It was Friday and Adora was trying to put everything with her aunt and uncle and the hole in the wall behind her. The sooner she could forget, the better.
She had talked to Angella about everything Thursday morning before school. Adora had been feeling much more stable and had been able to tell Angella that she didn't want to reach out to her extended biological family.
Angella could tell Adora had her reasons and she didn't want to question the girl so she agreed. But this didn't mean that she wasn't worried about Adora. She immediately asked if Adora was doing alright.
Adora hadn't told her about her panic attack or the wall, even when Angella had asked about a loud sound from her room the night before. She told her foster mother that she was a little stressed but overall doing alright.
Immediately after Angella had finished talking to her, Glimmer had grilled her on the matter. Adora had told her about her aunt and uncle attempting to become a part of her life again and said she didn't want to talk about it more than that.
Glimmer pouted but didn't push Adora's boundaries. Adora could tell that she was deathly curious though.
She hadn't even explained everything to Catra. Not yet at least. If there was one person that Adora could see herself opening up to about it, it was her. But now wasn't the time. Not with the dance Friday night.
So Adora had told her the same thing she had told Angella and Glimmer. She didn't expand on why she had turned down talking with them and made it clear that she didn't want to discuss it. Catra had understood and didn't pry. But she had been extra nice to Adora all day.
And now it was Friday. The day of the Fall Formal. A day that Adora had been excitedly awaiting since Catra had asked her. And she wasn't about to let family drama of all things get in the way.
It was her day. Her and Catra's day. Adora just wanted to spoil the heck out of Catra and really make her feel special.
And Adora wanted more from the night too. The tension between her and Catra had risen to a near unbearable point in the last few weeks. The flirting and the touching and everything between them had been so charged lately. And now, Adora was ready to let Catra know how she felt. Finally.
Adora's heart pounded every time she thought about it. Not a troubled, anxious heartbeat, but a light and excited one.
Adora had a plan for the night. And she was ready to put it into action.
But it would have to wait for at least the rest of the school day. And right now she was in the last place she wanted to be. In history class. With Lonnie. About to present their project.
Adora clapped nervously from her desk as another group finished their presentation and walked back to their seats.
"That wasn't as good as ours," Lonnie whispered over to Adora.
"Yeah," Adora responded absentmindedly.
Lonnie shot a look over at her partner, immediately seeing that she was nervous about presenting. Lonnie snorted and turned back to face the front of the class.
Another group presented and Adora's nerves only heightened as she watched them speak in front of the class. Public speaking was pretty high up there in her list of worst fears along with being eaten alive by dogs and drowning. And right now, Adora was pretty sure she'd rather take her chances with the dogs.
When Adora and Lonnie were called to present, Adora tensed up and then slowly got up and walked to the front of the class. Lonnie followed, her hands in her pockets.
While the teacher was getting the presentation ready, Lonnie looked over to Adora.
"Are you freaking out?" She muttered to the girl.
Adora looked at Lonnie and winced. "I hate this stuff."
Lonnie grunted. "Well we both have to talk."
"I know," Adora said worriedly.
"Well don't ruin our whole pr…" Lonnie stopped herself and closed her eyes for a moment before changing tones. "I'll start out the slides. You can come in on the second one and we'll switch off. That way you'll only be covering all the slides that you researched. Easy."
"Easy," Adora repeated.
The projector displayed their title slide on the whiteboard at the front of the class and the teacher signaled for them to begin. All of the eyes in the class were suddenly glued to Adora and Lonnie.
Adora gulped as Lonnie began. She introduced the project and started into a brief history of Egypt. Adora barely heard what Lonnie was saying as she was so caught up in anxiously awaiting her turn to speak.
She was so nervous that she missed the transition over to the next slide and was only alerted to this when Lonnie turned to look at her. The whole class did as well.
Adora's eyes widened and she looked at the board. She had written the slide herself and knew every fact on it by heart. But right now her own words looked like an alien language up on the screen.
"Uh...um…" she stuttered helplessly as she tried to remember her talking points for this slide. "Uh…" Her eyes darted all over the board and she froze. She could already feel the embarrassment setting in.
