Author's note : Hello readers ! Just a quick message to tell you that I love you because despite the fact that my weekly updates turned into monthly ones you're still here reading, following, reviewing and that's the absolute best ! Enjoy this new chapter !
Kara was still sleeping peacefully on her couch when sounds of a pencil scratching on paper and what seemed to be grunts of frustration pulled her out of her slumber. She stretched, wincing a little at the new pain on her lower back, probably caused by her sleeping on her old couch and reached for her glasses on the coffee table. She was glad she had managed to convince Lena to sleep in her bed, she would have been a terrible host if she hadn't. Alex was right, she had to get rid of that awful couch.
Kara seated up and now that she had her glasses on, searched for the source of the noises. Lena was there, perched on one of the kitchen's tool, fully awake but still in her pyjamas. Kara looked at the window. The sun hadn't finished rising, meaning it was way too early for a Saturday morning according to Kara's sleeping schedule. She considered going back to sleep, but as she glanced at Lena again, she found herself unable to move.
Lena was bent over a sheet of paper, a pencil in her right hand, and her left hand hanging over a calculator. She had her hair in a messy bun, done hastily with one of Kara's pens. She was so absorbed by her task that she didn't notice that Kara had awaken. Lena put a lock of hair behind her ear before writing something on her piece of paper. In that exact moment, Kara realized once again how beautiful Lena was, with the glimmers of dawn reflected in her black manna, her green eyes shining with excitement and that slight ripple of concentration between her eyebrows when she thinks. Kara got up slowly and walked towards Lena, as if hypnotized by this vision that seemed straight out of a dream.
-"Sorry, did I wake you ?" Lena apologized, suddenly aware of Kara's presence.
Kara just shrugged to show Lena that she didn't mind and went to seat in the other stool next to Lena.
-"What are you doing ?" she asked, curious about what had Lena awake this early.
-"I dreamt of something last night and I was afraid to forget it if I didn't draw it right away" Lena explained, tapping her chin in thoughts.
-"I know the feeling" Kara replied, smiling. "May I take a look ?"
Lena seemed to hesitate but finally slipped the paper she was writing on, to Kara.
-"Is this a... spaceship ?" Kara asked with her head tilted to the side as she examined Lena's drawing carefully.
Lena avoided Kara's gaze.
-"Yes" she answered, a little embarrassed by her outer space obsession that Lillian used to call a silly fantasy.
-"It looks awesome but I doubt its ability to fly" Kara said, smiling apologetically to Lena who growled in response.
-"I know !" she exclaimed, burying her face in her hands. "It was so beautiful in my dream I had to get up to draw it but the more I look and think about it, the more I wonder if it could ever accomplish what it was designed for" Lena continued, sighing in frustration.
-"Want some help ?" Kara offered, thoughts of returning to sleep completely forgotten.
-"Actually, I was hoping you would say that" Lena replied smirking, which confused Kara. "So I had those delivered because I know you never work with an empty stomach" she continued, showing Kara a paper bag supporting the logo of Kara's favorite donught's brand.
At the thought of biting in one of those marvellous donughts, Kara's eyes shone with excitement. She smiled brightly at Lena and thanked her but as Kara reached for the paper bag, it hit her :
How come she hadn't realized it sooner ?
Lena knew everything that there is to know about her. Her unconditional love for food, her hyperactivity, her awkwardness during major social events but despite all that, Lena was always happy to see her, she appreciated Kara's company and valued her opinion. Lena had even hanged out with Kara's family and friends last night and had looked like she had enjoyed herself very much. Most of all, Lena could be anywhere right now : working at LCorp, enjoying a good lie-in, having brunch with friends but she was here. With Kara. And donughts.
Lena was perfect. Perfect for me.
