Loving someone was a process for her. She had to tip toe around it, whispered confessions and ways to show her love, but never to say it out loud. It was too real if you said it out loud - too breakable.

It was the way she brought the coffee maker over from her dorm room, because Lizzie hated coffee anyways, and set it up in theirs. Every morning before slipping out the door to practice, she set it to brew for her, and her sister too. Or maybe it was how she tucked the blankets back under carefully as she slid out of bed quietly. Or the way she left granola bars or apples in her bag, with a scribbled note saying she needed to eat more.

Or it could have been all of those things, but mostly, it was the way Duchess held her, like she was something important even without a destiny. Like she was the only thing in her world. She pretended not to notice the tears running down her girlfriend's cheeks and pooling in her hair. It was the least she could do.