A few days passed and Catra was back at being focused on her exams that were dangerously approaching. She wasn't sure if she was going to pass the semester, and it was very stressful, that's why she didn't need to have Adora in mind right now. She'll think of that later -eventually.

She finished her essay two days ago and it was a big relief, she worked hard on that. Catra was now back being the angry love bird she was supposed to be. She was all curled up against her girlfriend who was softly petting her hair while she was reading some articles on her phone.

"Did you know that scorpions were here even before the dinosaurs ?" Scorpia asked, arching her eyebrow, she seemed impressed by the fact she had just learned.

"Hmm?" Answered the brunette who struggled to open her blue eye, followed by the hazel one. She was almost asleep and her eyes were closed for a moment, they were not ready to face the late afternoon light. "What are you talking about ?" Her voice sounded harsh.

"I was just reading an article about scorpions and I needed to tell you that. Isn't it impressive ?"

"Watch out, you're almost too scorpia for me to handle," She rose slowly to peck her girlfriend's cheek. "But that's cute."

The kiss made the white haired woman smile and blush a little, Catra smiled at that. She could believe she was in love with Scorpia, but she knew she wasn't really. But those past days were kinda calm and lovely for these two. The brunette made some efforts to focus on that, instead of Adora who was coming soon. But every time she kissed Scorpia, everytime she smiled at her, everything she could say to her felt like she was lying, to her girlfriend, to herself. Did she really want to stay like this, having this bitter taste in her mouth everytime she remembered that she wasn't really in love with Scorpia ? That she was lying to herself ?

Adora couldn't stay in place, she was doing a round trip in the whole apartment. From the kitchen to going back to the living room, for the fiftieth time -and I'm barely exaggerating. She was completely lost in her thoughts, biting the side of her thumb nail nervously. Not really far away -in the kitchen actually, Bow and Glimmer were watching her, the shortest had her arms crossed and sighed ;

"Do you think she will stop one day ?" She asked, a bit annoyed. "It's been three days. What's going on ?"

Bow looked away, trying to avoid the question from her girlfriend. "I don't know, I guess she is… stressed ?" His voice went a bit in the high pitch, betraying the fact that he exactly knew why the blonde was like that.

"Not to me, Bow." She looked at him from the corner of her purplish eyes, arching an eyebrow, hands resting on her sides. "You definitely know why, and you'll tell me immediately. I'm not sure I can go through one more hour of that."

The man sighed, passing his right hand on his back neck. He knew he couldn't really lie to his girlfriend plus, he wasn't the best one to keep a secret -wait. It wasn't a secret. Adora never said it was one. "You're not going to like that, but uh, she planned to see Catra-"

"Excuse me ?" She cut him off, she didn't need any explanation for this stupid decision of hers. "I'm going to talk to her,"

Bow stopped her by taking her wrist. "Go easy on her, Glim'. She's already very anxious about that."

A too familiar voice calling her name took her back on earth -reminding her that she belonged here and that she wasn't alone in the apartment, even if she didn't really notice that her best friends were watching her from the other room. Adora looked at Glimmer and immediately caught an intense gaze who wasn't very friendly. She bit her lips.

"Are you.. mad or something ?" She tried, definitely not sure why she could be mad. "Did I do something wrong ?"

"Not yet," sighed the other girl who sat on the couch, inviting the blonde to do the same, crossing her legs. "Bow told me that you're planning to see Catra and I can tell it's making you anxious." She placed a reassuring hand on Adora's shoulder, squeezing it a bit.

She lowered her eyes, chewing her inner cheek. Maybe she should have said that herself, and sooner. But she had a good excuse : Glimmer didn't really like Catra and she wasn't even sure why. That's true that she was talking a lot about her -maybe too much, but she wasn't really saying anything bad about her, was she ? Maybe she accidentally said to them that Catra used to kinda ghost her a long time before they talked again. Until not so long ago. But Adora knew that her best friend felt abandoned when she left and that she was angry about that, too. And they didn't really talk about that, they just started to talk- sending a few messages to each other again one day. Probably because they both needed to.

"It's my best friend, Glim," She tried to justify while the floor was suddenly the most interesting thing to look at. As her eyes explored the floor next to the sofa, she noticed a scratch in the wood that wasn't there before. She was now trying to figure out how this happened. Did they move the sofa from there- ?

"...and you know I'm not sure that's- ….are you listening to me, Adora ?" Glimmer frowned, looking at Adora with a serious gaze.

No, she wasn't listening at all.