SC~SC~SC~SC~SC
Lena was still at her office. She sometimes passed by LCorp on Saturdays to get ahead on some work or just to see how things were going but never stayed to long. Today was obviously different. She welcomed the distraction work was providing her. Her morning with Kara had been so wonderful she was afraid of mistaking dreams from reality. Waking up at K ara's and sharing breakfast together had felt so good and natural, she had a lot of trouble reminding herself that they were not really dating.
-"Miss Luthor ?" Jess voice sounded through the intercom, pulling Lena out of yet another daydreaming about her wonderful morning.
-"Miss Sinclair is here" Jess announced.
-"Send her in please, Jess" Lena replied. Her friend could be a good distraction since work wasn't really doing its job apparently.
-"Hey ! How's my favorite depraved friend doing ?" Veronica greeted Lena very enthusiastically as she engulfed her CEO friend in a strong hug.
-"Depraved ?" Lena asked, raising an eyebrow in question.
-"You know you can't keep anything from me" Veronica said, plopping herself down on Lena's couch. "I know you didn't slept at home last night" she continued, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively.
-"It wasn't like that" Lena refuted as she joined her friend on the couch.
-"Wait, are you saying that my awesome pep talk from the other day was useless ?" Veronica said, making an exaggerated betrayed face. "Please tell me that you, at the very least, got a goodnight kiss or something."
-"Not... really ?" Lena answered hesitantly, thinking back about how she kissed Kara on the sidewalk last night before chickening out and blaming an invisible photographer. She was pretty sure she couldn't count that kiss as their first if Kara wasn't aware that it was, indeed, their first.
Veronica rolled her eyes and threw her head back on the couch, grunting.
-"I can't believe it !" she exclaimed. "And they let you run this place ?" she continued in disbelief, gesturing vaguely with her hand to refer to the LCorp building. Lena just rolled her eyes at her friend antics.
-"Fortunately, you don't deal with the market the way you deal with your crushes or this place would already be bankrupt" Veronica went on, shaking her head.
-"You know what ?" Lena suddenly interrupted, straightening up on the couch. "You're right. Last night I behaved like a pathetic schoolgirl with a crush" she admitted. "It has to end."
-"Yes !" Veronica shouted, like she wasn't in a middle of a workplace. "That's my sharky CEO !"
Lena laughed at the silly nickname.
-"So, when are you going to tell App Girl that her contract got renewed for an indefinite period ?" Veronica asked, smiling mischievously.
-"Wednesday it's date night. We're supposed to have dinner, break up and part ways in good terms" Lena explained. "I think I will do it at this moment. If she agrees to go out with me, I mean for real this time around, great ! And if she doesn't...
-"At least you will know" Veronica finished for her.
-"Yes" Lena concluded. She won't chicken out this time, she will tell Kara.
-"Lena Luthor, waiting the very last moment to take action" Veronica said, looking at Lena with admiration. Suddenly, Veronica face turned shocked.
-"Who are you and what have you done with my friend ?" she asked, grabbing Lena by her shoulders and searching her eyes in false panic.
They both laughed loudly, making Jess jump and drop her phone on her desk. She grabbed her phone back quickly : she was at ten votes from making luvers top of the list before karlena.
SC~SC~SC~SC~SC
After her groundbreaking realization, Kara needed to talk to someone about it. She, of course, thought of Alex first but, knowing her big sister and her super protective nature, she would warn Kara about all the things she should think about before even considering a real relationship with Lena until Kara would be too chickened out to do anything. Maybe diving headfirst was a mistake but at least it would be her mistake.
So, after Lena had left late this morning to go check some things at LCorp, Kara decided to pay Winn a visit at Krypton Enterprise. She figured that best friend advices would be better than big sister/publicist ones.
-"Kara ?" Winn said, very surprised, when Kara entered their office. "What are you doing here ?"
-"Uh, I don't know if you noticed before Winn, but I work here" Kara replied, rolling her eyes. "They even call me CEO around here."
-"Uh, I know that Miss smarty-pants but it's Saturday".
-"So ?" Kara said back as she hang her coat and went to sit at her desk across from Winn.
