Those Who Wait

by Haley Cass

Finding a woman who not only was she attracted to and liked but who also liked and was attracted to her was harder. And scarier.

“But whether or not we planned it, you are in my real world already. So, it’s already done.”

“Sure. We’ll meet for coffee and tea. Our thing.”

“That’s not true. But their loss is my gain.”

“I was thinking, if you were open to it … I could sleep with you.”

Just when she thought she had her pegged, Sutton would do something like walk into her apartment, looking like a fucking wet dream, and say that she wanted to have sex with her.

“Because it’s just going to end up on my floor.”

“And let me tell you, that knowing you haven’t done this before but that you want me enough to have started what’s between us? Turns me on like you wouldn’t believe.”

“That for as long as we’re sleeping together, we’re the only ones. I won’t sleep with anyone else, and neither will you,” she clarified, her fingers itching to touch all of that soft, smooth skin again.

GIRLFRIEND BEHAVIOUR

“I’m in love with you and that’s not just going to go away because we aren’t sleeping together. I think … I think maybe you love me, too. Or you could, and you’re just too scared to do anything about it.”

“The world wants to sell the lie, especially to beautiful young women like you, that love is the pinnacle of what you should aspire to. But know, my dear, that there’s so much more for you to look forward to than that. In the grand scheme of this life, you have all the power to control your fate if you make the smart choices.”

“There’s a difference between being happy about something and being happy. One of them is fleeting.”

“I’ve learned that love is about finding someone who pulls you to them even when reason might tell you otherwise. Someone who pushes you out of your comfort zone, not because of them doing or saying anything, necessarily, but because they make you want to try new things. They make you want to be daring because maybe something new and scary doesn’t feel quite as scary by their side.”

“Someone you see all of. Strengths and flaws, even the ones they aren’t aware of.” The times she’d seen not only how clever and passionate and ambitious Charlotte was – both in impressive ways and in detrimental ones. But also the times she was able to see how beautifully vulnerable she could be, too. How loyal, how sympathetic. In ways she knew Charlotte didn’t see herself in.

“Someone who sees you for everything you are, too.” She bit her lip. “Someone who sees all of it and chooses you, anyway.”

“And the only thing that could ever be better than feeling this way about that person is that they feel it back.”

“I’m in love with you, Sutton. Terrifyingly, irreversibly, life-alteringly in love with you.”