"Yes ?" She tried, briefly looking at her before she laid her eyes again on the scratch. What could have scratched the wood like that ? It was kinda deep, they'll definitely have to pay for that when they leave this place. Maybe it was from the last movie night, when they fought to decide what movie they were going to watch. But she won and she made them watch Spirit again -she just loves horses ok ?

"You're definitely not listening, Adora." Said Glimmer, who sighed, softly punching the blonde's shoulder to catch her attention again. "If you don't wanna talk about that, it's fine. Just be safe, ok ?"

"I will.." She whispered, holding her arm with the other one. "You know, she's actually nice."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." She said ironically. "Remember when she said I look like confetti ?"

Adora chuckled. "C'mon, it was funny Glimmer !"

They chatted a bit after that : about Catra, about whatever. And Adora had to confess that it calmed her a bit, helping her to think about something else that le day approaching. She was excited and stressed at the same time. Strecited ? Excissed ? Maybe she just had to go easy on that, not overthinking about how them meeting again will go. It was going to be alright, they didn't see each other for a while but they were close friends before -they still were, right ? It couldn't be cringe or something.

3 more days before Adora arrived, the last week was passing too fast for Catra : she had her last exams a few days ago and Scorpia is soon going to leave, she had to study with Entrapta for the last two days of her exams before going to her mothers'. The woman's knee was nervously moving as she was scrolling through instagram, trying to calm her nerves. Catra knew that it was soon the time to overthink again : she'll be by herself two days before Adora arrives and she definitely wasn't ready for that. It has been a long time since she didn't spend that much time alone, and with the blonde coming.. it was going to be a hard time.

She didn't really have the time to tell Scorpia that she invited someone over. It was fucked up, but she already fucked everything up when she proposed to Adora to stay here. Why was she like that, destroying everything good she could have ? She fucked up with Adora, ignoring her for months without saying anything, and she should have tried to talk about that with her. But they didn't. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to have her around for a week. Are they going to act like best friends again ?

Speaking of the blonde, her eyes went wide when she saw a post from her on instagram. It was Adora, all smiling with someone- who was definitely too much of a glitter addict to Catra's opinion. Anyway, this fucking sparkle ladylike was kissing Adora's cheek. Really ? Was she her girlfriend or something ? This thought made Catra hissed and clenched her teeth in disbelief. She perfectly knew she wasn't supposed to react like that, but she couldn't help it, even if she told herself multiple times that it would be nice if Adora could find herself someone. Seeing this happening was actually hurtful, more than she actually thought it could be.

Catra threw her phone somewhere else on the couch and her heart almost definitely stopped beating when she heard the door slamming against the wall. Scorpia was rushing through the room, walking -running to the front door. "I'm late, I'm so, so late." Said the strong woman as she was closing her sport bag.

"Wait, Scorpia," She called, and the tall lady stopped, turning to face her girlfriend. Catra bit her lips and tried to say what she should have said sooner, that she invited someone over. Scorpia deserved to know that. She couldn't form the right words in her throat and instead, she said : "Have a nice week. Say hi to 'Trapta for me." Scorpia smiled and walked to her girlfriend. Catra let her arms fall around her neck, kissing her goodbye. "And don't scare me like that next time !"

[...] Later that day Catra could keep her mind busy enough to push away her dark thoughts with work, but as soon as the sound of the door closing behind her back echoed in the dark and empty room, she realised. At this moment she really realised how awful she was there. It's not like she planned to cheat on her girlfriend or anything, but she didn't say anything to her -she hid it. And what was the purpose of hiding it ? Scorpia wasn't going to question anything, Catra was free to do whatever she wants, after all.

"Scorpia..." she whispered to herself.

The brunette was really alone in this flat now : the room was quiet, plunged into dark. Not a trace of Scorpia happily humming as she was cooking something nor a light coming from under their bedroom's door was slightly lighting the room. Being alone and bored at work was a thing, but being by herself for days was another one. With no one around, the only thing Catra could manage was panicking. Everything she did wrong came back to her, every shitty thing she could have said too. She wasn't totally awful : the brunette knew she had to make a decision sooner or later. But both sounded terrible in her mind. Would she be able to tell everything to Scorpia ? Or would she try, one more time, to fall in love and finally be happy in this relationship -and this decision involved probably throwing away Adora out of her life.

