When Adora's phone rang a week later, she jumped for it, practically dropping all the books in her hands when she saw her girlfriend's name on her screen. She answered the phone and swore as the books fell to the ground in a loud tumble. Catra laughed.
"Um, what was that?"
"Oh nothing, don't mind me."
"You crack me up," Catra said, still cackling. Adora smiled broadly in return.
"Well, I'm glad one of us enjoys my pain." Adora took a brief glance around the store, hoping no one could hear her. Thankfully, it seemed pretty empty.
"Me too, me too," Catra continued. Adora ignored her and bent down to clean up her mess. "Alright sorry, just looking for a time update for tonight."
"8pm, BYOB, wear clothes you don't mind getting paint on," Adora confirmed.
"I'd rather not get any of my clothes dirty, thanks."
"Well, I don't know what to tell you."
"How do we feel about no clothes?"
"My mother will be there," Adora chuckled.
"I know," Catra confirmed, "Have you seen your mother?"
"I'm hanging up."
Catra continued to laugh before letting Adora get back to work. Adora found herself cheerily restocked the books, happily cleaning the counters, and making 15 coffees without a single mistake. All the while, she hummed along to herself. For the patrons entering the store, they probably assumed Adora was always this happy. Even Glimmer seemed damper in comparison and begrudgingly agreed that Catra was a good match for her. Adora smiled in agreement.
8pm came quick enough, and people started piling in for The Heart's first paint night. Bow and Glimmer arrived first, followed by Lonnie and her boyfriend, Rogelio, that no one knew she even had. Angella arrived with her friend Castaspella along with a few Seattle residents Adora had seen in the shop that week. Catra arrived last, giving Adora a look of apology as she slid into the room behind her. Adora gave her a look but was happy she was, at the very least, clothed and here.
"Alright everyone, thank you for coming. Please help yourself to the beer you bought for yourself," Adora said, feeling nervous about running the show, but everyone laughed at her joke and she felt her shoulders relax. She walked the group through a painting of an ocean and sky that she thought would be good for all skill levels. She smiled to find she was correct. There was chatter and painting and Bow plugged in his phone to start playing some music.
Adora walked around, helping anyone who had their hand raised and just admiring the work they had started. When she got to Catra, she tried not to laugh. The girl had already spilled a good chunk of paint on her pants and was sitting with her face 2 inches away from the canvas. Her mouth hung open while she hyper focused on painting the sky.
"You want even, little strokes here," Adora said softly from behind her. She reached around and grabbed Catra's hand. Catra relaxed her hand in Adora's and leaned back on her shoulder, allowing Adora to help. Adora tried not to smile too much. She showed her how to move the brush in a way to get a nice even blue sky. Catra watched Adora the whole time, not even pretending to be listen. "Got it?" Adora asked, feeling Catra's eyes on her. She turned and raised her eyebrows.
"Yup, even strokes."
"Even little strokes," Adora repeated. Catra shrugged and Adora moved on with a wave of her hand and a chuckle from Catra. Every few minutes though, Adora peaked over to her to watch Catra continue to struggle. Adora giggled to herself. She checked on Bow and Glimmer and found Bow's painting to be almost identical to her own. Her mouth hung open and she turned on him, smacking his shoulder.
"What can I say. I'm a man of many talents."
"Are you kidding?!" Glimmer said, hearing Adora and sneaking a peak at Bow's painting. She stared at him dumbfounded. "Don't look at mine!". Glimmer quickly shuffled hers away and Bow chuckled. He tried to peak at Glimmer's, but she poked him with the end of a paint brush to get back. Adora left them to fake fight and returned to the front, briefly checking in on the rest of her guests, but finding none of them needed attention. Angella's painting was better than her own so Adora just sneakily turned Angella's easel away from the others and gave her a brief smile, running away before she could get yelled at. Angella just gave her a knowing smile and continued her work.
At the end of the night, Adora wished everyone a good weekend and felt a rush of joy for her first successful artist event. "Thank you Adora," people said on the way out, giving her smiles and hugs or a pat on the shoulder. "We'll see you later maybe?" Bow asked. Adora nodded, assuming he was referring to her own apartment where he would be glued to Glimmer's side. Catra waited patiently in the back until the crowd had moved on. Adora started to pick up, watching Catra swivel back and forth on a stool.