-"You never show up to work on Saturday" Winn stated, typing occasionally on his computer.
-"It's just that I realized something big this morning and I need to process it with my best friend" Kara explained, smiling excitedly at Winn.
-"Okay, if you showed up here on a Saturday it must be very important."
-"I don't know if it's very important but I need help, that's for sure."
-"Okay" Winn replied. He stopped typing on his keyboard and turned on his desk chair to give Kara is undivided attention. "Tell me."
-"I don't know how it didn't hit me before but this morning I had some sort of revelation" Kara started to explain, nervous. "I think...no, I am... in love with Lena" she finally managed to say. She looked at Winn anxiously and waited for his reaction.
-"Yeah, well, who isn't ?" Winn said, scoffing at the obvious. "So what's the big reveal ?"
-"But this is the reveal ! I'm in love with Lena !" Kara exclaimed, letting her shoulders drop in exasperation. Seeing that Winn still had his brows furrowed in confusion she added : "for real !"
-"Wait, you mean in love in love, not just a celebrity crush like everybody else ?" he asked, serious.
-"Yes !"
-Like, you're not saying that because you're faking a relationship but because you really love her ?" he asked again to make sure he had understood her friend correctly.
-"Oh my God, yes Winn, exactly like that" Kara replied, sighting. He was a very bright man but he sometimes was very slow at getting the simplest of things. Like Kara actually, that's why they were best friends.
-"Wow. What does Alex think about all of this ?" Winn said, finally caught up on Kar a's situation.
-"Actually, I forgot to tell you" Kara said, biting her lower lip guiltily. "Alex can't know about that. Well, not yet at least."
-"WHAT ?" Winn all but shouted, panicked. "Kara ! You know I hate keeping things from Alex !" he continued, lowering his voice and glancing at the hallway, hoping the others employees didn't heard him. "I don't how she does it but she always sense when I'm keeping something from her, then she drives me up the wall until I break under the pressure and tells her everything !" he explained, looking at his phone nervously as if Alex would have already sensed his treason and was going to call him for an explanation.
-"Winn, what are you talking about ?" Kara asked, totally confused. "You think Alex is a mind reading alien or something ? You need to calm down" she said, wondering how she's supposed to be the weirder in their group of friends with Winn acting like that.
-"More like a secret agent" he mumbled. "Wait, you think that could be it ?" he asked Kara suddenly.
-"Winn !"
-"What ?"
-"Focus !"
-"Yes, sorry" Winn apologized. He took a breath, trying to calm down. "So, you're in love with Lena, I'm mean for real this time and you want me to..." he resumed the situation. "What do you want me to do again ?"
-"I want you to tell me if I have a chance with her or if I'm completely delusional, if you noticed something that made you think that maybe she likes me more than a friend, what I should tell her" Kara replied in one breath, starting to feel panicked too. Maybe she didn't think all of that through. "You know, everything a best friend is supposed to say in this kind of situation" she finished, looking expectantly at Winn.
-"Okay..." Winn answered, processing the flow of questions Kara threw his way. "Sorry but I think I missed the fine prints of our best friends contract" he finally apologized.
-"Well, if you find the user manual for how to tell your friend/fake girlfriend you actually love her, let me know !" Kara replied, crossing her arms on her chest in frustration.
-"Sorry I'm not very useful but you should know I'm not really an expert at wooing girls" Winn joked, trying to light up his friend's mood. Kara smiled. "But, I'm sure about something though" he continued, growing unusually serious for him. "We're talking about Lena freaking Luthor here so, whether you have a chance or not, I think you should go for it because otherwise you'll regret it you whole life. Trust me."
SC~SC~SC~SC~SC
After a few days of reflexion and replaying her conversation with Winn over and over, Kara decided that the best course of action was to wait until date night to tell Lena how she really felt about her. That way, if Lena didn't want a real relationship with her, Kara wouldn't regret anything since they're supposed to break up on this night and if Lena was all in, they would enjoy another great dinner en tête-à-tête.
