coolm5224

Apologies for no chapter last week, things have been busy lately and are likely going to stay busy for the foreseeable future. Chapters are hopefully going to be every 1-2 weeks as stated in the synopsis, but there may be longer gaps.
Thank you for reading.

-Tessa POV-

“Ah, this is our stop,” Maia said after about twenty minutes.

She got off, then held out a hand to help me off the bus as well. Holding the basket in one hand and my hand in the other, Maia led the way to a park.

We strolled along a path through the middle of the park, admiring the scenery. There was a pond with ducks both in and around it, and I could see colorful blossoms on some of the trees, although many had already exchanged their flowers for leaves. The sky was a clear blue, with only a few fluffy looking clouds.

Soon, we arrived at a section of the park where trees covered in pink blossoms lined both sides of the path. Some people had set out picnic blankets near the trees and were looking at the blossoms.

Maia led me off the path to an unclaimed spot right beneath one of the cherry blossom trees. We laid out the blanket on the ground, and Maia placed the basket on top. We sat down side by side, with me leaning on Maia a bit. She began to pat my head, then stopped.

[You know, I can’t really unpack the basket if you’re leaning on me like that.]

{Mmm…}

[I'll give you more head pats later.]

{Good.}

I sat upright again, allowing Maia to open the basket and take things out. She had a gentle smile on her face, and I smiled in return while watching her.

Once she finished setting food and plates out on the blanket, she paused, then began to blush slightly. Realizing why she was blushing, I decided to continue staring at her and go on the offensive.

{You’re so cute.}

She looked away.

I leaned on her again and whispered in her ear.

“Cuuute.”

Suddenly, she leaned on me in return, causing me to fall sideways onto the blanket. Maia’s bright red face was now mere inches away from mine as she leaned over me with a hand on either side of me. I could feel my own face begin to heat up. Almost unintentionally, my gaze fell from her mesmerizing red eyes to her soft, pink lips.

{Maia…}

[Tessa…]

A bird chirped somewhere in the branches above us.

Maia scrambled off of me, and I sat back up, now very aware of our surroundings.

Unable to meet Maia’s eyes, I fumbled to grab a plate. She quietly handed me one, then picked one up for herself.

On each of our plates was a sandwich cut into a triangle, something that, although simple, clearly had thought put into it.

{Thank you…}

[Mm.]

After eating our sandwiches and drinking some water, I had managed to calm down enough to at least act normal around Maia. Well, until she brought out more food.

“Say ah.”

Maia was holding an apple slice up to my mouth. I was sure I was blushing, considering how hot my face felt.

{I- I can do it myself.}

She smiled, then made a pouting face.

[Aw, you don’t want me to feed you the lunch I prepared?]

{…I do.}

I opened my mouth and took a bite out of the apple slice. Unsure whether she was going to give me the other half or feed that to me too, I watched as…

She stuffed it into her own mouth. Luckily, I had already swallowed my piece, otherwise I probably would have started choking.

Almost in a panic, I knew for certain I was blushing now. Not really thinking, I laid down on Maia’s lap, face down.

-Maia POV-

Now that was adorable.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I ate the other half. After all, we had kissed plenty of times already, and this wasn’t even close to that.

To my delight, though, Tessa got all flustered, before finally plonking her head down on my lap.

Amused at her reaction, I began to pat her head. I did say I would, after all.

“Mmmm, hmmm mmmm.”

“Ahahaha, hey, that tickles.”

“Mmm.”

She seemed to have no intention of moving or rolling over so I could understand what she said, so instead I simply kept patting and rubbing her head.

After a while, Tessa did roll over, looking up at me. Rather than saying anything, she simply stared up at me with a small smile on her face. I returned the expression, just looking at her and patting the top of her head. She did seem to really enjoy it, after all.

A cherry blossom petal fell onto her nose, causing her to scrunch her face to try to get it off. The face she made was so cute that I was almost tempted to let her keep struggling with it. Eventually, though, I did brush it off of her.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed from inside the picnic basket. Tessa sat up, looking at me with a quizzical expression.

“Ahah, sorry, looks like our time’s about up here. We’ve got to get to the next place for our date.”

“Okay!”

Looking rather happy about this, Tessa helped me pack away the remnants of our picnic and fold up the blanket to put back onto the basket.