If Adora's anxiety made her round tripping all over the flat, now -three hours before the train, it was worse. She already was at the train station and oh god this was stupid because she lived close to there, like, really : barely twenty minutes by feet from her place. A mix of stress, panic, anxiety, a little bit more of stress and she was there, sitting on the floor, waiting for her train. The blonde was doing everything to calm herself, she had put on her headphones with any music, but she couldn't help nervously holding the tissue of her pants in her sweaty palms. Come on, Adora it's going to be okay, that's what she whispered to herself. Her heart was beating fast and squeezed weirdly in her chest. If yesterday and the other days before she was still hyped for it, she was now the definition of the word anxiety.

Adora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The cold air of the morning coming from the outside hurts when it passes her throat before filling her lungs. She held it a moment and let it go, repeating the exercise a few times. She didn't care at all if she looked weird or cringe from the outside, for the other persons who were in the train station, she just had to calm herself a bit. A smile crossed her lips as she realised again, calmer this time : she's going to see Catra in less than seven hours. She could have easily found her way to her friend's place because she knew the city by heart -as she grew up here, but Catra offered to pick her up anyway.

She couldn't help this sappy smile of hers when she was thinking about Catra, seeing her face again, talking to her again, holding her again.. A slightly perceptible blush colored her cheeks.

When the train arrived, Adora headed to it to comfortably install herself in the seat. She took out her phone to text Glimmer, as she promised.

She_Ra : I'm on the train, byyyye

PrincessGlim : Have fun !

PrincessGlim : and be safe !

Of course Glimmer was the mom friend here, she always was. But there was nothing that could go wrong honestly, she was just worried for nothing.

Catra just finished cleaning the whole flat. Again. For the third time. Ok, maybe this was too much, but she wanted it to be perfect for Adora. Everything had to be perfect : the flat, her room, herself. Right now, she was looking at herself in the mirror, wondering what kind of outfit would perfectly fit. The brunette chose two and put them on her bed : the first one was a classic black crop top with "Wild cat" written on it, perfectly matching with the yellow jean jacket she chose to sublime it, and a black ripped jean. The second one was more casual and so Catra : a red flannel on top of a black shirt with a classic blue jean. Catra couldn't decide between both so she posted a picture with both of them in her private story -so Adora wouldn't see, hoping her friends could help with that. She immediately received a private message saying,

froasta : both look like the lesbian cliché u r

wildcat : i am sorry ?

froasta : u read me right

The brunette sighed, of course Frosta had to react to her outfits calling her out like that. She was Scorpia's niece and she was always doing everything to piss her off, even more since she started dating Scorpia. But Catra couldn't really blame her, she had to confess that she liked this little brat.

wildcat : if u say so, but which one ?

froasta : def the yellow jacket one !

Frosta was right, this one will fit better, yellow was a color that always looked good on her. Maybe she should wear this color more often. She quickly dressed up and took a last look at herself in the mirror. Yeah, she definitely looked good in this one. Her girlfriend's niece had a good point here. On her way to the front door, she put on her favorite pair of sneakers and she was on her way to meet Adora again. Catra tried to act cool from the outside, -on the inside she was freaking out. As she closed the car door, she relieved a deep sigh she didn't know she was holding. Just to be sure again, she checked her makeup in the car's mirror one last time. Everything was good, she got this. Right now she was dealing with the stress of meeting someone she hadn't seen for a long time, the fact that it was Adora and what could happen will be a later problem.

At least, she wished it would be a later problem, but it became an imminent one when she finally saw this dumb smile of her as she arrived at the parking of the train station. "...Oh." was the only thing she managed to breathe when she let her eyes scan Adora : she was wearing an oversized hoodie and a pair of jeans. It was simple, cute, so Adora. It was like Catra saw her two days ago : she didn't change at all, she has the same type of clothes, the same dumb smile -okay, maybe her arms were larger, stronger but it was for the best. She hardly swallowed and opened the passenger door.

"You're waiting the next decade to get up in the car or what ?" She couldn't help being a bit mean here, it was her way to deal with her stress.

Adora's smile went larger -as if it was possible and she started to jog to take a seat in the car, throwing her bag on the back seats. "Hey, thanks for picking me up !"

"No problem. How was the trip ?" Catra was doing everything she could to not run away right now. Her heart was beating fast -too fast in her chest. Everything seemed… too normal with Adora ? As if the blonde never left the city.

"Good, maybe a bit long. But at least I take a nap[...]"

The road to the apartment passed quicker than they both imagined : Adora explained how her trip went, the kids that were annoying in the last train, the fact she almost jumped in fear when she woke up every twenty minutes because she was afraid of missing the train station.. and Catra smiled at that. She actually missed this dork too much.