It was the most logical solution and Kara loved logic. The only problem was that the outcome wasn't as predictable as a mathematical formula. Whatever Lena's answer was going to be, nothing will guarantee that they will still be friend after that or even if they will work together again on a new project.
But that wasn't her only and most urgent problem. Wednesday was date night but this time it could also potentially be the start of a beautiful love story so Kara wanted to be well dressed for the occasion. The thing was, when she needed fashion help, she usually turned to Alex and Maggie but there was no way for Kara to ask for help without explaining for what the outfit was. Especially when one is your sister/publicist and knows your schedule by heart, and the other is a walking human lie detector, well, in Kara's case anyway.
So Kara turned to the only person who knew Lena very well but won't tell her anything about Kara's intentions at the same time : Veronica Sinclair.
Kara had called Jess and asked for Veronica's number saying that she was planning a surprise for Lena. Jess had happily given the number to Kara without question and had promised not tell anything to Lena. Kara was glad that Jess was so nice to her even if the Krypton CEO was sometimes surprised to see how much Jess was supportive of her. Kara could understand that Jess was glad to see her boss in a relationship but Kara knew for sure that Lena had already been with other people before fake dating her and a real relationship is better than a fake one no matter who you're dating, right ?
SC~SC~SC~SC~SC
Kara was already waiting for thirty minutes when Veronica finally showed up.
-"Sorry I'm late... Sweetie" Veronica said when she entered the luxury boutique where she had asked Kara to meet her.
-"Hi, it's ok, thanks for coming" Kara greeted Lena's friend, frowning at the term of endearment. What Kara didn't know, was that Veronica was so used to call Kara "App Girl" that she had forgotten what her actual name was and "sweetie" was the only thing she could came up with.
-"So," Veronica started to say to Kara when she was interrupted by a salesgirl.
-"Do you ladies need help with anything ?" the salesgirl asked. Kara opened her mouth to reply that any help was welcomed in her case but Veronica beat her to it.
-"Actually, my friend and I here" she said, gesturing between herself and Kara with her hand, "need to do a little fashion briefing first so, if we could have some privacy, that would be nice thanks."
The salesgirl knew better than to insist and began to walk away when Veronica seemed to remember something.
-"Oh, and could you get me some champagne please ?" she asked. "It helps me think."
When the salesgirl retreated to retrieve the glass of champagne, Veronica turned to Kara, her expression suddenly very serious and professional.
-"So, let me get this straight" she began, joining her hands before herself in concentration. "You asked me for help because you usually dress yourself for dates night but this time you have something important to ask Lena and the other people you normally turn to in emergency situations can't know about the thing you have to ask Lena" she resumed. "Am I getting it right here ?"
-"Pretty much yes" Kara answered, relieved that Veronica didn't seem to want to know more about this mysterious thing Kara wanted to ask Lena.
-"Now, before we find the perfect outfit," Veronica spoke again, "where are you on the Ana Wintour scale ?"
Kara furrowed her brows in confusion. She knew the name sounded familiar but in what field of expertise, she had no idea.
-"Hum, I don't..."
-"Okay... let me rephrase this" Veronica interrupted quickly seeing how Kara seemed to have no clue about what Veronica was talking about. Fashion was a very serious topic in Veronica's opinion and they're were wasting precious time here. "On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rank your fashion sense ?" she asked again.
-"Hum... Three ?" Kara replied hesitantly. She never really thought about her looks that much.
-"So back to basics it is !" Veronica exclaimed, clapping her hands in a very fast and loud gesture. She suspected it wouldn't be easy working her magic in so little time but she wasn't one to back down from a challenge.
-"There is really five ground rules in fashion" Veronica started explaining, taking the glass of champagne the salesgirl was offering her. "There are others of course, fashion is a very complex domain after all, but only five are fundamental" she continued, taking a sip of her glass.
-"Okay" Kara replied, nodding.
