Chapter Text
The first thing that Adora Gray noticed when she disembarked in Antalya, Turkey after a 12 hour flight was how pleasantly warm it was. When she had left JFK, the temperature had been well below zero and the flight had been delayed 3 hours due to ice on the runway. The second thing she noticed was that almost everyone around her was shivering as they all waited for the shuttle. She shrugged off her jacket, happy for the balmy 50 degrees. She followed the crowd off of the shuttle and into the airport, trying to match the Turkish directions posted everywhere with the English translations, worrying not for the first time that she hadn’t had enough time to study before this trip.
Adora got her bags and followed the signs out to the pick-up area. She looked at each of the signs scrawled with names in turn, not necessarily expecting to find her own, but irrationally sad not to nonetheless. She watched as parties embraced and left arm in arm, glancing at her phone periodically as the minutes ticked by. After forty-five minutes, Adora bounced on her heels and considered for the millionth time this week that this might have been a bad idea.
A little over a month ago, Adora had been staring at the blank screen of her laptop desperately willing words to appear when she had received a video call request from her high school best friend. They weren’t quite as close anymore, but they had always kept in touch, so Adora had happily answered. They had shot the shit for a while before her friend had casually mentioned that she should come visit her abroad. In what a year prior would have been an uncharacteristic burst of impulsivity, Adora had asked if next month would be a good time. Her friend had screamed her assent and the two had spent the next hour researching and booking a flight.
Adora met Glynnis Bright on the first day of high school. Standing alone in an unfamiliar foyer, she was trying to put on a brave face, but she was in a new city in a new state, packed into a uniform that must be pressed every day, and surrounded by people that could surely smell the stink of poverty on her. She had missed the tour the previous week and was poring over a map, the seconds ticking by in her head until she was inevitably late for second period, the consequences for which would surely involve her finding her head on a pike on the manicured front lawn. “Hey, are you lost?” a short girl asked, appearing out of nowhere and making Adora jump. When Adora said that she couldn’t find the Andrews building, the girl declared that she was going that way and looped their arms together. In their shuffle, Adora learned that the girl’s name was Glynnis but that she hated it and preferred to be called Glimmer. She also learned that Glimmer had a shock of pink dye on the underside of her light brown hair. When Glimmer conspiratorially put a finger to her lips and grinned, Adora smiled for the first time all day.
Just as Adora was starting to panic, she saw two people sprinting in her direction and shouting her name. The people standing around turned to stare curiously at the tiny, pink-haired missile as it plowed into the tall blonde woman, knocking them both to the ground.
“Adora! Oh my God! I’m so sorry! We were waiting at the domestic terminal! I forgot you had a direct flight! Are you okay??”
Adora laughed and wrapped her arms around her friend who had not changed a single bit since the day they met. “Glimmer, I’m fine!” The two got up, keeping their hands linked. Realizing the spectacle that they were making, Adora started to get a little uncomfortable.
“Everyone is staring at us.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Glimmer dismissed with a wave, “C’mon!”
Glimmer pulled her towards her companion who wore a grin that could blind the sun itself.
“Adora, hi! It’s so nice to finally meet you in person!”
Adora extended a hand but found herself wrapped in a bone-crushing hug. She also found herself returning it with equal gusto until both of them gasped and pulled away from lack of oxygen.
“You too, Bo!”
“Let’s go before you dumb idiots suffocate each other. Onward!” Glimmer pointed in the direction of the parking lot and started marching. Both Adora and Bo caught up quickly and the three skipped off in a line like they were on their way to The Emerald City.
Adora knew better than to be impressed with anywhere that Glimmer lived at this point in her life, but that didn’t stop her from staring in wonder as she stepped off the elevator and through the front door. The living room was wide and spacious, decorated in brash pinks and purples around sleek, modern furniture. Adora was led upstairs to her bedroom, one of four, and then given the grand tour which included Glimmer’s bedroom, a massive bathroom with both a waterfall shower head and a tub, and two more bedrooms that had been converted into a walk-in closet and a comfy-looking cinema room filled with couches and cushions. Finally, Glimmer led them up another winding set of stairs to the terrace where Adora gaped at the sauna, full bar, and panoramic view of the Mediterranean.