When they came back at Catra's place, the brunette cooked her something because Adora started being annoying, repeating how much she starved. Later, they both were chilling on the sofa as they talked about whatever, catching up what they could have missed about their respective lives during this whole time -except the Scorpia subject. Maybe it was too early to talk about that and honestly, she didn't really know how she could have brought the subject. Catra was relieved that everything went great with Adora and that it wasn't embarrassing at all. Everything went back to normal -except Catra was avoiding any touch from the blonde. They used to sit all curled up together, but it wasn't possible anymore. She has been already too much in a gay panic since the second she saw Adora to allow that to herself.

But she allowed her eyes to wander on Adora, analysing everything that could have changed on her. She noticed, because the blonde rolled up her sleeves, tattoos on her arms. On the right one there was a black and white sword -with some blueish reflections on the blade, next to this one there was something close to a tiara mixed with a crown, colored in red it was almost forming a shape of a M. It reminded her of one of her old kid toys from a princesses show that they both used to like. Was it.. referring to her in some ways ?

"I like your tatts. They suit you," She said softly, looking back at her friend's face. "When did you get them ?"

"Not so long ago. Maybe two months ago ?" The blonde smiled and looked briefly at her arms, her tattoos. "But I thought you were gonna be the first one to get one. You were saying every time how much you wanted one." She laughed a bit.

Catra shrugs and points to her nose, where she had a septum. It wasn't very noticeable because it was a small and black one, she had to hide it for work -hygiene rules or whatever. She also had one under her lips, but Adora probably noticed this one already. "At least I got pierced. But yeah, tattoos are the next thing planned."

"I have to say that I love your piercings. You even added more on your ear," answered Adora, who removed hair with her right hand to have a better view of the piercings. She shivered as the feeling of Adora's thumb almost touched her cheek. But she stopped whatever she was trying to do when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"Mermista just asked me if I was free tonight. She invited me to a party. Wanna go ?" Said Adora who was now holding her phone now, eyes reading the screen.

Not surprising that Adora told Mermista that she'll be around, they were close friends back in high school. Catra smiled at the idea. "Why not. It can be fun !"

It's been a long time since she went to a party with her work and exams, but now she was almost free, at least from the school's work. She was still part time working at the drive, but not today. And Adora was here, it was actually a good reason for her to have fun for a bit. After those two hard days she went through, she deserved that.

Adora was touch starved, deprived. They used to sit next to each other -very close to each other, basically curling back in time. Like, all the time. But now it was like Catra tried to avoid every touch from the blonde, Catra sat at the other side of the couch, and it kinda scratched her heart a bit more. Her anxiety left her alone the moment she saw her best friend, but she was still stressed, afraid that she would fuck up, saying something wrong.. Okay, maybe she was still anxious. But she managed to reach Catra's hair, removing a few hairs that were blocking her view to see those new piercings. She felt this tickly feeling in her stomach that was warming her chest as well. Of course, someone had to text her right now.

ihateseahawk : Hello lovely. U're free tonight ? I'm doing a party

She-Ra : sure, lemme just ask Catra

ihateseahawk : pog!

It was Mermista inviting her to a party and she loved that idea honestly. Adora was right to text her a few days ago to tell her she was back in town for the week. The blonde didn't see her for a long time after all and she certainly wanted to meet her boyfriend. Mermista was talking about him all the time to her and this guy seemed to be something. She knew that when she first saw his insta name : mermistan. Seriously, who does that ?

They both quickly prepared for the party : buying a few bags of chips and beers for tonight at the shop which was not far away, at the corner of the street and they were on their way to Mermista's place.

"You met her boyfriend already ?" Adora was curious about her boyfriend after all. "Seahawk or something." What a weird name -she didn't say that, but she thought it so loud that Catra almost heard it.

"I saw him a few times already and he's… Well, he's special if I can say. In his own way." Catra seemed unsure of the way she used the words to describe him.

"What do you mean ?"

"Last time I saw him was on a walk for the climate. He dragged me to burn the trash…" She sighed and pinched her nose, before adding : "Yes, at a climate walk."

Adora snorted. How could a guy like that end up with Mermista ? "Wait- Really ?"

"... And that's not all. With him around, I swear my life will turn into some kind of shitty musical comedy. He dances and sings. About everything." Catra threw her hands in front of her as if she was trying to picture her words.

"Sounds like I'll get along well with him." Adora smirked, giving a soft punch on Catra's side with her elbow.

"Don't dare-"

Adora picked her tongue out at Catra as she walked her way to push the button of the doorbell. The door opened on Mermista who advanced to take Adora in her arms to greet her. She was cut off by a voice behind her which seemed too excited for this.

