Kate, Alya and Luke are hanging out at their flat, watching some TV and a trailer for the new Hugh Jackman movie comes on and Kate mentions about going to watch it on Friday evening when they're all off.
Alya and Luke look over at her apologetically, ever conscious of making her feel left out. "Sorry Kate, we kinda already made plans to go out on Friday."
Kate gives that look of really but sighs. It's their first day off in a while and obviously they would want to go out alone together. "Don't worry about it, we can just go some other time maybe."
Alya feels bad. "Why don't you still ask Rana, she might wanna go."
Kate hums, thinking that she might do just that.
She pops into the medical centre again the next day to visit Rana on her lunch break.
"Here for another check up?" Rana teases.
Kate smiles. "Not officially, but you can check me out again if you want," she flirts and Rana fights her smile, coming to sit closer to Kate.
"What's up?"
"Well… other than the obvious reason of just wanting to see you, I came to ask if you wanted to go watch a movie with me Friday night." She keeps it cool, no playfulness so as not to scare Rana off.
Rana's smile softens and she looks at her unsure. "Kate, I already told you, I'm not ready to go out in public like that."
Kate takes her hand before she can fully say no. "It's not a date, honest. I asked Alya and Luke to come as well but they're going on a date and then Alya told me to still ask you." She shrugs cutely at the end, reaffirming her innocence.
And Rana lets a small smile come through at it. She wants nothing more than to say yes and Kate can see it. Kate leans forward into her and nudges her a little and Rana laughs at her attempts.
"Okay, okay, I'll go."
Kate beams. "Great!" She gives her a quick kiss before leaving.
And Rana watches her go, her smile still lingering on her face long after she's gone.
Friday night comes and Rana goes to the flat to pick Kate up. Luke and Alya haven't left yet for their date so Kate and Rana can't greet each other like they would like to.
They spend some time chatting with Alya before they leave.
"Have fun," Alya calls out to them as they leave.
"You too!"
They're walking down the street and it's quite chilly so Kate naturally links her arms with Rana's for warmth and she feels Rana tense up and look around to see if anyone can see them.
"Rana, relax, we've walked like this before, no ones gonna think anything of it."
Rana sighs, "I know but…" Rana can't come up with the right words to express her fears.
"It's not like we're holding hands," Kate says softly, trying to keep things light. "Or snuggling together," she says as she pushes her body a little closer into Rana's playfully.
"Kate!" Rana screams out in disbelief around a laugh.
And Kate laughs too, knowing that she's pushing too much. She goes back to linking arms and smiles as she sees Rana trying to fight her own smile.
Once they get their tickets and snacks, they take their seats right at the back.
The movie starts and it's actually pretty good, they find themselves more interested in the film than they thought they would be. Throughout the film, Kate peaks glances at Rana, enjoying her soft smiles and laughter. She thinks about what she would do if this was a proper date. She would hold her hand, lean her head against her shoulder, probably try and distract her with kisses, she thinks with a soft smile.
But she doesn't do that now. There's no one sitting in their row but Kate still keeps her hands in her own lap, she doesn't want to be too affectionate in case Rana tenses up again.
At a particularly funny scene, Rana's head falls back in laughter and Kate just watches her, finding Rana's laughter more amusing than the movie itself.
Rana turns to Kate to find her already looking at her with an adoring smile and Rana's laugh softens into a smile. She looks at Kate softly and all she wants to do in that moment is lean over and kiss her and she knows Kate is thinking the same thing because she sees her eyes fall down to her lips. But she can't here. She's too scared.
Instead she looks down and gently takes Kate's hand into her own. She caresses it softly before interlacing their fingers, without looking Kate in the eye. And Kate's heart flutters in her chest at the innocent touch.
She takes her chance and brings Rana's hand up to her lips to press a small kiss to the back of it and Rana's heart flutters in her chest and when she looks up to see the soft look in Kate's eyes, her stomach swarms with butterflies.
She lets out a small, shy chuckle and looks down and then back to the screen, avoiding Kate's soft gaze. They go back to watching the movie, their hands still intertwined.
After the movie, they decide to go get a drink. They sit in the back corner where not many people can see them. They're sitting opposite each other and the conversation is light and easy, they seem to forget everything else when they're together.
Kate just watches Rana with a soft smile as she tells her story. She loves how Rana's eyes light up when she's excited, and how beautiful she looks when she laughs. Kate thinks she could look at her forever without getting tired.
"Kate?"
Kate blinks out of her daze. "Yeah?"
Rana is smiling at her, head tilted. "Were you even listening to me?"
"What? Of course I was."
Rana's smile deepens, turning a little playful. "What was I just talking about then?"