"This was… fun," Catra said, still focused on spinning.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Catra confirmed. Adora nodded, feeling awkward and returning to picking up.
"How would you feel about taking a walk with me?" Catra asked after a moment, finally walking up to Adora, her hands shoved into her pockets. Adora raised her eyebrows.
"It's freezing outside and I have to clean this up," Adora gestured to the room.
"Ugh," Catra ran her fingers through her hair, looked around the room. She held up a finger to Adora and Adora watched as Catra zipped about the room trying to help her. She picked up the paintbrushes and brought them to the sink, started throwing things from across the room into the trash, and emptied the dirty paint water. Adora watched dumbfounded but finally went to the sink and started to actually clean the brushes, still eyeing Catra in shock.
"I don't think I've ever seen you clean before," Adora said, reaching for her chest in mock concern, "Are you ill?"
"I like to keep some mystery," Catra raised a shoulder, stuffing beer bottles between her arms and giving Adora a small grin. Adora bit her lip, continuing to clean her brushes. Catra tossed the bottles into the recycling and walked over to Adora, wrapping her arms around her and turning her away from the sink.
"What did I say about making that face?" Catra asked, her mouth opening slightly as she rocked Adora towards her. Adora raised her eyebrows, daring her. Catra sighed and then reached in and kissed her, whispering something about driving her mad. Adora pushed into her with her wet hands and kissed her deeply. A sound escaped Catra that made them forget what they were doing entirely, both entranced by the other's lips. Finally, Catra pulled them apart.
"Come take a walk with me," She said again, pleading. She let her palms move down Adora's arms and slipped her fingers between Adora's wet hands. Adora just nodded, pulling her hands away just to dry them on the towel and checking to make sure she had every brush in the sink. Finally, she allowed her girlfriend to pull her away from the room and into the bitter cold.
"Catra oh my goddd it's freezing. You suck!" Adora yelled, shoving her but also grabbing her hand and pulling her close for warmth. Catra smiled at her, allowing Adora to wrap their arms together. Adora had pulled her hood up for protection from the wind but Catra left her jacket unzipped and hood down. Adora smiled fondly and Catra noticed.
"I'm hot blooded. What can I say?" Catra shrugged. Adora rolled her eyes. They walked quickly, but to nowhere in particular. Adora's arm wrapped nicely around Catra's. For some time, the only sound was their boots hitting cold brick and cement. At some point, Adora joined Catra and let her hood fly back.
"This is nice," Adora admitted, giving Catra a cute smile but Catra was distracted, chewing on her cheek. When she noticed Adora watching her a mischievous smile spread across her face.
"Hm," Catra whispered. She removed her hand from Adora's and kept glancing her way. Still giving her a look. Adora felt uneasy.
"What are you… hey! Catra!" Adora watched, baffled, while Catra suddenly took off running down the street.
Adora started chasing after her, her boots slamming into cement as she ran, dodging the other people walking about the streets and ignoring the yells from people Catra was narrowly dodging ahead of her. "Catra stop!" Catra picked up the pace and Adora internally groaned but picked up her own pace, sprinting towards the other. Catra was always fast but Adora knew she was faster. She tried not to smile as she closed the gap between the two. Catra looked back and her face fell as she saw Adora catching up. Adora watched her try to speed up, pumping her arms to add speed but Adora just smirked. She caught up to Catra and grabbed her arm, pulling Catra to a stop just as they were reaching the boardwalk.
"What is," Adora started, trying to regain her breath, "wrong with you?!". The pair were both bent over, heavy breathing. Adora held Catra's arm until she decided she was most likely not going to take off again and released her. Catra smiled, shaking her head. Adora just stared at her incredulously.
"What the hell!" Adora said between breaths of air. Catra laughed and held her arms up, her hands in her hair. She shook her head getting her breath back. She let her head fall back and ran both hands through her hair. She was looking up at the sky, her eyes wide and wild. Adora watched her curiously until Catra looked back at her.