"Oh shoot," Lonnie said suddenly from beside her. "I was supposed to read this slide. Whoops."
This snapped Adora out of her fear and she looked to Lonnie, who turned towards the board and began to read off of the slide. And it wasn't even Lonnie's slide to read.
Adora grappled with the fact that Lonnie, of all people, had just covered for her. She didn't even know what to say for this slide, but she was doing a good job of improvising and Adora was a strange mix of wary and thankful.
Lonnie finished the slide without messing up too much and clicked over to the next slide. Adora took in a deep breath, realizing she had to step up, and spoke.
She hadn't written this slide, but she had gone over all of the research just in case and knew what to say. She hated the sound of her own voice and she stumbled a few times, but it went better than she had thought and after that, her and Lonnie were able to switch off every slide with no issue.
At the end of the presentation they made their way back to their seats as the class clapped obligatorily. Adora wiped some sweat from her brow and collapsed into her chair.
The teacher signaled that they were done for the day and began to take down the projector while the students collected their things before the bell rang.
Lonnie settled in next to Adora and chuckled. "Y'know for someone so big you're kinda little inside."
Adora shot her an angry look and Lonnie frowned.
"No I didn't mean like…" Lonnie paused. "I didn't mean to be mean about it. I just meant it's funny that you're scared of presentations of all things."
"Yeah well I don't like the attention," Adora explained. "So...thanks for helping me out and stuff…"
"I mean, no problem. You don't have to make a big deal about it," Lonnie said, rubbing at her arm.
The girls collected their things and waited awkwardly for the bell.
"So…" Adora said. "You going to the dance tonight?"
Lonnie scoffed. "Nah I hate those things. Mr. Hawk DJ's and he literally has country songs in his playlist. Country songs."
"Ouch," Adora sympathized.
"Are you going?" Lonnie asked.
"Yeah I am."
"With Catra?"
Adora paused before nodding. "Yeah with Catra."
Lonnie nodded and Adora could've sworn she saw her smiling a little bit.
The bell rang and the girls shouldered their bags.
"Well have fun," Lonnie said. "Watching Catra try to dance is probably the funniest thing I've ever seen so you're in for a treat."
Adora laughed genuinely at this. "That does sound fun. See you, Lonnie."
"Yeah see you around," Lonnie said as she left the room.
Adora found Mermista waiting at her locker when she got there. Adora greeted her and Mermista walked up to her.
"Hey, Adora. What's up?"
"Oh nothing much. Excited for the dance tonight."
"Heh. Yeah. The dance," Mermista said awkwardly, smiling strangely.
"Are you...okay?" Adora asked, not used to seeing Mermista like this.
"What? Me?" Mermista asked quickly. "Yeah I'm fine. I'm totally cool."
"Okay," Adora said doubtfully.
"I do have, like, one little question though," Mermista said, pulling out her phone.
"What's wrong?" Adora asked, wondering what could've gotten Mermista acting so strangely.
"Well…it's about Glimmer or whatever," Mermista said as she held the phone up to Adora's face. "The other night I asked if she, like, wanted to get dinner before the dance and she said this."
Adora read the screen and saw Glimmer's response that read, 'Sure. Whatever.'
Adora would've laughed if Mermista didn't seem so worried.
"What does that even mean?" Mermista asked, concern on her face. "Like, does she wanna get dinner or not?"
Adora shook her head, unable to keep a smile from her face. "No, no. This is probably a little bit my fault. Glimmer was stressing last night about how to respond to you and she asked me what to do and I told her to just be cool. And...she might have taken that a little too seriously."
"Oh," Mermista said, registering the information as she leaned back against the lockers behind her. "Oh cool. So she's, like, not uninterested?"
"Mermista," Adora said with a grin, clapping Mermista on the shoulder. "She's about as interested as humanly possible."
"Oh good," Mermista said with a sigh.
"Mermista...are you... nervous?" Adora asked with a creeping smile.
"I…" Mermista stalled. "No. I'm just, like, attentive or whatever."
"Sounds to me like you're losing your cool," Adora said with raised eyebrows.
