The day Stella would be back to mostly living at my place (or our place, a thought that gave me butterflies) fell on a Monday, so we preemptively agreed to not make it a huge thing, since it’d be after a workday for me and I’d probably be exhausted. It felt nice to have a relatively normal class day again, even if some students were still gone due to getting raided by the rival school. Zeta didn’t look too distraught in class, even when she did her typical 'raise her hand to ask a question then give a freaked out look to her hand as if it had betrayed her' move, so her week off seemed to do her a lot of good.

I wasn’t sure if Stella would be back at the apartment when I got home after work. I thought about what she’d texted me the week prior, about having dinners together like a family with her and Zeta. The image in my head of coming home to Stella making dinner, something that smells so good I can just feel the aroma outside, and Zeta being there, being a precious little dork, and all of us having a nice dinner together.

I stopped myself dead in my tracks walking around the side of the house to the back door, finding myself staring at the gravel bed around the apartment. I had to stop myself and recognize I was having a reaction that I wanted to work around. It was a reaction where my subconscious basically said to me, “Don’t think about this anymore. I’m protecting you, because it’s too good to be true. Stop thinking about this thing that’s making you happy because you’ll just be let down when it doesn’t happen.” I don’t think I’d had that many letdowns to warrant this reaction, which did help me recognize it when it hit me. But recognizing a negative repeating thought pattern and actually putting it away were two separate things. And I was never sure if I was just supposed to put it away or let it wash over me and pass. It was a weird mix of weather the last few days and that messed with me too, with snow and thunderstorms and just a bleak atmosphere outside, so I chalked that up to a contributing factor to my sudden anxiousness as well.

I heard a car door thunk shut behind me. Conveniently enough, Stella just arrived, for some reason parking right behind me on the street instead of the alley spot we agreed to swap on. I heard her make a tiny grunt. I approached to see her attempted to balance five boxes at once, all different shapes and sizes. She did a kind of crab walk, but with her view blocked by boxes she just kind of wobbled around in place. I couldn’t see her face, but even just seeing her legs and some of her hands made me feel a lot better immediately. Instead of just ogling her legs, I decided I should probably help her out.

“Well hello to you there,” I said, grinning.

“Oh my god, Evy,” Stella said. “I’ve made a terrible mistake here.”

“What were you thinking with this, dude?” I asked.

“That I could get all the boxes in one trip and not have to go back and forth?” Stella said.

“I see,” I said. “Next question. Are you the type to refuse help if I offer to take some of these boxes off your plate there?”

“Normally…kinda, yeah.” Stella said. “If Zeta asks to help bring groceries up I usually tell her no.”

“But in this case?” I said.

“In this case I could maybe use one or two of these boxes to not be in my possession.” Stella said.

We managed to get her boxes inside without any falling into the puddles and mostly melted snow around our lawn. Stella grabbed a can of soda and leaned on a counter as she drank a bit.

“Did you just get home too?” Stella asked. She did the “oooahhh” sound and shook her head after gulping down some pop which had me worried I’d get a sugar overdose from the sweetness. “I tried to time it right, but I got stuck in traffic. I won’t miss LE commutes daily once I’m set up here, let me tell you.”

“Just like a minute or so before you got there,” I said. “So pretty impressive timing.”

“I’ve been told that my sense of time is quite excellent.” Stella said. “At least that’s what my acting teacher in high school said. I noticed when it’s a school day you get home around now so…yeah. Ugh, I’m not supposed to end a thought with ‘so…yeah.’ ‘And…yeah’ too. Personal preference thing. I’m rambling.”

“You’re fine,” I said. Once she finished her drink, I couldn’t help but embrace her. I savored in how she felt in my arms, the way she smelled so pleasant and flowery, how tightly she hugged me back. “I know we’ve talked and seen each other tons the last week, but I really did miss you. It’s kinda wild how empty it feels here without you.”

“I missed you too,” Stella said. “Whenever I wasn’t busy with Zeta, pretty much all I could think about was you.”

“Oh, wow.” I said. “I’m honored to have such a spot in your mental priorities.”

Once we sorted out dinner and got into comfy evening clothes, we nuzzled up together. Stella got the remote first and had a sneaky look on her face.

“So I had an idea,” Stella said.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Would you be super embarrassed if we started watching that highway anime together?” Stella asked.

Again, I had to stop myself from diving into a ‘this is too good to be true’ thought spiral, but this time it wasn’t for a warm family image like us all having dinner together. This was just me getting a chance to be a gigantic nerd. Stella already cosplayed someone from Highway Adventure Burst, and now she wanted to watch it? If I time traveled back to tell my high school self that I would one day meet a cute girl who’d want to watch Highway Adventure Burst with me, my past self would probably fight me thinking I’m an imposter for making up such a ludicrous claim.

“I wouldn’t be embarrassed,” I said. “But you have to promise you’ll put up with me when I get super cringy and get super hype for Kiana Pavement.”

“Dude, my little sister is the most gigantic Raina Starlight fan on the planet,” Stella said. “I think it’s nice when we have something to get super hype for. And I like sharing things with you, and I like seeing you happy, so…”

“So…yeah.” I said.

Stella giggled. “You’re not supposed to finish a speech with that!”

“It wasn’t a speech,” I said. It was just like, talking.”

“Sure, sure, but like, it’s better to have a proper…conclusion, I guess.” Stella said. “It’s personal preference!”

Stella for some reason started mocking her own voice and started saying ‘personal preference’ in higher tones and weirder pitches. I wasn’t sure if she was referencing something, but it made us both stupid laugh. In the middle of that stupid laugh I leaned in and kissed her. The sight of Stella Faleur with a content smile as she giggled gave me no choice. She kissed me back right away, quickly turning it intense, wrapping her arms around me and slipping her tongue forward.

“I really missed you.” Stella said. “Before we watch, maybe a quick fuck, please?”

“Deal.” I said.