And Kate honestly has no idea what Rana was talking about at the end there. She had been too caught up in Rana's smile. She purses her lips and narrows her eyes cutely. "About…work?"
Rana shakes her head with a laugh but Kate can tell that she's fighting a blush.
Kate laughs too, loving how shy Rana can get with her. "Sorry," she leans closer and lowers her voice a little. "I guess I just got a little distracted." It's teasing but then she turns a bit more serious. Her smile softens as their eyes meet. "You look beautiful tonight."
And Rana ducks her head with a shy smile, a pretty blush tinting her cheeks. And it will never fail to make Kate's heart flutter how Rana can go from teasing to shy in an instant.
Rana looks to the side to see if anyone is in hearing distance. Kate's back is to the bar so no one can see her so she lets her gaze roam Rana's face as unabashedly as she pleases, watching as Rana's blush increases and she fights her smile.
Kate laughs as Rana looks down again.
Rana lets out a little cough, gathering herself and she looks back up at Kate with an expression that has Kate just wanting to kiss her right there.
Rana gets up, breaking the moment. "I'll go get us another drink," she says, and she lets her body brush against Kate's side as she passes her, leaving Kate grinning like a fool.
While Rana's gone to get the drink, Kate sits at the table with her head in her hand, just thinking about Rana's smile. She has a thought and takes out a pen and scrap bit of paper out of her bag and writes down a little note for Rana and slips it into her bag, knowing that Rana will find it later.
When Rana returns to the table, Kate can't control her little grin and Rana narrows her gaze at her playfully.
"What?"
Kate plays innocent. "What?"
Just as Rana's about to reply, her phone rings and she checks it and her smile falls a little from her face and Kate knows that it's probably Zeedan.
Rana answers the call and it's short but it's enough to take them out of the bubble they've been in the whole night.
Rana walks Kate back to her flat. They linger by the inside door, reluctant to part.
"I had fun tonight," Rana says softly, looking down at Kate's hand that she's holding.
Kate smiles back warm. It didn't take much for them to have a good time together, just each other's company was enough.
"Just wait till I take you out on a proper date," Kate says playfully and Rana smiles at the words.
Her eyes soften and her heart flutters at the prospect. She wants that more than she can say. And in that moment she tries so hard to look past the mountain of things in between their reality now and the reality that Kate's promising.
Kate sees the fear come back in Rana's eyes and she lifts her hand to caress Rana's cheek and Rana closes her eyes, leaning into it.
"Soon." Kate whispers as a reminder to them both, but it's almost like a plea, Rana hears the desperation in her voice and she nods, taking Kate's hands into her own again.
"I promise," she breathes out and she means it with all her heart.
And Kate lets out the breath that she was holding, finally pressing her lips to Rana's like she has been wanting to all night. And Rana pushes into her.
The kiss doesn't last as long as they would like. It never does. Rana pushes back first, lingering just a little bit longer, wanting the moment to last.
When Rana gets back home, she finds the note in her bag. She unfolds the piece of paper with furrowed eyebrows. She sees Kate's neat, loopy scrawl and her heart starts beating faster before she even reads what it says.
If I could spend the rest of my days making you smile I would be the luckiest girl in the world …
Rana lets out a breath and her heart flutters in her chest and she holds the note to her heart to steady it's beating. She feels like a teenager experiencing things for the first time. She's never felt like this before. One small note has her feeling so much. But what it says isn't small. That Kate feels that way about her makes Rana feel like the luckiest woman in the world. And the fact that Kate can make her feel like this when things are so complicated and seem so scary- the fact that Kate can make Rana feel like she's lucky when things are the way they are is just so much for Rana. She wishes she had found the note earlier so that she could kiss Kate like she so wanted to right now.
Instead she takes her phone out to send her a message. She wants to type out what she's feeling- that the loves her. But she wants to say those words to Kate, she wants to see the look on her face. Instead she sends a different truth. I'm the lucky one and a simple heart in hopes that it gets her feelings across. And she receives a reply instantly of a row of hearts and she smiles as she looks down at it. She deletes the messages after a few seconds, wanting to leave no trace.
She looks down at the paper in her hand. She reads over the words again and her heart flutters just the same as it did the first time. She knows she should probably tear up the note and throw it away but for some reason she can't bring herself to do it. Kate's cute writing, what she's written, the little heart drawn at the end of it. She wants to keep this one thing. She folds it up carefully like it's something precious and hides it away in her coat pocket.
She goes up to bed and she's pleased to find Zeedan already asleep. She gets ready for bed and falls asleep to thoughts of Kate.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Hope you enjoyed it!