Chapter 10 - Falling Into You

Catra

Sunday was finally here and it brought anxiety along for the ride, because that day she was going to have lunch with three strangers (well, she knew Adora, but the girl was basically a stranger to her).

In the past couple days she had been doing a lot of new things and, surprisingly for her, everything had gone smoothly. Life didn't seem as hard as her father had told her (or maybe she was talking too soon).

She had accepted the offer to work as a waitress, even though she had never done anything remotely close to it, and she spent her first day with her hands trembling in nervousness. Every time she had to take food to a table, her stomach sunk and her palms got sweaty. When customers asked for the check, she always checked twice to make sure they were being charged the correct amount. The last thing she wanted was to get yelled at because she made a mistake.

Thankfully, the owner, Mermista, and her boyfriend, Seahawk, had been really nice to her. Or well, Seahawk was. Mermista was "a little rough around the edges", according to her boyfriend.

There was also another person helping her to serve the costumers. A young person that called themselves "Double Trouble" and she had no idea if that was their real name, but she sure as hell was not going to ask. After all, the last thing she wanted was conflict and that question could have brought some of that.

Double Trouble had also been nice to her. They were always behind her as if they were her shadow, always there to help whenever she had needed them to.

"You're so on guard all the time, girl. Like a kitty on a cage filled with rabid dogs." They had told her at the end of her first shift. "Just loosen up. You're doing a great job." Those words did wonders to her confidence and so, the next day went smooth too.

And now, she had to face another challenge. Socializing with people that could very well be aliens for her. Raised in a completely different way, with different beliefs and attitudes.

Of course it was not her first time socializing, but the kind of conversations she was used to, was just a bunch of boring stuff like school, ideas for new businesses, politics and all that nonsense that adults liked to talk about and their children imitated.

What could she talk about with these new people? She was not allowed to watch TV, which she knew was one of the most popular hobbies nowadays (or at least, she thought it was). She didn't know anything about movies or video games either. Even when talking about music, her expertise stopped in classical music and her guilty pleasure, Spanish flamenco. Was Paco de Lucía a rockstar? She doubted that. Do people even like rockstars nowadays? How could she be so closed to the world her father so much wanted her to dominate?

And sure, as a refined lady who was always taught to learn by herself, she did some research every time she could.

She found the most popular things today and tried to listen, watch and do some of them, but after a while, she realized that it would be impossible to learn everything in just a few days. Pop culture was so big she even thought about it like the universe; a thing that is already huge and expands every second.

During her research, she remembered a few things her father had prohibited for her and searched them. One specially: Rock music.

While listening to the third song she found by a band called AC/DC, she realized why her father had told her never to listen to that kind of music; Rock was actually fun, unlike the man that birthed her.

Drummers were passionate, bassists were impressive, vocalists were dynamic and guitarist were good (but just that. She hadn't heard any guitarist come even close to Paco de Lucía's talent). Rock concerts were huge and filled with energy. So much energy that she even felt like moving around like the people she saw on the video.

There was only one sad part about it all, and it was the fact that rock music was not popular anymore so, even if she was into it, she knew she couldn't talk about it with the people she would be meeting for the first time today.

And so, there she was: Outside the dinner they had agreed to meet, waiting for the blonde to show up while spiders roamed through her belly and cold sweat pooled on her palms. A thought repeating itself again and again inside her head: "only speak when they ask something."

"Hey, Catra! I'm glad you could come." She turned to the voice calling her, seeing the blonde at her side and feeling another wave of nervousness engulfing her body. She could only nod, acknowledging the girl's presence. "Are you the first one to get here?"

"I… guess…" She managed to answer, feeling her throat dry.

"Oh, yeah. I'm such an idiot. Of course you wouldn't know because you don't know Bow and Glim." Adora laughed shortly at her own comment and she couldn't help but giggle too. "Let's get inside and see if they're here already." The blonde opened the door and she walked behind her, thinking about how different the girl looked without that suit she had always been wearing. And well, of course she wouldn't be wearing it now since she doesn't work on Sundays, right? Office hours where just Monday to Friday, if she remembered correctly. Anyway: the girl in front of her looked younger, taller and even happier than the last time she saw her. Even the dark bags under her eyes were gone. Could casual clothes really do all that for a person? Maybe she was wearing makeup.