Adora had felt this same awe the first time that she had visited Glimmer’s family’s home in Boston nearly 15 years before. Most students at the boarding school had family within a couple hours of the school and went home for weekends. Adora, at the time, had had nowhere to go but was perfectly content to stay in her dorm and catch up on homework or run drills with the lacrosse stick they had practically shoved into her hands on the first day. Adora had always been eager to please, especially then with what she viewed as a golden opportunity to claw her way out of the mire of her former life.
After a solid semester of this, Glimmer had realized simultaneously that Adora hadn’t once left campus and that she hadn’t learned a single thing about the taciturn blonde girl that she had been aggressively befriending. Adora had predictably fought against the notion of joining Glimmer and her family for winter break, but Glimmer had glared at her and said, “You are not spending Christmas alone.” And that had been that.
Adora was shaken out of her reverie by Glimmer’s whine that it was cold and windy.
“It’s 50 degrees.”
“But it’s humid!”
“It’s like -4 in New York right now.”
Glimmer mumbled something about fucking tourists under her breath and said, “You don’t get it!”
Bo clapped his hands. “How about a movie then?”
Enticed by the prospect of the cinema room, Adora relented and headed back in.
--
Both Glimmer and Bo had to work during the day, so Adora was left to her own devices. Bo taught History at the international high school, and Glimmer did, well, something. Adora could never quite parse the details of her friend’s employment, but she knew it had something to do with her family’s textile company, just one branch of the sprawling BrightMoon Group. Business had never been Adora’s forte, so she had always chosen the smile and nod route.
Adora puttered around the city with her mornings and afternoons, visiting various landmarks that Bo provided for her. She was particularly enticed by the archaeology museum, staring in awe at both the pre-historic tools and marble statues for hours, feeling for the first time that she was truly among history. That night, Bo promised that they would visit all the nearby ancient cities as soon as winter broke. Adora listened, fascinated, to his ramblings about Perge and Termessos, his personal favorites, and Bo seemed pleased to finally have an audience whose eyes didn’t immediately glaze over the moment he began to speak.
Adora had managed to stay awake through her flight and stave off the worst of her jetlag. Unfortunately, though, she still awoke right before dawn every day and took the time to go running on the pedestrian walkway that wrapped around the sea. This was when she was happiest, when the constant dread coursing through her quieted for a few blessed moments in the face of physical exertion and the beauty of the sunrise. Everything is going to be okay, she let herself believe.
--
That Saturday morning, Glimmer and Adora sat together drinking coffee. Adora was chipper and fresh-faced from her morning run and subsequent shower. Glimmer, leaning heavily on her elbows and slouched over the table, was not a morning person and was trying her hardest to endure her friend’s babbling about how beautiful and wonderful the city was and how good of a person Glimmer was for letting her stay there. She wanted to snap at her, but no, Glimmer had grown as a person in the last ten years and Adora was just excited. She remembered her own honeymoon period after moving abroad, how exciting it was to go out and do mundane tasks like grocery shopping or buying a mop or hunting around for a specific shampoo.
Glimmer realized that Adora had finally stopped talking and rubbed her eyes. “Try not to tire yourself out today, champ, ‘cause we’re going out tonight.”
“Oh cool! Where?”
“Have you been to Kaleiçi yet?”
“The Old City? Yeah, Bo sent me there to check out the big gate and the broken minaret thing and, oh yeah, the clock tower.”
“Well, it’s also where all the bars are. The whole gang will be there,” Glimmer continued, “and I can’t wait for you to meet everyone. They’re gonna love you.”
Adora grinned a little too big, a tinge of anxiety at meeting new people tightening her chest.
