"Chaeyoung? Babe? Wake up, beautiful," Jennie nudged her girlfriend who had fallen asleep on her shoulder during the two-hour bus trip to Kingston National Park where their field trip was taking place.
Chaeyoung just cuddled in closer and made no effort to wake up. Jennie brought a hand up to cup her cheek and stroked it with her thumb. She quickly looked down the aisle of the bus and when she saw that no one was looking, placed a quick kiss on top of Chaeyoung's head.
The taller girl's eyes fluttered open when she felt the familiar tingle she got whenever Jennie's lips touched her. She felt her girlfriend cupping her cheek and leaned into the touch, revelling in the warmth. She kissed her thumb, alerting the brunette to her awake status.
"Sorry, baby. Didn't mean to fall asleep," she said, sitting up.
"I think you were dreaming. You kept jumping around and mumbling."
"Yea. Apparently I sleep talk. Nothing embarrassing I hope?"
"You were speaking too low to hear. We're almost at the park."
"Oh. Oh!" Chaeyoung said, looking out the windows and seeing the trees and water go by, "It's pretty."
There was only twenty students on the trip, with two teachers and despite Chaeyoung's initial dismay at the timing, she was quite looking forward to being able to study the plant and animal life of the park. Plus the idea of kisses hidden behind a tree appealed to her too. The bus pulled up at a large area of grass with a small wooden cabin to the side.
Everyone walked out of the bus, stretching from having to sit for so long and collected their bags from the compartment at the side of the vehicle. The two teachers were going over lists and standing around a large pile of something, Chaeyoung couldn't tell what.
"Okay," Ms. Kim, the other Biology teacher spoke up, "Gather 'round."
The students all stood, surrounding the teachers.
"Behind us," Mr. Lee continued, "Are your tents. They're each two-person, so join up with your lab partner, except those of you with an opposite sex partner, will those people please go to Ms. Kim now."
A small group of people went over to the woman, while the rest stayed around Mr. Lee.
"We're sleeping in tents?" One of the other girls piped up, "As in, not covered by protective housing shelter?"
Chaeyoung had assumed they would be sleeping in cabins as well, but wasn't too upset by the development. She looked over to Jennie, who was giving her a curious glance. It was then she remembered that she was, in fact, Jennie's lab partner and therefore would be sharing a tent with her. She winked at her girlfriend, who smiled shyly back.
"It won't kill you for a few nights. You were told to bring sleeping bags, I'm surprised you didn't put two and two together," Mr. Lee sighed, before pointing to his left at the wood building, "That cabin there has toilets and showers, gender separated, which are ours for the weekend. Mrs. Kim and I will be making hot dogs and hamburgers in a while. We'll be splitting up into groups tomorrow morning and exploring the park. Right now, you need to set up your tents, anywhere in this open vicinity is fine."
With that, the teacher picked up his own tent and went over to a shaded area of the land. Jennie grabbed one of the bags that had the tent and all it's components and nodded for Chaeyoung to follow her.
Chaeyoung ran along after her, falling into step fairly quickly.
"Where do you wanna set up?" she asked the brunette.
"Um...here," Jennie said, dropping both the bag with the tent and her own overnight bag.
They were at the furthest corner of the field, everyone else having started to set up in the middle, so they were closer to the bathrooms. Chaeyoung seemed to be thinking that as well.
"But what if I have to pee at like 3am and its all cold and I have to walk across the long field?" she pouted.
"Well..." Jennie said, quirking an eyebrow at her playfully, "You'll just have to not drink anything before bed. Besides, if you get cold, I can warm you up. Of course, if the seemingly oblivious teachers were to catch on to the real nature of our relationship, we wouldn't be allowed to share a tent...which would make it hard to do said warming up."
"You are very smart Jennie Kim," Chaeyoung said, taking in all the information. Her mind was stuck on the promise of being warmed up. That would involve being close. Very close. She vowed to accidentally-on-purpose 'forget' to wear the jacket she had brought, "You know I'm kinda cold now."
"Oh really?"
Jennie had noticed the glazed over look her girlfriend had gotten at the mention of warming. She too very much liked the idea of being able to cuddle with the blonde.
"Oh yea," Chaeyoung nodded eagerly.
"Well then," the brunette replied, taking the tent bag and putting it in the smaller girl's hands, "Getting the tent up will get your blood pumping."
"Wha...? But! Oh okay, fine," Chaeyoung relented, emptying the contents and picking up the poles to put them together.
