Day 15
"Your cat is very fat." Delphine comments, sitting contentedly on her couch enjoying an ice cream bar.
"She's not my cat, she's just like being fostered for a few months… and she's pregnant." Cosima adds. The cat is temporary. Cosima reminds herself, even if she is getting friendlier and happy here.
The cat begins rubbing her fluffy black body all over Delphine and Cosima has never before been jealous of a cat, but there's a first time for everything. The more she gets to know Delphine, the more she finds herself liking her. It's too easy, too comfortable and totally not allowed.
"What's her name?"
"Kiki. I think the rescue wants to name her kittens after Ghibli studios characters. That's what Scott said anyway." Cosima shrugs. "She's a nice enough cat."
"She is lovely!" Delphine coos at the cat, who seems to take to her just as quickly. Settling her large, fluffy black body onto Delphine's lap.
"She is pretty cute." Cosima concedes. "It's been nice having another living thing around. Especially when I thought my quarantine would be solo."
"Very cute." Delphine coos at the cat, now scratching her behind the ears.
At least Kiki was a boon for Delphine, Cosima figured.
"So how is the dissertation going?"
"It doesn't." Delphine sighs. "Barely anyone is working. If I want to create multilingual speech therapy programs - I'll have to do it myself. If I can even find subjects."
"Toronto is big." Cosima comments inconsequentially.
"Yes, but few want to leave their homes. The toddlers who aren't talking aren't the biggest concern their parents have right now. Unless there are accompanying behaviours." Delphine shakes her head.
"Hmmm."
"But you're working?"
Delphine shrugs. "Private consultations. Remotely. Less than 20 hours a week."
"Plus a dissertation!" Cosima emphasizes. How can this woman not know how crazy impressive she is?
"It's almost all I do though. I have precious little fun."
Cosima smirks. "We could have some fun."
"In quarantine?"
"Do you want to get baked?"
"High? On marijuana?" Delphine clarifies. "OK."
"We'll smoke on the balcony though… or at yours. I don't really want to get Kiki high." Cosima looks at the cat. No, that was one experiment she would not be conducting while playing guardian to this feline.
"Alright." Delphine gently moves the cat. "Out we go."
"Yeah then we'll watch Dark Crystal on Netflix, I have a feeling it'll be extra trippy high."
Delphine only laughs.
"How do you say trippy in French?"
"Trippant. But it's an anglicism." Delphine explains.
It's only later, more than mildly high and practically cuddled on her couch that Cosima remembers Delphine is straight. Nevertheless Delphine os intently looking at her nose ring, poking at it gently while talking about puppets and piercings. But Kiki settles herself between them, intent on being loved and that provides a little distance. She absently scratches the cat behind the ears and swears the cat begins to vibrate softly as she purrs.
"I am so hungry." Delphine whines.
So she quickly orders them UberEats Thai food. Vegetarian for her, seafood for Delphine. And falls over herself to give it to Delphine when it arrives.
"You're high." Cosima giggles at Delphine watching her eat enthusiastically with chopsticks.
"You wanted me high." Delphine responds. "It's new for me but it's...fun."
Cosima leans in, suddenly uninhibited. "Yeah and it's so cute!"
The words seem to sober Delphine somewhat, moving for a little more personal space.
"Do you wanna dance with me?" Cosima asks, surely that could be fun. She pauses the episode, they aren't even really watching. Maybe they'll try another time, sober.
But Delphine just laughs, nuzzling Kiki's soft fur.
Cosima flicks on her Bluetooth speaker and starts a playlist. She gets up to dance alone and she knows she looks good. Delphine's eyes follow her movements, just watching as Cosima's arms move over her head, as her entire body moves to the music.
Delphine is watching her. That much is clear. Whether it's genuine interest or if she's just in a cannabis induced stupor she cannot be sure. Hazel eyes find brown, and she watches her.
"Come on, dance with me." Cosima invites again, holding her hands out for Delphine. Her pad thai left on the table, she'll eat after. She just wants to dance, wants to see what this is like with Delphine. Whatever little contact she can have.
Delphine regards her curiously for a moment. "Cosima, are you gay?"
There's no point in beating around the bush over that. "Yes." She'd assumed Delphine had guessed, it's not like she made any effort to hide it.
"Alright. I just wanted to know." Delphine nods, munching on another shrimp coated in green curry.
"Is that a problem?" Cosima stops momentarily. She didn't think so, but who knows in this day and age. Maybe bubbling up with a lesbian was ...intimidating? She tries hard not to look at Delphine like she wants to devour her, maybe she's failing?
"No. Not at all." Delphine shakes her head and continues eating. Cosima sits down, seeing that her invitation is not going to be accepted and eats her Pad Thai.
Day 17
The sound of her fire alarm going off causes Cosima to jump up and panic. Instantly killing the mood. Not the bread. Not the bread. She opens the oven and removes the loaves, which are both thoroughly browned. They don't look too burnt though.
"What, what are you doing Cosima?" Delphine comes into her apartment, without really knocking and begins to fan the smoke alarm.
"I was making bread. Or, you know, trying to." Cosima turns off the oven.