“Besides,” Glimmer said, leveling her with a devilish grin softened by her sleepy eyes, “My friend’s band is playing and I’d especially love for you to meet her.”
Adora blushed a little and tried to hide it behind her coffee mug.
“Cool! Sounds fun!”
--
Around 8, Adora, Glimmer, and Bo – or the Best Friend Squad as Bo insisted on calling them – made their way through the winding streets of Kaleiçi. Adora was amazed that Glimmer knew exactly where to go, having been lost there for hours the other day in full sunlight. They stopped at a dingy-looking bar called The Waste and entered through the saloon doors. Graffiti covered the peeling black walls and there was a distinct odor of stale beer and mildew with just a hint of Febreeze.
Glimmer led them over to a table where a man with a manually curled mustache was waving and shouting with abandon.
“Bo, you absolute madlad, join us!”
“Sea Hawk!”
Fucking Australians, Adora heard Glimmer mutter as they watched the two men embrace and butt their heads together on each side like goats.
“And who’s this?” He asked, looking at Adora. This was clearly a rhetorical question as Sea Hawk continued, “Ah! Wait! Glimmer’s Yank friend, yes, Bo mentioned you. But I must say that he did not do justice to your radiant beauty!” He beat his breast and grinned.
“Uhh, thank you?”
Easy, eşek1, leave the poor girl alone and sit down,” an unamused-looking woman seated next to Sea Hawk said, pulling at the hem of his blue-leather trenchcoat.
Adora sat down between Glimmer and an empty chair with a black leather jacket draped around the back. The woman from before reached out a hand and Adora took it.
“I’m Merve. Sorry about ‘Sea Hawk’, he is the worst.”
“Dearest, you wound me,” Sea Hawk said with the back of his hand to his forehead.
Merve continued, “That’s Perihan,” she said pointing to a tall, willowy woman with blonde dreads pulled into a loose ponytail who smiled gracefully at her, “And the literal child is Feyza.”
Feyza scoffed, “Sıktır git, yaaaa, I’m 21.”
“Yavaş yavaş kızım, that tongue may have no bones, but it can break.”
“Wow, shut up,” Feyza said, biting back laughter.
Bo placed a mug of beer in front of her, and she took a sip. Gross, as expected, but she took another big gulp. If she could get a few into her, maybe she wouldn’t be such an awkward mess. She didn’t know what to say to any of these people who seemed to have years of history. She had hurriedly sucked down half of her beer when Perihan leaned over the empty seat and tapped her on the arm.
“How are you?” she asked.
Adora started. “Oh, uh, good, thanks for asking,” after a beat, “How… are you?” It was ridiculous that she had suddenly forgotten her own native language.
Perihan ignored the pause, “I am well. You know, I have trouble with these things. Everyone is so loud. I much prefer a cup of Turkish coffee in my garden with friends.”
Adora relaxed slightly, “I haven’t had Turkish coffee yet. Is it good?” What a stupid question.
Perihan hummed, “It’s similar to espresso, but the dirt settles at the bottom. After you finish, an experienced eye can see your fortune in the grounds. I do not have the gift myself, but every time I have Catra over, she gives the most insightful readings.”
Before she could ask who Catra was, the lights lowered and everyone’s attention was drawn to the lackluster stage in the corner. Adora hadn’t even noticed the band setting up. A broad-shouldered woman with thick black hair pulled back into a ponytail was speaking into the ear of a massive bearded man hulking behind the drum kit. A wiry man with sandy blonde hair falling into his eyes quietly gave his guitar a final tune-up. After a moment, the door that Adora had been told led to the DJ section of the bar opened and out came a slim woman. Adora watched her as she stretched her narrow shoulders and sauntered onstage.
The stagelights came on and Adora took in the mane of curls cascading past the woman’s shoulders, the black and red flannel rolled up to her elbows, the black tanktop underneath with a cool design that she couldn’t quite make out, and the tight black jeans tucked into leather boots.
The woman stepped forward and grabbed the mic.