Mermista eyed Adora and leveled a finger at the girl. "I don't lose my cool. I just want everything to go well tonight. For, like, her, y'know?"
"Well that's adorable."
"It's not adorable," Mermista said, looking at the people around them self-consciously. "And I'm not nervous! And don't tell her about this!"
Adora laughed and mimed zipping a zipper over her lips. "You know, you don't have to worry. You could show up and tell Glimmer she's pretty and that would literally make her whole night. And just a tip, she loves that fancy Chinese restaurant on Central."
"Oh awesome," Mermista said, making a hurried note of this on her phone. Then she clapped a hand onto Adora's shoulder. "Thanks man. Excited to see you at the dance tonight. But, uh, forget this conversation happened."
"What conversation?" Adora asked.
Mermista smiled. "That's what I'm talking about. See you, bro." She fist bumped Adora and left.
"Adora! Adora, Adora, Adora, Adora!" Glimmer yelled as she ran up and tugged on the girl's jacket sleeve as she stood in the lunch line.
"It worked! I was super cool and texted Mermista in her own cool language and now she wants to go to Dynasty Grille! That's, like, my favorite restaurant!" Glimmer was practically vibrating.
Adora laughed. "Well it sounds like she's got good taste! But...I will say, maybe just be more of your genuine goofy self and less of...cool Glimmer."
"But cool Glimmer is impressive," Glimmer said softly.
"Every part of Glimmer is impressive," Adora said supportively. "And I know Mermista and she'd really love just normal Glimmer in all her glory."
"Well thanks, Adora," Glimmer said genuinely as she brushed some hair out of her face. "I...yeah you're right. I figured I had gone too far when I looked up how to be cool."
"That's...yeah that's pretty sad," Adora admitted.
Glimmer nodded. "Yeah it was a low point. But anyway, we get to get ready together tonight! We get to pretty you all up again!"
"Oh don't remind me," Adora said with a groan. "We'll have to administer anaesthesia so I don't flinch every time you touch my eyelid."
"That's not a bad idea," Glimmer joked. "But I have a feeling we'll do better this time. Maybe Bow can come over and do it? He's way better than me."
"That sounds fun!" Adora agreed. "Do you want Scorpia to come over too?"
"Yes," Glimmer agreed quickly. "Yeah that sounds real good."
"Awesome. It'll be like a little pre-dance party."
"Yeah," Glimmer said. She bit at the inside of her cheek. "If, uh...if you wanna invite...Catra over too...for getting ready and stuff...you can totally do that too."
Adora was surprised that Glimmer would be okay with Catra being in her house while she was there. Maybe even in her own room. Maybe she wasn't okay with it, but at least she was extending the offer.
"Thanks," Adora said thoughtfully. "But I kinda want her to come over just for dinner so it can be, like, a little surprise or whatever."
Glimmer smiled cheekily and shook her head. "You two really are cute. And that's hard for me to say!"
"Oh I know."
"But I guess...I mean... I'm just glad you found someone who's...good for you. It was actually the last person I could have ever suspected, but I'm... I'm glad you two are a thing."
"Thanks, Glimmer. That...that means a lot."
"Well don't make me feel all self conscious about it," Glimmer said dismissively. "Anyway, we should talk about Mermista some more."
Adora laughed. "That sounds good to me."
Later that day, after school, Adora, Glimmer, Bow, and Scorpia were all crammed into Glimmer's room getting ready. The afternoon sun was shining through Glimmer's purple curtains and it made the whole room glow a soft pink.
Bow had made a playlist for the occasion and all of them were enjoying the music as they talked and got themselves ready for the dance.
Bow was taking frequent breaks from doing Adora's makeup to dance to the chorus of songs he liked. Glimmer would dance with him and Adora and Scorpia would clap along and cheer them on.
Bow sat back down in a chair after one of these impromptu dance sessions and took a long, contented breath. "This is the life right here. Good friends and good tunes. Adora, get your face over here."
Adora groaned and scooted forward reluctantly. "I thought you said you were done."
Bow wagged his finger and pulled out his eyeliner again. "No no, I said I was practically done. I need some finishing touches."
