Chapter 24: 22

"What's up with you ?" Angela asked, pulling back with her hands still rested on Lottie's shoulders.

The two were in the back seat of Lottie's car. Angela on top of Lottie trying to relax her since she was in a terrible mood.

The black-haired girl ran her hand through her bangs, wet with sweat from practice earlier.

"I know, it's about practice. " She whispered, placing kisses on her cheek before starting to place them along her jaw. "Talk to me about it."

Lottie sighed, tilting her head back, tiredness taking hold of her as she relaxed under the touch of her girlfriend's lips. "Well, Gen and Melissa were talking about Haley from their Biology class being pregnant, while Coach was giving today's instructions and-"

"Haley Dunphy ?" She asked as she left a few kisses down her collar bone, her fingers trailing along Lottie's sweaty back.

"Yeah yeah Haley Dunphy, they say the child's father is Dylan-"

"Oh my god, no way !" Exclaimed the blonde in a gasp, pulling away. "And what else did they say ?"

Lottie rolled her eyes. "I thought you wanted me to tell you about practice ?"

"Yeah, yeah....Sorry." She apologized, placing a kiss on her nose. "It's just that Dylan Sprouse is a really bad kisser-"

"You kissed Dylan !?" Lottie shouted, wiping her nose.

Angela sighed.

"It happened once...or-or twice but-"

"Twice ?!" She cut her off as she straightened up, her eyes wide open.

Lottie started to get up but immediately Angela pushed her back into the back seat of the car.

"Where do you think you are going ?" She asked, her finger under Lottie's chin urging her to look into her eyes.

"I'm going to kill him." Lottie responded by slapping Angela's hand angrily.

Angela couldn't help but smile. "It's cute that you're still jealous even though we're basically married-"

"-It's not-" Lottie suddenly cut herself off, grabbing Angela's wrist, pointing Angela hand  with an expression of genuine shock. "Do you think I spent a salary on a ring for you to declare us 'basically' married ?'"

"Weren't we talking about soccer ?" Angela asked with false innocent look as she tilted her head to the side, her other hand slipping around Lottie's neck. "Yeah, that's right you were talking about the coach-"

"Angela !"

"Okay, okay..." She chuckled as she moved strands of Lottie's hair out of her face. "Sorry. Let me make it up to you..."

Lottie sighed in ease despite herself as she felt Angela kissing her pulse point.

"I'm going to make you feel good..." The blonde mumbled.

The black-haired girl was about to give in but quickly fell back. "And I planted a tree for you in my garden, is that 'basically' married to you ?"

"Lottie." The blonde stopped for a moment giving her a look. "Wait until this dinner with my father and my uncle, then we'll see."

"We'll see ?!" Lottie asked, raising her eyebrows.

Angela ignored her question and began to play with the drawstrings of Lottie's shorts, her lips smiling against her glistening skin. But Lottie was doubly frustrated because of practice, and the fact that Angela didn't consider them married.

And so, she stopped her girlfriend's hand with a serious expression. "You're not going to get away with this. Why aren't we married, already ?"

"We are..." Angela reassured her with a smile. "Basically."

"I don't like basically." She frowned. "If I buy you a house, we'll be married, right ?"

Angela started laughing.

But Lottie remained silent, confused about what was make her girlfriend burst out laughing so hard.

"Oh my god, you're serious ?" The blonde asked in disbelief as soon as she saw that Lottie wasn't joking.

She looked to the side, wondering how the conversation had veered off topic like that and so quickly.

Then she looked at Lottie again with a teasing smile on her lips. "Alright, we're married. Not officially but married."

The Matthews girl's face lit up. "But we're married anyway ?"

"Yes, Lottie we're married." She nodded. "Tell me about practice now."

"Oh. Yeah, right..." Lottie now completely relaxed, rested her hands on her girlfriend's hips with a bright smile. "Well, Melissa and Gen were talking about Haley being pregnant with Dylan while Coach was talking. So obviously he got all mad-"

"Dylan Sprouse though." Angela made a face. "I still can't believe it, Haley can do better-"

"I know right." Lottie agreed with a grimace. "And then let's not talk about his hideous blonde hair dye from this summer."

The blonde giggled. "Blonde dye huh ? And let's talk about Regina's which turned out to be in fact a wig ?"

"Don't be mean !" Lottie sneered and slapped her shoulder.

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"I'm really nervous about this." Lottie chewed her lower lip. "What if it goes badly and she doesn't want to be with me anymore ?"

Shauna side eyed Lottie as she looked up from her book.

"What if her father forbade her to see me ?" She huffed at the thought, slumping on the table with a sad pout. "I don't want to be without her, ever."

"Are you done ?" The Shipman girl asked, rolling her eyes at Lottie who had taken out her phone to look at photos of her and Angela as if they had already broken up.

"Basically married, she called us." She reminded to Shauna, giving her kicked puppy eyes. "That doesn't sound right to me."

Shauna slammed her book shut. "I'm gonna throw up."

"Please Shauna do something, can't you see I'm miserable ?" Lottie spoke pleadingly as she rested her forehead on the table and closed her eyes with another sigh.

"What do you want me to do exactly ?" She replied in an annoyed tone, giving her an incredulous expression.

Lottie didn't answer, her face in her arms still resting miserably on the table.

Shauna almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

Until the girlfriend in question came towards them with a frown and a glare directed to Shauna.

"Shipman." Angela spoke dryly. "Why does Lottie look so miserable ? Has your misery rubbed off on her again ?"

Lottie raised her head immediately, finding the two of them locked in intense eye contact, Angela being to her left and Shauna on the opposite side of the table.