"Merhaba arkadaşlar. Hoş geldiniz.”2 She glanced over in the direction of their table and smirked, “Hey everyone.” Adora felt her heart beat faster as they made quick eye contact before the woman surveyed the rest of the crowd. “Bu akşam nasılsınız?” The bar cheered and the woman laughed. “Çok güzel, arkadaşlar. Biz The Horde!”
The woman turned toward the band as the woman on bass shouted La La LaLaLa La La LaLaLa into her mic and the guitar screamed to life.
The woman turned back to the mic and grabbed the top of it.
I wrote her off for the tenth time today
And practiced all the things I would say
She came over
I lost my nerve
Took her back and made her dessert.
Now I know I’m being used
That’s okay man cause I like the abuse
I know she’s playing with me
That’s okay cause I got no self esteem
Adora thought back to the last time she had heard this song. In a bar much nicer than this, one of her more intoxicated colleagues had hopped up on stage, his suit jacket and tie draped over the chair next to her. She most clearly remembered pitying the sweat-stained armpits of his rolled up shirtsleeves. She hadn’t sang that night.
After the second verse and chorus as well as the bridge, the woman pulled the mic off the stand and went to the front of the stage with a sheepish smile and crouched down to eye level. After the bass solo, she launched into the third verse with her hand behind her head and a conspiratorial look in her eye.
Now I'll relate this little bit
It happens more than I'd like to admit
Late at night, she knocks on my door
She's drunk again and looking to score
Now I know I should say no
But it's kind of hard when she's ready to go
I may be dumb, but I'm not a dweeb
I'm just a sucker with no self-esteem
After the final chorus, everyone cheered and the woman laughed, a low chuckle.
Returning to the mic stand, the woman purred, “Teşekkür ederiz, arkadaşlar.”
The band launched into a Turkish song that Adora didn’t know but seemed to please the crowd. She worked on her third beer, watching the woman with her mouth slightly open until she had the presence of mind to close it. They played a few more songs, all covers, all excellent, until the woman said something in Turkish that Adora took to mean that it was time for a break.
Bo handed her a fresh beer, looking giddy. Before she could inform him that she wasn’t finished with her latest one, the lead singer walked over to the table and plopped down in the saved seat next to her. The table erupted in general praise but was cut off when Sea Hawk slammed a liter mug down in front of the woman.
“Catra! Brilliant effort as usual, but the long-awaited hour is nigh,” Sea Hawk declared. Glimmer whooped and held up her full beer along with everyone else. Adora followed their example, trying not to look too confused.
“Here's to Catra she's True Blue! She's a Piss Pot through and through. She's a Bastard so they say and she's not going to heaven she went the other way! She's going down! down! down! down! down!”
Everyone started chugging their beers, Adora included after a moment’s hesitation. Everyone finished before Catra and her one-liter beer, and as each finished they joined in chanting “Skull! Skull! Skull! Skull!”
Eventually, Catra slammed the empty mug on the table with a gasp and a gasp.
“Fuck you, Hawkins, that was a bavyera! Are you trying to kill me?”
“No challenge for the maddest cunt in Antalya!”
“I still have half a set left, you dick.”
Sea Hawk just grinned at her. “Whatever, I’m going outside.” As she was shrugging on her jacket, Adora saw Glimmer gesturing wildly in silent yet profoundly unsubtle conversation.
Catra rolled her eyes and tapped Adora on the shoulder, “Hey you, wanna come keep me company?”
On any other day, Adora would have questions, but most days did not see her chugging beers in a foreign country and beautiful women requesting her presence in secondary locations. “Sure,” she said, clumsily getting out of her chair and following Catra out of the bar into the blessedly fresh night air. Catra hopped onto a low stone wall and lit a cigarette. Adora followed her up, significantly less gracefully, and kicked her legs. When she snuck a glance at Catra, she nearly fell off the wall when she realized that her eyes were two different colors, one bright blue and the other a smoky hazel. Catra quirked a half smile at that.