"It seems like we're the first ones to arrive so, why don't we start ordering something? I'm actually starving." The taller girl sat at a table close to the window that looked to the street and she sat in front of her, leaving space for someone else to sit beside her.

"Yeah… sure…" She usually wouldn't order something to eat until everyone expected to be there arrived, but if the blonde said it was okay, maybe it was actually fine. Her manners might be just something rich people do and not only was she not rich anymore, she was also trying to let that part of her life behind.

Adora

As soon as they sat down at a table, a waitress had come to give them a couple of menus and they both started looking at them. Or well, she was trying to, but she was getting distracted by the girl in front of her.

It's not as if she was doing something odd or flashy. Catra was actually just reading the menu, but she just couldn't miss how cute the shorter girl looked today. Well, she always looked cute, if she remembered correctly, but today she looked especially cute. Had she dressed up for lunch? No, her clothes looked just like any casual clothes anyone would wear. Then, what changed? She wondered.

The girl with messy hair was looking at the menu in deep concentration, as if she was doing a math equation while reading it. It was honestly funny, but also, cute.

"Keep it in your pants, Adora. She's just a friend. She might not even be gay so, behave!" She told herself before taking a deep breath to calm down.

"Hey, Adora?" Catra's voice took her out of her thoughts. "What is a 'smoothie'?" She asked her with a confused face that made her chuckle while the other girl blushed from embarrassment in front of her.

"Well, that's… I don't actually know how to describe it. Like a milkshake but with fruit? I'm not entirely sure if that's the right way to describe it, but the taste is really good." The dark haired girl nodded in understanding and then went back to look at the menu fully concentrated.

"I'm not sure what to ask for. I've never tried any of this." Her comment made the blonde laugh, remembering that she was a rich girl who probably eats only in the nicest places.

"Okay then, let me recommend something for you." She got up and walked around the table to sit at Catra's side while she only looked at her, as if she didn't know what she was doing. "Here…" The blonde pointed at the menu and the shorter girl looked at it.

"A burger?" More than disgusted, the dark haired girl's tone sounded surprised and her eyes shone as if in expectation. She knew the rich girl probably had never eaten a burger, but that reaction was so weird it made her think that maybe she had always wanted to eat one and never could. But that could be just a stupid thought, so she just hummed and nodded as an answer.

"It also comes with fries and it goes great with a chocolate milkshake." Catra suddenly left the menu on the table and looked at her with a smile, her eyes still shining.

"That's it! I'll have a burger." The rich girl's voice sounded very excited, as if she was a little kid on his first day going to a fast food restaurant with a playground. She was blindingly cute.

"That's great. You can never go wrong with that combo." She called the waitress and then looked back at the shorter girl, still beaming with happiness and looking at the menu as if she couldn't believe she was about to eat a burger. She had been so enticed by the girl that she didn't even notice when her two other friends arrived.

"Hey! Sorry we're late. Bow picked me up but then I forgot my wallet and we had to go back." Glimmer sat in front of Catra, leaving space for Bow to sit beside her. "I can see you're hungry already." She spoke softly, insinuating something else that she quickly understood and made her blush with a nervous chuckle, hoping that the girl beside her didn't pick up on the innuendo.

"Yeah. Besides, she took forever getting ready, but she would never admit it." Bow spoke playfully, saving her from the embarrassment.

"Beauty takes its time." The pink haired girl ran a hand through her hair playfully, making them laugh.

She turned to look at the dark haired girl beside her and saw that her face had turned from a happy and excited expression to a neutral one. Behind the table, she could see the girl's hands moving her fingers nervously.

"So, this is Catra. She's a friend from college." She put a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder while she spoke, encouraging her and trying to help her not to feel nervous.

"It's a pleasure meeting you." Catra spoke, her tone neutral and her body stiff.

"Come on! We're all friends here. You don't have to talk as if this is a business meeting." The pink haired girl spoke after a giggle. "I'm Glimmer, and this fool beside me is my boyfriend Bow."

