CAKE

One Hundred-Eighteen

Casey 

My eyes lift as I hear my bedroom door open, revealing my beautiful brown-skinned girlfriend. The moment we make eye contact we both smile like idiots. I allow my gaze to leave hers for a few seconds as I take in her appearance. "Unlike Kianna, I've never seen Casey in love until now so I honestly wonder how she looks at Karen or whatever her name is," Gina mutters, interrupting our moment.

I roll my eyes as Mallory chuckles. "I'm not in love," I mutter.

Gina hums and nods her head, "Yeah and I'm straight," she counters. Yet again I roll my eyes, ignoring her words this time around. There's nothing wrong with being in love, I just know I'm not there yet. And I don't want to rush things, not with Mallory.

Mallory regains my attention as she makes her way to me. "So, what do you have planned for us today?" she questions, taking the seat beside me. I take a sip of my orange juice before answering the woman. "A lot, since we leave early tomorrow, I wanted to do everything we couldn't, today," I voice.

The brown-skinned woman raises her brows, "There are things we couldn't do?" she questions.

Smiling, I nod my head. Despite everything we've done, there are things that I specifically wanted to do with her. I had been so busy trying to hang out with my friends that by the time I realized our vacation was coming to an end, I noticed we hadn't necessarily done anything together.

Our outings were either accompanied by Kianna and Gina or Christy and Aaron, never just Casey and Mallory. "Once you get some breakfast in you, we're going out and we're going to spend most of the day out and together," I mutter as I lean over to peck her lips. Pulling away, I allow her to fix her plate. 

"Are you two sure you don't need the car today? Because I'm serious about being out the entire day," I voice to Gina, ensuring I wouldn't leave them stranded.

The Hispanic woman nodded her head. "I promise you we're not gonna need the car. And if we need transportation, Christy or Aaron are just one call away. Don't worry about us, okay? Worry about your girlfriend," she reassures.

I smile, glad these are the kind of friends I have. It made me miss Edwin. Or at least how things used to be with him. Since I've been back, I find it almost impossible to find some time to be around him without a distraction. But what's to be expected? He's a father and pretty soon, he'll be a father to three instead of one.

I bring my attention back to my brown-skinned girlfriend. Plus, if we're being honest, I've been spending more time with Mallory than anything. I think I cling more to her than I did with Kathryn. But it feels different now. Something feels different with Mallory and I'm not entirely sure what that something was. I just knew I liked it.

"Would you ever get a tattoo?" I question the older brown-skinned beauty beside me. Mallory lifts her head from her waffles, cognac-brown eyes meeting my gaze. I watch her consider the idea before shrugging her shoulders. 

"I'm not entirely sure. I've never had one to give an honest answer. I know everyone has a different pain level so even if you tell me it doesn't hurt, I can't say I would believe that or not. It's almost like me promising you that getting a septum piercing wouldn't hurt," she mutters.

I raise my brows, "You have a septum piercing?" I question. For the 10 months we've been together, I don't remember ever seeing her with septum jewelry.

"I did a year ago. It closed up though. I was thinking of getting it reopened."

I tilt my head to the side as I try to imagine the woman with the piercing. Somehow I couldn't picture it. Mallory seemed so free of piercings and tattoos that it would probably be weird to see her with either.