After a few more moments of awkward silence, Catra was the first to break, “So you must be Adora.”
“And you’re Catra.”
“Adora. Weird name.”
Adora snorted, “Coming from someone named Catra.”
“It’s short for Ekaterina.”
“Oh. That's pretty.”
Catra smirked, “So I've been told.”
A pause.
“You’re from the States, right?”
“Yeah, from Indiana.” Catra sounded slightly bitter about it.
“My condolences. I get it, though. I’m from Tennessee, a small town near Pigeon Forge.”
“Isn’t that where Dollyworld is?”
“Yeah, outside of Dolly’s jurisdiction, unfortunately.”
“Tragic.”
They lapsed into a slightly more comfortable silence. This time, Adora cracked.
“Soooooooo…..”
Catra raised her eyebrows, waiting.
“Why, uh…. why did you invite me out here?” Adora asked, rushing to add, “Not that I’m not having a good time or anything!”
“I take it Sparkles didn’t let you in on her little plan.”
“What plan?”
Catra lit another cigarette.
“She told me that you were going through a tough time and could use a lay. She said that you were hot,” Catra turned her head, looked her up and down, and shrugged. “For once, she didn’t exaggerate.”
Adora sputtered, feelings of anger at Glimmer for pimping her out and excitement that Catra thought she was hot jockeying for the attention of her single, stalled-out brain cell.
Catra laughed, high-pitched and natural, so unlike the low chuckle she used onstage.
“You okay there, princess?”
“Yes!” Adora cursed the blush she could feel burning her cheeks.
Mind a complete blank on any single coherent thought worth allowing passage through her mouth, Adora spat out, “What’s your favorite color?”
Catra laughed again and hopped down off the wall.
“Holy shit, Sparkles didn’t tell me you were such a dork!”
Adora numbly took Catra’s offered hand, slid off the wall, and let herself be led back into the bar and to their table. Catra shed her jacket and hung it on her chair, pausing briefly to lean close to Adora’s ear and whisper Red while plucking the collar of her red bomber jacket. With that, she made her way back to the stage where the band was waiting for her while Adora combusted.
They launched into a song and Adora turned to glare at Glimmer, who looked incredibly pleased with herself.
“Seriously, Glimmer?” Adora hissed.
Glimmer feigned ignorance, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“We’re talking about this later when it’s not so loud. I will wake you up at dawn, I swear to god.”
Glimmer nodded seriously, trying and failing to suppress a shit-eating grin.
Adora turned in a huff to watch the rest of the show, or more accurately, stare unabashedly at Catra.
After another song, Catra introduced the band. The woman on bass was Lawan and the man on drums was Rogelio. The guy on guitar had a weird name that she didn’t quite catch.
They continued on with a mix of English and Turkish songs until it came time for the finale.
The bass line and guitar sounded familiar, but Adora couldn’t quite place it until Catra began singing.
When you get older, plainer, saner
Will you remember all the danger
We came from?
Burning like embers, falling, tender
Longing for the days of no surrender
Years ago
And will you know
Holy crap, she loved this song. And everyone was singing along. This song hadn’t been popular in the states at all. Did they know how gay it was?
Catra grabbed onto the mic for dear life and furrowed her brow as she launched into the chorus
Let's raise a glass
Or two
To all the things I've lost on you
She wailed through it with devastating emotion.
Before the final chorus, Catra found her eyes and quirked a small smile, keeping eye contact through the rest of the song. Adora was ready to wither away and die, the only logical outcome to having all the air sucked forcibly out of her lungs.
When the song ended, the bar screamed, Adora right along with them. She managed to tear her eyes off of the stage where the band packed up when two shots were placed in front of her.
“What is this?” she asked Sea Hawk.
“Tequila!” he pronounced with glee.
Just looking at them made her queasy, but she put on a brave face, clinked the first one with the mass in the center of the table and knocked it back.