"Oh ! My ! God ! Is it Adora ?!" The moustache guy literally pushed Mermista to hug the blonde who gasped in shock. She tried to catch Catra's eyes for any help but she only responded by miming I told ya with her lips.

"Uugh. SeaHawk, calm down." Sighed the blue haired woman.

"Sure, my dear and lovely Mermista." Seahawk stepped back from Adora and gave Catra a wave with his hand to greet her as well -not like he knew that Catra didn't like any touch at his own risks. "Welcome to you both to the best party in town !" He winked at them.

"Listen, love. Can you just check on the pizza, please ?" At this word, the man disappeared into the kitchen.

Catra softly laughed at that and Adora swore her heart skipped a beat at the sound of Catra's laugh. She sure missed this as much as she missed her best friend.

Adora didn't really know how she ended there, in the middle of the living room, defying Seahawk to a dance battle but they did it anyway. Maybe the few beers she drank during the last hours helped this decision. Catra didn't lie when she said that Seahawk used to transform everything in a musical comedy because he certainly had a vibe here, knowing exactly how to move his body to dance in the rhythm of the music. We couldn't really say the same about Adora, she wasn't the best dancer. But eh, she tried.

Nobody in this room really knew what motivated this contest, but it happened and no winner was announced -probably because nobody really knew if they were rules or if a winner had to be chosen. The room was crowded -due to the event that just happened and Adora was searching for Catra, but her blue eyes immediately caught the mismatched ones just to find that she was already looking at her. The blonde saw her friend smile and she quickly walked her way to her, taking a beer on her way to her friend.

"You're such a dork," Catra chuckled, picking her nose. "I can't believe you really did that."

"Wasn't it amazing ? You have to agree that I have few good moves !" Adora smirked as she flexed her arm like it was adding something to her argument.

"Sure." Catra rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe that Adora still had this huge ego.

Adora let her eyes be lost in the beautiful mismatched ones that were looking at her. They were glowing in the dimly lighted living room. Damn, she missed those eyes. She began to memorise every detail of Catra's face, as if she was afraid that she could suddenly disappear in the next minutes. Those cute freckles that were everywhere on her face, her nose, her lips.. Catra sure was beautiful. She was perfect. No wonder why she fell in love with her.

"I miss you. A lot, actually." Adora whispered this almost to herself, but Catra definitely heard this.

"I missed you too, dummy."

Catra's throat went dry at the way Adora was looking at her, scanning her face.. It was too much. Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me, please. Was all the brunette's brain managed to think. But it was all wrong, terrible. She was with Scorpia and Adora was probably with this glitter girl already. Nothing will happen tonight -never. Come on Catra, you have to focus now. But the alcohol wasn't helping anything at all. That was perfectly why she took care to avoid being close to the blonde, she knew the effect she had on her.

Her mind went blank when she felt strong arms holding her back to press her against Adora's body. Shit. She bit her inner cheek to remind her that she shouldn't stay here, so she freed herself from the embrace.

"I uh.. have to check on Mermista-" Catra mumbled as she literally ran away from Adora, to a safer place in the kitchen. She scanned the room with her eyes, hoping that Mermista was there.

Catra sure panicked right there, and she needed to be everywhere else than in Adora's damn arms. She used Mermista as an excuse because she clearly didn't need to be checked. She was perfectly okay and she was laughing in the kitchen with Double Trouble. They were probably -surely bitching at someone. Catra bit her lips, she needed to talk to someone about what was going on in her head, she needed to voice it. Mermista was her closest friend with Entrapta and Scorpia. But She couldn't really talk about anything of that with Entrapta. She took a deep breath and stepped next to the duo.

"Mermista," Catra hesitated. Should she ? "Can I talk to you ?" She asked anyway.

"Sure, what's going on ?" Mermista smiled at her and DT walked their way to the living room, still laughing about whatever they talked about.

Now, where could she start ? Catra panicked and walked into someone because she needed to voice the problem, but.. it meant that she would confess that she was actually a terrible person. The brunette cleared her throat and eyed the kitchen to check if there were no curious ears around.

"Everything is very good with Scorpia and she is really great with me, but.. There is something wrong, actually. I mean.." She paused, searching for her words. Was she really going to voice it for the first time, making it real ? She chewed her lower lips. "I don't think I love her… I mean, not in the way I'm supposed to..." Her last words almost died in her throat, she was almost whispering at this point. She was ashamed of what she was confessing to her friend who didn't say anything yet, still processing what she just heard.

"You know…" Mermista seemed to focus on an imagined point on the kitchen's fridge, probably to think about what she was going to say. "Shit, Cat'."