-"The number one is actually more of a personal tip than a rule" Veronica went on. "Every time you feel overwhelmed by the options before you or the dress code for the event is too vague, remember this : if you want to be chic, go French like Dior, Yves Saint Laurent or Chanel. I you want to be sexy, go Italian. Valentino, Armani, Versace. Finally, if you want to draw attention, you need a little touch of madness and that what English brands are for, like Vivienne Westwood or Alexander McQueen."
-"Noted" Kara said, taping her temple with her index even if she knew she would never remember those brand and let alone pronounce them correctly. Well, at least she got the nationality part.
-"Perfect !" Veronica exclaimed. "So, what do we want to be Wednesday night ?" she then asked Kara, her full smile turning into a smirk. Kara may not have told her the thing she wanted to ask Lena but Veronica was no fool. Nor blind. This was her chance to help her best friend get the girl and Veronica was the kind to go kamikaze when she was on a mission. "Classy, sexy or crazy ?"
-"Uh, classy ?" Kara tried. She wanted to look good for Lena of course but their date was planned in a fancy restaurant and also, Kara didn't want to disclose her intention to Veronica too much, so classy seemed the right answer.
-"No !" Veronica shouted, making the employees jump behind the cashier. "It's date night for God's sake, not a job interview ! We want to be sexy, ok ? Se-xy" she explained to Kara as if she was a five years old.
-"Sexy, got it" Kara replied quickly, a little scared by Veronica's strong reaction. Then, Kara took a look at Veronica's dress one more time, and noticed how it ended just below Veronica's bottom and its neckline left nothing to the imagination. Maybe we don't have the same definition of sexy Kara thought nervously and started wondering if asking Veronica for help was a good idea after all.
-"Someone !" Veronica yelled in the boutique, making Kara wince both in pain and embarrassment.
-"Yes Madam ?" the blonde salesgirl from earlier asked, waiting for Veronica's order like a soldier standing to attention.
-"I want to see all your Italian suits for women please" Veronica said. She knew Lena had a soft spot for women in suits and since the launching party Veronica also knew that App Girl could rock a suit just fine. Veronica was going to make Kara the female (and younger) version of Brad Pitt so Lena would have no other choice to girl the hell up and ask App Girl out.
-"Right away Madam" the girl replied and she was gone as fast as she had came.
Kara released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She had been afraid Veronica would chose scandalous dresses which would have made Kara look more like an escort girl than the young prodigy CEO that she actually was. Suits are fine, I can do suits.
-"So, what are the other ground rules ?" Kara suddenly asked Veronica, wanting to interrupt the heavy silence that had filled the fitting room since the salesgirl left to prepare Veronica's order. This was Lena's best friend so Kara felt like she had to at least make some conversation. Especially if date night goes well.
-"You only gave me the first" Kara continued, trying not to ramble too much but wanting for Veronica to look away from her phone.
-"I don't know if you're ready for them yet" Veronica answered, eyeing Kara's outfit one more time. "You have to assimilate number one completely first and then we'll see."
Before Kara could come up with something else to say, the salesgirl came back with two racks of suits of all kinds. There were the classic black and navy blue ones but also some bright red or green and one which seemed to had been tailored directly from a 15th century tapestry.
Kara moved forward to take a closer look at the suits but Veronica stopped Kara in her tracks by showing a red suit against her.
-"Hum... It could be nice but more for a gala" Veronica said looking alternately between the suit and Kara's face in the mirror in front of them. "It's date night, you'll want an intimate setting and this color will draw to much attention."
-"What about..." Veronica continued, showing a dark blue suit against Kara's body again. "No, too classic, too expected" she concluded after a few seconds and hung the suit back on the rack.
Veronica rummaged among the suits for at least five minutes, shooting glances at Kara from time to time. Finally, Veronica pulled a black suit with the collar, the false chest pocket and the end of the sleeves in black satin.
