Rooney felt like she had been struck by lightning. Was she imagining things or had Cate just said these words?
She wanted to say so many things but it was like she had lost her ability to form words. All the things that she had buried inside her, thoughts and feelings that she had sworn she'd keep secret, suddenly emerged and it felt perfectly okay to admit them. But she desperately wanted a clear confirmation. If that happened, it was all over. The future did not matter right now at all, it was of no importance to Rooney what would happen, if they'd be together or if their situation would prevent that from happening; all that mattered would be the seconds that would follow, the words that would come out of Cate's mouth; that was the only future that Rooney cared about, everything else seemed meaningless. She suddenly realised that she was holding her breath and she was starting to feel a bit dizzy. Her heart was thumping; what if Cate had meant something else? She wouldn't be able to bear it. But she had to know.
"Say it again."
"I'm in love with you."
Cate's voice had barely been audible, she had whispered the words so quietly, almost as if she didn't want to be heard.
Rooney wanted to freeze time, to keep that moment in her memory forever. She could feel it in her bones that this was one of the best moments of her life. This was what perfectness felt like. A few words, a few perfect words, spoken quietly, in a whisper. Life-changing moments didn't have to be loud. Words that would bring utter bliss didn't have to be shouted, emotions didn't have to be expressed in loud voices and grant gestures. This was their moment and it felt like a secret, a secret that only the two of them would share. Even if they tried later to describe that moment to someone else, even if they used a thousand words to try and explain it, no one would ever understand what perfectness was like.
Perfectness was the look in Cate's eyes which were burning and it was like they were setting fire to any doubt, any hesitation that she had previously had.
Perfectness was the feeling that Rooney had; like her heart was trying to jump out of her body and make a home in Cate's body and stay there forever.
Perfectness was their difficulty to breathe, like there was no oxygen left in that room, because it had been replaced by the love, the pure desire that both of them were feeling. But it wasn't like oxygen; if anything it was making their hearts beat faster and their breaths quicken for no apparent reason. But for all they cared, they could asphyxiate at that moment. Even that, at this time, would be perfect.
Rooney wanted to walk to Cate, to grab her and kiss her and just never let her go. She couldn't. She was too afraid to move, for she wasn't sure that her legs could carry her. Also, Cate looked so perfect. The woman looked like the most magnificent statue; Rooney would actually think she was one if it weren't for the woman's chest, which was rising and falling rapidly. She was scared that if she approached her, she would ruin that perfectness.
Rooney wanted to ask Cate to explain everything, but even that seemed trivial. She didn't want to give the woman a chance to take back what she had said.
"Aren't you going to say something?" Cate asked with a small smile, but she looked nervous.
The woman was afraid for a moment that Rooney would deny everything, but the look in the girl's eyes was not one of denial.
For a moment that seemed liked an eternity, they stood there, looking at each other. Then, Rooney took two steps and stood right in front of Cate.
She could hear a heart beating; she wasn't sure if it was Cate's or her own, or if it was both of their hearts, already in tune with each other and beating simultaneously. She looked into Cate's eyes and she felt like smiling. The happiness that she was feeling was in contradiction to the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes.
"I'm in love with you, too," Rooney whispered, never moving her eyes from Cate's.
Cate hugged her tight and Rooney wrapped her hands around the woman's body. They were hugging so tightly, as if they wanted to leave no space between them, as if they wanted their bodies to become one. They had their heads on each other's shoulder and even though there was no need for words to be spoken, Rooney put her lips on Cate's ear and whispered again.
"I'm in love with you, too."
Cate was breathing heavily and Rooney felt something wet on her neck; tears.
She put her hands on Cate's face and she wiped her tears with her thumbs. She moved her fingers around the woman's face; her forehead, her eyebrows, her nose, her cheeks and finally, her lips. She stared at Cate's lips and then looked in her eyes. The woman was watching her with a determined look.
Rooney moved slowly, because she wanted that moment to be perfect. She could feel Cate's breath on her lips, even though she could tell that the woman was trying to hold it. This was everything she'd been waiting for.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. The two women froze with their lips just inches away. Rooney resisted the urge to swear loudly.
