Read Between the Lines

Chapter 14: What if old habits never die?

MICHELLE's POV

"Two Pumpkin Spiced Lattes for Michelle and Anntonia?" The barista called out and she immediately stood up.

"Here you go, Ma'am. Have a great day!"

She smiled at the girl as she took the drinks but it was just a friendly smile. She's not the same person who would took a minute to flirt in the counter.

"Thank you!" She plainly replied.

All day long, she hadn't been able to stop smiling. Anntonia had noticed and she asked her about it every chance she got, but no way was she telling her the reason because her head might get big. She already felt lame enough being so giddy because she met her exactly one year ago. In this exact coffee shop. Ordering this exact same drink. Only this time, she was ordering it for them both.

"Is she your girlfriend?" the barista asked her, following the direction of her smile. She froze at the question, her smile faltering just a little. Quite a few months, and they'd successfully avoided using those words so far. The labels. They were happy like this and didn't feel the need to use them, to define what they have because, for some reason, it gave them freedom of being who they wanted to be around each other without feeling smothered by each other's presence. It was a fine line, one that she wasn't sure if she wanted to cross yet.

Is Anntonia my girlfriend? Wow. Big word.

But then she looked over at the girl again. They were going to watch The Hunger Games in the cinema as their date and only stopped by for a quick coffee, and the girl was rocking that goddess outfit. But honestly, it was just a plain white button down shirt, tucked in a faded wash skinny jeans. Her hair was neatly tied in a high bun, light make up and a red lipstick. As simple as it looks, in her eyes, she was like Athena, the goddess of feminism and she had always found her sexier in her most simple fit. And maybe just for today, she could try to pretend she was someone who was not and to act like she wasn't afraid of one little word being spoken out loud.

"Yeah," she told the barista, sounding a little too proud than she intended to. "She is."

"Hmmm. She's so pretty," the barista said.

Like I needed a reminder of that. I'm fully aware. She said in her thoughts but rather flash a smile than voice it out.

Anntonia was drop dead gorgeous, there was no denying that. And to her surprise, calling the girl her girlfriend didn't bring the four horsemen of the apocalypse sprinting into town to spread worldwide doom. It did nothing at all and she realized, what the hell was she even scared of all this time?

"She's my girlfriend." She said in a whisper, mostly to herself and the words rolled off her lips perfectly natural, like it belonged there, like it was just one of those generally accepted truths you can't run away from, whose denial doesn't make them less true.

And to her bigger surprise, it didn't bother her that it was like that.

She walked back and reached their table, put one of the the drink in front of Anntonia, smirking at her like a little kid.

"The barista asked me if you're my girlfriend, Love. And I said yes. You're my girlfriend," she announced proudly and the girl just stared at her blankly, pausing to take a long sip of her coffee before replying.

"Are you really that whipped for me, Love? Awww!" Anntonia said teasingly as she tried her very best to bit back her lip against her smile. "But technically, you've called me your girlfriend countless times. Everytime Dad talked to you in video call. Or in front of your family, then whenever your mom visited the apartment. I think you used the word girlfriend with a frequency of 80 times per second, if possible."