"Well as long as it's done soon," Adora whined as she tried to prepare her eye for the invasive feeling of the eyeliner.
"Someone's excited to start on their dinner!" Glimmer called out. She was sitting on her bed, cross-legged, painting Scorpia's nails black.
"Well I just wanna make sure I get it right," Adora explained. "My chickens are thawing as we speak."
"Oh I'm sure you'll get it right, you little master chef, you," Bow said sweetly as he gently brushed along Adora's eyelid. She flinched anyway but he managed to not mess up.
"And if you need any help, Scorpia's in culinary," Glimmer pointed out.
Scorpia looked up from her nails. "Oh yeah! Yeah I am. And I make a mean banana bread too. You're making a dinner for Catra?"
Adora nodded her head and Bow gasped.
"Don't move!" He exclaimed.
"Sorry, sorry," Adora apologized and then continued. "Yeah it's nothing special. Just chicken parmesan and spaghetti and some garlic bread and a small side salad. Oh and asparagus too. All paired with a nice orange Fanta."
"Hmmm," Scorpia murmured thoughtfully.
"What is it?" Adora asked.
"Oh no it's nothing. I mean...it's just that Catra...kinda hates asparagus."
Adora turned to Scorpia and Bow complained again as she moved out of his reach.
"Does she really?" Adora asked.
Scorpia shrugged guiltily. "I mean...she calls them barf sticks...but...that could be a term of endearment?"
Adora sighed and swiveled back to Bow. "Okay scratch the asparagus then. Man. All those video tutorials on cooking asparagus down the drain."
"Well, hey, the other stuff sounds great!" Scorpia reassured the girl. "And she loves Italian food."
Adora smiled. "Thanks, Scorpia. You have all that juicy insider knowledge on Catra."
Scorpia chuckled. "You could say that."
"Or...just a suggestion…" Bow said as he focused in on Adora's makeup again. "You make the asparagus anyway and you just give it all to me. And then I eat it."
"Oh you leave her be, Bow," Glimmer objected, jabbing a finger at her friend. "Adora's already way in over her head as it is. She doesn't need to be cooking for your sorry self."
"Well I just wish I had someone to cook me cute dinners," Bow said with a pout.
"You know…" Scorpia said slowly. "I bet Dani Reyes would love to make you a cute dinner."
Bow shrunk a little in his chair and he ran a nervous hand through his hair.
Glimmer and Adora noticed Bow's reaction and then looked directly at each other before looking to Scorpia.
"Excuse me, what?" Glimmer demanded.
"Who is Dani Reyes?" Adora asked.
Scorpia giggled and Bow squirmed even more in his chair.
"He's...uh," Bow said awkwardly. "He's just one of our classmates. And I may have... recently started... talking with him. Maybe."
Adora and Glimmer both whipped their heads back around to stare at Bow.
"You like Dani Reyes!?" Glimmer shouted excitedly.
"I... I mean," Bow was grinning at this point. "We're not... he's not…" Bow paused for a moment. "Okay, who am I kidding? He's super cute and I think he's great."
"Oh my God!" Glimmer squeaked as she jostled around on her bed. "Dani is super cute! And I've never really talked to him but he seems like a great guy!"
"He really is," Bow admitted. "We've been texting and he came to my locker a few times and...I mean...he smells like vanilla. Vanilla! How can I resist a boy who smells like vanilla!?"
The girls laughed and Scorpia was grinning from ear to ear. "I told you he was into you!" Scorpia proclaimed. "From day one I called that!"
"You really think he likes me?" Bow asked, his eyeliner tube hanging in his hand, forgotten.
"Oh yes. Yup. Big yes," Scorpia replied.
"Awesome," Bow said with satisfaction.
"I gotta meet this guy," Adora said.
"Oh man, I wanna talk to him too," Glimmer said.
"Well let's not all mob up on him," Bow said with a grin.
"I think you should dance with him tonight," Scorpia said with a cheeky grin, eyeing Bow with narrowed eyes.
Adora and Glimmer nodded in obvious agreement.
