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A sharp crack of thunder woke Janis up on Sunday morning. She stretched as much as she could, enjoying the satisfying pops and cracks her body made as she unfurled it from it's sleeping position. With a yawn, she rubbed her eyes and slowly opened them, delighted to see that her room was still mostly dark.
She blinked a few times with her brow furrowed, surprised that she was looking at her own spot in bed. Turning her head to look around, she had definitely moved over to inhabit Cady's side of the bed, and she was clinging to her own pillow like she would hold her girlfriend.
Without sitting up, Janis patted around the bed in front of her until she found her phone. She unplugged it and squinted at the bright screen as she unlocked the phone and pulled up her text conversation with Cady.
Where'd you go :(
She jumped when she felt Cady's phone buzz from beneath her pillow. At least she knew that Cady was still here.
"Cady?" She waited a few moments, a pout forming on her face when nobody answered her. "Babe?"
There was a rustling at the end of the bed, and the squeaky meow of her cat as she made her way up to lay on her chest. "Where's your mama, hm?" Janis scratched behind Willow's ears and closed her eyes, taking in the sound of the rain falling and the rumbling thunder along with the sound and vibration of Willow purring.
They stayed there long enough for Janis to start falling asleep again, but another loud thunderclap scared the dog in the apartment above them. A few barks and the sound of heavy paws above them disturbed the cat enough for her to use Janis's chest as a launch pad to jump up onto the headboard.
Janis stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, then finally pulled the blanket off of her body and sat up. She reached down to the floor and pulled on the sports bra she had been wearing the day before, then kicked around the remaining clothes on the floor. The boxer shorts she had on yesterday were missing, so she pulled on the pair of sweatpants that Cady had worn last night.
She didn't even have to make it out of her room to see Cady sitting on the couch, illuminated mostly by the light from the TV. The storm outside meant that very little light was bleeding through the curtains that led to their small yard.
Without a word, she sulked through the bedroom door into the living room and stood in front of Cady. She was sitting in Janis's usual spot on the couch, with a headset plugged into a game controller covering her ears. She set down the controller and pulled off the headset as Janis put her knees on either side of her lap.
Janis realized she hadn't fully thought this through when she looked down at her wide-eyed girlfriend after straddling her lap. All Janis wanted was to snuggle in close to Cady, but this position left her looming over the other woman. Janis settled down so there was more space between their bodies, but less of a hight difference. "Why do you look so grumpy?"
"Because you're not in bed with me," Janis whined. She tried to reposition again, to get closer, but was unsuccessful. Cady's hands moved to hold her hips, moving up her sides and then onto her back. "You're also in my spot. And you're wearing my underwear."
Cady laughed beneath her, not commenting on any of Janis's complaints. She simply leaned forward for a kiss, which was given without hesitation. Cady let her nails scrape against Janis's skin, sending goosebumps out across her body. "Get up."
Janis pulled back and whined as Cady's hands moved to firmly hold her hips and push her backwards. Janis stood up and reached for Cady's hand to pull her up, immediately enveloping her in a hug once they were both on their feet.
Janis tried to move them toward the bedroom, but Cady stayed rooted in her spot. "Where are you going?"
"Back to bed?"
Cady sighed. "Baby, it is 9:30. We're not going back to bed."
Janis stomped her foot, twisting her face into a cartoonish pout. "It is Sunday morning and there's a thunderstorm. This is prime cuddle time and we're wasting it!"
Cady couldn't help but laugh as she stepped closer to her love, stretching up on her toes to place a gentle kiss on her frown. "Okay, okay. Go lay back down. I'll be there in a few minutes."
"We don't have a few minutes!"
Cady reached up to hold Janis's face in both of her hands. She raised her eyebrows slightly and stroked across Janis's cheek with her thumb. "If you keep whining like that, I'm staying out here." Janis's jaw dropped and she started to respond, but Cady pulled her down into a brief kiss to silence her. "Shh. I've got to turn things off out here, I need to feed Willow so she won't bother us, and I need to finish my breakfast. Then I'll come lay down with you. It'll take less than 5 minutes."
Janis sighed. "Do you have to finish your breakfast?"
Cady rolled her eyes, not even trying to hide the smile creeping onto her face. She leaned past Janis to grab a bowl off of the table. "I don't know, do you want to clean oatmeal out of this bowl in a few hours when it turns into concrete?"
Janis dug the spoon into the squishy substance, holding a comically large bite of oatmeal up to Cady's mouth. Cady took the bite of food and melted a little when Janis grinned and kissed her forehead.
She finished her food while she watched Janis turn off the game console and TV, then pour more dry cat food into Willow's bowl. She opened a bag of treats and set some on top of the food, then collected Cady's coffee cup from the table and went to the sink to wash it. Cady took the last bite of oatmeal and Janis reached for the bowl, scrubbing it clean and setting it down to dry on the mat next to the sink.
She turned around to find Cady standing in the same spot with the softest smile on her face. She dried her hands on the towel hanging from the oven door and crossed the room to wrap Cady up in a hug. Cady squeezed Janis as tightly as she could, then started swaying gently back and forth.
Janis started to shuffle her feet towards the bedroom, making both of them giggle as they waddled together through the doorway and towards the bed. Janis hit the bed first, falling down onto her back and pulling Cady down on top of her. They continued to laugh softly while they shared several gentle kisses.
