Yours Truly

Chapter 16

"Say it again," Lily repeats, her mouth grazing against Carina's.

Carina places a hand on the side of her neck and tries to calm the rapid beating of her heart. This time is different. This time she knows exactly what she is doing and this time she has full control over her words. Carina gulps and lets out a shaky breath before saying...

"I love you."

Carina barely has time to let those three words come out before Lily closes the minuscule space between them with her lips. Her kiss literally took Carina's breath away.

Lily pulls back a lot quicker than Carina would have liked but she doesn't have too much time to be disappointed because she breathes out adoringly, "I love you, too."

--

Lily wakes up to the irritating sound of Carina's phone buzzing against the top of the glass end table beside the bed. She just barely peeks her eyes open to be met with the sun starting to wake up as well. Based on the dim brightness, Lily suspects it can't be much later than dawn. Aka too damn early.

Lily grumbles to herself as she still is forced to listen to the cringeworthy sound of the vibrating phone. The monotonous and repetitive quality of it is the worst part. Lily makes a mental note to keep a hammer at her bedside for when she wants to smash something that wakes her up from her slumber into a billion little pieces.

She feels Carina stir a bit, even pushing her butt closer against Lily's hips and a warm blush travels up to her face. Carina just might be the only exception to who gets to wake Lily up and have her not mind one bit. Well, maybe. Carina shouldn't take any chances just in case Lily's having a bad day.

"Lily, turn your phone off," Carina groans, the annoyance in her sleepy, low voice incredibly strong.

"It's not me, jerk," Lily yawns groggily. "It's yours."

Carina lifts her head up and reaches over to grab it from the end table. "Who the hell makes phone calls at like 6 in the morning?" she mumbles under her breath. Lily watches her as she takes a look at her caller ID. "Oh, go figure," she laughs quietly to herself. "It's my parents. Old people like to wake up at like 4 in the morning."

Lily smiles as Carina resettles back down on the bed and Lily adjusts herself so she's resting her head directly over her chest, listening to the rhythmic sound of her heartbeat. That's the only repetitive sound she'll never ever get tired of listening to.

"Hello?" Carina says in the phone, allowing Lily to feel the deep vibrations within her chest as she speaks. "Yeah, sorry, I stayed over at Lily's house because it was really late and I wanted to make sure she was okay."

"Or because I asked you to and you couldn't resist," Lily mumbles with a smirk, causing Carina to place a hand over her mouth, silencing her.

"Sorry, I know I should've texted you to tell you I was sleeping over. Next time I won't forget. I promise."

Lily playfully licks Carina's palm, which forces her to yank away in disgust, much to Lily's amusement. Lily then repeatedly pokes Carina's side with the end of her finger, smiling happily to herself as she feels the soft flesh of her waist. It isn't until about the 20th consecutive time that Carina swiftly snatches her finger, halting the jabbing.

Lily adjusts herself to get a look at Carina's face and giggles when she sees a threatening glare staring right back at her. Or as threatening as a Carina Cabero could get. Which is not at all.

"I will be home later, yes," Carina continues to say in the phone.

Like hell she is. Lily puts on her best puppy-dog face and shakes her head, looking straight at her girlfriend's face. Carina mirrors Lily's expression and pats her on top of the head as if she were a real puppy-dog.