Bow exhaled. "Woah now. I don't know. I don't even know if he'll be there."
"Well ask him!" Scorpia insisted, pointing at Bow's phone.
Bow smiled defeatedly. "Okay fine I'll ask him."
Adora pumped her fist in success and Glimmer elbowed Scorpia proudly, shooting her a smile.
Bow began typing on his phone. "But while we're all on this gossip train…how are you feeling about tonight, Glim?"
Glimmer smiled and thought about the question. "Half of me is super excited and the other half feels like I wanna melt into jelly."
"Oh wow. Jelly, huh?" Scorpia asked.
"Yup. Just a big pile of jelly. I'm freaking out about it." Glimmer finished up on Scorpia's nails and Scorpia started to paint Glimmer's nails with a nice lavender color.
"Well what are you worried about?" Adora asked.
"I don't know...the whole thing!?" Glimmer exclaimed. "What if I spill a drink on her dress? What if I step on her feet? What if she talks to me?"
"Well...that last one is probably gonna happen," Bow pointed out.
"I know, I know," Glimmer said quickly. "I'm just worried I'll say something dumb."
"I'm sure you won't," Adora insisted. "How about you just, like, practice or something?"
"Practice?"
"Great idea!" Bow agreed enthusiastically. "Scorpia you pretend to be Mermista and Glimmer you be Glimmer."
"Uhm…" Scorpia said nervously, pulling back from Glimmer's nails. "I don't know. Should someone else do it or…"
Glimmer turned to Scorpia. "Okay we're at dinner."
"Oh wow, we're really doing this, okay," Scorpia said quickly. "Alright I'm Mermista, I guess."
Glimmer thought to herself for a moment. "Uh. This place is really nice. I love Chinese food."
"Uh...yeah. Uh, I mean...Whatever, dude," Scorpia said suavely.
"Okay, pause," Adora intervened. "Mermista doesn't talk like that. At least not all the time."
"I was just trying to get in character!" Scorpia professed.
"Here try again and just be kinda...like you, but older," Adora advised.
Scorpia nodded and turned back to Glimmer. "So...do you come here often...or whatever?"
Adora facepalmed and Bow watched on excitedly.
"When I can," Glimmer replied. "What are your...interests…?"
Scorpia scratched her head. "Uh. I like…" she looked to Adora, who shrugged. "I like a lot of things. But I wanna know about you. What do you like to do?"
"Oh good question," Glimmer said, giving Scorpia a thumbs up. "I like to...um...alright pause." Glimmer held up a hand. "Okay my main hobbies are sleeping and video games. Do I tell her this?"
"Oh yeah," Adora answered. "That makes you relatable. I think."
Bow nodded. "Yeah I hear that and I'm like, 'woah she's cool'."
Glimmer nodded to herself. "Okay then I'll say that."
"Oh wow!" Scorpia responded. "I love sleep and games too! What a coincidence!"
Glimmer groaned. "Scorpiaaaa, what if she doesn't say that?"
"Who's Scorpia?" Scorpia asked.
Glimmer shook her head. "Okay, whatever. Uh. Man this is so dumb. Uh…" Glimmer thought about a question for a moment and then looked at Scorpia. "You look really pretty tonight."
A look of surprise immediately shot across Scorpia's face. "Uh... I…" she stuttered briefly before her mouth formed an 'o' and she remembered her role. "Oh! Uh. Yeah, ha! Thanks. You look, uh, you look really great too." Scorpia laughed nervously.
Glimmer gave Scorpia a funny smile. "Thanks, Sc...er... Mermista." Glimmer sighed. "Okay I don't think this is helping."
"Yeah it definitely worked better in my head," Bow agreed. "But that was some grade-A acting, though."
Scorpia smiled and pulled one of Glimmer's pillows up into her lap, squeezing it. "I've talked to Mermista maybe a handful of times in my life so I wasn't working with much."
"Well I wasn't feeling my character," Glimmer said dejectedly. "Glimmer is still scared."
Adora sighed and walked over to Glimmer, leaning on her bedpost. "Look, I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but I talked to Mermista today and she's actually pretty nervous too. And I've never seen her nervous before."
