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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE. narrative
february 14, 2023: iowa city, iowa
"Baby," I hear Caitlin say, dragging out the Y as she opens the door to my apartment. I shake my head with a wide smile, glancing down at the ingredients for sugar cookies in front of me. I felt like baking and I wasn't quite sure when Caitlin was going to be over, so I just decided to get the ingredients anyway.
I grab the flowers I got for her. They've been laying on the counter for an hour or two, "In the kitchen, Cait," I reply, hearing her footsteps starting for the room.
She turns the corner with a huge smile on her face. Caitlin is holding flowers in her hands as well. She shakes her head with a small chuckle as we exchange the flowers, wrapping our arms around each other. She just got done with practice, a game tomorrow against Wisconsin. After the Wisconsin game, we fly to Nebraska and Maryland for games.
Pulling away from the hug, Caitlin presses a quick kiss to my lips, "A little late, sorry," she says with a smile smile.
"You're all good, love," I reassure, "If you want, you can go shower since you have clothes here." I start opening the bag of flour on my counter.
She places her hand on my back, "You sure?" she questions. I nod, still looking down, "Okay, I'll be quick," she says, lifting my head up gently, moving my chin to get me to look at her. She slides her hand around to the back of my head, knitting her fingers through my hair. Her other hand lands on my waist, pulling me in slowly.
The kiss is gentle, our lips just brushing together. Caitlin moves the hand in my hair to my cheek, deepening the kiss just a bit. I smile into it and she pulls back a few moments later.
Caitlin grins like crazy, her cheeks turning red, "Hi," she says softly.
"Hi, baby," I reply, a smile wide on my lips, "Go shower."
She nods, letting her hands fall from my body. She walks toward my bedroom to grab some clothes and then makes her way to my bathroom.
I start mixing everything together, using a stand mixer to do so. I have always liked baking, definitely a hobby of mine. My mom bought the mixer for me a while back. I needed to use it more. As I finish with something, I clean it up so I have left to do later.
Smoke Signals by Phoebe Bridgers fills my kitchen. Leaving the sugar cookie mix alone, I grab two vases from one of my bottom cabinets, filling them both with water. I take the flowers Caitlin and I got each other, putting each of them in a vase and setting them on my counter, moving back to the mixer.
Caitlin was right when she said she'd be quick because I hear her footsteps behind me sooner than I expected to. She wraps her arms around my waist from behind, kissing my bare shoulder. Her thumb brushes the bottom of my tank top as she holds me.
We decided to just stay in for Valentine's Day a few days ago. Mostly because Caitlin had practice and I didn't want her going out if she didn't want to.
"Do you wanna grab a pan for me? They're in the cabinet next to the oven," I ask and she nods.
I hear the cabinet open and close before she sets a pan next to the mixer. I glance at her, "Do you wanna help?" I ask.
"If I get to eat the left over cookie dough," she says with a smile, following my lead in grabbing some of the dough with her hands. We roll them into balls before placing them on the pan.
When we're done, I put the pan in the oven and set the time, turning around to see Caitlin scraping some of the excess off the sides of the bowl. I chuckle softly, washing my hands as she does this.
"What, babe? It's good," she says with a smile.
I nod, "I know, there's just barely anything in there."
She joins me at the sink, lathering soap over her hands, "I made it work." While drying my hands, I press a kiss to her temple and she leans into me as I do. She takes the hand towel from me to dry her own hands before draping it over the faucet.
I bring whatever needs to be washed over to the sink, starting to scrub the dishes so I don't have to do it later. Caitlin is changing the music on my phone from Phoebe Bridgers to Taylor Swift. She has yet to come around to Phoebe, even when I introduced her music to Caitlin during freshman year. Every once in a while, I catch her humming Phoebe's songs to herself as she cleans or is just walking.
As I'm finishing up with the dishes, the timer on the oven goes off. Immediately, Caitlin rushes over to take the cookies out, her hands covered with oven mitts. She places the pan on the stove, the smell of fresh cookies enveloping my apartment.
"Thank you," I say, drying my hands again. She smiles at me, nodding her head.
"Come relax," Caitlin says, making her way over to my couch, sitting down and patting the spot next to her. I sit next to her, her arms already around my body to pull me closer.
I look up at her, finding her eyes already on me. I smile, pushing myself up to kiss her. Her arm tightens around my waist, keeping me close to her body. When I pull away, she kisses my forehead before I allow my head to rest against her shoulder.
