"Cosima, I am so glad you answered." Said Delphine.
A small smile forms on Cosima's lips. "Really?"
"Oui. I have been trying to call you but you didn't answer. I just wanted to thank you for last night."
"Oh, I forgot my phone at home." Lie. She really has been ignoring Delphine. "And about last night, uh, you're always welcome."
"Is everything okay, Cosima? You sound off." Delphine asks.
"Yeah, yeah. Kinda had a rough day." She replies as she makes herself comfortable on her bed.
"You weren't in school today, I was expecting to see you at the lab so we could have lunch together."
Cosima's eyes widen, she quickly checks her phone for what day it is, Tuesday. She totally forgot for being so hungover and just tired of her "Delphine drama" as Felix calls it. "Oh, uhm- Sarah wanted me to come furniture shopping with her." And yet another lie. Cosima slaps her forehead. Sarah? Furniture shopping? Even Sarah's daughter, Kira, would laugh at that thought but Cosima lets it go as Delphine seems to buy her lame excuse.
"Hm, that is new. Never pegged Sarah to go furniture shopping."
"Oh yeah, funny story. She read a furniture magazine and got interested." Lie, lie, lie. Cosima then wonders what Sarah will do to her if Delphine ever mentions this conversation to Sarah.
"So, how was it?" Delphine asks.
"It was an adventure. Anyway, enough about me. How are you this fine evening?" Cosima asks, deepening her voice which makes Delphine laugh and Cosima loves hearing Delphine's laughter, it's like music to her ears.
"Well, I bear good news, my friend."
"Oh joy! What is it?"
"Nicholas and I are back together." Delphine says giddily.
The smile on Cosima's lips quickly turns into a frown. "Oh. I'm happy for you.." Cosima tries to sound enthusiastic for Delphine but the blonde notices Cosima's flat tone. "Are you not happy for me?"
"Delphine, of course I'm happy for you." That statement may or may not be a lie because truthfully, if Nicholas made Delpine happy then Cosima guesses that she's fine with that but also, Cosima wants to be the one to make Delphine happy but Delphine doesn't like her that way. "I'm glad you two are back together." There was a crack in Cosima's voice as she tries to stop the tears that might fall at any moment and she wishes that Delphine didn't hear it.
"Thank you, Cosima. He came over today and apologized."
"That's good." Says Cosima. "Listen, I gotta go. I'm pretty tired." She then fakes a yawn to at least make it believable.
"Oh, okay." There was a hint of sadness in Delphine's voice but Cosima thought better of it. It's probably just in my head, she thought. "Bonne nuit, Cosima."
"Goodnight, Delphine." Cosima puts her phone down, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. A tear falls as Cosima slowly exhales and opens her eyes. She stares at the ceiling for a few minutes until her eyelids feel heavy and eventually, she fell asleep.
"Good of you to join us today Ms. Niehaus. I believe you failed to submit your project yesterday, why is that?" Ms. Morse, Cosima's professor in Evo-Devo, asked as Cosima entered the laboratory.
"Uh, I'm sorry but I don't have an excuse for that." Said Cosima as she took a seat beside her lab partner, Scott.
"I don't want your excuse but an explanation would be accepted. You've never failed to submit any project Cosima. Is there a problem?" She asked. Her voice filled with concern for her favorite student, who's also her favorite niece.
"No, no problem. Just,-" Cosima looks down. "Can I explain later?"
"Okay. Stay after class."
Delphine walks across the quad to the laboratory where Cosima is. She looks at her watch and sees that she's just in time. Cosima would be out in 3 minutes. As she reached the lab, students were already filing out. She waited until everyone was out of the lab because Cosima usually comes out last to have a talk with her aunt. Delphine leant against the door frame and Ms. Morse noticed her.
"Ah, Delphine. It's good to see you." Says Ms. Morse and Cosima immediately looked up upon hearing Delphine's name.
"It's good to see you too, Mattie." Delphine smiles. She looks at Cosima who was literally staring at her and waved at her. "Wanna grab lunch?" Delphine asked.
"Um," Cosima looked at Mattie and back to Delphine.
"Delphine, could you wait outside for a minute? I need to talk to my niece first." Says Mattie.
"Oh, oui. Okay." Delphine replied, as she turns around and closes the door behind her.
Cosima walks to Mattie's desk and sits on the chair in front.
"Okay, I'm pretty sure you won't start talking so I'll just guess what your problem is." Says Mattie who leans back on her chair and crosses her arm. "You either went out with Felix last night and woke up late, or you got yourself worked up with the project then fell asleep." Cosima, whose head is still down, only nodded in response.