"You think you're so much better than me," Catra said, still shaking her head and chewing on her lip.
"I don't think that," Adora said, standing up and looking adoringly into Catra's eyes, "I know it." Adora kissed Catra's nose and Catra shoved her back with a groan. Adora laughed at her own joke.
The pair stood with Adora looking at Catra like she was insane and Catra looking at Adora with an unreadable expression. After a moment, Catra reached out her hand and Adora cautiously took it, allowing Catra to lead her down the boardwalk. Adora furrowed her brows, watching Catra continue to wrestle with something in her mind. Catra seemed to come to a decision a moment later and looked over at Adora, slightly surprised to see her already watching her.
"I want to explain why I was late tonight," Catra said. Adora felt herself instantly relax. She left out a breath and shook her head.
"Don't worry about it, you were barely late," Adora said. Catra nodded, but scratched tentatively on the back of her neck, avoiding Adora's gaze. Adora dropped her smile.
"Maybe I should start over. Do you know the band the "The First One's"?"
"Do I know only band you play on repeat in your car? Yeah."
"Right right," Catra nodded her head. This didn't seem to be going how she expected. "So, they put up a thing awhile back about looking for an opener and anyone could submit videos of their band," Catra explained, "And I submitted us." Catra stopped and gave a small smile to Adora, "Well we passed round one a few months ago and had to submit another tape for round 2 and well they called me right before I walked into your paint night," They stopped walking then so Catra could properly look at Adora. Her hands found Adora's shoulders, "We're in the final round," Catra laughed practically shaking her girlfriend who looked shocked, "the want to come listen to us live!" Catra continued, "like in person Adora!". Adora looked stricken, her mouth hanging open in surprise. Catra screamed in excitement and flung her arms up, looking up to the sky with a smile Adora hadn't seen in a long time.
"Wow. Catra this is amazing," Adora was flooded with pride, looking at her girlfriend. Catra's smiled faded for just a moment.
"If we get it… Well, it would be a two maybe three month tour," Catra said, somewhat too casually. Adora exhaled, nodding in understanding.
"Oh."
"But," Catra shrugged, "We got this. Besides we'll talk about it when there is something to talk about." Catra reached around Adora and pulled her to her. She sighed like she had finally gotten everything off her chest. The wind was blowing wildly around them and they wrapped around each other, holding the other tightly. Finally, Adora pulled apart and gave a large smile to the other.
"I am so proud," Adora said quietly, her hand finding Catra's hair and tucking it behind her ear. Catra smiled back, her eyes searching Adora's face for something more but Adora kept her smile strong. Catra's shoulders relaxed but when they started to walk back, Adora found herself fidgeting with her fingers. "Why didn't you tell me until now?" Adora blurted.
Catra shrugged, "Nothing to tell really." Adora nodded, keeping her eyes down on the ground. "What?"
"Nothing. I am really happy for you," Adora said, deciding to keep her mouth shut. They walked for awhile, Catra beaming in happiness and Adora smiling cautiously back. Eventually Adora asked if Catra had told the band yet to which Catra gently reminded her that they have been together this entire time.
"Go tell them right now!"
"I'm going to!"
"Go Catra!" Adora laughed but she was pulling Catra back. Eventually, after a long walk back and a music filled car ride, Adora kissed Catra goodbye and watched her take off the Bow's. As she pulled away, Adora found herself missing her already. She was ecstatic for Catra, who had worked so hard to get this opportunity but her smile dropped for just a moment as she turned and walked into her apartment.
Glimmer was still up and tried to talk to Adora when she walked through the door but Adora just walked past her, mumbling something about being too tired but giving Glimmer a smile to let her know all was well. As happy as Adora was for Catra, she couldn't help but feel frustrated. She was sure Glimmer would hear everything from Bow and left her to curl up in her bed. She tried to remind herself that she came back here for the store and for Bow and her mother. As Adora wrapped herself up in the covers and nuzzled into her pillows, she tried to keep one thought in particular from entering her mind. The idea that she had really only come back here for one person. The one person, it seemed, who might be leaving.