Work Text:
New Message from Gina Linetti
Rosa opens the link Gina sent and it brings her to Tiktok.com. She won’t dare download the actual app. The video is of two girls faking a proposal to ‘get a free dessert,’ as the caption reads. Rosa sends a quick ‘cool’ back to Gina before turning her phone off, not expecting Gina to text back. Rosa unpauses the episode of Gilmore Girls on the TV. After not even a minute Rosa’s phone flashes.
“We should totally do it,” Gina responds. Rosa doesn’t know how to feel about that idea. I mean, she’s not gonna say no to free cheesecake, but being so vulnerable in public, or even faking it, seems so out of character for her.
“Idk..” Rosa texts back, still on the fence about the whole thing.
“Come on, it would be so funnn” Gina replies, having to add 2 extra n’s to ‘fun’ because well, she’s Gina Linetti.
“Ok, I guess” Rosa returns, giving into Gina’s ridiculous plan.
“YAYY! I’ll be over in 30!” Rosa’s eyes snap open. She isn’t expecting Gina to be over so soon. She also doesn’t know how Gina even knows where she lives. She quickly gets up and picks a dress from her closet. Rosa has 2 sides to her closet. The side that’s all black and leather, and the side with dresses and bright colors. As she said, she doesn’t like mixing work and personal life. She quickly slips into the dress, it’s light blue with little yellow flowers, and stops right below her knees. She gets out her makeup and finishes in about 10 minutes. She still has 15 minutes until Gina said she would be over so she goes back to the couch to finish her episode of Gilmore Girls.
Gina rings the doorbell exactly on time, which is surprising. Rosa slips on her shoes and goes to greet Gina at the door.
“Oh, I think I got the wrong apartment,” Gina says upon seeing Rosa at the door. Rosa rolls her eyes and goes to look at Gina’s outfit. A shiny rose gold dress with matching heels. About 15 seconds pass when Rosa finally says something.
“Hi, Gina.” She says softly, with a slight smile on her face. Gina seems to get snapped back into reality.
“Sorry, I was just trying to take all of this in.” She says as she waves her hand in the air, signaling Rosa’s outfit.
“I don’t want people from work recognizing me” Rosa replies nonchalantly. She finally steps out of her doorway and walks with Gina down to the parking lot of her apartment complex. “How do you know where I live?” Rosa inquires.
“Honey, I know everything,” Gina answered, and Rosa wasn’t gonna argue. They get into Gina’s car and go on their way. There isn’t much talking on the ride, just the sound of Gina singing some Beyonce song. After about 10 minutes they pull up to some random Italian restaurant that Rosa remembers Charles talking about, along with something about his blog. Then it clicks in her mind.
“Oh my god, you read Boyle’s food blog,” Rosa says with a shocked smile on her face. Gina frowns.
“If you tell anyone I have 10 years of blackmail that I can release to the public,” Gina says with a serious tone. Rosa just laughs and steps out of the car, going to open Gina’s door.
“Such a gentleman,” Gina says as she steps out. “You have a fake name, right?” Gina asks as they walk up to the restaurant.
“Emily Goldfinch,” Rosa answered quickly. There was a girl in Rosa’s 2nd-grade class that tried to hit her once so now Rosa uses that name so everything she does can be traced back to Emily.
“Reservation for 2 under Allison Greene,” Gina says to the server as they walk into the restaurant. They get led to a table right in the middle. “Perfect,” Gina thinks. They get seated and order appetizers. The whole dinner is mainly Gina talking and Rosa listening, but they like it that way. After they finish their meals they get ready for what’s about to happen next. Gina grabs something out of her purse and kneels on one knee. Rosa stands up, waiting to hear what Gina’s gonna say.
“Emily, I remember our first date here 3 years ago. I remember when we met 7 years ago. I remember our first kiss. I remember our first ‘I love you’s. And I know I’m going to make so many memories with you for the rest of our lives. I love you with all my heart, Emily Goldfinch, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” Rosa blurts out and the whole room bursts into applause. Gina gets up and hugs Rosa letting go to slide the ring on her finger. And maybe she was just caught up in the moment but Rosa kisses Gina straight on the lips. She immediately regrets it but, to her surprise, Gina kisses back. They break apart and go to sit down. A server brings a plate of cheesecake as congratulations. Gina and Rosa each grab a bite and look at each other.
“It isn’t even that good,” Gina laughs. Rosa cracks a smile at that. After they finish dessert they leave, having to pass by hundreds of “Congratulations” on their way out. As they get out to the parking lot Gina asks, “You wanna come over to my place?” Rosa lightly grins.
“Yeah, I’d like that”