Chapter 6

Sunday couldn't have come quick enough for the tealette, she had awoken joyously, already showered and now picking out her outfit to see Luka for the second time. It was already 12:15 and pnic mode had set in.

'What should I wear!? What should I wear!?'. She'd practically emptied her wardrobe looking for the perfect outfit. She was aiming for cute, yet casual so as not to look too over or underdressed for the meet-up. Even though she'd only met Luka two days previous, she felt this overwhelming desire to please her in both appearance and personality, something she'd never experienced with anyone before; even her mother.

Time was quickly ticking by and the tealette opted for a white dress that frilled at the bottom, falling just above the knee. It had thin straps and a teal silk ribbon that wrapped around her slim waist, tied neatly by a bow that sat on her left hand side. Her shoes were ballerina styled white flats with a matching teal silk tie that reached halfway up her strapping calves. This outfit was specifically bought for summer outings, so it suited the occasion perfectly. Glancing at her silver wristwatch, it noted that the time was now 12:25. Miku gasped, grabbed her white shoulder purse and ran out the door. There was no need to bid her mother farewell; she was at work after all. She absolutely didn't want to be late; Miku liked to be punctual and didn't want Luka to think of her as otherwise.

She power walked her way to the park, on arrival the time was now 12:45. At least now she could take a quick breather, so she took a seat on the bench.

The summer breeze cooled her warm skin and she felt her heart-rate finally slow to a steady beat. The park wasn't huge, only possessing a double swing-set, a slide, and small climbing frame. Maybe that's why it was empty, it made Miku wonder to herself why Luka asked to meet in such a peculiar location. The cafe was only down the road, why not meet back there? Her mind wondered whilst she waited patiently, when she heard a beautiful, serene voice from her left, snapping her out of her thoughts,

"You're early, Miku...", the tealette slightly turned her head, her legs forced her to stand in a suddenly harsh movement. Her breathe was caught in her throat, 'So beautiful...' she thought. The pink haired woman was captivating, though her attire to simple, she still looked ridiculously stunning in the younger womans eyes. She wore light, faded blue skinny jeans that outlined her wonderfully long, womanly legs, and a white strapped vest top with a see-through sleeveless, collared pink blouse on top. Her skin radiated in the sunlight and her bright blue eyes glistened like a moonlit pool.

"Miku? Miku..."

The tealette shook her head, realizing she was staring, "Ah...um...sorry, Luka...what was that?" she asked, rather embarrassed she had completely ignored Luka by letting her herself become distracted by her body.

The pinkette chuckled to herself, noticing the not-so-discreet staring, "I said, you look so cute!". Miku's face turned scarlet red.

'How could she say something like that so casually?!', nevertheless, Miku loved the compliment, she had ultimately worn it to please Luka anyway and she couldn't help but return her kind words.

"Y-you too...look very...you look..." Miku couldn't quite find the right word to both explain how downright stunning this woman looked, and not seem like a creep at the same time. She had to mentally remind herself that this was only their second meeting; they were still merely acquaintances, though she hoped that by the end of the day, Luka would think of her as a friend, at least.

"...beautiful", she finally managed to finish. Luka's cheek tainted with a pink hue, she loved to compliment the tealette but she sure didn't expect anything back, not as something as...emotive...as it had been put either. She suddenly felt blissful and couldn't control herself as her arms snaked their way around Miku's delicate body. She gently pulled her into a soft embrace which took Miku by surprise.

"Thank you" the pinkette whispered, a smile gracing her lips. Miku had never been embraced so intimately, the contact was so foreign to her, she didn't know what to do. At first she could only remain stiff, her arms stuck to her sides, but as she felt Luka slowly release her, seemingly concerned about Miku's reluctance to accept the gesture, she suddenly decided that she didn't want it to end and quickly melted into the older woman's body. Her own arms shyly encompassing the curvy body around her. Miku loved it. She wanted this to last forever. Everything was just too good, the warmth, the genuine kindness behind the action, Luka's sweet perfume, her soft, supple skin resting against Miku's own. The tealette closed her eyes for a few seconds, enjoying this rare feeling. She didn't know when she'd feel like this again.

When Luka took the opportunity to touch Miku in an innocent hug, she couldn't resist. She was just too adorable. However, when she closed in on the younger woman, she didn't react. Luka realised she could have been taken aback, scared or maybe even disgusted by the sudden embrace so she reluctantly began to remove herself when she felt small and tender arms wrap themselves around her waist and pull her back in. The pinkette silently exhaled in relief, thankful that she now wanted to return the hug.

A few seconds passed and they mutually separated and exchanged sweet smiles. Luka was once again hit with that fluttering feeling in her stomach when she saw the tealette present her with a beatific smile. She adored the way she closed her eyes, her nose cutely scrunching up to reveal dazzling white teeth that only made her plump pink lips stand out from the rest of her beautiful face, Miku's smile only served to make Luka smile even wider.