--
Somewhere between her fifth beer and third tequila shot, things began to blur. Adora wouldn’t call herself a lightweight, but she hadn’t been around people that went this hard since college. At some point, Catra had wandered up cozied under the guitarist’s arm and dragged the whole table into the back room. Adora had stared in awe at the ancient stone walls around them, understanding why they called this part of town The Old City. The mix of neon strobes, crappy trance music, and the constant jostle of sweaty dancing bodies all in this millennia-old structure made the experience other-worldly. Adora had given dancing her best go, dancing with Glimmer and Bo and then Feyza for a while. The younger woman had seemed mildly obsessed with her ever since she had shed her jacket and had been left in just a tight white tank.
Of course, she hadn’t been able to keep her eyes off of Catra for longer than a few moments at a time. The woman had spent the whole night dancing with the guitarist who she had been introduced to as Khyle, like Kyle but with a Kh- sound he had said, something Adora was sure had an elaborate backstory like everything else with these people. Their constant closeness had sowed seeds of doubt in Adora, slightly assuaged when Catra had snagged her away from Feyza and had pulled her close for a dance. After two songs, she had slid back to Khyle who had leaned down to shout in her ear after glancing in her direction. Adora had seen the two laugh and had wondered if the nauseous feeling in her stomach was due to the alcohol or how together they seemed.
After an indeterminate period of time measured only by the drinks she had consumed, Adora found herself outside again. She was leaned up against the stone wall of the bar, eyes closed, willing the spinning to stop so she wouldn’t have to vomit in a strange toilet tonight. Distantly, she registered that someone was speaking to her, so she opened her eyes. It was a man a couple of inches shorter than her, and he had just stopped speaking. As she tried to formulate a response, she realized that she hadn’t understood a word of what he had said.
“I’m sorry, I don’t speak… whatever language you were speaking. Was that German?”
“Ah, English. Where are you from?”
The man continued in heavily accented, broken English and Adora tried her best to follow along, answering his questions about where she was from and why she was in Turkey. She began to feel a bit boxed in despite their height difference when he started grilling her if she had a husband or a boyfriend. To both questions she answered no and that seemed to galvanize the man to move closer and rest his hand on her sleeve. In the US, Adora would have decked a man if he’d pulled that shit, but she was drunk and unsure of the protocol here, so she pressed herself closer to the wall and reluctantly acquiesced to the increasingly sexual conversation. He had just invited her back to his place with the promise of a bottle of vodka when she felt a hand clamp onto her arm and saw another hand not-so-gently push the man back.
“Ne yapıyon sen yavşak?”3
Adora saw that the hands belonged to Catra who regarded the man with open loathing. He said something that made Catra laugh coldly and drop her arm. She stepped forward, glaring upward at the man and hissing something that made him clench his teeth and go red in the face. Adora saw his fist tighten at his side and then loosen as if thinking better of it. Muttering something under his breath, he stalked back into the bar. Catra watched him with her eyes narrowed and turned back to Adora.
“What a fucking prick! Are you okay? He didn’t try anything, did he?”
Adora nodded and then shook her head dumbly and took a seat at the table Catra led them to. Catra stewed for a moment before turning to Adora angrily.
“You can’t let them do that to you! These assholes see a foreign girl and jump on her cause they think she’s gonna put out. You gotta tell them to fuck off, or something really bad could happen. I know they seem harmless, but a lot of these guys are real pieces of shit.”
“I’m sorry… I didn’t know what to do. I just… froze.”
Catra ran a hand through her hair and sighed.
“No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be yelling at you. I just really hate seeing this shit happen over and over. It’s just like this specific subset of dudes, but they’re not all terrible. Look, uh, aside from that, are you having a good time?”
Adora had to think for a moment, “I liked watching you guys play, but the club thing is a lot. Also, you guys drink way more than I’m used to.”
Catra hummed. “Yeah, Sea Hawk’s got his droopy-eye thing he gets when he’s way past shit-faced. He’s been trying to drag me into the bathroom all night to do coke, but I’m really not feeling it tonight.”
