#isalissa

Isabella woke up in her bed, and reached for her girlfriend sleeping next to her. There was just one problem – she wasn’t there.

   ‘Melissa?’ Isabella said. ‘Melissa, where are you? You know how much I hate it when you’re not in the bed for morning snuggles.’

Isabella heard some muttering coming from outside their bedroom, and saw Melissa walk into the bedroom with a tray. It had what seemed to be a breakfast for the both of them. There was coffee, omelettes and French toast for the both of them.

   Isabella gave Melissa a quizzical smile. ‘Melissa, what’cha doin’? For real?’

   ‘Breakfast in bed, for the best girlfriend in the world of course,’ Melissa said.

   Isabella sat up. ‘No, really, you didn’t have to do this. I really appreciate it, but really, I could’ve just made us something again.’

     ‘I’m not letting you do all the work around here, sweetie, you deserve a rest. Also, I’ve gotta put this down now, I can’t hold it for much longer.’

Melissa gave Isabella the tray and put it on her lap, and then moved into bed beside her. They both started eating, though Melissa gave all of her attention to Isabella and how she was reacting.

   Isabella turned to Melissa. ‘Melissa… you told me you were terrible at cooking. This is great!’

   Melissa gave a sheepish smile and giggled. ‘Well, I thought I was, but I really wanted to do this for you. You seem to really like it, so thanks.’

   ‘I love it, really. Thank you so much.’

Melissa put on a jacket as she gathered her belongings together, now all she needed was Isabella. She looked around the house, but caught her in their study room, with her hard at work sketching and drawing things in a visual diary.

   ‘Isabella?’ Melissa said.

   Isabella turned around. ‘Oh hey, Melissa. Come to watch me work?’

   ‘Well actually, I was going to suggest we go out for the day, have some free time just for us.’

   ‘You gave me breakfast in bed and now you want me to have a date with you. Is everything alright?’

   Melissa sighed. ‘Look, I’m just worried you’re overworking yourself. You insist on doing everything, and you still do so much of your own stuff too. I appreciate how hard you work for everything, but don’t you ever want to chill out?’

   ‘Look, just because I have college, work at the café, cook everything for us, do RA, am part of student government, do sports, volunteer to supervise Fireside Girl activities and sometimes babysit Candace’s daughter, it doesn’t mean I’ve got too much stuff on my plate.’

   Melissa smirked. ‘Sure.’

   Isabella grumbled. ‘Okay fine, I do get exhausted from it all. I just want to do so much, but there’s so little time for it all.’

   Melissa walked to Isabella and pulled her up. ‘Look, I’m not saying this isn’t admirable about you, but I can tell you get overworked. If you want me to help out with even a few of these things just tell me.’

   Isabella leaned onto Melissa’s chest and embraced her. ‘But you never seemed interested in all of that. You just want to do your journalism course and have fun the rest of the time.’

   ‘Well, you never really asked, it seems like we just kind of assumed that you’d do everything around here. I do want to help you though, anything to get my girl some more free time.’

   Isabella chuckled. ‘So, what do you want to do for this day out?’

   ‘I was thinking something like go see a movie, have lunch, hang out at the park, that kind of thing.’

   ‘Sounds good to me.’

Isabella and Melissa returned home with some pizzas, after having that day out.

   ‘I’m still not over that twist in Space Witches II, Aly and Lily’s love being necessary to defeat the mermaid queen by their relationship unlocking special powers? So awesome,’ Isabella said.

   Melissa smiled. ‘I know, right? I really should’ve shown you the previous film sooner.’

They both enjoyed their pizza for a while, until Melissa got out some ice-cream. Isabella finished her pizza and looked up at Melissa.

   ‘Give me a moment, I need to do something,’ Isabella said.

   ‘Isabella, really? This is your day to chill out, you don’t need to-’

   ‘No, really, this is extra important. You won’t regret this.’

As Isabella walked off, Melissa sat on the couch and waited for her girlfriend to return. She tried to keep herself calm, but she wriggled and fidgeted as she anticipated Isabella. She watched the time and noticed ten minutes had gone by, which got a groan out of Melissa.

   Isabella returned, but was carrying her visual diary. ‘Sorry for making you wait like that, I just needed to touch up some things.’

   ‘Okay, what were you even doing back there? And why do you- oh, is there something you need my opinions on?’

   Isabella tore out a page from her visual diary. ‘No, Melissa. This is for you.’

Melissa looked at the piece of paper handed to her. It was a bunch of doodles on the top half of the page, showing Isabella and Melissa drawn in various ways, from animals like ponies, cats and dogs to simple everyday life. The bottom half was a watercolour painting of Isabella and Melissa dancing and wearing formal dresses, with a vague background to contrast with the two of them at the front.

   Melissa looked up at Isabella. ‘Wait, is this for me?’

   ‘Yes, yes it is.’

   ‘I love it. All of it. But why?’

   Isabella smiled. ‘Because I love you. That’s all there is to it.’

Melissa put the art on a table and kissed Isabella. Isabella put her visual diary away as Melissa wrapped her arms around her, returning the kiss. When they broke away from each other, the both of them had their eyes lowered and were smiling.

   ‘Thank you so much. I love you too,’ Melissa said.

   ‘Can we cuddle now?’ Isabella said.