"Wh…nervous how?"
"Well she just wants everything to go well and she wants you to have a good time. So you're both kinda in the same boat."
Glimmer blinked a few times. "I can't believe Mermista is nervous to go on a date with me."
"I can," Scorpia added, raising a hand.
"Yeah I can too," Adora agreed.
"Oh me too!" Bow called over as he continued inspecting his hair in the mirror.
Glimmer smiled. "Welp. This is the highest my self-esteem has been in a while."
"Good. But really though, if she figures out I told you she was losing her cool then she'll probably actually kill me."
Glimmer chuckled. "Won't leave the room. Thanks, sis." Glimmer reached over and hugged Adora's arm.
Adora let out a silent gasp as she realized Glimmer had called her 'sis'. Just the one word filled Adora's head and she smiled to herself as she patted Glimmer on the back.
Adora had not been cooking for long when she realized that she hated cooking with a fierce passion. She had already burnt her hand twice and had spilled spaghetti sauce on the floor.
She was grumbling under her breath when Angella walked by and stopped dead in her tracks, surveying the mess in the kitchen. "Adora, honey, do you need some help?"
Adora swiveled and Angella saw that there was some pasta sauce smeared on her cheek. "No thank you, it's all going well."
At that moment an alarm went off on Adora's phone and she went to grab it. Her arm collided with a spoon as she did and it fell off of the counter and onto the floor. Adora growled and looked at the time on her phone.
She sighed and looked back to Angella. "Maybe a little help. If...you're free?"
Angella smiled warmly and walked over, picking up the spoon and running it under some hot water. "I'm free. You just let me know what you need help with and we'll knock it out."
"Literally everything," Adora said with a tired smile.
"Well then we better get to work!"
The two picked up where Adora had left off. With the two of them working on it together, they were able to finish everything much quicker and clean the kitchen at the same time.
Adora set the table up all pretty while everything was cooking. She set a couple of candles in the middle of the table and set out nice plates and fancy wine glasses. She even folded the napkins.
Then she stepped back, surveying the space. She looked at her phone and swelled up with pride. With Angella's help, she was right on schedule. She texted Catra and told her she could come over now.
Angella pulled the garlic bread out of the oven and the whole kitchen filled with the pleasant aroma.
"Well it looks like everything is just about ready," Angella said and gave Adora a hug. "You did great. Everything looks so good."
"Well I couldn't have done it without your help," Adora replied.
Then they both heard the sound of heels slowly descending down the stairs. Both of them turned and saw Glimmer entering the living room, all decked out for the night.
"Oh, Glimmer, you look so beautiful!" Angella shouted.
"You do look really great," Adora agreed.
Glimmer smiled bashfully. She was wearing a long, dark purple dress with small, shimmering, silver sparkles throughout the length of it. All the little sparkles glinted in the sun coming through the windows of the living room and made the dress glisten and shine. All her fingernails were painted purple to match her dress and she had put on some soft purple eyeshadow as well.
She did a little spin and grinned. Adora could tell now that she was more excited than nervous.
"Mermista said she'll be here soon," Glimmer said as she walked over to the front door and peered out. "Oh. Well she's here."
"Oh can you please ask her if she can come in and do pictures?" Angella begged.
Glimmer winced at the suggestion but nodded anyway. "Okay, fine."
Glimmer opened the door and stepped out, seeing that Mermista had parked and was already walking up to the house.
Glimmer stopped and stared dumbly. She tried not to gawk as Mermista approached.
She was wearing an aqua colored, knee-length, cocktail dress that showed off her physique nicely. Her hair always looked nice to Glimmer, but right now it somehow looked especially nice as her long black locks curled and bounced down over her shoulders. She flashed a smile at Glimmer as she walked up and Glimmer just about swooned right there.
"Hey," she said, taking in Glimmer's appearance. "You look...wow...you look, like, really pretty."
"Thanks," Glimmer replied. "And you look just incredible."
Mermista smiled warmly and stepped up the porch step, looping her arm around Glimmer's. "Well I'm excited for our night."