"So...where would you like to go?" Miku broke the comfortable silence, hoping dearly that Luka had something planned. Although, she noted that she'd be equally happy just sitting and talking to her for hours again.

"Ah, well, I hadn't really thought this far ahead, I just really wanted to see you again..." Luka replied with a playful wink, earning herself a beet-red Miku, causing her to chuckle lightly before continuing;

"If you'd like, we can grab some lunch at a restaurant round the corner from here? I haven't been before, so I don't know what it's like though..."

"O-of course! I'd love to!" Miku exclaimed, rather excited to have another opportunity to get to know the pinkette.

"Great! Let's go then"

XXXXXXXXXX

Luka sat examining the menu, whilst Miku sat on the opposite side of the booth. She seemed to be intently scrutinizing the pinkettes features whilst attempting to keep it discreet by hovering the menu so it hid her own face, just below her teal eyes. Though, every time Luka seemed to glance over, Miku would divert her gaze onto the list of dishes, concentrating way too hard for Luka not to notice.

"Do you know what you're having?" Luka inquired, causing the tealette to jump in her seat and muffle a squeal with her hand. The pinkette grinned, knowing full well what the younger woman was doing the entire time. She turned her head to the waitress that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Ah! I'll have the chicken salad with extra leek and oolong tea please!"

Luka raised an eyebrow in surprise, 'So...she like's leeks...hm...', wait...

"Tea with salad?", 'how curious...'

Miku grinned, "...just a craving...".

"And you, miss?" the waitress turned to Luka, notepad at hand, "I'll have the tuna sushi roll please, oh! and oolong tea for me too please" Miku stared questioningly at Luka, to which she responded; "I thought I'd try it with sushi for the first time". The tealette made an 'o' with her mouth and leant back against the sofa of the booth as their waitress hurried back towards the restaurant kitchen.

"So..." Luka began, causing the tealette to bring herself towards the table, closing the distance between the two. "Tell me more about yourself...".

Miku was a little lost for words, she'd never been asked such a question, no-one cared to know, let alone ask her about herself. Just thinking about herself made her realize how simple and uninteresting her life was. Why would she want to drag Luka into it?

"Er...um... ... hm..."

Luka patiently waited for Miku to gather her thoughts but her cutely worrisome face bothered her immensely. Maybe that was a bit too straightforward...

"Ok, how about we exchange questions and answers...take turns, hm?"

Luka's gentle eyes made Miku feel weak in the knees, she knew if she was standing she would've been forced to sit down anyway. The tealette gulped, racking her brains for questions she wanted to ask Luka and mentally preparing herself to answer any she would receive. There was one particular burning question she wanted an answer to but really couldn't bring herself to ask.

Miku sharply inhaled. Luka thought she'd be better off giving her a little push and starting the questioning off for her, "Tell me what you like to do in your free time, the things you like?" Luka truly wanted to know, because she'd take a mental note to use them to her advantage sometime.

Ah, an easy question..."I absolutely love leeks" the tealette blurted out and Luka was rather startled at her outburst. It was the most confident she'd seen her, she decided that she loved seeing that look on Miku's face – even if it was for a few short seconds- and that she'd do everything in her power to keep her like that.

Miku must've realized her excitement and quickly simmered down, "sorry", she sheepishly grinned. Luka hated seeing her revert back into the nervous state, "No, no! Don't be! Tell me more!" she was genuinely eager to learn more about the young woman and lightly took Miku's hand that was resting on the table in an attempt to give her that little push to continue.

Miku suddenly felt a soft warmth envelop her hand. She looked down to see her fingers intertwined with Luka's and couldn't take her eyes from them. It gave her a nice feeling inside and she felt heat rise to her cheeks. Luka really sounded interested in her and it encouraged her to go on.

"Well, I spend most of my free time reading but I also love music. It's my favourite subject at school and I think I may just want to work towards it as a career, but...I'm probably not good enough..."

Luka's eyes lit up at the mention of music but when Miku started berating herself it irked her. It made her remember everything about their last meeting: how Miku couldn't take a compliment, how she questioned her as to why she wanted to spend more time with her, how she had bruising on her wrists and how she easily avoided many topics that she didn't want to talk about. 'Come to think of it...' the pinkette was hit with the hurtful realization as the memory flooded back. Her eyes reluctantly followed her other arm down to where her free hand rested on the table. Her beautifully petite wrist was still coated in the sickeningly dark bruise it made Luka's stomach feel like lead just looking at it.

'What on earth has happened to this sweet girl to think so lowly of herself...to behave so submissively and so...cautiously, around people...she's so kind, yet so scared...'