"Who the fuck is it?" Cate whispered.
"Rooney, it's Todd!"
Cate closed her eyes and took a very deep breath. Rooney could see that the woman was furious, but it seemed kind of funny to her.
"Should I open the door?" Rooney asked, but she knew that she couldn't avoid Todd.
"Yeah, I guess. Wait. Where...where should I go?"
Rooney watched in silence as Cate started running around the room, trying to find the best place for her to be so that Todd wouldn't suspect anything.
"Cate. He could walk in on us kissing and he still wouldn't believe that something was going on," Rooney whispered and Cate sat on the bed.
Rooney opened the door.
"Hey. Oh, great, you're both here!" Todd said as he walked into the room with papers in his hands.
"Yeah, we were rehearsing," Cate said seeming a bit unsure of what to say.
"On the bed?" Todd asked, laughing.
"We got a bit tired and started chatting instead," Rooney said because Cate had blushed and did not look like she was able to come up with something.
"Oh. Well, I hope you're not too tired. It's not that late anyway. I wanted to run something by you..." Todd said, looking through his papers.
Rooney dared to look at Cate since Todd was busy. The woman was not able to sit still. She kept putting her hands through her hair and looking around impatiently.
Her eyes fell on Rooney, who was watching her, and gave her a sly smile.
"Ah, here it is. Rooney, could you take a look at these notes? We can talk about them tomorrow, first thing in the morning. Cate, can you come with me for a while?"
Cate suddenly froze and fixed her eyes on Todd, as if trying to see if he was joking. Then, she coughed loudly.
"You know what, I don't feel very well. I may be coming down with something."
"You look fine, maybe you're a bit tired. It won't take too long, I promise. Rooney, get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Todd," Rooney said as the man got out of the room and Cate unwillingly got up from the bed.
"You're a shitty actress," Rooney whispered to Cate with a smile as the woman exited the room.
Cate chuckled and turned to look at Rooney as the girl was closing the door.
Obviously, Rooney did not even look at the papers that Todd had given her. She waited for about a minute, so that she wouldn't run into Todd and Cate and got out of her room. She ran on the corridor like a little child and knocked on Sarah's door.
"One sec!" Sarah shouted from inside her room.
Rooney was trying to keep herself from jumping around the corridor until the woman let her in.
"Hey! You look weird."
Rooney got inside the room quickly and closed the door behind her. Sarah was looking at her with a puzzled look and her eyes widened when Rooney wrapped her arms around her and started giggling uncontrollably.
"Are you on something?" Sarah asked with a concerned look but Rooney continued giggling.
"I don't even know where to begin," Rooney said walking around the room.
"Okay, can you begin by standing still?"
Rooney sat on the bed and instantly got up again.
"No."
"What the hell is going on?"
Rooney turned to look at Sarah with a beaming smile.
"I spoke to Cate."
"You told her?"
Rooney only nodded; she couldn't put her happiness into words.
"And?"
"She heard everything."
"And? Tell me everything, I'm dying here!"
"She loves me," Rooney said.
She hadn't meant it to, but her voice came out in a whisper.
Sarah smiled and brought her hands to her mouth. Then suddenly, she let them fall and looked at Rooney with a fake disgusted face.
"Oh my God, you two are going to get unbearable now, aren't you?"
Rooney laughed out loud and started moving in circles, half-running and half-dancing.
"You know, there are tribes in Africa that do this thing to ensure rainfall."
Rooney started laughing again and Sarah shook her head but couldn't help but laugh as well.
"So, what now?"
"Honestly, I don't even care. I don't care. No matter what happens, she loves me. She loves me."
"What about that guy?"
"What guy?"
"The guy that she was supposed to be in love with."
Suddenly, Rooney's smile faded.
"I...I don't know. Should I ask her?"
"I think you should. Now tell me what happened!"
After a few minutes, Rooney had told Sarah everything.