Adora raised her eyebrows. This crowd was more intense than she thought.
Catra teased, “What, princess, no illicit substances allowed in that temple of yours?”
A few loose memories from millennia ago bubbled to the surface, but Adora quickly shoved them down. She opted instead to shrug with affected carelessness, “Not for a long time.”
Catra didn’t pry.
Adora continued, “Most of you are teachers, right? It’s weird to think of teachers doing lines in a bar bathroom, that’s all.”
“Yeah, that’s fair. You’d be amazed what teachers get up to when they’re not at school.” Catra stretched, fished a pack of cigarettes out of her jacket and lit one, never taking her eyes off of Adora.
Adora wilted a little under the scrutiny but forced herself to rally.
“Hey, can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot, princess.”
“Has something like that ever happened to you? Like you said with the asshole guys?”
Catra laughed mirthlessly and leaned forward, “Plenty of times. This one is kind of a funny story. My third day here, a guy pulled me into a café while I was walking down Işıklar. It was pouring out and like 9:30 at night, almost exactly this time of year now that I think about it. Anyway, he hit on me for an hour and when I went to leave, I couldn’t find my umbrella in the little stand. I look outside, and there’s our dude holding it and grinning like he just won the fucking lottery. Now, I should’ve just told him to fuck off, that’s our moral here, but no, I let this dumbass walk me home and get us spectacularly lost. The whole time he’s talking about how he’s my boyfriend now and he’s gonna come up to my room all while kissing my neck and trying to turn my face to get to my lips. I was in this hotel not far from here and Kaleiçi is pitch black on weeknights so there wasn’t much I could really do but wait it out. We eventually found the hotel, fucking soaked from wandering around for 45 minutes in the rain and I rang the little bell to be let in. The front desk guy opened the door and like looked at me and then the dude critically and I jumped in and he slammed the door in his face. Obviously the only thought on my mind was getting in the shower and washing the slime off of me, so I ran to my room and stripped and got in with the hot water turned all the way up. I was finally starting to relax when I realized,” Catra paused dramatically. Adora leaned forward. “That motherfucker stole my umbrella!”
Catra cackled at her punchline. Adora slumped back, horrified.
“Anyway, that’s how it can be here sometimes, so be careful, okay? Think of it as a favor to me.” Catra smiled and Adora returned it and nodded.
“Okay, but only cause you asked. Did you ever get your umbrella back?”
Catra laughed again, “Another story for another time.”
Adora was about to beg her to tell it when Glimmer burst out of the bar dragging a barely-conscious Bo by the waist.
“There you two are! We’re leaving before this drunk asshole pukes on me again.”
“One time,” Bo muttered.
Glimmer gave him a quick hip-check and he groaned. “Adora, are you coming with us? Now or never, let’s go!”
Adora paused and glanced between Glimmer tapping her foot impatiently and Catra looking at her critically.
“Um.”
“Jesus Christ. Catra, are you taking her or not?”
Catra leaned back in her chair, lit a fresh cigarette, and exhaled. “Nah. Maybe another time.”
Adora visibly deflated. Catra shrugged. “You’re looking a little sleepy, princess.”
"I'm not sleepy," Adora mumbled and stood up, but Catra grabbed her wrist, “Hey do you have your Turkish sim yet?”
“Yeah. Got it yesterday.”
“Good, gimme your phone.” Adora dutifully handed it over and watched as Catra fiddled with it and handed it back.
“Adora, come on! You had your chance, Ekaterina.”
“Shut the fuck up, Glynnis.”
Unwilling to provoke her friend’s wrath any further, Adora smiled unconvincingly at Catra and paired it with a small wave. “It was nice meeting you.”
Catra smiled back genuinely. "You too, dork."
45 minutes later, long enough for the trio to hail a cab and get home, long enough to shed her clothes and crawl into bed disappointed and alone, Adora’s phone lit up with a text.
Catra (03.25): Goodnight, princess
Adora (03:26): goodnight catra