-"Let's try this one" she said, holding it out for Kara to take.
-"Okay" Kara replied, relieved that veronica hadn't chose something too extravagant. "Can I have a shirt to try with?" she then asked the salesgirl.
-"Of course" the salesgirl answered, smiling. "What color do you want for the shirt ? May I suggest a dark red, it would look really great with that suit" she continued, waiting for Kara's response.
-"No shirt" Veronica suddenly said, making both women look at her with incredulous faces.
-"N...No shirt ?" Kara repeated, sure she hadn't heard Veronica well.
-"Yes, no shirt" Veronica insisted. "Less is more darling, trust me."
Kara glanced at the salesgirl, hoping for some help but the girl seemed to have completely recovered. She wasn't going to say anything, every salesperson knows that the customer is always right and frankly, she had already seen weirder requests. She showed Kara a fitting room and hung the suit inside before leaving.
When Kara exited the fitting room, she was confident. The suit had a very nice cut and suited her perfectly. But when she stopped looking at herself in the mirror and glanced at Veronica and the salesgirl, the latter was trying so hard not to laugh and Veronica sighed, face-palming herself.
-"What ?" Kara asked, confused. She really thought the suit looked good.
-"When you go shirtless you're supposed to take the bra off too, exactly like with very low cut and strapless dresses" Veronica stated, rolling her eyes.
-"Oh" was all Kara could manage. She never went out shirtless, how was she supposed to know that ?
-"And if you really want to wear one," Veronica went on, "don't borrow your little sister's. At that, the salesgirl laugh became silent as she started to have difficulty to breathe. Kara face turned red as she just realized that she was wearing her blue bra with multiple Superman logo printed on it.
-"Can we have some double-sided tape for Supergirl, please ?" Veronica asked, totally unfazed by Kara fashion faux-pas, making the salesgirl cry from laughing too much.
While the salesgirl went to the back to search for double-sided tape, wiping carefully at her eyes with a tissue to prevent her mascara from running, Kara pulled the suit's jacket down, suddenly self-conscious about her Wonder Woman panties and not wanting the waistband to show.
What ? There were no more Superman panties her size and the Wonder Woman ones had the same color on them anyway so...
-"Do you need help for the shoes too or you have that covered ?" Veronica asked, eyes glued to her phone screen again.
-"Yes I'm set, thanks" Kara replied.
A few minutes later, as Kara finished paying for her articles, her curious scientific mind got the best of her.
-"Now that my outfit is settled for date night, can you tell me the other four rules of fashion ?" she asked Veronica. Kara wasn't that interested in the answer, well, she wasn't interested in fashion at all but her mind hated to be left in the unknown.
"Unless the less is more is a rule too, in this case it would be the other three" she tried again at Veronica lack of response.
-"No, that's not a rule, it's more like a trend" Veronica finally replied, holding the door open for Kara as they exited the boutique.
-"So what are the four others ?" Kara insisted.
-"I'm not sure you're ready yet."
-"Well, if I'm 3 on the fashion scale, I can at least know the first three ground rules" Kara argued, smiling cockily.
-"I forgot you were a smart-ass like Lena" Veronica said, sighing. "Okay, so the second rule is : never wear more than three colors at once."
-"Okay" Kara encouraged, smiling because she was getting her answer. "And the third one ?"
-"Never mix prints" Veronica enunciated slowly, her eyes going back and forth between Kara's navy shirt with white dots and her grey checkered pants.
-"But I... the checkered print was so subtle and..." Kara tried to defend herself, in vain.
-"Like I said, some rules take time to assimilate".
After Veronica put her sunglasses on and said her goodbyes, Kara watched her leave and hoped that date night would go well for her because she was pretty sure that she hadn't score any points with the best friend today.
Author's note : And now Kara's falling in love too ! OMG ! This story is becoming more unpredictable by the minute ! XD
More seriously, who's excited for date night ? I know I am ! And I, contrary to you readers, know what's going to happen ;)
