twenty

"You know...we should probably get started on our other projects," Olivia blurted out.

Emma groaned. "Do we have to? Right now?"

Her girlfriend only shrugged. "Well, not right now, but—"

"Shh," Emma placed a finger over Olivia's lips, then proceeded to hug her even tighter. "Let me enjoy this for just a while longer. I don't want to think about school right now,"

Olivia chuckled. Funny how she was the one who wanted cuddles. They both knew Emma was the real snuggler between the two of them.

"Anything for you, princess."

•••

"I can't seem to get this part," Emma rubbed her temples and groaned in frustration.

"Come on babe, you just gotta see it differently," Olivia walked over from her seat and stood behind her girlfriend.

"I don't get it," Emma spoke softly, trying not to let the fact that a girl as beautiful as Olivia was standing just inches away from her.

"Here," Olivia used her pen and circled a few words on Emma's poem before reading the stanza out loud.

Bella,

tus senos son como dos panes hechos

de tierra cereal y luna de oro,

bella. [Translation: Lovely one,

your breasts are like two loaves made of grainy earth and golden moon, lovely one.]

She looked over at Emma, who had her bottom lip between her teeth as she stared intently at the poem before her.

"Do you remember reading this in class?"

Emma nodded. "I couldn't help but think of you the whole time," she chuckled.

"Well then," Olivia raised an eyebrow and kissed Emma on the cheek. "Why are you having so much trouble writing your review?"

"I just don't know how to express everything I feel about this poem in words," Emma explained. "There's so much I want to say, but there never seems to be enough time...or space,"

She cocked an eyebrow and the A5 notebook Mr. Boldman had given them at the start of the semester for assignments.

Olivia rolled her eyes playfully. "Do your work, Emma Cassidy Jensen,"

"Oh, using my full name now, are we?" Emma turned her attention to Olivia.

"You're not listening," Olivia hummed. "Come on," she wrote a few lines in Emma's notebook and walked over to her own seat. "There. I've written the first few lines for you. The sooner you finish, the sooner we can do something else!"

Emma whined.

"I swear...you're such a baby,"

"Fine," the cheerleader resumed her staring at the notebook. This time, she had Olivia's notes to look at.

'This poem really speaks to me because it makes me think about how I've fallen in love with...well, the idea of love. The poet uses such soulful words and phrases that in turn form metaphors to convey his idea of what love really means.'

Emma let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. Olivia's interpretation of the poem they'd recited in class was...beyond beautiful. She wasn't aware that her girlfriend had thoughts like these in her.

Emma always saw Olivia as the quiet girl who painted her feelings rather than articulating them with words. She supposed she should've seen this coming; what with Olivia being so good with the song they'd written for their music project.

This however, felt different. She could feel Olivia's eyes on her, seemingly awaiting a response. Emma looked up and sure enough, her eyes met those of her girlfriend's.

"Liv, this...I—"

"You don't have to say anything," Olivia chuckled lightly. "I was just helping you along,"

"Right," Emma cleared her throat. She could've sworn her girlfriend was playing mind games with her. Where was she going with this?

She decided not to harp on it too much and wrote the rest of her review.

•••

"Mediocre," Emma said, once she'd completed her work.

"Let me see that," Olivia scoffed. She hated it when Emma talked herself down.

Emma had commented on the poet's perspective of love, much like she'd shown her just a while before.

'As quoted from the poet:

Bella,

tus senos son como dos panes hechos

de tierra cereal y luna de oro,

bella. [Translation: Lovely one,

your breasts are like two loaves made of grainy earth and golden moon, lovely one.]

This shows how in love with his partner that while it was her body he fell in love with, it wasn't just her physical attributes that drew him to her, but rather the fact that he had love for her stringing, quite literally, to the moon and back.'

"You're amazing," Olivia kissed Emma's temple. "I've finished my portion of the poem too. How about we go grab some froyo?"

"Please," Emma nodded in agreement. She hadn't wanted to admit it, but she really wanted to get out of the house.

She loved spending time with Olivia, but she wanted to spend their semester break outdoors, not cooped up in her room, reading poems that got her hot and bothered while not being able to do anything about it...

"Can I drive?" she asked.

"You're not letting that go, huh?" Olivia cocked an eyebrow in response to Emma's question. It seemed like whenever they had plans to go out, the younger girl would ask to drive, no matter how well she knew Olivia would say no.

Today could be an exception...

"Fine," Olivia replied after a moment of silence. She fished her keys out of her pocket and handed them to Emma. "I trust you," she smiled.

Emma squealed in delight.

"I'll be careful," she promised.

Olivia hugged her tightly. "Well then...let's go,"

The girls grabbed whatever they needed off their desks: phones, wallets, keys.

Olivia was halfway out the door when she saw Emma stop for a quick run to the kitchen.

"Em, what are you doing?" she called out.

No response.

"Emma?" Olivia hollered once more, walking towards the kitchen now.

She spotted her girlfriend's bottom half by the fridge. Emma's full body came into view just as Olivia approached her. "Hi, I was trymmfg—" the younger girl tried to speak with a mouthful of marshmallows.

"You're just doing this on purpose now," Olivia laughed. "Come on babe! I wanna get there before they run out of...marshmallows,"

Emma smirked. "You were saying?"

"Whatever! Can we go, please?"

They headed out to where Olivia had parked her car. Turning the key in the ignition, Emma backed out of the driveway and made their way to the frozen yoghurt place a few streets down.