himself.
"Oh, uh, yeah what's up?" he asked.
"I'm going out with Pin and Golfball, is that okay?" she questioned.
"Yeah, that's fine, go ahead,"Firey smiled wanly.
"Are you sure you're okay? You seem, out of it?" Leafy wondered.
"Yeah, I just feel a bit under the weather, I'll probably just get some rest," Firey shrugged. "Oh, what about Grove?"
"Coiny is going to look after him, he usually does, they're like two peas in a pod," Leafy laughed slightly.
Firey had never gotten on with Coiny particularly well, they were only "friends" because of Leafy, something about the idea of Coiny being closer with Grove than he was didn't sit right with him.
As much as he wanted to mind Grove tonight, he couldn't.
He had a job to do.
"Yeah, you rest up and feel better soon, I'm gonna go get ready," Leafy called as she walked upstairs.
She tied her hair into a ponytail, with two bits of hair hanging at the side of her head and using a curling iron she curled them, making two cute tendrils, since her hair only fell to just above her shoulders, there wasn't much she could do in regards to styling it.
She searched her wardrobe, Pin had told her to wear something nice and when Pin went out for drinks she only picked fancy places.
After a bit of looking, she found a black, backless dress that fit her fairly well, it was form fitting but she could deal with it.
She removed her clothes, now standing in just her panties and bra as she took off her shirt.
"Hey Leafs, where's the- SHIT SORRY,"
Firey had taken one step into the room and just as quickly walked out when he saw Leafy.
"You idiot! Why didnt you just knock?!" she yelled in embarrassment.
To be honest, she didn't know why they were acting like this, they had both seen each other naked before, it was nothing new, maybe it had just been so long she wasn't used to the idea of someone seeing her like this.
As Leafy quickly threw on the dress, she realised she couldn't reach the button at the back that clasped around her neck, keeping the dress up and she also wanted to put a necklace on that she wouldn't be able to reach the back of.
Feeling rather sheepish and awkward, she called Firey in.
"Uh, would you be able to help me with this?" she asked, gesturing to the button.
"Oh, sure," he nodded.
It was a small button and Firey struggled with it for a moment, Leafy wriggled trying to be comfortable when she felt Firey's hand hold her side, keeping her still.
"You need to stop fidgeting, I can't get this in," he told her, genuinely in deep concentration. "There we go,"
Firey's eyes widened slightly as he realised where his hand was and he quickly retracted it.
"Sorry," he said.
"It's fine but do you think you could clip this?" she asked, holding up a pretty, rose-gold necklace.
Once again, he struggled with the small clip, as he tried to attach it, his skin grazed Leafy's and for some reason it was the only thing she noticed.
He squinted his eyes as he tried to see what he was doing and moved his head closer, Leafy could feel his breath on the back of her neck and her muscles grew tense.
"Okay, I think that's safe," Firey told her, pulling away and smiling at her in the mirror, "You look really pretty, by the way,"
Leafy took his hand and kissed it gently. "Thank you,"
She turned around, looking up at Firey and smiling at him, he let go of her hand and reached out, cupping her face gently with his hands.
They admired the other for a moment before Firey lowered himself slightly, still with his hands on her face and kissed her gently.
They both closed their eyes as the kiss deepened and Leafy placed her hands over his.
His hands were warm, she wondered if he felt her own grow warmer at his touch.
They pulled apart, gazing into each other's eyes, a light blush dusting their cheeks.
"I almost don't want to go now," Leafy joked. "Almost,"
"As much as I want you to stay, you should go out and have a nice time, you deserve it," Firey smiled softly.
"Thank you," she said, giving his hand a quick squeeze as she left.
"I'm serious Leafy, you look amazing," Firey called after her.
Leafy felt good, she felt happy as she drove to Pin's house with Grove in the back singing to the radio, or trying to.
It was the usual spiel with dropping Grove off, Coiny gave him a high-five when he saw him and chatted with Leafy for a moment before Pin finally came to the door.
"You look great, Leafy," Coiny said with a thumbs up.
"Thank you! I feel great honestly,"she gushed.
"Good to hear, it's nice to see you with your glow back," he smiled.
"Things have just been nice lately, I'm making the most of it,"
"You're doing great, I'm impressed," he laughed slightly.
"It means a lot to hear you say that," she sighed.
A silence fell between them as they stared at each other, golden-copper eyes meeting forest-green ones.
"Just happy to help," he said happily.
"Oh my gosh Leafy! You look so good!" Pin exclaimed when she emerged from the bathroom.
"Awww thanks Pin," she grinned, hugging her.
They bid goodbye to Coiny and left to get the taxi they had ordered.
They met with Golfball at the bar and they say in a comfortable booth, chatting about current events and people in their lives.
"No, I'm telling you, she's just copying my ideas,"
"I'm sure it's not that bad GB, Basketball probably just feels inspired by you,"
"I have my Underground Company and she just so happened to make an AboveGround Company? And she makes very similar products? Don't think so,"
Leafy was having fun, she found herself relaxing and feeling comfortable and just having an all round wonderful time, even Pin drank slowly so she didn't get tipsy right away.
The topic of Firey or Grove or anything like that wasn't brought up at all, it allowed her to forget everything for a while and just pretend she lived a different life.
Playing pretend was okay, it didn't hurt anyone as long and no one knew about it.
She was just having a nice time, without fear, without lies, without hurt, she was just trying to be happy.
That wasn't so bad, was it?
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Slight filler before the next chapter cus Zoo wee Mama.
This chapter doesn't even need to exist but I just feel like it flows better of I have this instead of just saying "Leafy went out blah blah blah" in the next chapter.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
XOXO
LeafCake