Glimmer had to force her mind to not short-circuit like it had last time she had talked to Mermista. "Me too. I'm so excited. But first...my mom wants to take pictures." Glimmer frowned.
Mermista laughed. "I don't mind."
"Oh good," Glimmer answered. "Uh...right this way." She walked Mermista over to the door and ushered her inside.
"Hello, Mermista!" Angella greeted her as she entered. "It's so good to meet you! You look so pretty! I'm Glimmer's mother."
"Nice to meet you," Mermista said politely. "And thanks. It smells great in here."
"Oh that's Adora making her dinner," Glimmer said.
Adora popped around the corner of the kitchen and saw Mermista. She smiled and walked up to the group. "Hey."
"What's up, Adora," Mermista said, happy to see her. "You making dinner?"
"Oh, yeah. It's like a little thing I'm doing for Catra."
"Look at you ya little dork," Mermista said with a grin. "Catra will love that."
Adora smiled and Glimmer nudged her mom lightly. "We gotta get going for dinner."
"Oh of course," Angella said, pulling out her phone.
Glimmer and Mermista stood next to each other and Mermista wrapped an arm around Glimmer as they smiled and Angella took some pictures.
"Okay that should do it," Angella said after a few. "You both look so good. Have fun tonight."
Glimmer smiled at her mom and Mermista said goodbye to Angella and Adora before her and Glimmer headed outside and out to the car.
Adora watched them go and was happy that her friend and her foster sister were so happy to be together tonight.
Adora watched as they got in the car and another, more familiar, car pulled up slowly. It parked poorly on the curb and Adora filled up with joy.
"Now that is some perfect timing," Adora said proudly and Angella smirked.
"Are they still not getting along?"
"You know, they're actually doing surprisingly well," Adora said, looking outside the window as Catra got out of her car and started walking up to the house.
"Oh good. I'm so excited for you two. Okay, I'm gonna make myself scarce so you can have a nice little dinner to yourselves. But I swear if you don't come get me for pictures before you leave I'll ground you for weeks."
"No promises," Adora said wryly and Angella shot her a stern look before she broke and smiled. Then she went off to her room.
Adora opened the front door just as Catra walked up to the porch.
"Welcome to…...woah…"Adora stopped mid-sentence and took in Catra's appearance. She wasn't dressed up in her suit yet, but that wasn't what was drawing Adora's attention.
"Oh," Catra said, her mouth wavering between a smile and a frown as she nervously tried to gauge Adora's reaction to her hair.
Catra had literally just gotten it cut and styled at a salon an hour ago and she was currently more in love with her hair than she had ever been in her whole life.
Where her dark brown hair had before dropped down to her mid-back, she had sheared off the vast majority of it and it now reached down to just under her ears. Her natural wild curls were still sprouting out, but now they were nicely restrained behind her head in a way that framed her face perfectly. A single curl of hair dropped down from the well-groomed cut down into her face.
The cut was the shortest Catra had ever gotten and she loved the look. She had picked it herself out of a men's hair catalogue just the other day and had been extremely excited to get it cut for the dance. Of course, she hadn't told Adora about it and now Catra was just hoping that she wouldn't hate it.
Catra clutched at one arm nervously as Adora stepped closer and her eyes grazed over Catra's head rapidly. "I was gonna tell you about the haircut, but...I didn't know how to...I wasn't sure if you'd like it and…"
Adora grabbed both of Catra's hands in her own and stopped Catra's nervous rambling by staring into her eyes. "Catra. I love it."
"Do you really?"
"I love it," Adora repeated. She reached out and played with a few of the curls, smiling. "Yeah this is nice."
Catra finally let her guard down and exhaled in relief. "Okay good. Cuz I'm absolutely obsessed with it."
"It suits you," Adora said with a grin.
"Oh! And speaking of suits…mine is in the car. I just didn't wanna get food on it or something."
"I figured you'd do that," Adora smirked. "So I didn't dress up yet either."
"Well but you have makeup on and stuff! And your hair looks all pretty!" Catra exclaimed. Adora really did look beautiful. Catra took in all of her features and wondered how someone so pretty could like her. "You look amazing already."