Jennie chuckled and laid out the tent, ready to be held up by the poles Chaeyoung was constructing. When the blonde finished a moment later, she grabbed one end and put it through. Chaeyoung followed her lead and ten minutes later, Jennie was driving the final tent peg into the ground, securing it.
"We make a good team," Chaeyoung said with a smile.
"We do," Jennie agreed, "We should put our bags inside in case it rains or something."
"And again I proclaim your never-ending wisdom. Inside we shall go," Chaeyoung said, picking up her bag and unzipping the front of the tent before going inside.
Jennie watched her bend over and licked her lips subconsciously, her mouth going dry at Chaeyoung's pert little ass sticking out. She had a sudden urge to reach out and grab the firm flesh, shocking herself at the powerful wave of desire she felt. Grabbing her bag to keep her hands occupied she followed the blonde inside and sat down; glad they had set up on a particularly grassy area, making the ground soft. She heard Chaeyoung gasp and start rummaging in and around her bag.
"What's up?" she asked concerned.
"I... My sleeping bag...I thought I had it tied onto my actual bag...but I must have left it in my locker."
"We can share mine."
"Are you sure? It would be kinda..."
"Cozy?"
"Yea," Chaeyoung chuckled, "But cozy's okay?"
"Definitely okay."
"Okay then. Thank you."
"No problem," Jennie replied.
She wondered if she had been a bit hasty in offering to share her sleeping bag. She had no problem with the actual sharing part, in fact she would have just given Chaeyoung hers, but that lingering warm feeling in her stomach made her want to be close to her girlfriend. She had no intention of pushing anything in the physical aspect of their relationship that Chaeyoung didn't want, but there was nothing wrong with just wanting to cuddle.
And she said yes to sharing. She wouldn't have agreed if she wasn't okay with it, she would say if she didn't want to
There was also that worry though in the back of Jennie's head that she'd had since her conversation with Seulgi the week before, she knew she was in love with the blonde, but how was she supposed to go about telling her? And did Chaeyoung feel the same? How would she handle it if her girlfriend didn't feel the same? She had a good idea, she saw the girl's eyes light up when she was around and felt the emotion through their kisses, but having never said those three little words to anyone outside family, she was still worried about it all.
"Are you okay?" Chaeyoung asked when she saw the brunette deep in thought.
"Of course. I'm with you," Jennie said, giving Chaeyoung a reassuring smile.
"Food's gonna be ready soon, wanna eat?"
"Sure."
They walked out of the tent and towards the middle of the field where everyone else was sitting, around a small personal barbeque that had a few hot dogs and some hamburgers grilling on it. The couple took a seat, resisting the natural urge of their hands to connect together, which was odd for both as the only other place they had to be secretive about their relationship was around Chaeyoung's parents, and they rarely ever saw them anyway.
They each got a hot dog and ate their food, talking amongst themselves and with the other students for the evening until Mr. Lee suggested that everyone try and get some sleep.
"We'll be getting everyone up at 7am-"
This elicited a series of groans from the group and the teacher nodded her head in understanding.
"I don't like it any more than you do. So get some sleep, please, remember you'll be getting graded on the reports you submit for this and if all I remember are grumpy teenagers, my grading scheme might be a bit harsher."
The students mumbled their understanding before each making their way to their respective tents.
Chaeyoung rummaged in her bag for her pajamas and pulled them out. Jennie did the same, taking out the short shorts and tank top she used for sleep.
"I'm gonna get changed in the bathroom, okay?" Chaeyoung said, picking up her things.
"Okay," Jennie replied, slightly relieved there wouldn't be any awkward undressing moments. She had already been to the bathroom and brushed her teeth before coming back to the tent so if she'd said she was going it would have been an obvious excuse.
Chaeyoung smiled and left the tent again, while Jennie got into her sleeping clothes. She returned a few minutes later in cotton pajamas that had little puppies all over them. She kicked her shoes into the corner and sat on the ground opposite the brunette, who was brushing her hair. Her gaze was propelled downwards at the low-cut red tank top Jennie was wearing. Low cut enough that it left very little to the imagination. Low cut enough that Jennie would never actually wear it out in public, therefore making this the most unadulterated view Chaeyoung has had of her girlfriend's cleavage.
Would she freak out if I just buried my head in there? Doofus, of course she would, you can't just go putting your face in people's chests...their perfect, round chests...Maybe just a little...no, okay unsexy thoughts, unsexy thoughts...Sea slugs... Lisa trying to shove twelve doughnuts in his mouth at once...