"You know, I love Todd but his timing sucks. Do you want me to go and keep him busy so that Cate can go?"
"No, no, I guess he won't keep her too long. Just don't tell Cate you know yet, alright?"
"Alright, I won't say a thing. It was fun playing Cupid."
"Well, you did an awesome job at it," Rooney said with a smile.
"I'm very happy for you."
"Thanks. So...what now? What should I do?"
"Look. The hard part is actually over. Any difficulties that may come along the way will not matter because you know now that you love each other. But keep one thing in your mind, even though I'll be here to remind you all the time. Don't let your doubts eat you up, because you'll end up with a lot of 'what if's'. And they're not a nice company to have. Live the whole thing. Tell her everything you feel when the time is right. You'll only regret the things you didn't say."
"I can't thank you enough," Rooney said to Sarah and smiled.
"I know. That's why you'll buy me something very, very expensive," Sarah said with a smile and Rooney chuckled.
"Anything you want. And hey, if you ever need any help or advice for something like this, I'm here for you."
Sarah failed to suppress her laugh.
"What?"
"I hope you're better at this when it comes to other people's situations," Sarah said, laughing.
Rooney rolled her eyes.
"I'll definitely ask for your advice when I want to break up with someone, though. I think you must have broken a record or something. You reconciled with your ex-boyfriend, had him come here, got back together with him and then broke up with him in less than a week. And all this, while having feelings for somebody 's talent right there."
"Okay, it wasn't all my fault!"
"Yeah, tell that to poor Charlie."
"Oh, you're siding with him now?"
"I'm siding with the ones who are deeply in love and don't know what to do about it. Now that you don't need my help anymore, I might go to Charlie and offer to help him."
"Yeah, that's really funny."
"Well, I'm hilarious. Now stop jumping around and go find your girlfriend."
...-...-...-...-...-...-...
Rooney went back to her room and was pacing back and forth for what seemed like hours. Finally, she heard voices from some distance away and pressed her ear on the door. One of the voices was Cate's, she was sure of it.
She heard the door of Cate's room open and close.
Was she not coming?
A few seconds later, there was a soft knock on the door of her own room.
"Hey. Can I come in?" Cate whispered, smiling.
"Of course."
Cate got inside the room and the two women stood facing each other, as they had done no more than an hour ago.
"I just dropped by to say goodnight. It's been a long day and I'm really tired, so..."
Rooney was a bit surprised and she felt her heart beating faster as Cate headed to the door again.
Was that it? Had it all been a dream?
Cate had her hand on the door, but turned around to look at Rooney again.
"Oh, I almost forgot. There was one thing I forgot earlier...and I've wanted to do it for quite some time..."
Cate walked a bit closer to Rooney and put her hands around the girl's waist.
"What's that?" Rooney said, not even trying to suppress her smile.
"Just something I remembered now. You know, all the good ideas seem to dawn on me just as I'm about to get out of your room."
"Well, I'm happy that you never seem to make it out of the room."
Cate chuckled and looked deep into Rooney's eyes.
The moment had come. They both knew it. They could feel it. And once again, no words needed to be spoken.
They moved closer tentatively. Rooney put her hands on Cate's cheeks. The woman felt as if Rooney's hands could burn holes in her skin.
Finally, their lips met. Their kiss was not rushed; they had all the time in the world. They kissed as if they had kissed a thousand times before.
This was perfect. They were perfect.
After some time which had seemed like a few seconds, their lips parted but they didn't move away from each other.
"Our first kiss," Rooney whispered.
She didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry, but she knew that she was happier than she'd ever been.
"But we've already had it. Wasn't it memorable?"
"It was Carol I kissed, not you."
Cate stroked Rooney's cheek and smiled.
"It was all me, darling. It was all me."
Notes: I updated as soon as I could to make up for the horrible ending of the previous chapter! :P I really hope you like this one, tell me what you think :) Thank you very much for reading and leaving reviews! The next one might take a bit longer. I hope you're all well. Thanks again for reading, I really appreciate it! :))