Luka loved her sweet voice, she was so confident that Miku was a fantastic singer, and she wanted so desperately for the younger woman to feel the same way.

"Don't ever doubt yourself Miku!" Luka pleaded, the tealettes sullen expression was replaced by a shocked one, "If your singing voice is as beautiful as your talking voice, then I bet you have the best voice I've ever heard!" the pinkette exclaimed, rather shocked with her own sudden outburst. Miku's face was bright red and she suddenly felt hot all over. She wasn't going to argue with the pinkette, not after that emotive flare. She instead decided to unconvincingly accept the compliment wide eyed, "Th-thanks, Luka...".

The older woman didn't seem satisfied yet, "Can you sing for me some time?".

Miku gawked at her incredulously, "Seriously?" she mumbled.

"Of course! I am an avid lover of music too, I study at Crypton and I-"

"You study at Crypton University!? That's, like...the best place to study music, in the country!"

Luka fell silent, 'She's like a different person when we talk about music'.

The pinkette clarified, "Yes, and I know you'll be accepted there if you ever decided on it". A charming smile graced her lips and Miku was smitten with both her kind words and soft but alluring features, she sunk into her seat and smiled to herself, thinking about the shower of compliments Luka presented her with, following by the downpour of emotions that she triggered within Miku.

"Hm? What is it?" Luka leaned towards Miku over the table with a cheeky grin and eyebrows raised.

The tealette tightened her grip onto their still joined hands, "It's just...you really are an amazing person Luka...".

Her heart was pierced by an arrow and heat flooded to her cheeks. If there wasn't a table between them Luka would have surely dragged the young girl into a loving embrace and she practically scowled at the table for the forced distance.

"Thank you, but, I'm really not anything special" she scratched her cheek, hoping the subject would change. She never really like talking about herself.

"Now look who doubts themselves..." Miku smirked and a playful gleam invaded her bright teal eyes. The pinkette had to keep herself in check, she was used to seeing a submissive and shy Miku, but this one, with the mischievous look shimmering in her beautiful eyes made her look so seductive. It was so odd to see Miku take charge, even though they hadn't known each other for long they were already comfortable with one another. Somewhat like they skipped a few stages of friendship.

"Anyway, now I told you what I like, what about you?" Miku asked.

"Well, obviously apart from music, I love tuna, shopping can be fun most of the time but when my time isn't spent studying I'm usually spending time with friends".

"You live in the new apartment block across the road from me don't you? Do you live alone?"

"Yes I do, my mother lives abroad but I enjoy it. It's never lonely with Lily around anyway". The pinkette chuckled as flashbacks of Lily inviting herself over flooded into her mind.

"What about you? You live with your mother don't you?" Luka asked, though, she was surprised to see Miku's happy expression slightly fade at the mention of her mother.

Miku had instantly regretted asking Luka about her home life, she didn't foresee the question being swung back around on her; otherwise she wouldn't have brought it up.

"Yeah...I live with my mother...". Miku really didn't want to talk about home with Luka, up until now, she had made the tealette forget about everything and everyone else.

Luka could see the apparent discomfort in the tealettes eyes, and she once again took note of another topic that Miku clearly wanted to avoid. She reminded herself to bring all these issues back up when she felt comfortable enough to open up to Luka. The now awkward silence was thankfully broken by the waitress approaching their table with their lunch which they readily dug into.

Luka saw a wild gleam in the tealettes eyes as she gulped down spoonful after spoonful of leeks, the girl said she loved them but...

She internally giggled then a wonderfully devious idea; "This sushi is delicious! You have to try some, here...".

Before Miku could react, Luka had picked up a piece of sushi and already held it out for Miku so eat from her own chopsticks.

'She wants to feed me!' the tealette wanted to scream but she kept her cool and decided to go along with it, afterall, Luka seemed pretty casual about it. The younger woman opened wide and leant forward, her mouth instantly filled with the lovely taste of raw fish and rice.

Luka stared intently at the tealette as she leant forwards with her eyes closed and very, very slowly, she locked her lips onto her chopsticks and pulled gently away as Luka's eyes followed her every move. 'So beautiful' she thought.

Miku held back a light blush by concentrating on the delightful taste of the sushi, "It really is good" she smiled and thanked Luka for the generous offer.

Luka knew what was happening. She recognized the fluttering feeling in her stomach, the light haze in her head. She remembered Lily's warning; "Don't get attached too quickly this time". She couldn't help it, the more she talked to the tealette, the more she saw her smile, and the more she slowly began to accept her feelings. It was an endless cycle that only continued to get stronger. Miku seemed too fragile though, she didn't seem like she'd be like that...like Luka...but she could only hope...

Continued in Ch. 7