She unlocked her door and stepped in first, inviting Rayas to come in and join her. “Okay, I’m gonna give you an apartment tour now,” she said in a soothing voice.

Rayas nodded her head. “Alright, sick.”

Rayas looked around the living room while Addie lit an incense to keep the room smelling nice. Addie’s apartment seemed small, yet cozy. Rayas’s eyes immediately went to the TV and the couch, knowing she’d spend most of her time there when alone. The couch was a light brown color with two mint green throw pillows on each side. She noticed how clean the coffee table in between the couch and the desk with Addie’s TV on top. Rayas then turned her eyes to the other side of the living room where two bookcases stood, each filled with old looking books.

“Wow Addie, I didn’t know you were such a bookworm. Nerd,” Rayas said with a slight chuckle.

“Oh, I haven’t read most of those. I just bought a bunch of old books at a thrift store, I thought they’d help create a more homey aesthetic,” Addie responded. “But yeah, this is the living room. Please use coasters.”

“It’s real cute,” Rayas said.

“Yeah, well, so are you,” Addie said in a flirty voice. “How about I show you the bedroom next? We’re gonna spend a lot of time in there together,” she winked.

Rayas’s face turned bright red. “Addie! I just got here, damn.”

Addie giggled. “It’s so easy to make you all flustered.”

A still blushing Rayas followed Addie into the bedroom. Addie had a queen sized bed with two light pink blankets and a group of five white pillows on top. Rayas saw that Addie had neatly made her bed earlier that morning, something Rayas hadn’t done in years. Rayas walked over to the bed and started feeling the covers.

“Soft,” she said out loud.

“Not as soft as your tail, which I’m going to be cuddling all the time.” Addie winked again.

“Wow, you’re really in the mood right now, aren’t you?” Rayas said.

“Maybe,” Addie coyly replied.

“Normally I would be too, but,” Rayas paused for a bit. “I have a lot on my mind right now.”

Addie sat down on the bed and patted her lap. “Here. Rest your head right here and tell me what’s wrong.”

Rayas climbed into the bed and snuggled up against Addie. “I don’t really like talking about my feelings, you know. It’s embarrassing,” she said.

“Talking about your feelings isn’t embarrassing, Rayas,” Addie said as she tenderly stroked Rayas’s hair.

“I don’t think you’d understand it anyway. I don’t even know what’s up really. I just. Suddenly started feeling really awful earlier. And I feel bad because I obviously love you a lot. I don’t want to feel awful right now. I should be fucking overjoyed right now. But I just have this sinking feeling that something isn’t right about this.”

Addie wiped away a tear starting to form under Rayas’s eye. “Is this about earlier? With the receptionist?”

“That’s when it started, yeah,” Rayas muttered in a soft voice.

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t realize introducing you as Andrea would upset you so much.”

Addie saying that name out loud felt like a punch to the stomach. She suddenly felt even worse.

Rayas shot up and angrily stormed out of the room. “Well don’t say it out loud! Fuck!” Rayas yelled on her way out. “I’m going for a drive,” she scowled as she grabbed her car keys from out of her pocket.

“Stay safe! I love you!” Addie called out, not knowing if Rayas actually heard her or not.

Addie grabbed a pillow to cuddle. She didn’t know what had gotten into Rayas lately but she wanted to respect Rayas’s desire to be alone right now. Rayas appeared to be so happy at the beginning of the day and she worried that Rayas was regretting the move. Addie felt awful.

Addie watched the seconds tick on her clock that hung on the wall across from her. Each second not knowing where her girlfriend was or how she was feeling worried Addie to no end. She picked up her cell phone and typed out and deleted the same text multiple times. She desperately wanted to check on her but she didn’t want Rayas checking her phone on the road, especially in such an emotional state.

Fifter minutes later Addie heard a knock at the door. She rushed out to open it to find Rayas in the doorway, mascara running down her face.

“I just sat in the car and cried instead,” she awkwardly said. “I’m sorry for yelling at you Addie, I don’t know what’s happening right now,” she wrapped her arms around her girlfriend as her lips started quivering, ready to start crying again.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Addie repeated as she tightly embraced Rayas. “Do you still not wanna talk about it?”

Rayas kept hugging Addie, not wanting to let go. “Can we just watch movies on the couch and cuddle for the rest of the night instead?”

“Of course,” Addie reassured her before gently kissing her forehead.

After about a minute of Rayas continuing to hold onto Addie, she let go and sat on the couch, Addie following after and sitting next to her, rubbing Rayas’s thigh as she fiddled with the remote.

“So what do you wanna watch?” Addie asked.

“Something with a happy ending.”

The two of them watched light-hearted romantic comedies for the rest of the night. Rayas still felt a little shaken up and weird on the inside, but she couldn’t place why. Being next to Addie made her feel a lot better though. After the fourth movie ended, Addie passed out on the couch, still sitting upright. Rayas stayed awake for most of the night, thinking hard about why she felt such discomfort hearing her legal name and why it caused her to snap at Addie. At around four in the morning she eventually stopped and just sighed, not able to come up with an explanation that made sense. She closed her eyes and fell asleep in Addie’s lap.