Caitlin wasn't sure what awful thing she had done to cause the karma that put her in this terrible position at the moment.
All the Arsenal girls who were headed to the World Cup decided to grab dinner and drinks before heading out to Australia. Katie and Caitlin had very recently started dating but no one knew yet and they didn't plan on saying anything until at least after the World Cup.
But here Caitlin was somehow sitting in between Katie and Lia. Which would have been awkward in the first place but to make matters worse the waitress wasn't even trying to hide her flirting with Caitlin. She had placed her hand on her shoulder more than once. Called only her beautiful and brought her a cocktail "on the house". By this point the whole team had picked up on it. Katie was silently fuming knowing she couldn't do anything about it without alerting the rest of the team that they were together. And Lia was shifting uncomfortably knowing she has no right to say anything anymore now that they were exs and Caitlin was single and on the market, or at least she thought.
But Beth, being Beth and slightly intoxicated, didn't let it slide like everyone else at the table.
"Come on Foordy!! Ya gonna make a move or what?? That girl clearly wants you! And she's just your type. Slightly shorter brunette girl" she said winking over at Lia. Luckily she didn't notice the blush that appeared on Katie's cheeks realizing she matched the description too.
"Beth! Come onnnnn" Caitlin moaned and nodded towards Lia in manner that indicated to knock it off while she's right here.
"Oh don't worry about Lia she's all flirty with Mariona now aren't ya Wally?" Beth said winking at Lia
"Beth!!" Lia yelled realizing the secret she only told Beth and Leah had now gotten out to most of the team. Viv quickly rolled her eyes at her girlfriends secret spilling and moved her drink away from her when she wasn't looking.
Knowing Lias anxiety was probably kicking in right now with how nervous she looked Caitlin reached over and grabbed Lias thigh to make her look at her. They had been together long enough she knew how to calm her down. "Lia it's okay you're allowed to see anyone you want. If you're happy I'm happy for you."
"Thanks Cait. I appreciate that same to you."
The team seemed to all be smiling at the exes acting civil but Caitlin was wondering if she would feel the same way once she realized that the someone else Caitlin moved on to was in fact their teammate and one of Lias friends. She wasn't snapped out of her trance until Katie coughed to try and alert Caitlin that her hand was still on Lias thigh which resulted in her quickly drawing it back into her own lap.
After a moment of silence of awkwardness Beth was quick to change the subjects. Unfortunately she just made the situation so much worse.
"What about you McCabe you're single now. Ya over Ruesha yet?"
"Uh yeah I am"
"Well that was quick anyone else in the picture? I've heard stories of a young 18 year old McCabe who was quite the flirt. Is she gonna make a reappearance?"
Luckily for Katie's sake the flirty waitress came back over to save her from the question but Katie wasn't sure if she'd rather try to scramble her way through answering that question or watch as the waitress rubbed her hand against Caitlin's shoulders for 100th time.
"It's been a pleasure serving you guys tonight. Especially you" she winked at Caitlin. She turned more towards Caitlin and continued, " look I saw you touch her leg" she said nodding towards Lia who was clearly eavesdropping on the conversation with her mouth open. "I didn't realize you two were together. Although I can see it now-" she was quickly cut off by Caitlin blurting out, "we aren't together!"
"Oh well in that case here's my number" the waitress said with one more wink and pressed a piece of paper into Caitlin's chest. Which at this point she didn't have any other option but to take.
Caitlin was left with her mouth hanging open.
"Yeah FOORDY!!!!" Beth yelled across the table
Katie realized she was going to explode if she didn't get up at that very second so that's exactly what she did. But of course in McCabe manner it was aggressive. "I'm going to the bathroom" she mumbled while throwing her napkin on the table.
"What's wrong with her?" Beth joked " I bet she's jealous she didn't get the waitresses number. Probably dying for a quick shag at this point."