Adora blushed a little. "Thanks. Bow prettied me up. And that is no easy task! But anyway...you look really good too. I can't stop looking at your hair."
Catra chuckled. "In a good way?"
"Definitely in a good way," Adora said, trying and failing to pull her eyes from Catra.
"Well," Catra said, putting an arm behind her head. "I'm excited for…"
Adora stepped forward suddenly and gave Catra a big hug, causing her to forget what she was saying and laugh, hugging Adora back.
"What's this about?" She asked.
"It's just really good to see you."
Catra smiled warmly and held her tighter. "It's good to see you too."
"You smell good. Is that a new cologne?"
"Nah that's just my natural musk," Catra joked.
"You're such an idiot," Adora said lovingly.
"I know," Catra said as they finally broke up the hug. "And I'm also a hungry idiot."
"Well then, do I have a treat for you," Adora said proudly as she guided Catra to the front door and inside the house.
Catra stepped in and looked around at the interior. "Man this is trippy."
"Oh I didn't even think of that," Adora said. "You've been here before, huh?"
"Oh yeah," Catra replied. "Just didn't think I'd ever come back. It smells way better than I remember."
Adora grinned. "Well that's good to hear. Come on." Adora led Catra through the living room and then slowly turned the corner, revealing the dining table to Catra. The candles were all lit and Adora had added a few flowers in a vase as the centerpiece. There were two places at the table set up right across from one another.
Catra looked at all the food on the table and realized the effort Adora had put into making it all look nice. "Adora...wow…I can't believe you did all this for me."
"Well you deserve it. This is literally the least I can do for you having to put up with me all the time."
Catra pursed her lips and looked at Adora. "I love putting up with you. And this looks incredible."
"Well let's hope so," Adora said as they both walked over and took their seats. "I may not be a culinary expert like you, but I sure put a lot of love into it. And a lot of frustration."
Catra laughed. "Yeah cooking is a pain. So the fact that you did all this for me is blowing my mind."
Adora shrugged. "It was worth it."
"Dude, and you made chicken parmesan? That's like one of my favorite things in life."
"I figured it was a safe bet," Adora agreed warmly. "I hope you like it all."
"I mean, I'm about certain I will," Catra answered.
The sun began to set and a nice soft orange glow filled the dining room as the girls began to eat their meal. They still had plenty of time before the dance started and they weren't in any rush. It was simply good to eat together and talk about their days.
"Okay you did so good," Catra said as she got a second helping. "You really never cooked before this?"
"Not really," Adora answered, flattered by the high praise. "Just, like, pancakes and...cereal."
"Well I don't think cereal counts," Catra said with a toothy grin. "But really, though, this is amazing. I mean you put, like, herbs and junk in this!"
"Oh yeah all the herbs," Adora said proudly. "Only the best for you."
"And the table. These flowers and the candles? That's...I mean it's all so nice!"
"Well I wanted the atmosphere to be more, y'know...romantic."
Catra looked up from her plate and raised her eyebrows at Adora, who was looking at her contentedly.
Catra felt the flutter in her chest again and her brain felt kind of numb, but in a good way. "Yeah," she said decidedly. "Yeah let's keep that mood going."
Adora's heart was beating fast and it was hard to focus. She found it kind of funny. The way her pulse was pounding and her body heat rose, it almost felt like nervousness or anxiety. But this time it was all fueled by excitement and affection.
Adora reached out and grasped Catra's hand, holding it tightly. "This is gonna be a great night."
"A night to remember."
Aw. What lil lovebirds. I could have spent a whole chapter just explaining what everyone's outfits look like down to the last detail, but I've tried to hold back. Anyway since this is getting to the end of what's basically the season finale I suppose of this story, I just wanted to say that this whole thing has been a super great experience. I mean writing this for myself and others has been a great escape. Especially with everything that's been going on lately. And just this last week I've gotten such supportive and fun to read comments about the story and I just wanna thank everyone for being so great! And don't worry, I've already been heavy planning for what's gonna happen with this fic in the future. Very excited. Stay safe everyone and thanks for reading!