I picked it up, held out my hand for Tessa, and we made our way out of the park.

On to the next destination!

-Tessa POV-

To my surprise, instead of going back to the bus stop, Maia led me to a side road near the park. My confusion was soon somewhat alleviated, however, when Marissa’s car drove up.

Marissa rolled down the window, and Maia handed her the picnic basket. We then got into the backseat, where Maia collected her purse.

{Hey, does Marissa know we’re on a date?}

[No, I just told her we’re going out for the day and she offered to drive us when I told her where. Although, she wasn’t available to drive us to the park.]

“Hey, Marissa,” Maia began. “You don’t have to unpack it or anything, but could you bring that basket inside when you go home?”

“That’s okay, I’ll unpack it too.”

As they began to go into the specifics of what would be done with the picnic leftovers, I tuned them out somewhat. Instead, I looked out the window.

Although it certainly felt like Maia was trying to keep it a surprise, I kind of wanted to try to guess where we were going. I looked at the street signs and shops we passed, until…

I realized that I really was terrible with directions. Usually, if I had some major landmark, I could somewhat figure it out. But without that, it was almost impossible for me to do it alone. A lot of the time, Maia was the one who handled navigation.

Seeing that she was still talking to Marissa, I went back to simply admiring the scenery, watching as the sights of the town went by.

After only a few minutes, though, the car stopped.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you two off closer?” Marissa asked.

“I’m sure,” Maia replied. “Thanks!”

We got out of the car. Once Marissa’s car was out of sight, Maia proffered her hand to me. Hand in hand, she led the way.

And after rounding a single corner, we were at the movie theater.

…Okay, maybe my navigational skills were even worse than I thought.

Maia pulled me inside, then to the ticket counter.

{Which movie are we going to watch?}

[You pick.]

I checked the time on my phone, then looked at the list of movies that were showing soon. There was a romance movie, a horror movie, and an action movie.

While we were on a date, and a romance movie would be appropriate, those kinds of movies tended to just make me uncomfortable. That ruled out the romance one.

I also immediately ruled out the horror movie. I did not do well with scary things, and I didn’t want to watch something that would keep me up at night.

Which left action. Perhaps an unorthodox pick for a date, but it would probably be fun.

{That one.}

I pointed to the poster for the action movie.

[Okay!]

-Maia POV-

Leaving the theater room, I thought about the movie we had just watched. In my opinion, it was good. Kinda dumb, but fun.

[Did you like the movie?]

{Yeah!}

I dropped our popcorn bucket into the trash, then held out a hand to Tessa. She happily grabbed it, smiling at me.

With my free hand, I took out my phone and checked the time. We had about fifteen minutes until Marissa would be picking us up, and only about three blocks to cover. It looked like we would have time for some window shopping, then. This area wasn’t a shopping center per se, but there were a few assorted shops along the way.

Putting my phone away and holding the door for Tessa, we began our stroll to the pick-up spot.

However, after only about a block, I felt Tessa suddenly become agitated. I looked over at her and traced her line of sight to… oh no.

A group of three girls was walking towards us. It seemed like they hadn’t seen us yet, but I recognized them. I had seen them before in a certain school bathroom.

Remembering the events of that day, I gripped Tessa’s hand a little tighter. I walked a little faster, trying to get past the trio sooner.

Then, I noticed something odd.

Although the sidewalk was somewhat crowded, people were leaving space around us.

And in that space were strange, transparent outlines of people.

[Tessa.]

She didn’t respond, her gaze still fixed on the trio approaching us.

[Tessa.]

Soon, we walked past the group of girls from school. They didn’t seem to notice us.

[Tessa.]

{…What?}

[What’s this?]

I motioned to the transparent outlines around us.

Tessa startled, and the illusion faded.

Hmm.

{What was that, just now?}

[I think I have an idea, actually. Let’s go home first, though.]

{…Okay.}

She still seemed somewhat preoccupied, until we arrived at the place where Marissa would be picking us up.

{A playground?}

[We’ve got a few minutes.]

After a few minutes of me pushing Tessa on the swing set, I could tell that she had calmed down. I spotted Marissa’s car nearby and stopped pushing Tessa, allowing her to slow to a stop.

Marissa waved at us from her car.

I waved back from the swings.

Tessa and I got in the car and rode home in comfortable silence, her hand resting on mine.