Slowly learning that life is okay (GirlxGirl) [COMPLETE]

Dina - Slowly learning that life is okay

Dina could hear Ellie's heartbeat decrease to a slower rhythm as she fell asleep under her. The TV was still on, and she had her feet over the centre table and an arm around Dina's shoulders, picture perfect of a lazy afternoon.

And as she moved a little, she could see Ellie's head thrown back, mouth hanging open a little and her brows soft for once. She was kinda used to it now - face finally without tension, no lines between her brows, a tenderness Ellie was used to hide - but it never failed to catch her eye.

Ellie was just a sheltered person, never really opening up, always hiding her feelings, her thoughts, but Dina was learning to see over her walls when she lowered them a little; her scars and the fragility she held close to her heart.

She saw that in class, when she asked about the psychologist and David's trial.

The way Ellie's green eyes were shifty, guarded until she could almost see her opening up, making an effort to lower her walls and let Dina in. And so she saw the pain and the hurt but then a little sense of pride and rage when she talked about the trial.

And she got the sense Ellie was, despite all her rightful rage, proud of how things ended, of her participation in getting him into prison.

And then the bell rang and the wall was once again raised.

But now they were down again as she fell asleep, and Dina just took her time to stare, to watch her face, to memorize her features.

"What are you doing, dude?" Ellie murmurs, her brows creasing a little, her voice amused and raspy.

"Looking at you," she says, like she wasn't just analysing her girlfriend. Ellie hums, and she continues, a sly little smile on her voice, "are you sure Joel's the old one? You've been sleeping for the whole movie."

"What? I was not," she fully opens her eyes now, turning and tucking one leg under the other to look at Dina, "I was like, resting my eyes."

"Oh God, Ellie, that's what my grandma says," she teases and it makes Ellie chuckle a little before she reaches up to tuck a little strand behind her ear.

"So your grandma also has tired eyes," Ellie's lips curl back lazily, like they did when they danced together at prom. "I understand old people so much better now."

Dina rolls her eyes at that, "yeah, right."

But Ellie just has the same soft smile and lazy eyes as she half shrugs, leaning in and kissing Dina's cheek, almost the corner of her mouth.

"Are you hungry?" She asks, half standing, half still leaning in, like she doesn't really want to go away. But when Dina nods she stands, stretches and nods too, making her way to the kitchen, "sandwich?"

"Sure," she answers. She stands too after a few seconds, following Ellie not because it's weird to be by herself in Ellie's living room, but because she wants to be with her. Like there's a thread connecting them.

"What? Are you that hungry?" Ellie raises one eyebrow, green eyes shining like a child's.

"I'm just making sure you don't miss me," she says, shrugging nonchalantly, an easy, flirty smile on her lips.

Dina doesn't miss the glint in Ellie's eyes, how they fleet briefly to her lips before she shakes her head and rolls her eyes. It's almost like she's trying to hide her attraction, her feelings, but this is precisely Ellie isn't it? Hiding her emotions, even when she doesn't need to.

She watches as Ellie makes them sandwiches, motions fluid with practice. It was almost funny how Ellie was graceful and graceless at the same time: always hitting her elbows at the doorframe, pencil always slipping from her fingers, but then, how effortlessly she moved in kickboxing, or how she used the knife. It was kinda hot, if Dina was being honest.