"Alright I think that's enough alcohol for you tonight. We are headed home. Lovely time girls someone tell Katie we will see her." Viv said quickly as she ushered Beth out of the restaurant. Soon everyone followed suit except Caitlin who was waiting for Katie and Lia who was waiting for her Uber.
"So Mariona from Barca?" Caitlin said to Lia
"Umm yeah it's very new. I didn't want anyone to know yet."
"Well I doubt anyone here will tell anyone else. Except maybe Beth. She's a loose cannon as we saw tonight." They laughed about that.
"So waitress are you going to text her?" Lia asked awkwardly but felt like she should instead of sit in silence.
"No I'm not going to."
"Well give the number to Katie then" Lia laughed but Caitlin didn't. She knew her and Katie had planned on when to tell everyone but she felt like right now Lia needed to know.
"Well you see she won't be needing it either"
"Oh what do you know that no one else does?"
"Lia um I'm not sure how to say it so I'm just gonna come out with it. Im dating Katie. It's really new. Like two weeks to the date actually."
"Oh"
"Oh?"
"Sorry I'm just shocked. I mean I guess not really you two were always close I just didn't see this happening. But um good for you both. I hope she makes you very happy" Caitlin couldn't quite read Lias expression but she just seemed to be processing everything. Then a ding on her phone went off indicating her ride was here.
"Im sorry Lia."
"Don't be it'll take some getting used to but I really do wish you both the best."
"Same with you and Mariona"
Caitlin said giving Lia a quick hand squeeze.
As Lia finally left the restaurant Caitlin quickly made her way to the bathroom to check on Katie. She wasn't sure the state she'd find her in. It was too early in the relationship to jokingly flirt with someone else so she'd really hope Katie hadn't seen it like that and she wasn't mad at her.
Walking into the bathroom she found Katie leaned against the wall clearly having cried as she was freshening up her makeup.
"Hey chick are you okay?"
Katie didn't answer just stared in the mirror making sure she looked presentable.
"Katie come on talk to me what's up?" Caitlin could see Katie take a deep breath but not being able to stay calm at all
"What's up?! What's up is that waitress had her hands all over you and I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't tell her to fuck off. I couldn't tell her that you were mine. I had to watch you and Lia fall back in rhythm so quickly and I know you are over here. I trust you. I believe you. But that didn't make that any easier. I wanted to tell Beth to stop talking so many times but I couldn't. I wanted to shove that waitresses number up her ass. I have never been this jealous. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't think I can keep us hidden anymore. I can't do that it's stressing me out and turning me into this jealous person and I can't handle it!"
Caitlin stepped towards Katie and grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug in an attempt to calm her down.
"I told Lia. When everyone left. I told Lia. I don't want to hide us anymore either. Not to our friends and family at least. Just the public. Would that be okay with you?"
"You told Lia?" Katie said almost relieved that Caitlin seemed to be on the same page as her.
"Yes baby"
"Friends and family. No public. I agree with you. I'm sorry I acted like this tonight I couldn't control it."
"It's okay darlin I think I like Jealous you"
"Oh yeah?" Katie said leaning into to kiss her to which Caitlin quickly met her halfway. Suddenly the door popped open and Caitlin was quick to pull away, but Katie who was facing the door, saw who was walking in she was quick to grab Caitlin's face and pull her into a deep and passionate kiss.
Caitlin was confused at first but when she heard the familiar voice of the waitress angrily laughing she understood.
"Guess you won't be texting me?" She said annoyed.
Caitlin who was still mid kiss slid the the number she'd crumbled up into her back pocket and gave it to Katie. Katie didn't need to break the kiss to realize what she was being handed. She took the crumbled paper, rolled it into a ball and threw it right in the direction of the waitress who was still standing there watching them. With a scoff she picked up the piece of paper and stormed out of the bathroom.
"We better get out of her before we get thrown out" Caitlin laughed.
"Right behind you baby" Katie laughed as they ran out of the restaurant.
