Imogen Moreno Day
5 October 2016 — Dubai
When Fiona walked through the door of the flat she shared with her longtime girlfriend, the last thing she expected to see was Imogen sitting on the floor in the middle of their kitchen crying. Sure, Fiona wouldn't have been surprised to come home and find her girlfriend laying upside down on their couch, taking pictures of the underside of their coffee table, or baking a pie while singing and dancing along to the Spice Girls, or even watching videos online of otters for hours on end – but crying was not something Imogen did often, and frankly Fiona was okay with that. However, there was no way to avoid the waterworks happening right now, and if she were being honest – which she always tried to be – Fiona didn't quite know what to do.
"Immy," Fiona whispered, stepping closer to the crying girl.
As soon as she heard her name, Imogen's head shot up and she saw Fiona standing in front of her, looking confused and even a little scared. "Fiona Coyne," Imogen greeted, rubbing the tears from her eyes and trying to dry her cheeks with her shirtsleeves, "how was your day?"
"How was my day?" Fiona repeated with a raised eyebrow as she kneeled in front of her girlfriend. "Imogen, how was your day? What's wrong?"
"We're out of juice," Imogen explained in a shaky breath, looking anywhere but at Fiona.
"You're crying because we don't have any juice?" Fiona asked, unconvinced. "Are you sure that's the only thing that's wrong?"
"And the printer ran out of ink."
"I hate to be the one to say it, but you know you can go to the store and replace both a carton of juice and an ink cartridge, right?" When the slight attempt at humour didn't make things better, Fiona sat down next to Imogen and wrapped her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders. "You know, if you don't tell me what's wrong I can't make it better."
Imogen sighed and leaned her head against her girlfriend's shoulder. "You don't have to make everything better, Fiones."
"But I want to."
Imogen took her time, taking deep breaths of air, in through the nose, out through the mouth, before telling Fiona about her day.
"I got my third assignment this week for work – which, hello, is too much. But I'm a big girl so I sucked it up and talked to the client and found out their deadline is two weeks away – two weeks! That in itself was bad enough."
Imogen reached out for Fiona's free right hand, placing it in both of her own and playing with her girlfriend's fingers.
"Anyway, I needed to print off a set of blueprints to send to this old couple in Saint Petersburg, and only a third of the prints came out before the printer started beeping – and wouldn't stop beeping – telling me it was out of ink. I was already stressed to the max – Mr and Mrs Mallov want their house plans in a week and I'm pretty sure it takes five years for mail to get from Dubai to Russia, so, y'know, oops.
"But I ran to the office supply store anyway – and I mean I literally ran there – and I looked all around for the right ink and when I finally found it and went to the counter to pay, I realised I forgot my wallet at home! Oh, my goodness, Fiona, I had to walk all the way back home, feeling like an idiot, and when I got back and wanted some juice there was only a mouthful left – a mouthful!"
Fiona squeezed Imogen and kissed the top of her head. "And I'm guessing I walked in a few minutes later?"
"Your guess is correct … Everything that could go wrong today just went wrong and all I want to do is have my own Room of Requirement with tons of pillows and blankets and I'll bury myself in them forever."
"Mind if I Slytherin?" Fiona was taking a page from Imogen's book: laughter is the best medicine.
Imogen gasped and pulled away. "You did not just make a Harry Potter joke!"
"And so what if I did?" Fiona teased right back, grinning from ear to ear. "In fact, I think we should watch Harry Potter right now." Harry Potter was easily one of Imogen's favourite things, and Fiona knew watching one of the films would surely cheer her up.
"Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend, Fiona Coyne?" Imogen deadpanned. "Siriusly, Fiones, you don't normally voluntarily watch Harry Potter, what's up with you?"
"Today isn't just a normal day, Immy – it's Imogen Moreno Day!" Fiona explained as she stood, pulling Imogen up as well.
"Oookay, since when?"
"Since two minutes ago, obvi."
Imogen giggled, this girl would go out of her way to make Imogen feel better, no wonder she was so in love with her.
"And which movie do you propose we watch, Mrs Harry Potter?" Imogen asked, walking to the living room with Fiona right behind her.
"Prisoner of Azkaban, obvi."
"Would you stop saying that?"
"What? Obvi? Obvi, obvi, obvi!"
And before Imogen knew she was on the couch and under a tickle attack by Miss Obvi herself. Imogen couldn't help but laugh as Fiona's fingers wiggled against her ticklish sides and she continued her repetitive chant. After several helpless seconds, Imogen forced Fiona onto her back, giving Imogen all the power; power she used to her advantage by crashing her lips into her girlfriend's. Yeah, that shut Fiona right up.
Coming up for air several minutes later, Imogen rested her forehead against Fiona's and couldn't help but stare into her girlfriend's eyes. "You make me so happy," she murmured before kissing Fiona again. "And I love you so much –" kiss "– and you make the flowers grow –" kiss "– even in the saddest parts of me."
"You give me butterflies, still, after four years. You are unbelievable, Imogen Moreno." Fiona wore her "sappy" face, as Imogen referred to it, where she was so happy she looked sad. "Now get up and put that movie in," Fiona said, trying to sit up underneath Imogen.
Imogen gave her girlfriend a quizzical look as she sat back on the sofa and watched as Fiona walked towards the bathroom; the last thing Imogen wanted to do was watch a movie after the exchange the two just had.
"We aren't actually going to watch a movie, are we?" Imogen called down the hallway while setting up the movie.
"Of course we are," Fiona clarified, coming from the bathroom carrying a bottle of vanilla body lotion before explaining further, "And while we watch the movie, I'm going to give you a massage." She waved the bottle of lotion at Imogen, smiled widely, and motioned for her to lie down on the couch.
"Well, it is Imogen Moreno Day," Imogen reasoned as she pressed play and lay on her stomach, the volume of the movie down quite low.
Fiona straddled her girlfriend, running the palms of her hands from Imogen's lower back up to her shoulders and leaning in to kiss her neck. "You know," she whispered into her ear, "this would work a lot better if you didn't have a shirt on …"
Imogen eagerly pulled her shirt off, with Fiona's help, before resting on the sofa again. Fiona slowly slid Imogen's bra straps off of her shoulders before again whispering, "This should probably go, too," and before Imogen knew it her bra was unclasped and on the ground.
Fiona paused the massage momentarily to warm some of the lotion over her hands before slowly kneading it over her girlfriend's back. Imogen hummed and moaned in response, feeling Fiona's gentle but firm hands erase all the stress of her day.
As Fiona worked her hands over Imogen's back, she leaned forward and began to trail kisses along Imogen's neck. "I love you," she whispered repeatedly between each kiss.
From the massage, to the kisses, to the "I love you"s, it was almost too much for Imogen to just silently lay still; she needed more, and she was determined to get it. Imogen wiggled her back to get Fiona to stop her movements before carefully turning around onto her back to look up at her girlfriend.
"Hey, I wasn't finished!"
"Well, excuse me, but I do believe it is Imogen Moreno Day, and Imogen Moreno says the massage is finished."
"Was it not good enough for you, Im? I'm sorry, you're way better at it than I am, I just –"
"Fiones, it was amazing – too amazing – but I need more."
Imogen reached up and pulled Fiona face to hers, bringing their lips together quickly, trying to convey to Fiona just what she wanted – what she needed. She wrapped her arms around Fiona's neck and secured her legs around Fiona's waist.
"Take me to bed, Fiona Coyne," Imogen whispered in Fiona's ear, grinning as Fiona moaned in response.