Becoming Rory

chapter three

"How's your food?" Sadie asked as Rory bit into her burger.

They had been going out for dinner daily, as well as Rory picking up groceries for breakfast and lunch, to save money. Sadie continued to tell her that she didn't need to save money, they could buy whatever they wanted, but Rory was raised to plan and loved to organize. She didn't think of shopping for food and planning meals as a job, more of entertainment.

"It's great," Rory laughed when she swallowed the huge bite she had just taken. Sadie sat across from her, working on a huge basket of French fries. Rory quickly discovered that fries were a long-time favourite of Sadie's. They were mostly a guilty pleasure since her mother had never liked her eating anything greasy growing up, including fries. According to Sadie, everything tasted better when it wasn't allowed.

"I can't believe we've already been away for a week." Sadie laughed, throwing another fry in her mouth.

Rory furrowed her eyebrows, "Has it already been a week?" She asked. The past days had flown by, yet she felt like it had been years that she and Sadie were together.

"I know, right. Time flies when you're having fun,"

"Listen," Rory said, leaning forward on her elbow, "I already booked two weeks off work for my honeymoon, but have you just been calling in sick? Do you have to get back to the firm?" Rory asked the question that had been on her mind since they had fled. She was relieved that she didn't have to show her face back in town just yet, but she wondered if she would have to when her two weeks of paid vacation were up.

Sadie laughed, "You haven't been worrying about that, have you?"

"A little, yeah,"

"When I told you, we should run away together, I booked the same two weeks off. I figured that if you ended up marrying him, I would just book a flight somewhere, but if you didn't, we could escape for a while without making any concrete plans," She explained, making Rory wonder why Sadie hadn't simply told her that from the beginning. It certainly would have saved her a lot of worrying.

Rory let out a breath, "Oh, thank God," Rory said, relieved.

"Don't worry about me, babe, I can take care of myself,"

Rory stared at her, then cracked a smile, "That doesn't mean I can't take care of you. Everyone needs to be taken care of every now and then."

Sadie reached over and took Rory's hand across the table, "Thank you," She told Rory sincerely. It had been a long time since someone truly cared about her like Rory did. Sadie felt relieved that someone was there for her.

Rory squeezed Sadie's hand but projected a look of uncertainty. She stared at their intertwined fingers, not knowing exactly to make of it. Were relationships with women the same as relationships with men? Did they have the same signs, the same signals? Rory's lack of experience proved to hold her back for the first time.

"What's wrong?" Sadie rubbed her thumb over Rory's fingers.

Rory sighed, "I don't know. I don't want to freak you out,"

"Nothing you could say would ever freak me out, Rory," Sadie laughed, chewing on another fry.

"I just," She began, then sighed, "I'm just wondering what we are, Sadie."

"What we are?"

"Yeah," Rory said, exasperated, "I mean, are we dating? It seems like we've skipped a couple steps here,"

"Is that what you want?" Sadie asked. She had vowed to herself that she would let Rory take the lead at the beginning of their relationship, for fear of pressuring her with anything. She didn't want Rory to think back and regret anything.