The Shipman girl pursed her lips, but then the corners of her mouth turned into a smirk. "Well actually, your Lottie was just telling me about y-"

"Angela !" The black haired girl stood up hastily making her chair creak, her cheeks red and her eyes wide. "I-I think we should go, ignore Shauna."

"Sure ?..." The blonde asked, not sure why Lottie's behavior was so weird. "Are you okay ?"

The Matthews girl had already grabbed her upper arm to drag her back, quickly thinking of a way to get Angela to quickly follow her, as they were already starting to walk away.

"I just...want to be with you, I mean just the two of us?" She had been stammering a bit over words and it was her now face that was turning red when she saw Shauna in the distance who was typing on her phone.

But a smirk crossed Angela's face, as her blue eyes began to shine with a lustful glow. "Oh yeah ?"

"Yeah, obviously." Lottie replied in a low voice, continuing to drag her as far as possible.

"Do you want to stop by and go to my house ?" She offered, her lower lip stuck between her teeth. "Don't get me wrong, I like the back of the car but-"

Lottie stopped confused when she looked around and noticed that yes, indeed they were already in the parking lot.

Then she looked down and saw the look Angela was giving her.

Suddenly everything in her head disappeared as she slipped her hand into Angela's. "Why not at mine? My parents aren't home for two weeks."

It was a long afternoon for both of them, suffice to say Angela's phone was the least of her worries at the time.

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"...I mean really I don't mind it." Angela sighed, nevertheless with a smirk, hot memories coming back to her mind quickly. "But still, I have the impression that as soon as I approach Shauna, she gets turned on. Which is weird."

Jackie chuckled before removing the straw from her, wiping her mouth. "Every time you approach Shauna ?"

"It started at the library, then the locker rooms and... you know what, I'm not going to mention the others-"

"Wait-- May I know the others ?" The brunette asked in a confused frown.

"No, you can't." Angela refused with an innocent smile, before starting to swirl the straw in her milkshake. "Honestly I shouldn't be complaining in the first place, Lottie is a goddess, in every possible way. It's just, recently something feels a little off..."

"Okay, I get that." Jackie nodded, taking the blonde's both hands in hers.

"I think you're overthinking it too much. Just try talking to her about it and seeing how things go. If Lottie is the right person for you, then you should be fine." She added with a reassuring smile. "Trust me, that's not that can of things what can ruin everything, is it ?"

Angela sighed, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile, her bad feelings now eased slightly by her friend's words. "Yeah you must be right, thanks Jackie."

"You're very welcome." She assured by squeezing her hands gently.

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The following day, when she was the only one left  in the locker room Lottie was startled by her locker door slamming shut.

"Are you in love with Shauna ?"

She blinked. "No. I only love Angela-"

"Ugh, stop liying !" Jackie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Angela told me you were acting strange around her, if that's not that then what is it ?"

Lottie chewed her lower lip and avoided her gaze. How could she explain to Jackie that Shauna was the only one she had been able to confide in about her anxiety about having dinner with her girlfriend's father and uncle?

"Lottie." She muttered menacingly, taking a step forward with her finger sticking out to assert her seriousness. "If you ever dare to just entertain the idea of ​​cheating on Angela with Shauna-"

"What ?!" She cried out her eyes opening wide. "Where do you get such a nonsense from ? I love my girlfriend !"

"Do you ? Do you ?" Jackie repeated, narrowing her eyes, her tone becoming more and more insistent. "Because she really seems to be taking this relationship seriously, she even wants to make things official with her dad and you-"

"This none of your business, Jackie." Lottie mumbled, her eyes lowering, her body language betraying despite herself that the brunette's words had reached her deepest to make her even more sad and anxious than she already was. "Drop it, please."

She was about to open her mouth to respond but a loud knock was heard at the locker room door, making them both turn their heads at the same time.

Angela's head appeared, an impatient expression on her face. "Babygirl, what's taking you so long? Were we supposed to go-- Jackie?"

The Taylor girl took a long step back, an innocent smile on her face for her friend. "Soccer stuff, sorry if we took too long, I didn't see time go by."

"Y-Yeah, right." Lottie stuttered as she grabbed her bag, her eyes darting frantically and nervously from Jackie to Angela, already starting to walk away from the brunette. "Soccer stuff."

Angela glanced at Jackie, a little suspiciously, before looking at Lottie again and then shrugged.

Jackie watched them leave. Lottie taking Angela's hand in hers as they both come out of the locker room.

"By the way, my father has the flu so dinner will be postponed until after he has recovered." Angela announced as she got into the car, after crossing the parking lot with Lottie.

"Oh, that's too bad." Lottia murmured, internally relieved and at the same time even more anxious at the idea of ​​this torturous and interminable wait for this dinner.

The blonde fastened her belt and turned to her girlfriend, with a frown. "Are you okay? You seems a little off today."

Lottie didn't answer first, and after fastening her seat belt, she took Angela's hand in hers again, stroking the back of it with her thumb.

"You know that I love you, right ?"

"I love you too." Angela spoke with a bright smile, her features immediately softening at Lottie's words.

Lottie also smiled automatically. The only times she didn't feel too worried was when she was with Angela. Being with the blonde made her forget everything, in fact.

Angela kissed her cheek.  "Let's go, I'm excited to tell Dr. Evans how I suspect you of cheating on me-"

Her eyes grew wide. "You know I would never !-"

"I know, I know." Angela cut her off with another kiss, giggling.

And the two girls were now, on their way to Dr.Evans' office.