Imperfectly Perfect [Chaelisa]

sixty two

"You're eighteen!" Chaeyoung says as she opens Lisa's door, but her face falls into a frown when she realises her girlfriend is still asleep. "Lili. Wake up."

"Mmm, what?" Lisa grumbles, rolling over in her bed. "No school. No, mom."

Chaeyoung giggles and flops down on Lisa's bed. "I'm not your mom, silly. It's me, Chaeyoung."

"Rosie?" Lisa mumbles and rests her head on Chaeyoung's lap. "G'night."

"No!" Chaeyoung exclaims, shaking her girlfriend, "wake up, Lili. You can't miss your eighteenth birthday!"

Lisa grumbles and snuggles up close to Chaeyoung. "Hold me, baby girl."

"Okay," Chaeyoung runs her fingers through Lisa's hair and kisses her girlfriend's cheek. "But it's your eighteenth birthday. You're a grown up now, like me. Shall we go get tattoos together?"

"Mom would kill me," Lisa murmurs, "I just want to cuddle you for a bit. Okay?"

"Okay then," Chaeyoung bobs her head in reply. "I like cuddles."

"You're a cuddly baby," Lisa takes hold of her hand and squeezes it. "My cuddly Rosie lion."

Chaeyoung smiles and plays with Lisa's fingers. "We're the same age."

"But you're gonna be nineteen before me," Lisa points out, still not opening her eyes. "You're so old."

Chaeyoung giggles. "I'm not that old. I'm eighteen and you're eighteen, so if I'm old, so are you."

Lisa finally opens her eyes and looks up at Chaeyoung with a smile. "You're cute. You changed your nose piercing back to the stud, though?"

"Mhm," Chaeyoung hums in thought. "I was bored and- and I wanted to. I will probably change it back to the ring soon though, I'm just- um, trying something new. And- anyway, we need to celebrate your birthday, so- um, get out of bed. Please."

"I want to cuddle with you though," Lisa pouts at her. "Don't you want snuggles?"

"Well- I, I mean," Chaeyoung blushes and shrugs. "I like cuddles, but I- I want to celebrate your birthday now and I- I made a schedule and if you don't get up now then we're not sticking to it."

Lisa sits up and rubs at her eyes. "Okay. I'm up. What's the plan?"

"Um, well... I kind of lied," Chaeyoung mumbles, "Just to wake you up. I'm really sorry-"

"Rosie!" Lisa squeals and pulls her in for a hug. "You're the cutest. You don't need to apologise for white lies."

Chaeyoung frowns at her girlfriend's words. "But- but what's the difference between a white lie and a regular lie?"

"Well, a white lie is like what you just said," Lisa replies, taking hold of Chaeyoung's hand. "And a regular lie is if... if you like, told me you went somewhere, but you actually went somewhere else."

"Where would I go?" Chaeyoung frowns to herself. "Like, a place I'd lie to you about going. What- where would I go?"

Lisa laughs. "I don't know, babe. It was just an example."

Chaeyoung hums in thought. "I don't ever lie to you. Not even in a white way. Except for just then."

"In a white way," Lisa repeats with a smile, "You're so cute."

Chaeyoung cuddles up to her and squeezes her hand. "Well, um, it's your eighteenth birthday. So... you should be able to have full control of the day. You get to pick what we do..."

"Oh, alright, we're going out to dinner," Lisa decides, "because we've been dating for like, a year and a half, and we still haven't done the classic dinner date."