Cady pulled away first, sitting up and straddling Janis's hips as she pulled her shirt off. She discarded the garment on the floor and shifted herself off of Janis and onto her side of the bed. Janis clenched her jaw and pretended not to blush. She wiggled out of the pants she was wearing and kicked them from the foot of the bed down to the floor.
"Were you wearing my pants without underwear?!"
Janis leaned up on her elbow, snapping the waistband of the boxer shorts that Cady was wearing against her skin. "You were wearing my underwear! And there was no way I was gonna put yours on."
Cady wrinkled her nose, lifting her hips up off of the bed and removing the garment. She dropped the shorts on Janis's chest with a smirk. When Janis put them on instead of tossing them on the floor, Cady took her turn to sit up and complain. "I expected you to get naked, not put on more clothes."
Janis laughed and leaned over to kiss her girlfriend. "That's because I want to cuddle and go back to sleep, not have sex."
Cady moved so that she was straddling Janis again, running both hands through dark hair and kissing her fiercely.
Janis felt her heart start to race, nervous that Cady was trying to initiate something more when she had just very clearly set a boundary. She couldn't spend much time thinking, though, because Cady was slowly overwhelming her senses. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the woman who was carefully hovering over her.
Cady was supporting most of her weight on her knees and elbows, making sure to keep her hips elevated. Her fingers were enmeshed deep into Janis's hair, but her fingers were moving gently, as if to pull their faces impossibly closer while barely pulling at her hair at all. Cady, as if more in tune with Janis's body than Janis was herself, let them both enjoy a few minutes of intimacy without taking things any farther.
Cady eventually rolled off of Janis and they both moved to their sides, holding each other and gradually reducing the intensity of their kisses until they were left just staring at one another, trying to catch their breath.
"I love you."
Janis felt her heart swell as she heard the words that they had shared, probably thousands of times since they first exchanged them in high school. She saw Cady's eyes well up with tears and pulled her closer, letting Cady cry into her shoulder. She nuzzled into her hair and softly responded, "I love you."
They spent a few minutes silently laying together, listening to the rain falling against the window and the thunder still rolling along. Cady wordlessly got up and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her softly. Janis heard the sink turn on immediately, and watched Cady's shadow fall still beneath the crack under the door.
When Cady returned from the bathroom, the front of her hair was damp, and Janis knew that she had been splashing cold water on her face. She kissed both of her cheeks, then her forehead, her nose, and finally her lips. Cady turned around in her arms and got comfortable, picking up Janis's phone. "What were you doing?"
Janis used her fingerprint to unlock the phone and a grocery pickup order was on the screen. Cady scrolled through the items, wiggling with delight when she reached the bottom and saw two pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. "I figured since it's a rainy Sunday, we could have a grocery pickup set to make sure we wake up from this nap at a reasonable time. When we get back, we can rock paper scissors, one cleans the kitchen and living room and the other gets the bedroom and bathroom. We can make dinner and maybe meal prep some lunches for next week. I didn't check out yet in case you wanted to add anything."
Cady scrolled through the screen more carefully this time, increasing the quantity of one or two items and then hitting the check out button. It was 10:15 now, so they decided on a pickup window that started at 12:30, then set an alarm to get up at noon.
Cady put the phone down and turned in Janis's arms to face her again. She pressed a soft kiss to her lips and took a shaky breath. "Can I tell you something?" Janis smiled and nodded, returning the kiss. Cady stared at her for a beat, considering her words carefully. "Promise me you won't get scared?"
Janis raised her eyebrows and pushed her shoulders up to her ears. "There's not a spider on me, is there?"
Cady threw her head back laughing at that, and Janis smiled so widely that it made her face hurt. Once Cady settled down, her expression remained soft, but serious. She reached out a hand and rested it on Janis's face, caressing it gently with her thumb.
"On days like today. When you wake up and you're just. Absolutely perfect." She paused and took a few breaths. "When you convince me to come back to bed and just enjoy a quiet morning with you. When you plan dinner and do all the shopping while I spend 10 minutes in the bathroom splashing water on my face because we just made out for half an hour. When you put both of my favorite ice cream flavors in the cart even though they're stupidly expensive and you don't particularly like either of them." Janis studied Cady's expression while she spoke, reaching out to wipe away the tears that started to fall.
"On days like this, all I can think about is marrying you some day. I think about starting a family with you, with kids who will climb into our bed during a thunderstorm because they're afraid. And in those moments I'm sure I'll be so annoyed." Janis had started crying as soon as the words 'marry you' came out of Cady's mouth. Cady chuckled through her tears and moved her hand to wipe at the ones on Janis's face. "We might be irritated because we just want to sleep, but we'll hold each other just like this, and we'll protect our babies from all the scary things in the world. And when that happens one day, no matter how tired we are, I'm so glad that I'll be able to remember this day. Because today you just. You woke up and made me fall in love with you all over again."
Willow appeared behind Cady on the bed, climbing onto her shoulder and peering down at her humans wondering what was wrong with them. They laughed while they made futile attempts to dry each other's tears.
"I love you so much, and I can't wait to marry you one day." Cady let out a sob and buried her head into Janis's chest. Willow didn't enjoy the quick motion, so she carefully stepped over onto Janis and laid down on her hip.
They both let their tears run their course, then settled into sleep with the rain outside slowing down and the thunder fading into the distance