"Hey! Not only did you call me a fool, you didn't even let me introduce myself." Before anyone could say anything else, the waitress finally arrived and excused herself for the delay, asking if they knew what to order already.

They all ordered their usual and started chatting casually about how things were going in their lives. The conversation was just as nice as it always was and she always made sure to try and include Catra, who seemed to be having at least a little bit of fun. At least she had started laughing when someone made a joke.

When their food arrived, it didn't escape her how excited the dark haired girl was. She saw her taking the burger with her hands and biting a huge portion of it. Without waiting much, the girl then drank from her milkshake and a sound of pleasure escaped her mouth. It was like watching a kid happily open his Christmas presents; really cute.

She looked at the girl for so long that she even forgot they weren't alone until Glimmer's foot hit her in the shinbone. The pink haired girl had a smug smile on her face and, once she looked at her, the girl gave her a thumbs up without saying anything. She then looked at Bow, who did the exact same thing with the exact same face. A sigh got out of her mouth without her knowing and she rolled her eyes as she took a couple of fries from her plate to eat them.

"So, Catra…" Glimmer started speaking, the smug smile still on her face and her eyes going from Adora to the girl beside her. "Are you single?" The dark haired girl put her burger down and took a napkin to wipe her mouth before answering. Without her knowing, there was a knot in the blonde's stomach.

"Yes. I don't have a boyfriend now." Her heart sunk a little at the answer while the pink haired girl only nodded.

If she said "boyfriend" so specifically, that had to mean she was not gay, which she had already thought about, but still, she couldn't help the little sadness that came along with that realization. Even though she had said so herself; they were only going to be friends.

"So, are you looking for someone right now? Maybe a strong, reliable man or a gorgeous, hard working woman." Adora was about to say something to stop the conversation or change the subject, but the girl beside her spoke first, as if she was unbothered by the topic.

"Well, right now I'm not looking for anyone, really. I just want to get enough money to study and then… I don't know…" That "looking for anyone" gave her a little bit of hope she didn't know if she even wanted to have. They were supposed to be just friends but, would it be bad if she flirted with her… just a little?

"I get you. If I didn't know Bow since we were children, I would think the same. So, you're open to the idea of having a girlfriend? Because I know a few girls who would be just your type." At Glimmer word's, she felt her world crumbling and she wanted to be swallowed by the earth. She really wanted to stop that conversation that was heading towards her early demise, but Catra kept answering, unaware of her inner turmoil.

"Well, I've never thought about that, but I've never had a boyfriend either and I live with a gay couple so… I don't know… I'm opened to the idea but, maybe not now." The dark haired girl's words put her heart back into place and made it work at full capacity. She had a chance if she wanted. And she wanted that… right? She said "not now" so… And besides, she just ended a long relationship too so, maybe this was not the right time.

"You've never had a couple then!?" Bow's voice was really loud, conveying his surprise quite well and making the rich girl blush.

"I never had the time and… I didn't feel like having one before." Finally, it seemed like, after seeing the girl all flustered, her friends had decided to change the subject and started talking about Glimmer's awfully long list of boyfriends she got in order to make Bow jealous.

And at that moment, she stopped paying attention to her friends and kept thinking about the girl that was still beside her, eating her burger again and smiling widely with each bite she took. Her mind split in two sides; the one she thought was the "lucid" one, telling her to wait and just be friends with the girl and the other side telling her to go ahead and start flirting like her life depended on it.

Hey! I'm not dead! It's been a rough couple of weeks, but I finally got some time off to write.

We're reaching the end of the story (I know, it hasn't been long, but I don't like to stretch things up when there's no reason for it). I think there's only like 3 chapters left. But let me warn you, next chapter will be heavy (I'll write a proper warning before the chapter once I know how much shit I can put into it). I've said before that I love happy endings, but they mean nothing if there was not angst or sadness before them so, you've been warned.

Now that I'm finished moving, I think I will be able to update the story weekly as I used to so, I'll see you next week!

Also: I wrote this chapter while listening to "Sebastian Bach" and the title comes from his song, "Falling Into You".