Perfectly Imperfect | Lippa

"Mornings." - Thirty-Six

DATE: December 29, 2015

-

   Pippa awoke to the sound of a faint 'Ding!' coming from the nightstand. Her eyes fluttered open, yawning slightly. Lin, Sebastian and Tobi were still all asleep, seeing as the sun was barely creeping up over the horizon.

   What time is it? Pippa asked herself in her mind silently, reaching over to the nightstand and grabbing her phone. She checked the time, groaning softly. It was too early. Just as she was doing so, another 'Ding!' came from Lin's phone. She knew that she shouldn't, but that didn't stop her hand from slowly moving over to Lin's phone and grabbing it. She pressed the home screen button, revealing a picture of him and Pippa with Sebastian. The picture made her smile, but the notification on his phone wiped it off immediately.

-

From: Vanessa at 6:34 AM
Morning 💕

From: Vanessa at 6:35 AM
Thanks for agreeing to meet me at...

-

   Even though the second message was cut off, the feeling of dread quickly took over Pippa. Why was he meeting up with Vanessa? Why was she using the heart emoji? Why didn't Lin tell her about this? Did he not trust her enough? Pippa quickly pushed all those thoughts away, feeling guilty of accusing Lin of such things. He said that he would never betray her again, this must just be some misunderstanding. She couldn't read the messages, because Lin would know that someone had read them. Pippa sighed and decided to just drop the subject.

Pippa set the phone down and tried to fall back asleep, but the thoughts that surrounded her head kept her up. She managed to doze off for a little bit, but awoke when the alarm went off. She groaned, keeping her eyes closed. She had barely gotten any sleep. Pippa felt Lin shift beside her, moaning sleepily. She could tell that he didn't want to get up, either. She sat up, gently shaking Lin. "Come on, love," she yawned. "Wake up."

Lin sighed and opened his eyes, stretching. "Do we have to get up?" he mumbled, turning on his side and looking up at Pippa, a smile forming on his face instantly when he saw his girlfriend. He always loved waking up to her beautiful face every morning. She leaned over and nodded, kissing his forehead. "Yes, sweetie. Sadly, we do."

   Lin got up off of the bed and turned off the alarm, saying good morning to Tobi, who was already up and walking around the room. Sebastian rubbed his eyes and sat up on his bed. He slid off and ran over to Tobi, giving the dog a hug.

   The three of them got ready, and as Pippa was making pancakes and Lin was making coffee, she asked, "So, why are you and Vanessa meeting up?" She saw Lin freeze in the corner of her eye, but she kept her eyes locked on the pancake in front of her.

Lin was a bit shocked of how she had found out that he was going to meet up with Vanessa in a few hours. He looked over at Pippa, raising an eyebrow. "How did you find out?"

Pippa shifted her weight from one foot to another awkwardly. "She sent you a text message this morning. Two, actually. With a suspicious heart emoji..." Even though that she didn't say it, she was hinting that she didn't quite trust Vanessa. "I woke up and saw the texts. I didn't want to wake you."

   He shook his head and sighed softly. "Pippa, it isn't what you think. I agreed to meet up with Vanessa by a cafe to discuss when she'll be able to see Sebastian." Lin paused for a second, deciding to be 100% completely and utterly honest with her. "And to catch up, of course," he added, hoping the last part wouldn't piss her off.

   Pippa let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding in. Finally, she turned her head and made eye contact with Lin, smiling at him. "Thank you for telling me, Lin."

   Lin flashed her a small smile and nodded. "Of course, Pips. The heart by the way was all her." He walked over to Pippa and hugged her from behind. "I want you to know that I have no interest in her. Yes, she's the mother of Sebastian, but you have my heart now. Not Jasmine, not Vanessa. You."

   The words brought a real, wide, genuine smile to Pippa's face and joy to her heart. She adored this man and loved him more than anything in her life. Lin really was hers. The words automatically slipped from her mouth as she whispered, "I love you." Pippa heard Lin mutter an "I love you, too," in her ear and sigh softly.

   Even though Pippa didn't fancy the thought of Lin seeing Vanessa, she decided to let it happen anyways. That's when an idea popped into her mind. "Hey, Lin?"

   "Yes?" Lin answered, kissing his lover's neck lovingly, chuckling softly as she felt her shiver slightly under his touch.

   "Can I come with you? We could bring Sebastian as well," Pippa suggested hopefully, not even noticing that the pancake that she had been making was burning.

"You know," Lin chuckled sheepishly, "that isn't a bad idea. I don't know why I didn't think about that first."

She giggled lightly, but immediately stopped when she smelled the burning scent that had wafted into the air. "Crap!" she hissed, quickly grabbing the spatula and flipping the pancake around to reveal the other side of the pancake that was now black and crispy. Pippa sighed in defeat as she stared down at the burnt pancake. "Great, I burned it..."

Lin moved his hands down to Pippa's waist and followed her gaze, chuckling softly. "That's alright, babe. We can always make another one," he said. He saw her nod and grab the pan's handle, gently pulling away from his grasp and walking over to the trash can, scraping the pancake off and into the trash. Once Pippa was back by Lin's side, she smiled sweetly, yet rather menacingly up at him. "How about you make this new pancake, sweetheart? I'll take care of the coffee."

   He leaned over and kissed her, grabbing the pan from her hands as he did so. When Lin finally pulled away, he had a slight smirk on his face. "Fine."

Finally, the pancakes had been made and the coffee had been brewed. Sebastian was sitting on the dining table at an angle so that he could be able to watch Chuggington from the living room TV. Pippa stood up once she was done and put the plate in the sink before walking behind Lin and kissing the top of his head. "I'm going to go put on some make up, alright love?"

Pippa disappeared into the bathroom as Lin nodded absentmindedly, too focused on the show that Sebastian was watching. She took out all of her beauty supplies and looked up at herself in the mirror, brushing away her hair to reveal several bruises on her neck, shoulder, jawline and small purple splotches on her collar bone. Love bites from Christmas, given to her by the one and only Lin-Manuel Miranda. They were fading slightly, but still there. She had some on her stomach, thighs and inner thighs, as well. She pressed some Aloe Vera lotion on to her finger and outstretched her neck, rubbing the substance on one of the hickeys on her collar. Pippa quickly repeated the process with the other bruises that were visible, and once she was done, quickly covered them up with concealer.

She finished doing her make up rather swiftly, but that was only because she just decided to go with some thin eyeliner and a little bit of lipstick and blush, nothing more. Pippa tidied up her 'work space' and walked out of the bathroom, ready to start the day. She noticed that Sebastian already had his things packed up, and Lin was waiting patiently by the door. Once he saw her, he flashed her a friendly smile. "You ready to go, Pips?"

Pippa nodded and gathered her things before padding over to the two and picking up Sebastian as he giggled in her arms. "Ready," she cooed. And just like that, they were off.

-

Hello hello hello! Thank you for reading! You didn't really think I was going to make Lin like Vanessa again, did you? I'm not that cruel!

Excuse me if there were any grammatical errors, typos or repetition!

- Danielle