"Mon dieu, Cosima." Delphine grumbles, fanning the smoke alarm with a large book. A large, and very homoeorotic book, Cosima winces when she sees what Delphine has grabbed from her coffee table. But it was out, so maybe it's her own fault.
"What?"
"Turn on the fan above your oven." Delphine prompts, waiting until Cosima has leaned up on her tippy toes to flick the switch.
It's not until Delphine has moved to set the book down that she notices it's contents. Delphine frowns, furrowing her brows and flips through several pages.
"What?" Cosima tries to appear nonchalant that her private reading materials are now up for grabs.
"This… this is extremely erotic." Delphine responds flatly flipping through several more pages of lesbian erotica as if she were perusing a dictionary.
"Yeah. That would be what I was reading." Cosima reaches, assuming that Delphine will hand her book back. 17 solitary days and Cosima was definitely reaching for some stimulating reading material. Some sort of safe fantasy to get off on instead of inappropriate thoughts of her new neighbour. It had seemed like a better plan. Lose herself in the romance and desire of two fictional characters, instead she has the awkward and stimulating experience of watching Delphine speed read it.
"While the bread was burning?" Delphine appears to be an extremely fast reader. Either that or the française is merely skimming.
"Yeah… umm do you want some bread?" Cosima moves to her kitchen. "I can cut us some when it cools? I'm making a soup to go with it. It is definitely my turn to cook after all."
Delphine's eyes widen slightly as she takes in another page. "Is it burnt?"
"I hope not." Cosima responds, trying to sound like a person who was not having their fantasy fodder carefully examined.
"This… this cannot be physically possible." Delphine shakes her head suddenly. "No one can do that!"
Cosima is unsure whether to laugh or not. She certainly didn't picture her new straight bestie getting into that particular book. Especially not leafing through it and not instantly putting it down. Instead she peers around Delphine's shoulder to the page she was fairly certain Delphine was reading.
"Uh… yeah. No, no that's like definitely possible." Cosima tells her without any shame.
"No. It can't be. That would hurt… and I still don't think that it can -"
"Delphine, I've done it." Cosima spells it out. "It is doable. Not easy , but… doable."
Delphine's eyes widen looking at her. "But… how?!" Delphine's beautiful face contorts slightly, and Cosima finds herself laughing at her.
Cosima tilts her head, thinking of one easy way to shut this line of questioning down. "Do you want me to show you?" She couldn't really of couse, that was way beyond 'Lesbian Sex 101', and Delphine would never let her do anything. At least she assumed Delphine wouldn't. Though maybe if this pandemic went on long enough Delphine might get….experimental? She certainly seemed like she might actually be interested. Or… curious? Could she go there again with a straight girl? Wasn't she getting kind of old for that?
"Non... non, of course not." Delphine closes the book, a little too quickly, and sets it back on the coffee table.
"So bread?" Cosima offers again.
"You made me bread?"
"I wanted to impress you after that amazing curry you made us last night."
"It was nothing. I just followed a recipe." Delphine smiles.
"It was phenomenal!" Cosima blurts out. "And the company didn't hurt either."
Delphine's cheeks redden slightly. "Thank you."
"How was the last toddler you did intake for? That's what you were doing this morning, right?"
"Tongue-tied. He can barely lift his tongue at all. It's a physical limitation not an intellectual one. It needs repair which may be difficult finding someone to do it during the pandemic. It also explains why he's never been a good eater. " Delphine brushes it off.
"Tongue tied?" Cosima tilts her head, this isn't something she expected Delphine to say. Surely that's just an expression.
"His lingual frenulum isn't stretching well enough to permit normal function." Delphine explains. "He needs a frenectomy or he likely will continue to struggle with speech. It also affects breastfeeding, dentition… it's a pain. A real problem."
"Wow. All that from a not-mobile-enough tongue?" Cosima waggles her playfully. She was pushing too far, but she was trying to keep it playful. Not serious. So far, Delphine seemed to tolerate mild flirtation from her.
"You are definitely not tongue tied." Delphine laughs at her. "Nice mobility. Excellent speech production, in English anyway."
"Yeah. Yeah tell me about it. My dad's German, He moved to the US as a teenager, and my German kind of sucks too."
"So just English? I thought you studied linguistics, why not another language?"
"I am a cunning-linguist." Cosima jokes. "Bit of German. Bit of French, but I'm not fluent. I took a semester of Italian once, but I conveniently forgot it all after a nice vacation where I used to to order in restaurants and find the train."
Delphine misses the joke. "Well, are you ready to try the bread? It's probably cool enough now?"
"Oui! Je suis excitée." Cosima grins at Delphine, trying out her very limited French. She might as well try to impress her.
"Euh…" Delphine gives her a look and giggles.
"What?"
"You just told me…"
"That I was excited." Cosima smiles, that much she can manage.
"That you are aroused ." Delphine finishes. "I don't think that is what you meant to say, chérie."
"Oops." Cosima grimaces briefly. She is aroused, between Delphine and her recent reading materials, but that's beside the point. It's not like she can admit to that. Especially with Delphine standing in her apartment.
"I'll slice up the bread." Delphine offers. "And then we will work on that French of yours."
"OK."
"Bien." Delphine nods with a smile.
Something in Cosima's chest responds, and she stifles it back down. It's not the time.