Outside, Delphine wanted to eavesdrop because she really has no idea what's going on with her best friend and lately, Cosima's been distant towards her and this made her upset but she wouldn't tell that to Cosima because she knows that the other girl would only be stubborn and deny everything. She looked through the glass window and saw Cosima's head down and Mattie trying to catch her niece's attention. Delphine figured this would take more than a minute so she walks towards the windows and got her earphones out.
After 20 minutes Cosima stands up and quietly says goodbye to her aunt. Mattie grabs Cosima's wrist and Cosima looks at her. "If this is about…" Mattie tilts her head to the side, indicating the blonde standing outside, "You tell her, Cosima. I don't want you to make the same mistake I did, kid. You wouldn't want to wake up each day with regret." She smiles bitterly at her niece. Cosima nods her head slowly. She knows very well what happened to her aunt and how much it destroyed the older woman. "I'll tell her, just not now." Mattie smiles at her and releases her hold on Cosima's wrist. "Don't wait too long to tell her Cos."
Cosima walks out the lab and sees Delphine looking out the window, her head bobbing side to side. Cosima admired Delphine's form and unconsciously bit her lip. She was quickly out of her daze as Delphine turned around with a smile on her face. She walks towards Cosima, taking her earphones out and putting them in her bag. "Stop checking me out." Delphine jokes, sticking her tongue out. Cosima thought of a comeback but when she couldn't come up with any, she just looked at Delphine and said, "What can I do, Delphine? You're very sexy." Cosima watched as Delphine's face turn 50 shades of red and then slapped Cosima's arm.
"Ouch! What the hell was that for?!" Said Cosima with a shit eating grin.
"Please, I barely hit you. Come on, I'm starving." Delphine hooked her arm around Cosima's and dragged her along.
Cosima and Delphine walked to the diner where they first ate when they got into the university. It was a special place for the two. Mr. Ashcroft, who owns the diner, smiled as the two girls walked in. "Ah, my favorite girls!"
"Hey Mr. Ashcroft." Cosima greeted. "Bonjour monsieur." Says Delphine.
"How is university?" He asked. Cosima and Delphine told him that school was good and that they're both graduating soon. Cosima says she isn't sure if she'll graduate but Delphine shushes her cause she's sure that despite Cosima's tardiness, the girl aced everything. Delphine laughed when she heard Cosima's stomach rumble so Mr. Ashcroft decided to take there order. Like always, they ordered the usual. Burger and fries with a large Coke for Cosima and a chicken salad with lemon juice for Delphine.
The two ate in silence but Delphine was itching to ask Cosima what's going on. She wants an answer before this lunch ends, so she just goes for it.
"Cosima, what's going on? Is there something you're not telling me?"
"What? Nothing's going on, Delphine and there's nothing I'm not telling you." Cosima replies before she gulps down her soda.
"You seemed pretty upset when you and Mattie were talking." Delphine pointed out.
"That was nothing. I- I forgot to pass my project." Of course, Cosima wasn't going to tell Delphine that she's been pining over her for the past 5 fucking years.
"Is that just it?" Delphine raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Can we just drop this? Not being able to submit that project already brings me down and disappointing Mattie is the worst."
After their lunch, the two walked back to the university with Delphine talking about Nicholas and how he brought her flowers and chocolates and got down on one knee to apologize. Cosima thought this was the lamest apology ever but she would not tell that to Delphine.
They reached the quad and Delphine held Cosima's hand which made Cosima stiffen at the touch. Delphine looked at Cosima and smiled.
"Thanks for the lunch, Cosima."
"You dragged me all the way to the diner, you have yourself to thank for that." Cosima winks.
Delphine yanks Cosima's hand and laughs. "Cheeky."
The two stared at each other for a few minutes until Delphine felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She blinks a few times and let goes of Cosima's hand. She fishes her phone out of her pocket and looks sadly at Cosima.
"I have a class." Delphine mutters.
Cosima grins and says "I don't." then sticks her tongue out.
Delphine takes one last look at her phone before she putting it back in her pocket. She smiles at Cosima and leans in to place a kiss on both of Cosima's cheeks. "Ciao." Said Delphine before leaving a speechless geek monkey behind.
So that's chapter 3! I was supposed to post this chapter 2 days ago but won't let me get into my account. Anyway, thank you to SopE1820, YellowShadow, mycabbages176, sarahvardy, and sytyue for the follow and favorite and also to guest (Aug. 28) and Nipples for the review :D
Let me know what you think! :D