Rising Stars

XV - Opportunity & Change

"It was the beginning of the end."

- Son Jaemin

June 26th, 2020

Seraphine sat beside me, her eyes glued to her screen as she typed on her phone.

"Someone's been on their phone for awhile now," I said with a smirk. It didn't really bother me. Seraphine hardly ever used her phone when we were together, so her using it now was more strange than annoying. "Any reason why?"

"I finally got around to making accounts for social media," she explained. She put her phone in front of me. "Look, aren't I adorable?" She'd just posted a picture of herself, smiling prettily at the camera while leaving her hair blow in the wind. Her azure eyes seemed to shine and sparkle even within the still picture.

"That you are, Sera," I replied honestly. "Very adorable."

She grinned. "You know, as late as I am to jump on this train, I'm a little surprised that you don't have any social media accounts."

"Too busy for it," I said. "And it's not really all that interesting to me."

"Too busy for it?"

I rolled my eyes at her nitpicking. "You know what I mean."

"Fair enough," Seraphine said. She tucked her phone in her pocket. "How's The Vastaya?"

"Good," I found myself saying. "As crazy busy as it is, it feels really great to have a source of income again. And its pretty fulfilling to work there. How about you? How's your job at Starbucks?"

Seraphine shrugged. "It's alright. Kinda miss the environment at The Vastaya. But one of my coworkers, Ben, is a really sweet guy. Makes the days a little more bearable."

"Ooh." I nudged her side with my elbow slightly. "Got a bit of a crush going on?"

"Nah," she said. "He's a little too... normal for me."

"Never heard that before."

"Probably because no girl has ever called you normal," Sera explained. "Almost like you're crazy talented or something."

"Yeah." I let out a small breath. "But sometimes, I'd kill to be a normal person," I murmured.

"And why is that?"

I thought about giving her a response. Ultimately, I decided against it and just simply shook my head. "When I have time, I'll make one."

"Make one what?"

"Accounts for both Twitter and Instagram."

Seraphine hummed. "Promise?" she asked.

"Yeah. Promise."

"Oh yeah, speaking of that," Sera began, sufficiently distracted from the previously weighty topic. "I was intending on posting the covers of Childhood Dreams and POP/STARS sometime next month."

"Why next month?"

"I want to draw stuff for it."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Yeah."

I nodded. "Sure. They're your covers as much as mine, Ser. Do whatever you want with them."

"Sounds good." She glanced at me, and then slowly lowered her head to rest it on my shoulder. "Mind if I borrow this?"

"You ask me after you've already borrowed it?"

Sera smirked. "That's usually how it goes whenever I do this."

I rolled my eyes. This was how it always was between her and I. So close and yet so far away at the same. Seraphine leaned against my shoulder, laid in my lap, and even cuddled up next to me when we were alone together. But ever since our conversation in March, ever since I accepted that I loved her, the distance between us never changed.