Every String Attached | GirlxGirl

Chapter Twenty Seven

Three weeks later, York slammed the trunk of her mother's car shut, ensuring that all of the luggage was safely inside.

This was new, and it was exciting. York was going on her first vacation without her mother, and Shawn was heading to New York City with a companion for the first time. She would also not be staying with her brother, but instead in a hotel that Ms. Grey thankfully paid for, as well as lending her car to Shawn so they could drive rather than take the city bus there.

You good to go? Shawn asked as York returned inside the vehicle.

With a smile in return, York buckled her seat belt, and for the entire trip from Boston to New York, she kept her eyes fixated on the window and the scenery they passed.

It was only when they officially entered the city that Shawn took hold of York's wrist, then pointing to a sign that simply said 'New York City.'

A city that was named after you, Shawn signed at the stop light.

I think it's more like, a girl who was named after a city, York grinned.

Shawn nodded her head. I think I like that better.

The ride in was slow. Two weeks after Christmas and crawling into the New Year, snow was still pouring from the skies, blurring the windshield but giving York something to watch as time agonizingly slipped by. Even she was becoming restless from the cautious driving over slippery roads and the random bouts of traffic.

But then they arrived at their hotel, which was only a ten minute drive from Thomas's house. The setting of it was beautiful, and Shawn had to give Ms. Grey credit for picking it out. It wasn't an easy thing, letting York go on vacation with her girlfriend that she'd known all of two months. But after York's insisting, and Shawn's consistency over the past few weeks, her mother agreed to let her go. But Shawn hadn't been granted this without multiple stern lectures about York's safety, including not leaving her alone, and how to deal with her random and sometimes dangerous panic attacks.

Shawn wasn't worrying at all, though. In the entire time that she had known York, she'd never seen her so much at ease as she was when they were simply taking the elevator up to their room. Perhaps it was the freedom of being away from her mother and finally being alone with Shawn, or just being in a different place for the first time in ages. There was a smile on her face that would not fade, even as the day slipped into night and room service arrived, followed by a quiet night in wrapped in her girlfriend's arms. It was simple, and slightly boring—they were in New York City, they should be doing something other than what they always did back in Boston—but York wouldn't have changed anything in the slightest.

When Shawn fell asleep that night, first, gradually falling into a deep sleep to the sound of York's slow breathing beside her, she did not dream of a castle. She dreamed of something else entirely, and although she wasn't able to recall what it was the following morning, she knew it wasn't a castle.

-

I brought you something.

Shawn raised her eyebrows as she pulled her t-shirt over her chest and tightened her belt. She curiously watched as York's eyes wandered down the length of her torso, until resting on her hips. She frowned.

Quickly, Shawn climbed into the bed, distracting York from the sight she'd seen by kneeling next to her, who was still laying there looking as sleepy as ever.

Why? You already got me a Christmas present.

York rolled her eyes as she sat up. That was a bad present. Who gets their girlfriend a scarf? Besides, I wanted to give you this now. Here.