Jennie heard a slight hitch in Chaeyoung's breath a couple of seconds after she had arrived back and stopped brushing her hair to see if the girl was okay. She followed her eye line and blushed slightly as she realized what the object or rather objects of her gaze were, but felt extremely glad as well, not only did having her girlfriend clearly liking the way she looked make her feel sexy, but she didn't feel as guilty about her earlier feelings of desire for the redhead.
If they were both having them, then it was normal. It didn't mean they had to jump into bed together straight away, but Jennie was happy that that part of the relationship was progressing just like the emotional part was. Thinking of that emotional part, she decided it was about time the love of her life was told that she was in fact the love of her life. No more delaying it for insecurities. Chaeyoung deserved to know.
But maybe I'll tell her when she's not so engrossed in...other things.
Getting her confidence back at knowing she would be telling Chaeyoung her feelings, she decided to have a little fun with her girl.
"The feminist in me wants to be offended, but the much larger 'Chaeyoung's girlfriend' part is really loving the attention."
Chaeyoung's head snapped up at her girlfriend's voice and she visibly paled as she realized she'd been caught.
"Jennie, I'm so sorry. God, I must seem like a horny teenage boy, can't even keep my hormones to myself. I just...you're really beautiful, but that's no excuse to just stare at...um...can you forgive me?"
"Rosie, um, I..." Jennie sighed as she chickened out again, "There's nothing to forgive. If anyone is allowed look, it's you."
"Oh. Well that's good. 'Cause I, um, like...Say, shouldn't we be getting into the bag? Getting kind of cold out here," Chaeyoung rambled slightly, grateful Jennie wasn't mad but concerned about her nonetheless. She seemed to be preoccupied the last few hours.
"Yea," Jennie agreed, grabbing her sleeping bag and rolling it out, "If it had a zip, I could've just opened it up and covered us, but it's just a roll-up. It's pretty wide though, we'll both fit in okay."
"Hey, it's even got a little pillow thing on top!"
Jennie smiled, she couldn't help it, Chaeyoung's enthusiasm was infectious. She slipped into the sleeping bag first and turned on her side, leaving Chaeyoung as much room as possible to get in. The blonde took heed and slid down into the fabric as well, her entire lower body pressed against Jennie's. She could feel the brunette keeping her arms stiff by her side and she scooted up a little so their faces were just inches apart from each other.
"Will you hold me?" she asked in a small voice.
Jennie visibly relaxed and wrapped her arms around the taller girl.
"Of course I will," she said, nuzzling her nose against Chaeyoung's.
Chaeyoung sighed happily and glanced at her watch.
"Hey! 12:03am on January 23rd. Happy Anniversary, baby."
Jennie's eyes glazed over as her time with the blonde, the last three months, played in her mind. She felt how Chaeyoung was cuddling against her, how she could almost hear her heartbeat they were so close and knew it was the most right thing she had ever felt. With that thought in mind, she decided it was time.
"Chaeyoung?"
"Yea?"
"I love you."
Chaeyoung's eyes widened and a huge grin broke out on her face, before bringing a hand up to cup the back of Jennie's head, bringing her in for a passionate kiss. She pulled back after a minute and looked into her eyes, full of emotion.
"Oh, love, you beat me to it," Chaeyoung said with a small smile.
"Love?" Jennie asked, feeling her heart swell at the new term of endearment.
"Oh most definitely love. I love you, Jennie Kim, with all my heart and soul. I was gonna tell you on our anniversary. Which, it is, so that worked out. But that's why I wanted to have a special dinner and stuff."
"Oh. I'm sorry...I should've waited, let you do your-"
She was cut off by Chaeyoung's lips on her own again. She relaxed into the embraced and kissed back, finding that their kisses seemed a lot more... intimate now that they had exchanged 'I love you's'. She pulled back with a tear in her eye.
"I...that was..."
"Powerful," Chaeyoung finished for her, having felt the same connection, "I am so glad it's out there. I felt all kinds of wrong knowing it and not saying it. Heh, kinda like before I came out."
"I love the way it sounds. I love you. I love Park Chaeyoung."
Chaeyoung was about to speak but was cut off by her own yawn.
"And I'll also love you in the morning, so why don't we get some sleep?" Jennie said with a grin.
"Mhhh, good idea," Chaeyoung replied, going in for a last kiss before snuggling down, her head resting her chin above Jennie's head, "Goodnight, love."
Jennie held the blonde to her, thinking things couldn't get much better.
I'm holding the woman that I love and who loves me back, in my arms. Yep, I think I'm just about the luckiest girl in the world.